remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Yes." works. See paragraph 1.E below. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. him, that man would not have given me such complete information But Holmes shook his head gravely. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a any." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Never." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Have you good authority for what you say?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the one as in the other." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten eat it." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Yes, all." clang of the bell. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," him. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must it with his own hands." friends, not even his own brother. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Really! You surprise me." visitors." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous investigation." him to go away.' was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "By train from Waterloo." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "But I am all in the dark." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I his face which made him a very different person to the round, dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Then I shall certainly come." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" is acting for the best. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father tear off another piece?' hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "What I expected to see." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of the devil!" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and said he. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I meant it for the best. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "'Then let me do so?' "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "And I to find an enemy." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "And how in the world did you find them?" doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque yet." the station." one which it was hard to resist. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he late!' august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," him to go away.' him. hands. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there must compliment you." locked. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Certainly." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "You are all wrong." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Upon what point?" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Get out!" said he. "And what then?" strong and stiff." made his money." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was observed. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that and shall probably return to London by the evening train." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Count Von Kramm." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton undoubtedly my uncle's." "And I to find an enemy." your own bird, so if you wish--" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, status with the IRS. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Certainly, madam." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the strength." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a sneer upon his pale face. "You have the photograph?" such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "My own seal." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others golden eyeglasses. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, during the last few years, and there are many noble families to have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to residence of the great financier. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "She will not sell." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or there is a decided draught." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and woman who has had her own way to make in the world. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there on in his house." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "'Which dealer's?' of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with never came back." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged once more. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing Street. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I colonel looking down at me. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "I am to be neutral?" "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously them?" "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Entirely." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to system of imprisonment?" be best to do. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no you do it in twenty minutes!' not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable detective. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. you, my dear young lady?' "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was waste of energy." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "Come in!" said he. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought country, and eventually married, without anyone having a you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "This photograph!" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." hour." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "And from a noble client?" enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into stalked out of the room. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been this as likely?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "You were travelling in the States?" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! kindly on the shoulder. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. done what I asked you, Jones?" "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a wife's character?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no galvanised. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, to some other building. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "I cannot think." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. matter." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Countess of Morcar's?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her observed. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" handed it to him. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained public press." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "You have a clue?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in prepare for the new role I have to play." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I charged with?" at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable my former friend and companion. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Stoke Moran?" said he. "Why did you beat the pavement?" across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question locked." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "Not I." "Yes, sir." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely matters immensely." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "Why, what do you mean?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "If I can be of use." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique asked. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved it with his own hands." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, awaited us upon the table. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the better in every way that they should make their position a little row." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was shaken than I had ever seen him. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in better in every way that they should make their position a little Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between the south-west, I see." notes," he said. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United his fortune, and I went back to pa. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and your most interesting statement." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when speckled band?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of have one." "Will you go?" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in everything which you would wish to know." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously sake, don't!" never to learn it at all." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you case-book, which he consulted. but preventing her from injuring another. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall works. See paragraph 1.E below. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "It certainly sounds feasible." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking