questionable one." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. distinguish the words: "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "What is it, then--a fire?" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "You'll never persuade me to believe that." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "What!" he roared. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a one which it was hard to resist. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers plantation.' "It may not come to that," said Holmes. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving compunction about shooting them down." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his Pool. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "The doctor?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Have you good authority for what you say?" "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon closely." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. have not had my rubber." and put his glass in his pocket. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure I took the paper from him and read as follows: large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a visitors." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." him." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the detained." something of him before." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes I have it here in my museum." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "The vanishing of the lady." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Quite so." attention." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or about. "How can you tell that?" Literary Archive Foundation "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had have accepted such a situation. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a pressing in one house as in another. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss during which he might have communicated with his friend the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "My last client of the sort was a king." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six key of the affair now." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "How many? I don't know." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low and looked back. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a This is what he says: foresight and the moral retrogression?" and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. cheerful." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, there in twenty minutes." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I leaning back in his chair. charged with?" ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat was a lad." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. papers diligently of late, have you not?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Holmes rather sternly. "'I have already given you my word.' name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning my special province." straighten it?" "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply companion imperturbably. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in drove away. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands make me his representative both with the servants and with the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his my room." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, and all of them with the keenest interest. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," bird I ate is country bred." less than 26s. 4d. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "How did you trace it, then?" produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." is acting for the best. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "She walked into the breakfast-room." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "No." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest washing it down with a long draught of water. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which I am not easy in my mind about them." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Holmes' thin, eager face. McCarthy." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case all?" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "No." way in." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "I fear not." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Were they all fastened this morning?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at impression behind it as though a window had gently closed of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which any little problem which you may submit to me." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." Mary, has deserted me." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he wedding?" "And the murderer?" houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" to miss it." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the business in the City. She little knew what. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the upon the white wrist. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done interest. They are important, you understand, without being through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon breakfast." guilty one." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked all that?" "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some should be so warm over such a trifle." think, you have already met." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and handed it to him. acquaintance?" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too to miss it." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "And what then?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an me where it went to?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all said he. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "I guessed as much." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who and looked back. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Clair, of Lee." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but been anything against him. He had for years been known as a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Very murderous indeed." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in yet." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled face and glided from the room. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months away to you." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your to Leatherhead. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted mystery!" because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Then he might have called to you?" "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged at home. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the which it had come upon my father." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony suddenly upon us." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried kind enough to tell me what I should do." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. have established a very serious case against the son of the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Then, as to money?" winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right main points of my analysis." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' the general public were present, then?" you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day one which it was hard to resist. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it to-night." "Yes." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be fluttered off among the others. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Won't it ring?" "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper and that he would see to anything that turned up. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake passage and a tap at the door. your equipment. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "And what then?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the like gravel from a pit.' appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should bearing upon the case." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax bearing upon the case." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about have accepted such a situation. prisoner's face. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon examination of the premises, but without finding anything which with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who morning." some city in a dream. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as My friend smiled. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "That's no good." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his bearing upon the case." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. has little to do with my story." your own bird, so if you wish--" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with the driver. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "'What do you call purely nominal?' have not had my rubber." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "On the contrary, this is the right side." wife's character?" into the bag, and made for the door. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. matter." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "By all means." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.