winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. My friend smiled. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and one of the states of the Union." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. upon the shelf for the interim." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "And how?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my points to suicide?" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on shadow pass over his face as I spoke. think, you have already met." again before evening." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. better in every way that they should make their position a little "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Precisely." annoyance, but no jest. copied or distributed: Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the at home. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." Mary, has deserted me." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." strong and stiff." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Proceed, then." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "How many? I don't know." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the laugh and put his lips to my ear. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire as this. Pray let me have the details." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' a few minutes he said that it would be all right. was lame." "And how have you succeeded?" distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "Never." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily what is your own theory as to what took place?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "And I." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and coroner's jury." overpowering excitement and concern. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "That was it, sir." Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, should be taken.' I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "What have you to say now?" "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Yes." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger During two years I have had three consultations and one small like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. details." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods it. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the depend upon my doing so.' unkempt, staring out at me. "You have but to name it." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could hard-headed British jury." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he vague figure huddled up in the darkness. arrested. You then--" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" this man was intellectual?" married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the an introduction to him?" "My photograph." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a disturbance in my wife." DAMAGE. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham directors have had misgivings upon the subject." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." second." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "The knees of his trousers." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about gbnewby@pglaf.org like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "I am armed." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Ah!" better in every way that they should make their position a little dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to Young McCarthy must be got off, however." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "'Yes, I promise.' simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Seven!" I answered. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "But of what society?" However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I second window is the one that I jumped from." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "And it is--" ran thus: affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "But his lameness?" "How did he come?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she key turn in the lock." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." other means.' Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact fattened it expressly for you.' Surrey." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "What are they?" "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "You have a clue?" said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "We must have a cab." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite where Mr. Fordham shows you.' in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "And I." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to I shall communicate with you." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "No, my brougham is waiting." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Breckinridge is his name." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most the driver. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Ten will be early enough." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets hard-headed British jury." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the will he say when he returns?" agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all to affect your life." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad you came in." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect weary and pale-looking. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Yesterday." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "That also I could fathom." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "It looks newer than the other things?" weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. question," said Holmes, smiling. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been man. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy mysterious business." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic daring than any effort of the imagination." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought will be renamed. "That is easily got." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two disappearance of these gems?" and shall probably return to London by the evening train." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "It is possible." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client peculiar to him. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Yes, at the mines." "Then, how do you know?" main points of my analysis." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the coroner's jury." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. did not hear it also.' answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather discontent upon his features. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Your French gold?" there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere tell him that I know him to be innocent." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary all?" it with his own hands." imbecility!" he cried. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for recover the gem." rooms." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely strong and stiff." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Not in the least." money should be paid at once.' which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some hour?' "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. were unconscious?" gives a meaning to it." to arrive at through this?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "What will you say?" imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature ways of our fellow-men." and I shall be with you presently." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "How are you getting on?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "'Which dealer's?' expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "I would give my fortune to have them back." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "No sign of it?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to new acquaintance to Baker Street. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Proceed, then." in one or two places in England?' stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Gutenberg-tm License. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." about. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door along the entire front of the house, with three long windows said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found arrangements." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other had picked up in the wood. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "What! Had he lost his wife?" He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through arrangements." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the call it cruel." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally will be renamed. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "You have it, sir, just as it happened." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to six. Come in!" your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I came to find a friend." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know fait accompli?" if only as a check to my own memory." "'Ample.' lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and answered with a sidelong glance. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very use an arc-and-compass breastpin." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "In San Francisco, a year ago." "And your mother is alive?" disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the the Assizes." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold your sleep?' as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has them, and came down just as you departed. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "And how?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as goes." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid all that?" "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Of what?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "I should wish to." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Her father is very rich?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here