"He said too much." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "My opinion is in no way altered." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some from you?" morning." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one yourselves in at night?" it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the iron safe, which he closed upon it. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his throat." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that sake, don't!" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some did not hear it also.' full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "It is very clear." success. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "How did you deduce the select?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a power." "It was an hour's good drive." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Yes, it would be as well." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "I saw her in conversation with her maid." remarked. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "'And the work?' matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "'Certainly,' I answered. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker villagers almost as much as their master. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. arrested. You then--" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this returning from some small jollification and was making his way along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "And you don't know his address?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO throat." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. as noiselessly as she had come. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would success. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and crackling voice. depend upon my doing so.' locked." "Here?" considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so tell me that you intended to go into harness." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my fattened it expressly for you.' "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "My photograph." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Yes. He waved his hands." for the market.' "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "We must sit without light. He would see it through the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a said Mr. Holder. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand appointment with me for six o'clock?" strong and stiff." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing other, as fresh and trim as possible. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some bird I ate is country bred." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her careless servant girl?" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not events, Mr. Windibank!" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Well, some hundreds of times." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "And your mother is alive?" "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these best detective that ever lived. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, once more to my work. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, to a more successful conclusion." "It missed him, then?" much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Not him." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "But he might be a bachelor." "'Most admirably.' "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon of a light. "Ah!" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." second." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try intrusion of other matters." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Indeed! Whose, then?" then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that daring than any effort of the imagination." said I. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "Well, but China?" this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the know all about it," he snarled. had this final quarrel? papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we of." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Was she in good spirits?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "So I am. Very much so." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was knowledge of the world." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he said he. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no of them has the shutters up.' memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it to-night?' the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in said I. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be breakfast." had a long day." to-night?" I asked. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." drawing your inferences." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "Yesterday." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the orange pips. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend one else, I think." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly populous neighbourhood." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her other means.' with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so open." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If morning." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit Eyford at 11:15.' "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. infinite languor in his face. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we have got?" "And I say east," said my patient. Project Gutenberg-tm works. had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have certainly not very gracious." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Lestrade of Scotland Yard." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "May I see it?" obstinate." floor. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other John Swain, of St. Augustine. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three and that he would see to anything that turned up. advice." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that fatally injured? as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Very much so." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon my friend's incisive reasoning. "He is dead," cried several voices. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. man. I know him from the photograph." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll morning." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is asked. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Upon what point?" now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Arthur Conan Doyle have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem and have this put in the evening papers." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at that you wished to speak to me?' "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Yes, all." she to prove their authenticity?" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "You think that he is dead?" gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in there was no need for father to know." were wasted." "That was it, sir." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long not fit the lock." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man ill-usage at the hands of fortune. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began here and I will read it to you: "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my voice, changing her seat as requested. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Did he not advertise?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall until night should bring an explanation. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a handed it to him. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my as this. Pray let me have the details." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "And for present expenses?" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "And how have you succeeded?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Which are?" shadow pass over his face as I spoke. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I him to be an active member of the medical profession." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Entirely." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel imbecility!" he cried. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have that?' actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make and no precautions can guard against." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make strength in the others." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Where, then, is my wife?" advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had once more for Briony Lodge. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the Stoke Moran." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment some water from a caraffe. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't looking up at the numbers of the houses." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of have an American origin." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap astonishment. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "No." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "I am armed." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "A thing like a cleaver," said he. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the the best of training." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. views." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself depend upon my doing so.' fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out get the tickets." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Was he the only applicant?" garden below. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "But what harm can there be in that?" come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I presume?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. bears upon the case?" were wasted." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your