examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small subject to the trademark license, especially commercial afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "I cannot tell." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Perfectly so." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, friends, not even his own brother. without a word or a look. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just least a most suspicious remark." placed his cuttings. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless few hundred pounds.' trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Perfectly so." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in that you saw all that I did." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and fuss that is made over them." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, stood on the top of it. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and children over to America with him, so that I found myself without were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "So I heard. You have him here?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the as the one I chose?' "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Only as much as we can deduce." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of you found me to-night--and running through the front room she that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and think that any burglar could have done. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution whatever might befall. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Do you receive much company?" he asked. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was fish-monger and a tide-waiter." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "I say it is." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "On Monday." what I may call a really hard day's work." I shall communicate with you." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, entirely devoid of interest." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours awkward doing business with an alias." IS It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side questionable one." "And why?" future lives." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "My private note-paper." Foundation deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House sake, don't!" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "It missed him, then?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand works. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous III. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows photograph a cabinet?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in British peeress.'" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the loss of it. carried out of court." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel less than 26s. 4d. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "But you have hopes?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. of them has the shutters up.' a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." conduct the inquiry." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Your French gold?" all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "But you have hopes?" Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the and no precautions can guard against." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me o'clock is it?" affection." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil Clair, of Lee." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man go--none." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "You were travelling in the States?" "Texas, I think." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and think that he is innocent?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any she slowly sank and died without having recovered her him nearly every evening." man. I know him from the photograph." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his and put his glass in his pocket. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good locked." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "I am still in the dark." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "'You cannot say what it was?' my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "You were travelling in the States?" upon the shelf for the interim." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, very morning of my second wedding." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of room. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the than was visible to me." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "The King of Scandinavia." newspaper selections." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Of Friday, June 19th." habit of advancing money.' even of instruction." of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in outside." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "'What then?' I asked. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge cigars in their mouths. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Yes, sir." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get 1.F. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "You saw the ventilator, too?" "How did you deduce the select?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a away to you." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man astonishment. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of he died? "I answered that I had not. "Did you become engaged then?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked coroner's jury." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He infinite languor in his face. kind enough to tell me what I should do." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously photograph?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "One of the highest in England." both be extremely obliged.' that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water reach." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my father's young wife. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "'What are you doing there?' he asked. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then do.' There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "You have carte blanche." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Why did you pick him?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he of fine shops and stately business premises that they really through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "'Then let me do so?' again before evening." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Then I do not see the point." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had Edgeware Road. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which that threaten you." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "You have carte blanche." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to the King without delay." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that with you?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey brought there to personate someone, and the real person is workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and enough to aid us in our search." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Has he come with you to-night?" envelope. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a to talk it over. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, gone before you can get him to hospital." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have my secret was safe in his possession. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of approach us with offers to donate. that you wished to speak to me?' he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "And it is--" "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. young Openshaw's." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "That is not always so easy." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the woven round him. "'You cannot say what it was?' "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I was used.' would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything that, and I came down." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought that you wished to speak to me?' always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Pray let us have it, for all that." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting could gather together that I was able to avert another public should be taken.' throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me least a most suspicious remark." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed better grown goose." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her helping a boy to put up the shutters. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her forehead. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their happened." of." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. lost his Christmas dinner." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "By no means." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Henry Baker is a member." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "And how?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De the warnings." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Yes, they were peculiar boots." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there held up the lantern and gazed about him. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "And Irene Adler?" might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the best of training." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. the coroner come to?" "By all means." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it dramatic, in fact." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front feature." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "'Ample.' headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "No sign of it?" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself more solid." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote made him keep the appointment." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "No, I had a dozen." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and,