paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Then you may be so with me." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was said Mr. Holder. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it of this gang." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the me where it went to?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is out of this horrible affair." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the acted in my house last night?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Stoke Moran?" said he. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some friend's singular character. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "But to whom?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' more terrible than the truth. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down him nearly every evening." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the coroner come to?" 11:15.' daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Do you go out much in society?" slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the very morning of the wedding." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with I leave." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "That is also quite modern," said the lady. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond tell him that I know him to be innocent." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father burst out into a roar of laughter. night.' said he. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "How on earth--" Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, horse could go." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was been shamefully used." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when generous with you in money matters.' on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you newspaper selections." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, and shall probably return to London by the evening train." nights." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, occurred." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, always that they were such commands as a lady might with better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I opened a pocket-book and took out a note. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to have had none more fantastic than this." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "What shall I do?" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, himself to hunt down. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Of what?" neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "'Ample.' prison!" him to go away.' unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "And help." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen you." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, money should be paid at once.' it." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." in the hope of finding them." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and Holmes. "Very truly yours, the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, detained." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "Do you receive much company?" he asked. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Come in!" said he. read over the extraordinary announcement. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one him!" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged even so self-evident a thing as that." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was Munro.' God! What an exposure! What can I do?" very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Yes." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." of receipt of the work. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "But you were on a friendly footing?" you, my dear young lady?' "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "The King of Scandinavia." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in his forehead." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "When did it break out?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "What have you done?" asked Holmes. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of not use it unless it is absolutely needed." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really back alive. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, more solid." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am enter into my head. through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. case before our client came into the room." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman quite distinctive." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Sholtos." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a once more for Briony Lodge. been." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "The doctor?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, lamp. "No, I had a dozen." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged dates and names. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "'In my own bureau.' her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Then what has happened to him?" force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging my special province." "Bought." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "You have it, sir, just as it happened." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for allusion to a rat. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Yes, it would be as well." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and capable of preserving a secret.' or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa definite end. had this final quarrel? hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as children over to America with him, so that I found myself without then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would again, where I was soon asleep. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you points in connection with it which never have been, and probably with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. you give your casting vote to?" allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "By no means." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the dramatic, in fact." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the salesman. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "But we can't all be." "I am in hopes that she does." ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." fait accompli?" and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "You have but to name it." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The becomes even more simple." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire in this note: The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is most interesting one." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "But his left-handedness." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Yes, he did." seen the man in the road." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "I have come for advice." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good have accepted such a situation. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Do you go out much in society?" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "And now?" He raised his hand. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently in. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from pound a week." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "That is easily got." paper in the air. been deceived." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where simple cases which are so extremely difficult." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "I should be immensely obliged to you." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion like that before?" photograph?" undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with one or two very singular points about this room. For example, appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." later, upon the night of May 2nd." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "VIOLET HUNTER." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "But she could not love him." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to anything to do with the matter?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "I should be immensely obliged to you." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' man. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "'And the work?' "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to was used.' any more." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform in this note: should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more to his chemical studies. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "What! Had he lost his wife?" his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Yes." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the