we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "In which, sir?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old man. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. me what he had done with the three missing stones. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "You will not go there first?" During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his unclasping of his long thin hands. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas What do you deduce from it?" story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss chance." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or least a most suspicious remark." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "Why did you beat the pavement?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" extraordinary contortions. "Stolen, then." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing province." "Yes." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as Sholtos." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting there!' "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and upon an income of about 60 pounds." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "What have you to say now?" Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from directors, with the result that you have seen." "Stolen, then." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even weighed down with some great anxiety. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled thought that she would have been so carried away." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, to a more successful conclusion." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "My dear Holmes!" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the and no precautions can guard against." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able lost nothing by them." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "In the cells." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I astonishment. Countess of Morcar's?" our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back Heh?' thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Witness: I must still refuse. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "But I am all in the dark." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "You forget that I know nothing about it." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "'Yes, I promise.' have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. advice." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" followed. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Yes." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if this Miss Turner." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at details." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his giving me time to thank him. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "You will not go there first?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been know what is wrong with it.' "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the extraordinary contortions. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through constraint." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he to change my dress. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Stolen." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you all-comprehensive glances. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he was feeling which was the fattest.' "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Of what day?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "And what then?" "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. like that before?" in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door opened the door, and slipped through. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "But it has twice been burgled." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at I shall continue with my miserable story. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine From what you have told me I think that it is possible that twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten shoulder. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so lectures into a series of tales." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "No?" already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; the tragedy. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my this man was intellectual?" as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter himself to tell his story. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on the so-precious time, but come!' "Thank you. And your address?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an bearing upon the case." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "From his hat?" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly his forehead." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced will take you up to see the machine.' drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? The note was undated, and without either signature or address. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us footfalls from the street. there was no need for father to know." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Your French gold?" an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his friends, not even his own brother. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "On Monday." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Come in!" said Holmes. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "My stepfather's business papers." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "What is it, then--a fire?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one despair." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "No." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where http://gutenberg.net/license). "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek never will be, entirely cleared up. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's hour?' in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Watson," he said cordially. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." province." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque this unhappy family?" heavily into it. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "My dear Holmes!" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "One horse?" interjected Holmes. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of giving me time to thank him. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the never will be, entirely cleared up. "I have a cab outside." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "I was certainly surprised to find you there." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" in darkness. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "'There is a drive, then?' confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are a very grave face. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my better in every way that they should make their position a little pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more paper in the air. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster of your young ladies.' round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my lost his Christmas dinner." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "What can it mean?" I gasped. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said hand, madam?" request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "Of what?" "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "I am armed." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a compunction about shooting them down." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "What shall I do?" "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "You did not overhear what they said?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a goes." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. without a word or a look. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Who was the criminal, then?" "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which upon the sideboard." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, to tell." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. delirious. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "And how did he make his money?" see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "By all means." Sutherland?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "'Is purely nominal.' which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A indeed happy." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to dear old homesteads?" providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to without a word or a look. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know hair?' to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of chemical work which was so dear to him. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "You have a clue?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at national property. I was determined that the law should have its saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and