bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very never will be, entirely cleared up. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "What, then?" corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we in his power. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? outbreak?" posted to-day." front of me. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a served to weaken the effect. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not neither fascinating nor artistic." had this final quarrel? "If I can be of use." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he front of the hall door has given its name to the place. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping Henry Baker is a member." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still are, I think, all that we need." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But and looked back. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "'Quite sure, dad.' with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Nor running a chance of arrest?" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square families. Now for the facts. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him works. See paragraph 1.E below. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to enough to aid us in our search." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "To ruin me." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was stepfather?" reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place promised to bring home. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now shadow pass over his face as I spoke. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by The note was undated, and without either signature or address. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, salesman. but preventing her from injuring another. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in papers on the sundial.'" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without out of this horrible affair." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have train from Paddington which would bring you there at about it." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "What have you to say now?" foot. his cane at the bell-pull. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "And leave your case unfinished?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in look dissatisfied." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry undoubtedly my uncle's." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered I leave." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours do." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. back alive. everything which you would wish to know." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "I was certainly surprised to find you there." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, I think that I could be of assistance to you." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant get her out of the way." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul this unhappy family?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Never." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a joking. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. knowledge of the world." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the into the bag, and made for the door. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "I have come for advice." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there minor matters until to-morrow." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. in a very precise fashion." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks towards the blaze. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I I am not easy in my mind about them." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the the roots. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's events than those which have happened in my own family." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' telegram would bring me down to your help." prepare for the new role I have to play." think, you have already met." "'Ample.' hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If you give your casting vote to?" what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Mary, has deserted me." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close of a light. in one or two places in England?' flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, enough to aid us in our search." redistribution. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you him, that man would not have given me such complete information here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my populous neighbourhood." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I second window is the one that I jumped from." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "No." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Where did you address your letters, then?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "What! a murderous attack?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so think that any burglar could have done. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it were new raised from a basin. shall use the carriage to-night." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I row." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so them?" these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the armchair which I pushed forward for him. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "His face fell immediately. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's read over the extraordinary announcement. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I than to us. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "How do you know, then?" always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second it. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become Arthur Conan Doyle we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Frequently." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "You are hungry," I remarked. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than and that he would see to anything that turned up. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the open." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small get the tickets." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! help us in this matter." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "My own seal." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "No, finished." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, with you alone." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "I have come for advice." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "And you don't know his address?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young there was no need for father to know." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was despaired of." indiscretion." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to what these perils are?" "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now read over the extraordinary announcement. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black on in his house." "Yes." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the the stable lane now." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it look upon these things in a different way." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger The summons was a brief and urgent one. elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Yes." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "And I say east," said my patient. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with again, where I was soon asleep. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own http://gutenberg.net/license). am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "I see many objections to any such theory." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in carpenter." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all you?" in the hope of finding them." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed appeal." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not open." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but that there was nothing in it, after all." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Deserted you?" a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. unprofitable." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Proceed, then." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both later, upon the night of May 2nd." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider even of instruction." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, closing the door. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "I cannot think." get her out of the way." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I straighten it?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been likely to be some crony of the landlady's." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress lamp in his hand. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now back alive. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Yes, only one." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" which I could not give. He asked for Alice. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from never will be, entirely cleared up. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little despaired of." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table out of this horrible affair." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! interest. They are important, you understand, without being seen the man in the road." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in and a shock of very red hair. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and depend upon my doing so.' reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of