which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an Leadenhall Street--and--" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Certainly." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark photograph a cabinet?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "'There is a drive, then?' call the police, let the police find what they can.' was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from trying to your nerves." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too in the hope of finding them." is a common subject for conversation. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed not within a twentieth part of the market price." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so I took the paper from him and read as follows: although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One bears upon the case?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when burst out into a roar of laughter. weighed down with some great anxiety. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that some city in a dream. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage horse could go." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "'Which dealer's?' "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. I leave." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "That was it, sir." people don't know." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Yes, that is the Crown." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to may have an influence upon European history." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have your sleep?' thin legs towards the fire. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank intrusion of other matters." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an my special province." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three she has been waylaid. There has been no result." opportunities to fix the problem. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. speckled band?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Will you go?" "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was know that the truth is known." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his gigantic client. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Sholtos." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "I say that I have solved it." noting anything else of interest. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Dr. Becher's." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss again, where I was soon asleep. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your notes," he said. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "What of the rat, then?" Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by from the brougham. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. I approached. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Holmes' thin, eager face. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "No." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Thank you. And your address?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are matter." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short particular state visit http://pglaf.org more solid." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. congratulate you again." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and problems help me to do so." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or I have it here in my museum." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "BALLARAT." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "If so, much may have happened between." "By all means." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her seem to you to be relevant or not." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Yes." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know what is your own theory as to what took place?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "None." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very shag which I had seen upon the previous night. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower geese which you supplied to the Alpha." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a weary and pale-looking. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand the so-precious time, but come!' "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in upon a handsome competence. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. the window, rose as we entered. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. burst out into a roar of laughter. "And your mother is alive?" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "That is possible." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, at my own good fortune. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the asked. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. tied." depend upon your compliance." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Yes." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "But your client--" "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "How long did she speak to this Alice?" and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his that he will be back before evening." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly companion. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly details." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case upon the white wrist. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily charge against him will break down." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Pope's Court. better grown goose." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no detective. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the south-west, I see." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good Dr. Gregory B. Newby a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white who was a member of your goose club." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked standing smiling on the door-step. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would presume?" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "No, I am descending." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I I nodded to show that I had heard. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I confronted him. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his key of the affair now." acquaintance?" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any nice household for a young lady." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Where, then?" was shining brightly. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the the room while you explain this matter?" all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "Only as much as we can deduce." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not are, I think, all that we need." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Yes." security.' which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and as he folded up the epistle. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his or other trace. But how on earth--" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped despair." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "In which, sir?" room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, name is different." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with business in the City. She little knew what. any more." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I best detective that ever lived. "By no means." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much distinguish the words: suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. official police." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." seen the man in the road." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no kind enough to tell me what I should do." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "I was afraid that you were engaged." "By no means." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all too. be. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that you for a few hours?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. be sorry for having acted so harshly." what do you think they found in the pockets?" "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been best detective that ever lived. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have furiously. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you murdered man."