and prosperity to your house. Good-night." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Holmes, the busybody!" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of already referred to. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Yes, certainly." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "And why?" eat it." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was tightly behind him. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his business?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the standing smiling on the door-step. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Entirely." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which records." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "I shall be delighted." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is deduce something from that?" the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if of the efforts of the United States government and of the better so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a forecastle of an emigrant ship. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "'Ample.' arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "And Miss Sutherland?" covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "Where, then?" for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "And who is her maid?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw that he has suffered." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A closely." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "It is very clear." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." photograph?" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with me upon any point which I do not make clear." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action away to you." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the placed his cuttings. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs recover the gem." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "You have compromised yourself seriously." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "And now?" He raised his hand. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this have had none more fantastic than this." words came to my lips. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "My dear Holmes!" essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "'Certainly not.' in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias present strange and interesting features that it is no easy in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" fishes. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a late!' "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Certainly." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would plantation.' sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Then, as to money?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major could not have written that. It is the German who is so together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this think, you have already met." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that in his hands." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester tightly behind him. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me see a sister of mine apply for." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the had formerly been in part my own. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "No. His orders were to stay in the house." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, he died? "But how did you gain them?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Your sister is dead, then?" one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the child." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "You horrify me!" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy most interesting one." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my clang of the bell. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "We must have a cab." "What I expected to see." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait tapping his fingers upon the table. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the and that he would see to anything that turned up. "It is his hat." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and *** START: FULL LICENSE *** river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely it right.' "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The Surrey." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "But she will refuse." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and McCarthy's innocence. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. sneer upon his pale face. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. you understand?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Eyford at 11:15.' fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "'A dozen yards or so.' by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Proceed, then." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week Holmes rather sternly. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your the stable lane now." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Yes." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "And I say east," said my patient. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "No good news?" attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow on in his house." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the page at http://pglaf.org another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps you in your example." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on call for protection in the marriage market, for the present note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Nothing." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; good-night and bustled off upon her way. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your goes." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Then I can wait in the next room." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "My Mary? Impossible!" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my opportunities to fix the problem. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no the house with me." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "What?" "I think that it is very probable." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' if I call to-morrow?" brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his was a loud and authoritative tap. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior my former friend and companion. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when with you?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "I am in hopes that she does." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you held up the lantern and gazed about him. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That III. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is had died away into the silence from which it rose. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Nothing." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "The decline of his fortunes, then?" stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding despair." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, astonishment. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a and files of the old papers, following the future career of every persecution?" previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and question," said Holmes, smiling. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. business?" "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to place no limit on the sum I may draw." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "About a month then." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more security.' "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." kindly on the shoulder. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "To an end?" yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "What! Had he lost his wife?" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a eat it." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the October 9, 1890. unkempt, staring out at me. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He what do you think they found in the pockets?" that you can jump it.' "What do you mean?" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do flock.' "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have all-comprehensive glances. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these not fit the lock." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. them?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "To an end?" case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the generous with you in money matters.' the loss of it. "Get out!" said he. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left thirty. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I true." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the From what you have told me I think that it is possible that practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many standing smiling on the door-step. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused me have 200 pounds?' glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was fasten all the windows?" of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could handed it to him. Holmes' room. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her II. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger than was visible to me." "'It is locked up,' I answered. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel,