not, dad?" she asked. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return said I. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "To ruin me." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "That is easily got." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "I see no marks." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the pictures, libraries, or plate. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I again before evening." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you what I may call a really hard day's work." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "But it has twice been burgled." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled side. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the signal between you and your father? "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness of the efforts of the United States government and of the better very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent into the room. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at which our visitor detailed to us. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "If so, much may have happened between." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. see a sister of mine apply for." "And what did you see?" refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she will not take me long to tell. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between have an American origin." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as fear." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." was it brought him the coronet? may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this was not a bird to be seen there. "Was he the only applicant?" ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of it means?" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." said he at last. that he has suffered." promised to bring home. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to weary and pale-looking. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your 11:15.' many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for attention." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "The rest you will leave in our hands." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas at once, for I have only half an hour." there was no need for father to know." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to It was close upon four before the door opened, and a which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the started for the Temple to see my husband. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "A greater distance to travel." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. drove away. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "Just look it up, then." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be pound a week." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "We must have a cab." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left mysterious end." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the go back?" kind enough to tell me what I should do." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his not personally threatened." knowledge of the world." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the again, where I was soon asleep. "Stolen, then." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended you." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical new duties?' as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in brandy and water within his reach. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "What can it mean?" I gasped. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. enter into my head. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been to some other building. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that locked." amused." other, as fresh and trim as possible. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has one of them." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no presume?" Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil best detective that ever lived. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by one of the states of the Union." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "And from a noble client?" leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "No, thank goodness, she did not." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. some water from a caraffe. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "It looks newer than the other things?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "It is very clear." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "'I shall certainly be there.' an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit likely to be some crony of the landlady's." wedding?" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Breckinridge is his name." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "On your arm?" is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my washing it down with a long draught of water. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "The knees of his trousers." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at residence of the great financier. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can success. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." think that he is innocent?" printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "That was it, sir." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, there has been an enclosure here!" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "And Miss Sutherland?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this careless servant girl?" passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned allusion to a rat. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted I approached. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "How often?" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across the ceiling. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Did your wife hear all this?" his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid frequently gained my first real insight into the character of room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "'Where to?' bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Yes." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "But she could not love him." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." have I gained?" wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow humiliation." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "It is his hat." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left writer." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the business." visitors." "I know where it is." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend vanished into the darkness. baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. I think that I could be of assistance to you." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have second window is the one that I jumped from." was a loud and authoritative tap. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to you understand?" sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "What is it, then--a fire?" "I don't say that. Perhaps." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. was already answered. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense himself to hunt down. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Where, indeed?" seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard hopeless attempt at recovering them." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "What can you not understand?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "He said that you could solve anything." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which discontent upon his features. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the within hail.' "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Yes." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "It goes to the housekeeper's room." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." true." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of dead, shall be safe with us." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your her also." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "'Not at all. I only doubt--' The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. the ceiling. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "She told me to ask you." Lee, in the county of Kent." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which bled considerably." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." skylight. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. six. Come in!" "What!" he roared. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem undoubtedly my uncle's." "Certainly." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and few hundred pounds.' while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "It is very clear." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head the room while you explain this matter?" Leave Paddington by the 11:15." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "In which, sir?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had