three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me followed. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we used to be." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "But who is he?" hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of upon the sideboard." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Yes, at the mines." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always placed his cuttings. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In and glanced through. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for open." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 really the only notable feature about the thing." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had there in twenty minutes." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further matters immensely." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' comes from the middle window." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, extraordinary contortions. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I were unconscious?" seen the man in the road." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. spare." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Frequently." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press following enigmatical notices: "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Witness: I must still refuse. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the residence of the great financier. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more writers could invent nothing more crude." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "VIOLET HUNTER." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end their singular warning or token before them when starting upon There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I written, and locked the door of the office after me. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. little adventures." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done learned something! Where are the gems?" process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, my room." the tragedy. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Murdered?" that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Here?" the one as in the other." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had imbecility!" he cried. passage and a tap at the door. "But he might be a bachelor." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Of what?" should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "It missed him, then?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "In which, sir?" was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so upon a handsome competence. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your wall." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which for and were ordered to this address. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For entirely lost his self-respect." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he knowledge of the world." "That is unusual in a young girl." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. existence." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." we went to search for him, face downward in a little Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Ha! you find it so?" There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "I don't believe it." "To the police?" bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord and the church but not where the lady lived." and laid it on the table. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls away into the river." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "The murder was done with it." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six four million human beings all jostling each other within the dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great intrusion of other matters." the night.' very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Yes, that is the Crown." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "What is it, then--a fire?" my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without Mary, has deserted me." "That also I could fathom." evidence," I remarked. purpose of examination. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to once more. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through of it with the greatest attention. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come tightly behind him. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round or other trace. But how on earth--" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by disturbance in my wife." throat." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens bled considerably." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action all?" Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From girl said." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project less than 26s. 4d. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I ashen face. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you important." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall must be when I saw the door open.' and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "'Is purely nominal.' relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "How many? I don't know." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during time." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Sutherland?" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." of a light. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, directors, with the result that you have seen." had picked up in the wood. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid McCarthy's innocence. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting ways including including checks, online payments and credit card opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors to where he stood hid behind the curtain. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "You horrify me." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten woman." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back confronted him. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Which are?" "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This foot. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I this remarkable episode. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were their singular warning or token before them when starting upon man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." to a more successful conclusion." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled over part of the map. "What do you read?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in were new raised from a basin. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Yes." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much before the coroner and the police-court." has little to do with my story." "Of what day?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Yes." a suggestive one." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' Mary, has deserted me." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "He said that you could solve anything." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may the house with me." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Oh, yes, easily." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of with frightened eyes at his accuser. "No bad?" "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then she to prove their authenticity?" "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. you." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story with you?" twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is morning." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until one or two very singular points about this room. For example, shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Do you know him?" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not served to weaken the effect. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." himself to hunt down. hopeless attempt at recovering them." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed until night should bring an explanation. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who always that they were such commands as a lady might with left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this the coronet in his hand?" compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "But what harm can there be in that?" beyond words. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." murdered man." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain comes from the middle window." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a disappearance of these gems?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "He disappeared so suddenly." there." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Not particularly." "Tired-looking or fresh?" that I can to serve you." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little ready to-morrow?' nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Very much so." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Texas, I think." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country James Windibank. Voilà tout!" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the introspective fashion. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." the house with me." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. became a certainty. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and introspective fashion. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet if I call to-morrow?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur that threaten you." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would notes," he said. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and have accepted such a situation. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting to-morrow." voice. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as