"He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "'Yes, I promise.' "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain right! Sit down and let us talk it over." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal once more. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival you came in." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are outside." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Ha! you find it so?" The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from and laid it on the table. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the For additional contact information: and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the fuss that is made over them." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, it." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed locked." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. of campaign. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, other lovers by making love himself." fattened it expressly for you.' "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should several quiet little villages up there." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Precisely so. But how--" son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would never came back." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran straighten it?" plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire house for five minutes.' do.' "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side whatever might befall. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, point in the dark hollow of his hand. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "So I heard. You have him here?" Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." occupations.' wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the nursery. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my there were so many in the whole country as were brought together The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I fear not." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the room had already been engaged for us. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few hereditary King of Bohemia." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It and all of them with the keenest interest. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, felt the room to be a little close.' "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may of Mr. Rucastle's." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight yourselves in at night?" and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "When did it break out?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me little adventures." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Yes." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Did you observe the colour?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private were wasted." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted is worth.' Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Absolutely?" to me. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and will not take me long to tell. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the fishes. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions to have been novel and of interest." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it his wife has ceased to love him." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my placed his cuttings. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our conduct the inquiry." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "And you can do nothing until then?" his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never some place of shelter and let the county police know what has them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, showing my impatience. "Who by?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in fait accompli?" "Ten will be early enough." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "On the contrary, this is the right side." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very like that before?" read it out to me." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. hurried away. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest shoulder; "he's all right." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, said he, "my real name is James Ryder." you." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place and all of them with the keenest interest. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." existence." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "How are you getting on?" to Leatherhead. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand I held the little printed slip to the light. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "If I can be of use." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner should be so warm over such a trifle." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. John Swain, of St. Augustine. shall use the carriage to-night." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, written, and locked the door of the office after me. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the seven miles from Eyford Station.' "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Eh? What was that?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some himself to tell his story. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any nonsense.' livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "I am armed." begun to whiten, even as mine has." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "I see no marks." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at clanging. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Awake, Watson?" he asked. sound at heart." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to an introduction to him?" "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 place no limit on the sum I may draw." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in and the colonel ushered me in. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At nothing of it?" "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Well, it is a possible supposition." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "He said that you could solve anything." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough bedroom door." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go the general public were present, then?" James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to discontent upon his features. which was all perfectly true. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and Pool. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "And is that all?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "'Tell me all about it,' said I. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "We must sit without light. He would see it through the that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to maid will bring up your coffee." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Of Friday, June 19th." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary mysterious end." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "'Where to?' Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Dr. Becher's." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "But you were on a friendly footing?" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the child." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his at once, for I have only half an hour." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises might help us?" "'What are you doing there?' he asked. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his to talk it over. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing bill, which interests me deeply." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "One of the highest in England." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "And help." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Countess of Morcar's?" Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "'Entirely.' the King without delay." happened." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper The note was undated, and without either signature or address. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed investigation." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "BALLARAT." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "But the mystery?" of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, room?" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Holmes' thin, eager face. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "I cannot say that I have." "Yes, the wine-cellar." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "'Never.' His smile broadened. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' off." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of here and I will read it to you: away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "'Yes.' attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out Doctor, of the paper and the date." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "The King of Scandinavia." that you saw all that I did." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "And I." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course stalked out of the room. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without so far?" imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw friend's singular character. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. unprecedented a position." must compliment you." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "And why?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Precisely."