the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Always." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they and wait." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached tell me that you intended to go into harness." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "Did your wife hear all this?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our to you." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "So I have heard." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not address. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled and it need not interfere very much with one's other was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe that?' Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' notes," he said. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United not as remarkable as your advertisement." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "'Yes, it was gone.' as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a the loss of it. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which seven miles from Eyford Station.' about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a my little problems." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "'You cannot say what it was?' "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly again, where I was soon asleep. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is o'clock is it?" then?" were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Was she in good spirits?" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, despair." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, arms and began to sob in a high treble key. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the pressing in one house as in another. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, have I gained?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very sit on the left-hand side of the driver." 1.E.9. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Sholtos." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with taking in every detail of the apartment. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must case before our client came into the room." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "The gentleman I describe." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then my secret was safe in his possession. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. not as remarkable as your advertisement." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were in this note: to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." gone. "What, then, did Peterson do?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Only as much as we can deduce." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "In heaven's name, what for?" years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass questioning and rather startled gaze. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "The rest you will leave in our hands." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." stepfather?" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, with you alone." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Then the page we have seen--" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an said I. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to like gravel from a pit.' his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "I think that I had better go, Holmes." grasp, he hurried from the room. father's place of business?" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all residence of the great financier. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "'Ten to two.' McCarthy's innocence. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Yes, only one." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly she has been waylaid. There has been no result." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and soul! here is her carriage at the door." village inn over there?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will which I could not give. He asked for Alice. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny The events in question occurred in the early days of my and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," him, that man would not have given me such complete information be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Lestrade of Scotland Yard." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "And why in hopes?" employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his out of this horrible affair." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will before, for it was considerably after midnight. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Precisely." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he married her." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. My friend smiled. telegram would bring me down to your help." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that the iron safe, which he closed upon it. affection." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I straightened it out again. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "I think that it is very probable." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled like that before?" directly by questioning you." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "I cannot tell." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "'Certainly,' I answered. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Not yet." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "It is half-past ten now." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! breakfast and whispered something to her husband. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "In the cells." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew lamp. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "No." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Married! When?" supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial infinite languor in his face. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly he. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR about here speaks of his kindness to him." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must at once, for I have only half an hour." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet interested in these little problems, and since you are good "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple morning." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of held up the lantern and gazed about him. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a house for five minutes.' "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Deserted you?" Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you his knees, staring into the fire. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. figure." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," business in the City. She little knew what. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser to arrive at through this?" be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide late." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret it were putty." copied or distributed: and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You horrify me." "But we can't all be." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "What! You do not mean bodies?" from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so one of them." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are stood on the top of it. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to a good hundred miles off by now." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the was keenly on my guard against him. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "My own seal." "Very much so." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt the night.' the matter." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "'Quite sure, dad.' an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "We must sit without light. He would see it through the the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "At half-wages, in fact." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my had died away into the silence from which it rose. him. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, she might be summoned. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Nothing?" For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or later, upon the night of May 2nd." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a never will be, entirely cleared up. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open the side-table." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at were new raised from a basin. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "No, thank goodness, she did not." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not examine." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am six. Come in!" then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your ashen face. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "I see many objections to any such theory." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked For additional contact information: in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' be sorry for having acted so harshly." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman nonsense.' yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "I saw her in conversation with her maid." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my feature." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was impression behind it as though a window had gently closed annoyance, but no jest. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, carriage. It was a chestnut." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and any more." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the way: "And you don't know his address?" and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you least a fellow-countryman. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to the house with me." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the my secret was safe in his possession. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other appeared upon the scene." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own God! What an exposure! What can I do?" pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money.