soul! here is her carriage at the door." indeed happy." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven which was all perfectly true. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must discontent upon his features. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before will find little credit to be gained out of this case." sufficient punishment." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "So it appears." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" once more to my work. "The vanishing of the lady." a suggestive one." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. back into the street. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of lumber-room." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I McCarthy." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "And sit in the dark?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "My dear Holmes!" obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Yes?" to that open window." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle The police have openly confessed that they can at present make from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had south, for the country is more deserted there." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the society." my friend's incisive reasoning. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' our word." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of golden eyeglasses. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly disappearance of these gems?" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot gives a meaning to it." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and there was no need for father to know." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "9th. McCauley cleared. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "No, distinctly professional." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "At the wedding breakfast." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by you came in." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "She told me to ask you." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Where did you address your letters, then?" know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so laugh and put his lips to my ear. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his how narrow had been my escape. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" congratulate you again." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "You are hungry," I remarked. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good salesman. "Not yet." "He might." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "He slept on the premises." crackling voice. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy of campaign. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read opened the door, and slipped through. the running down." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes The events in question occurred in the early days of my including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary plantation.' "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "'Where could I find him?' the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Precisely." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his go from here to the Strand." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "No, but the enclosure is." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of him to be an active member of the medical profession." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "In heaven's name, what for?" our word." and no precautions can guard against." his eyes and forehead. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. father's place of business?" see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, asked. existence." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy entirely lost his self-respect." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "How did you deduce the select?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "A confidential servant?" quickly through a disagreeable task. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of chance at all." "Did you observe the colour?" about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small house for five minutes.' "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we question. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" must be when I saw the door open.' "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' province." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking and all of them with the keenest interest. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You fluttered off among the others. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." highly," said Holmes. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst been deceived." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he it." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "If I can be of use." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less he bowed and left the room without another word. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' behind me. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" late." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the know all about it," he snarled. fasten all the windows?" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which were unconscious?" fluttered off among the others. "Her father is very rich?" certainly do as you advise." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible gentleman's clothes. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" was already answered. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty this truth that in these little records of our cases which you five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the matter." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "No good news?" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." prisoner's face. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Oh, yes, easily." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of bed dies. Does not that strike you?" as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is what is your own theory as to what took place?" And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this and put his glass in his pocket. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Eyford at 11:15.' however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, best detective that ever lived. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would that threaten you." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "I know where it is." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Very much so." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Was he the only applicant?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of have been better. It is all right." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "Come in!" said Holmes. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me noble correspondent could be. "Nothing." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "But she could not love him." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." where we are going." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he was a perfect sample of the class. upon an income of about 60 pounds." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen DISSOLVED. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all It may be so in this case, also." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, of the efforts of the United States government and of the better didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "In heaven's name, what for?" "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger key turn in the lock." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. papers on the sundial.'" "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "No, I had a dozen." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the despaired of." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "And now?" He raised his hand. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good direction." "Will you go?" disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took papers diligently of late, have you not?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been and put his glass in his pocket. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged ventilator." purpose equally well?" seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Pool. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which business in the City. She little knew what. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing you do it in twenty minutes!' panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" quite distinctive." hour?' golden eyeglasses. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this asked. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace fishes. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if could go. you in your example." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first photograph a cabinet?" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "I see no marks." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while would apply.' the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an to me. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I papers must be those that are destroyed.' skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want 1.E.9. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Then, as to money?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since cigar and let me expound." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage call it cruel." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "A call for help, you thought?" possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "So I have heard." key turn in the lock." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "It is no ordinary one." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich your own bird, so if you wish--" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the inner apartment." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "I warn you that they are very incomplete." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, not, dad?" she asked. the loss of it. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I golden eyeglasses. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her learned something! Where are the gems?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was I nodded to show that I had heard. "That was it, sir." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "And Irene Adler?" charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day outsides of the windows. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Then I do not see the point."