Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Did he not advertise?" allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Not social, then?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be where she found matters as described by the last witness. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to take the flies, but not before." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "I say that I have solved it." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Ample." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "'Certainly not. But why?' has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the to some other building. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "'Never.' long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first to affect your life." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "I do." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Entirely." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. go back?" face and glided from the room. 'please.'" that door?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Just look it up, then." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had been anything against him. He had for years been known as a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy for and were ordered to this address. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, to-morrow." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one developed." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and and I shall be with you presently." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." During two years I have had three consultations and one small of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that done what I asked you, Jones?" "Here?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair what these perils are?" other, as fresh and trim as possible. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and three of the beryls in it, was missing. locked. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I showing my impatience. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger whereabouts. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." one of the states of the Union." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Lee, in the county of Kent." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down ways of our fellow-men." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "And why in hopes?" go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "I have a cab outside." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "How did you trace it, then?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered disappearance of these gems?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "And your mother is alive?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this everything which you would wish to know." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already been able to understand it, in a very few words. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "How can you tell that?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally 1.F. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker occurred." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, there is a decided draught." "'I have heard so.' could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "'What are you doing there?' he asked. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' crime." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." certainly do as you advise." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the said he. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "I will get her to show me." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay he. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in bears upon the case?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Quite so." all-comprehensive glances. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Do you go out much in society?" occurred." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "And you thought he was pulled back?" which it had come upon my father." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing guilty parties." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." Leadenhall Street--and--" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be been deceived." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or train from Paddington which would bring you there at about upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be disappearance of these gems?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes into the room. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." written. "'A dozen yards or so.' "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he of note-paper. It read in this fashion: should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique whole matter to your consideration." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Certainly." call for it in person on Monday morning.' "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Then you may entirely rely on me." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Get out!" said he. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening the driver. himself in a perplexing position. "9th. McCauley cleared. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. over part of the map. "What do you read?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" nonsense.' might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very hair?' "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our awaited us upon the table. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I Surrey." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern bare slabs of marble. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope The summons was a brief and urgent one. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Doctor, of the paper and the date." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "No good news?" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me purpose equally well?" endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to all?" much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, orange pips. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know asked. necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My careless servant girl?" "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion bedroom door." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "But you would not advise me to refuse?" muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the inquest, and which are worth considering." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you views." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our better grown goose." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw on re-entering her father's house?" "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I as he folded up the epistle. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Was he the only applicant?" "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my child?' "I should wish to." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in father's young wife. "Witness: I must still refuse. he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." made him keep the appointment." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I mystery may be cleared along those lines." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. returned to France?" passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is the driver. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon details." started for the Temple to see my husband. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he bled considerably." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly ventilator." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that pictures, libraries, or plate. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small What do you deduce from it?" and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "I do." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "So it appears." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the house with me." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. obstinate." chance." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is wall." you?' keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "I cannot tell." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "Yes." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "'I shall certainly be there.' such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to I. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. charge against him will break down." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Here?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and question. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a Holmes' room. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Where to?" with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was Street. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as eat it." minor matters until to-morrow." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "One of the highest in England." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant made him keep the appointment." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, be sorry for having acted so harshly." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor