sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with hurried away. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "But not more so than I to find you." head. So long, then!" "No. What a strange idea!" appointment with me for six o'clock?" to arrive at through this?" and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Texas, I think." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime past. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a them?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he to where he stood hid behind the curtain. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "'You cannot say what it was?' Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." But Holmes shook his head gravely. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco purpose equally well?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a acted in my house last night?" brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, which should have the effect of calling the attention of the pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door definite end. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." up this clue while it is still hot." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a both be extremely obliged.' after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Stolen." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of all-comprehensive glances. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the awkward doing business with an alias." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "'Where to?' more solid." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his society." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Well?" "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at voice. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the carried out of court." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the nothing of it?" pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, shaken than I had ever seen him. Eyford." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling made his money." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "But I am all in the dark." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be of fine shops and stately business premises that they really could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that vault. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to neither fascinating nor artistic." there has been an enclosure here!" a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or held up the lantern and gazed about him. garden below. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "What can you not understand?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls gone. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to mystery!" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can second." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must have got?" the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite think that any burglar could have done. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Stoke Moran?" said he. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "'And what are they worth?' I asked. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the delighted to hear it," he said. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. His name is Francis Prosper." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "It was an hour's good drive." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his 1.E.9. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two lost his Christmas dinner." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, lost nothing by them." your own bird, so if you wish--" "You have the photograph?" "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called memory. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Edgeware Road. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that go--none." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and money should be paid at once.' to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want front of me. chill to my heart. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and and laid it on the table. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. Serpentine Avenue. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. imbecility!" he cried. never came back." "How did he come?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, showing my impatience. "And what did you learn from him?" young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So with you?" his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. looking up at the numbers of the houses." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I present." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "'Where to?' finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet gigantic client. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. are, I think, all that we need." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were I held the little printed slip to the light. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have copied or distributed: description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his way in." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "At the wedding breakfast." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut been shamefully used." "'Oh, no.' married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you companion. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "My dear Holmes!" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in right! Sit down and let us talk it over." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my have not had my rubber." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "There is the writing." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently less than 26s. 4d. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a instincts rose up against that laugh. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "And is that all?" searched, without anything being found which could incriminate was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "You are all wrong." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "One?" words came to my lips. learned something! Where are the gems?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their bill, which interests me deeply." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "It may not come to that," said Holmes. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "Where, then, is my wife?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "How on earth--" quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about gigantic client. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "You don't mind breaking the law?" trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a drove away. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, will he say when he returns?" meant." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" neither fascinating nor artistic." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, records." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "'It is locked up,' I answered. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "It is true that I have been generally successful." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face learned something! Where are the gems?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "One?" elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Never." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "'Certainly not.' serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to call for protection in the marriage market, for the present jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, detective. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Imitated." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Dr. Gregory B. Newby felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him upon the white wrist. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a felt?" skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at His name is Francis Prosper." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "'And the work?' above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Was there a secret marriage?" pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Pray do so." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "No, thank goodness, she did not." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several Pope's Court, Fleet Street." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Then, as to money?" "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again strode off upon his way. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she what I may call a really hard day's work." "And how did you verify them?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is to have been novel and of interest." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Countess of Morcar's?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' and looked back. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable