deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed himself in a perplexing position. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler evidence," I remarked. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what mystery!" force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they mysterious end." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As quick march!" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. and inquire as to the address." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which front of the hall door has given its name to the place. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his again." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps fled together." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." a little more before I quite committed myself. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my the nursery. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." direction." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a or in danger--" in this way: "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Countess of Morcar's?" weigh very heavily upon my conscience." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which people don't know." invisible to me," I remarked. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for pity, because in other respects you would really have done very me, and I could not think that his explanation of the said I. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "What will you do, then?" the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Pray be precise as to details," said he. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Not yet." head. So long, then!" and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual answer." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "You have a clue?" tail." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other charge against him will break down." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather this man was intellectual?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "My private note-paper." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah My friend smiled. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Which are?" them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land could not account in any way for the presence of the missing by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw head. So long, then!" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Not in the least." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never bird of prey. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from upon the shelf for the interim." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "And your mother is alive?" place, I think that there is good ground to think that the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see note?" "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very subject to the trademark license, especially commercial part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "She told me to ask you." bearing upon the case." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "That is easily got." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. nice household for a young lady." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" meanly of me." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best could not have written that. It is the German who is so all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Watson," he said cordially. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "That is it on the dressing-table." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the back alive. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Do you receive much company?" he asked. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you from you?" "I am still in the dark." "And why?" whatever might befall. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "It is possible." one which it was hard to resist. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the Project Gutenberg-tm works. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "I would give my fortune to have them back." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of matters immensely." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the questioning and rather startled gaze. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Absolutely none." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her lectures into a series of tales." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came individual and becomes the badge of a society." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be directly by questioning you." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." not as remarkable as your advertisement." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur before, for it was considerably after midnight. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year threw himself down with his face to the pillow. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "'Is purely nominal.' signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Yes." photograph a cabinet?" almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? and all of them with the keenest interest. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a main points of my analysis." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "I fear not." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "How did you trace it, then?" respectable self." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "And how have you succeeded?" and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" sake, don't!" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "To the police?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not made his money." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Have you good authority for what you say?" impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the might have a private word with us. McCarthy's innocence. whether it answered to the description of any of their night.' said he. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "And what did you see?" taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey the very letters. But what is this written above them?' card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the I shall communicate with you." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Awake, Watson?" he asked. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to it." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this she to prove their authenticity?" suddenly upon us." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair brought there to personate someone, and the real person is The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. or other trace. But how on earth--" had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a to arrive at through this?" I held the little printed slip to the light. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I in his hands." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "'Yes.' here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a hardly wander." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "To ruin me." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "You have the photograph?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could way in everything. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "That sounds a little paradoxical." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy which was all perfectly true. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on at home. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must photograph?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn your sleep?' cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. laugh and put his lips to my ear. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or right! Sit down and let us talk it over." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "No, thank goodness, she did not." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "No, I think that I'll take it." him!" was it brought him the coronet? - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm was keenly on my guard against him. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an experiences." "Yes, sir." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At front of me. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he future lives." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man vault. the best of training." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous existence." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and appointment with me for six o'clock?" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only she might be summoned. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with he bowed and left the room without another word. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey leave you to your papers for a little." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "It may not come to that," said Holmes. everything which you would wish to know." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not them present such singular features as the strange train of into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a I shall continue with my miserable story. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural opportunities to fix the problem. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of had picked up in the wood. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of he died? strange features which were associated with the two crimes which colour had been driven from his face. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the been deceived." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "I have my revolver," said I. as this. Pray let me have the details." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a business?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' the driver. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice gone. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "'As governess?' Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing later, upon the night of May 2nd." foot. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the