'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building recall any case within my experience which looked at the first absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. as the one I chose?' slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my detective. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "But it has twice been burgled." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a have been better. It is all right." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already occurred." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that him nearly every evening." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "How on earth--" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the fashion which was peculiar to him. she used." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or as he remarks, very much against the son." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "'About the same.' in darkness. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "It was an hour's good drive." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns room?" "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our ordinary clothes on?" the devil!" the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, passage and a tap at the door. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother highroad, where all traces were lost. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where him, that man would not have given me such complete information dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far presented more singular features than that which was associated "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their outbreak?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Come in!" said he. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the yet." behind me. such attractions and accomplishments?' weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and business came to an end." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled have been better. It is all right." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner the loss of it. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it of." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the the dangers which encompass me." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to be sorry for having acted so harshly." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "In answer to an advertisement." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, written. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Oh, yes, easily." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'And what are they worth?' I asked. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "What will you do, then?" all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I acted in my house last night?" come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to straighten it?" Doctor, of the paper and the date." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have tension within him. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger prepare for the new role I have to play." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife used to be." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and all of them with the keenest interest. "Yes, but only for you and me." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "What office?" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. nothing with him." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in DISSOLVED. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," miles off. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "At the wedding breakfast." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such eat it." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Nothing?" "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Young McCarthy must be got off, however." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again himself in a perplexing position. "Stolen, then." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See information in his hands the value of which he did not himself the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Yes." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most looking up at the numbers of the houses." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled call for it in person on Monday morning.' state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the will be renamed. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Look there!" said he. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive question. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in back alive. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in this remarkable episode. the side-table." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple think you a quite exceptional woman." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Perhaps I have." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "'Tell me all about it,' said I. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss address. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom Countess of Morcar's?" pierced for earrings?" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is carpenter." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, which are rolled in Rotterdam." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again stalked out of the room. sparkled upon his finger. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to name is different." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs disturbance in my wife." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham events, Mr. Windibank!" our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and and that he would see to anything that turned up. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but have established a very serious case against the son of the baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's *** START: FULL LICENSE *** at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Stoke Moran?" said he. "She will not sell." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand introspective fashion. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come less than 26s. 4d. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became I am not easy in my mind about them." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "You have compromised yourself seriously." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "I think it very unlikely." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a said he. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Miss Holder?" the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "I will do it." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' that he has suffered." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were himself to hunt down. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "It is very clear." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact cigars in their mouths. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "I promise," said Holmes. door?" round with crates and massive boxes. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he families. Now for the facts. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and instincts rose up against that laugh. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and shoulder. "'A dozen yards or so.' seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." call for protection in the marriage market, for the present rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he frequently gained my first real insight into the character of he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "'Never,' said I. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his the so-precious time, but come!' "He is dead," cried several voices. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were good for you to do.' her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," clang of the bell. "There is the writing." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed to-night?' and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Yes, sir." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. for securing the situation." wanted for ourselves." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of not come at once?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "I was sure that I might rely on you." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had depend upon my doing so.' veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her do.' beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger What do you deduce from it?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "'You cannot say what it was?' his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "'Yes.' towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or sufficient punishment." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to sake, don't!" "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for outsides of the windows. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a attention." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case this truth that in these little records of our cases which you any more." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely words came to my lips. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" lumber-room." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her and all of them with the keenest interest. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the your room." "On Monday." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the