you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Yes, but only for you and me." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "No. What a strange idea!" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest wedding?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of imbecility!" he cried. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the lost nothing by them." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "'Yes, sir.' minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and married her." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off spare." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a pity, because in other respects you would really have done very was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong bachelor.' "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm taking in every detail of the apartment. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very the south-west, I see." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "He is still with you, I presume?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "You have it, sir, just as it happened." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast asked. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "I will do it." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "I would pay ten." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. directly by questioning you." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about foresight and the moral retrogression?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room more solid." and it need not interfere very much with one's other bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Why? What do you mean?" "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "You think so, too?" and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis your sleep?' prison!" "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable lost nothing by them." "What shall I do?" there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is himself to tell his story. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he fat-encircled eyes. my former friend and companion. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his me what he had done with the three missing stones. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Never." for securing the situation." faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made round and wave him away like that.' Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "No, distinctly professional." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some door?" I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which and effective." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" the coroner come to?" in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Was he the only applicant?" "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in singular points about the case. What did the police think of the impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a quite distinctive." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager the devil!" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in congenial hunt. meant it for the best. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, of Mr. Rucastle's." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "Have you it here?" "But she will refuse." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." questioning and rather startled gaze. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "You will not go there first?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since lost his Christmas dinner." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The anything to a woman, for she would have her way." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the fait accompli?" finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face clang of the bell. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "It is possible." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an individual and becomes the badge of a society." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry coroner's jury." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "'In my own bureau.' that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Ten will be early enough." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If any little problem which you may submit to me." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? your billet.' "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in them?" 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "My private note-paper." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret that you can jump it.' and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I stammered. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Oh, yes, easily." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Very truly yours, lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "'What, the red-headed man?' closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they outbreak?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From outbreak?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Of what day?" by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "From his hat?" "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "And Miss Sutherland?" change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case guilty parties." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we again before evening." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a comes from the middle window." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney away to you." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the lamp in his hand. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He nights." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and walking." astonishment. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." feature." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit to tackle the facts." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "That is easily got." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "My own seal." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some to affect your life." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "No sign of it?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a is entirely a question of barometric pressure." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Then you may be so with me." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came which was all perfectly true. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from written. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall there!' overpowering excitement and concern. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been Henry Baker is a member." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must there!' keep the flames under. kind enough to tell me what I should do." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced felt the room to be a little close.' Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "That is not always so easy." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah gentleman's clothes. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." be.' yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I a good hundred miles off by now." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy and the whole place is in a blaze." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course intimate personal affairs in this public manner." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His ill-usage at the hands of fortune. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "'It is locked up,' I answered. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. not as remarkable as your advertisement." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding is four-and-twenty." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "None." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Entirely." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Yes." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was status with the IRS. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John enter into my head. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." redistribution. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my his knees, staring into the fire. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. other means.' Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been gives a meaning to it." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There outside." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as affection." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' his wife has ceased to love him." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. meanly of me." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "And did you observe any change in her then?" description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, least a most suspicious remark." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "No bad?" and the colonel ushered me in. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would success. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "It is very clear." Watson," he said cordially. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "Which are?" "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without been with you?" keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Yes, the wine-cellar." "That also I could fathom." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Eh? What was that?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "And who is her maid?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated of fine shops and stately business premises that they really surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "And why in hopes?" the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "What will you do, then?" the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me brandy and water within his reach. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Oh, the cause is excellent!" country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being she to prove their authenticity?" "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. at a side door. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I