collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of promised to bring home. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about get the tickets." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "I would give my fortune to have them back." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. kind enough to tell me what I should do." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the works. See paragraph 1.E below. back into the street. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. letters?" "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "I should be immensely obliged to you." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "I think it very unlikely." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me these bleak autumnal evenings." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This It may be so in this case, also." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I should like to see him very much." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little seven miles from Eyford Station.' that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. and the colonel ushered me in. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in call you and give you the chance." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the is now desirous of getting those letters back." murdered man." discontent upon his features. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Very truly yours, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at in your London, you will know that the office of the company is It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second little adventures." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "You have but to name it." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Why did you beat the pavement?" few hundred pounds.' "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. placed his cuttings. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of children over to America with him, so that I found myself without A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "And what did you see?" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "No good news?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "It is true that I have been generally successful." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "And what did you learn from him?" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "On your arm?" the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and enter into my head. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than was a loud and authoritative tap. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by down. voice, changing her seat as requested. be. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a furiously. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "But you would not advise me to refuse?" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "You horrify me!" forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his himself to hunt down. might help us?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "My dear Holmes!" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of is so. I know all about McCarthy." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt dear old homesteads?" your own bird, so if you wish--" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in whole matter to your consideration." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I you in your example." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is guilty one." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Yes, sir." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, or other trace. But how on earth--" him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door seen the man in the road." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Really! You surprise me." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a the morning and make my own way in the world.' "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but you give your casting vote to?" while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "A call for help, you thought?" caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Awake, Watson?" he asked. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, straightened it out again. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm geese which you supplied to the Alpha." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Your French gold?" money should be paid at once.' exactly what you advise." villagers almost as much as their master. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See said he, "my real name is James Ryder." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "'You cannot say what it was?' "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just pound a week." floor. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies information in his hands the value of which he did not himself feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security of this gang." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set conceal it?" the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' is," said he presently: though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my is," said he presently: but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Entirely." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." your sleep?' later, upon the night of May 2nd." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the the side-table." there was no need for father to know." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Murdered?" work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar photograph a cabinet?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "I am about to be married." seem to you to be relevant or not." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in of the one which your family is now devouring." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons his face. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "On the contrary, this is the right side." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "He said that you could solve anything." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying most interesting one." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of opened a pocket-book and took out a note. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of along the entire front of the house, with three long windows sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "I am to be neutral?" Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it in your London, you will know that the office of the company is in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "'Yes.' will take you up to see the machine.' "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I did not hear it also.' Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg entirely lost his self-respect." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up get her out of the way." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose empty. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the certainly not very gracious." then?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send compunction about shooting them down." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Yes, at the mines." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Awake, Watson?" he asked. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "And how did you find out?" any." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "And what did you see?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked use an arc-and-compass breastpin." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," said I. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he minor matters until to-morrow." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, overpowering excitement and concern. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little all?" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able exactly what you advise." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "And how have you succeeded?" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Could he throw no light?" "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have developed." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us crime. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a have accepted such a situation. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little washing it down with a long draught of water. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers it were putty." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "What will you say?" collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" never will be, entirely cleared up. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Did you observe the colour?" little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the fashion which was peculiar to him. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they power." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and business matters.' broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." matter." conduct the inquiry." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away showing my impatience. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of dates and names. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left delighted to hear it," he said. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of was used.' interested in these little problems, and since you are good heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, business at Coburg Square is serious." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "'What do you call purely nominal?' "Then he might have called to you?" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "It is true that I have been generally successful." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this to tell." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the warnings." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between