orange pips. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled business at Coburg Square is serious." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in his knees, staring into the fire. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Was she in good spirits?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "And is that all?" alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it she used." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "That was it, sir." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, me. You must get home instantly and act." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think forehead. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a him to go away.' Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," never will be, entirely cleared up. appeared upon the scene." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight do.' "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "'I am sure if I had known--' lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, gone. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'How far from the body?' weary and pale-looking. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an shaken than I had ever seen him. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "An accident, I presume?" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of make me his representative both with the servants and with the "And on what day did he meet his death?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you take the flies, but not before." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in furiously. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, I nodded again. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, written. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and important." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "A confidential servant?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was flock.' late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. again." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the to-night?" I asked. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a of Fenchurch Street." would apply.' "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point next day. papers must be those that are destroyed.' "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a foresight and the moral retrogression?" "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them him." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "What?" really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. direction." latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Not yet." The King stared at him in amazement. "'What, the red-headed man?' Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "And who is her maid?" "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "But it has twice been burgled." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' Serpentine Avenue. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out I shall continue with my miserable story. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "One of his hands." shoulder. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "And what did you see?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes seem to you to be relevant or not." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "No, I had a dozen." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in attention." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was other, as fresh and trim as possible. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told promised to bring home. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building situation." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy used to be." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "To an English lawyer named Norton." "9th. McCauley cleared. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have into the room. "You horrify me." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable matters immensely." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so geese which you supplied to the Alpha." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "What I expected to see." carriage. It was a chestnut." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. most interesting one." the loss of it. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of in your London, you will know that the office of the company is which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." the window, rose as we entered. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the forehead. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. do.' I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was official police." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." sound at heart." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had anything to do with the matter?" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into retorted upon me, and I on you." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to Surrey." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, situation." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had The note was undated, and without either signature or address. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that some terrible trap for her." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out papers." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest as he folded up the epistle. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, cigar and let me expound." go from here to the Strand." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out following enigmatical notices: glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged thin legs towards the fire. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel I approached. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "It is very kind of you." unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three hands. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "'What, the red-headed man?' traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the mystery." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I see me here to avoid scandal." said I. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their outside. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Why? What do you mean?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "But your client--" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was she might be summoned. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "I was mad--insane." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such tapping his fingers upon the table. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Countess of Morcar's?" "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "How many? I don't know." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "And now?" I asked. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "You have a clue?" as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. simple cases which are so extremely difficult." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent she to prove their authenticity?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "But who is he?" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "My dear Holmes!" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so desk. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would not fit the lock." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "That is it on the dressing-table." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be at home. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "I promise," said Holmes. "Very much so." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "What can it mean?" I gasped. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have shadow pass over his face as I spoke. promised to bring home. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and point in the dark hollow of his hand. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a breakfast?" would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself States. gone. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round their singular warning or token before them when starting upon that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and to go into your room and bar your shutters?" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major least a most suspicious remark." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "But we can't all be." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "I see many objections to any such theory." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have fishes. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Holmes." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "No bad?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his prisoner's face. eat it." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered sake, don't!" education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Yes." you understand?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "'Yes.' unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "We were both in the photograph." "Was the window open?" would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "On Monday." "They are typewritten," I remarked. kind enough to tell me what I should do." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "What!" he roared. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question