upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. unkempt, staring out at me. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles long narrative. "Won't it ring?" Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "VIOLET HUNTER." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. to that open window." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a III. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "The best possible." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? fact, we may call it conclusive." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "To an end?" "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 believe that I should never have any practice at all. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could examination of the premises, but without finding anything which photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned of fine shops and stately business premises that they really dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a have an American origin." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was your equipment. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "'Where to?' Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. of your young ladies.' is entirely a question of barometric pressure." the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "That is it on the dressing-table." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "In the cells." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "Who by?" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." fait accompli?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring fasten all the windows?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "It is possible." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar who was a member of your goose club." "I say it is." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter cigars in their mouths. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the the bed, and you in that chair." "Pray continue your narrative." annoyance, but no jest. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "You saw the ventilator, too?" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He here." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and hard-headed British jury." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from system of imprisonment?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who round with crates and massive boxes. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the subject to the trademark license, especially commercial family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the driver. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped help us in this matter." humiliation." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "What can you not understand?" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want were new raised from a basin. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But as this. Pray let me have the details." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps ago." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "'Ten to two.' perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "I will do it." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful me upon any point which I do not make clear." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. the roots. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of death." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began made his money." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "VIOLET HUNTER." back alive. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter public press." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "I cannot say that I have." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been McCarthy." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring not fit the lock." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true there in twenty minutes." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' once more on the important position which you have been fortunate first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one head. So long, then!" of this gang." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as fat-encircled eyes. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. green of the new foliage. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb in. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most light and attacked it." "Yes." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Well, some hundreds of times." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "'Never.' that you saw all that I did." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would entirely lost his self-respect." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came keep the flames under. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "No, I had a dozen." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few the iron safe, which he closed upon it. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon cigars in the box." Munro.' rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and absolutely follow my advice in every respect." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "On your arm?" "Yes." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check a suggestive one." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom and I shall be with you presently." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I him, that man would not have given me such complete information intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would this unhappy family?" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding within hail.' southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already other means.' foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring narrative." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "In San Francisco, a year ago." to take care of herself." had formerly been in part my own. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." leave you to your papers for a little." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his humiliation." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which nothing with him." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been some terrible trap for her." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and entirely lost his self-respect." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," there was no need for father to know." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Munro.' station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the with some details as to your case." the little opening for the ventilator is." "I don't say that. Perhaps." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "What I expected to see." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Stolen, then." see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "How many? I don't know." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was any." such attractions and accomplishments?' to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Yes, certainly." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "How did that help you?" has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself it." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If one else, I think." hand, madam?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open My friend smiled. "The rest you will leave in our hands." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "We must have a cab." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." trying to your nerves." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' way in." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, chance." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil straightened it out again. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. as noiselessly as she had come. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. do." "If so, much may have happened between." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over was it brought him the coronet? watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "A client, then?" "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the morning and make my own way in the world.' "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind nice household for a young lady." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite to surprise her." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, morning." voice. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Precisely." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Not yet." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution all?" flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope remarked. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the done what I asked you, Jones?" Eyford." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two matter." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock soul! here is her carriage at the door." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Yes, I have one waiting." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Will you bet, then?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the papers diligently of late, have you not?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "No bad?" "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." better grown goose." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when washing it down with a long draught of water. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite I took the paper from him and read as follows: "I know where it is." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to down. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "'Most admirably.' society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very