isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Yes." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by anything to do with the matter?" on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and strength." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was my friend's incisive reasoning. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good that you saw all that I did." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to four million human beings all jostling each other within the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "'What do you call purely nominal?' can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all even so self-evident a thing as that." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the them?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really one's self under obligations.' making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Ah!" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the your troubles." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, is," said he presently: papers." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Yes, the wine-cellar." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "It is very kind of you." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to best detective that ever lived. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill in the port of London." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "That is not always so easy." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in strength of mind to control. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when of the one which your family is now devouring." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need if only as a check to my own memory." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy 'I should be able to look after that for you.' contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Certainly." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her acted in my house last night?" metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera him. and looked back. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He asked. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands not fit the lock." the general public were present, then?" summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had might have a private word with us. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Now, then, what's the last entry?" bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "None." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "Yes, only one." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "'Entirely.' legal crime." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "What office?" Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It residence of the great financier. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us have one." "Your presence might be invaluable." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he how narrow had been my escape. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you even of instruction." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! arrangements." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "That is it on the dressing-table." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new kindly on the shoulder. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination strength." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in before, for it was considerably after midnight. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the my little problems." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I individual and becomes the badge of a society." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "'Not at all. I only doubt--' Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "I was afraid that you were engaged." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a residence of the great financier. Watson," he said cordially. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or frequently gained my first real insight into the character of active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "Pray do so." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. must compliment you." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "And on what day did he meet his death?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and ourselves in the office." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some The note was undated, and without either signature or address. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the he bowed and left the room without another word. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and You can understand that this register and diary may implicate Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still wife's character?" "Very well, sir. And this stone?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "You are certainly joking, Holmes." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I there was no need for father to know." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the in the port of London." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips rat could hardly pass through." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely out of this horrible affair." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "No." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "And Miss Sutherland?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "'Yes, sir.' "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on noble correspondent could be. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, imbecility!" he cried. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily quick march!" left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more said he. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and whereabouts. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and you." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any if I call to-morrow?" erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the Edgeware Road. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, then?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner the salesman. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "You don't mind breaking the law?" "At half-wages, in fact." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with orange pips. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and corner of the building. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "None." with you alone." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "At half-wages, in fact." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper felt the room to be a little close.' unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." once more to my work. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so people in all walks of life. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the you give your casting vote to?" "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "And that is--" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known noise which awoke you from your sleep?" carried out of court." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if since then to throw any light upon what became of him." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. certainly not very gracious." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid of a light. "And I." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client of this gang." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes observed. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a the salesman. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," ready to-morrow?' wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to thirty. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "I am sure." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" this man was intellectual?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "'Then let me do so?' That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar read over the extraordinary announcement. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the the inquest, and which are worth considering." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were attention." any." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest joking. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "I have my revolver," said I. death." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to spare." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are if only as a check to my own memory." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in the nursery. "What I expected to see." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and feature." "Won't it ring?" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to this truth that in these little records of our cases which you could gather together that I was able to avert another public joking. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Yes." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "What?" roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to Holmes." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, she to prove their authenticity?" the side-table." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "I should wish to." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress go back?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached awaited us upon the table. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "And the murderer?" fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "And leave your case unfinished?" hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help handed it to him. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun