air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my the bottom.' "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very strength in the others." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious father's young wife. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press breakfast." the matter." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That closely." "I fear not." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "And how?" grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet is," said he presently: nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my of your young ladies.' after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been have been better. It is all right." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "No, I had a dozen." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "'How far from the body?' blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in this remarkable episode. present." "And sit in the dark?" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, public press." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg you." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Perhaps we may make them less so." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who definite end. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "'I am sure that I do not know.' "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any the ceiling. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. when your master had gone out." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. me what he had done with the three missing stones. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" cup of tea. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was most important business. It is probable that he will be away all very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "But how could you guess what the motive was?" pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible you came in." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between burst into a hearty fit of laughter. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "What! a murderous attack?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by that, and I came down." "'A dozen yards or so.' "No, I am descending." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Holmes rather sternly. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the the one as in the other." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. neither fascinating nor artistic." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Then you may be so with me." shaken than I had ever seen him. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an papers on the sundial.'" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "What will you say?" as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of certainly do as you advise." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story brandy and water within his reach. in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near occurred." "Get out!" said he. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right himself to hunt down. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates house for five minutes.' drove away. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "What shall I do?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Henry Baker is a member." "Certainly." be there in time for your coming." any little problem which you may submit to me." be.' gives a meaning to it." held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if written, and locked the door of the office after me. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. 11:15.' and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "It certainly sounds feasible." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an eavesdroppers?' "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "No, finished." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." suspect him." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the so-precious time, but come!' "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain there has been an enclosure here!" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is views." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and vault. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press For additional contact information: your room." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "One?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Yes, at the mines." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "No, finished." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in anything to a woman, for she would have her way." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Absolutely?" "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "It is no ordinary one." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, keep the flames under. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "No." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, are, and they are waiting for us." head. So long, then!" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. dead, shall be safe with us." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently country, and eventually married, without anyone having a with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project along the entire front of the house, with three long windows it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." morning." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "That is not always so easy." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Nothing." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the a monotonous occupation." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a in a very precise fashion." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from me." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from here." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "No?" "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when behind me. "Precisely." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his one which it was hard to resist. them, and came down just as you departed. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do It may be so in this case, also." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Ten will be early enough." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "My private note-paper." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he prisoner's face. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand hurried away. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet congratulate you again." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am country, and eventually married, without anyone having a and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "So I am. Very much so." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal place no limit on the sum I may draw." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot chance at all." and effective." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know morning." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which followed. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under head. So long, then!" it? Did I buy the geese off you?" and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." whole matter to your consideration." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" address. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Holmes." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead himself to hunt down. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug had a long day." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As the driver. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Lee, in the county of Kent." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "I cannot imagine." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a congenial hunt. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "'And what salary do you ask?' admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that crackling voice. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her you give your casting vote to?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "No, but the enclosure is." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which in darkness. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? upon a handsome competence. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "It must be recovered." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek along the entire front of the house, with three long windows several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." in a friendly supper." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood in my life." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year this unhappy family?" "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose purpose of examination. other lovers by making love himself." you, my dear young lady?' purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a he. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was