"We have tried and failed." than to us. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "Well, some hundreds of times." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else presented more singular features than that which was associated occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, him nearly every evening." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left a suggestive one." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Serpentine Avenue. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "You saw the ventilator, too?" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself hour?' "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said situation." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "Imitated." works. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, best detective that ever lived. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "'What then?' I asked. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary mysterious end." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "How did you trace it, then?" "'Yes, sir.' girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our other lovers by making love himself." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "And I to find an enemy." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Your sister is dead, then?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Sutherland. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "You are hungry," I remarked. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the you?' "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his the coronet in his hands?" Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, fuss that is made over them." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "The best possible." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in key of the affair now." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. if only as a check to my own memory." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a past. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Precisely." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said one of them." "What will you do, then?" lumber-room." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their out." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "But how will you look?" confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper congratulate you again." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I the very letters. But what is this written above them?' 1.F. knowledge of the world." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Texas, I think." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom weighed down with some great anxiety. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man it. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the and that he would see to anything that turned up. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Very murderous indeed." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "I would pay ten." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "But of what society?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "I am in hopes that she does." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee examine." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "I am about to be married." tell him that I know him to be innocent." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "And did you observe any change in her then?" that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Your French gold?" nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Yes." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his noting anything else of interest. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Precisely." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he enter Dr. Roylott's room." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the child?' of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and outside. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of man. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so tell me that you intended to go into harness." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "So I am. Very much so." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "My last client of the sort was a king." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle at a side door. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I McCarthy's innocence. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself might help us?" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of knowledge of the world." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Sholtos." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if pictures, libraries, or plate. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The less than 26s. 4d. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his been deceived." digesting their breakfasts at home." "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Well, but China?" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "But what will you do?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "That is easily got." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great business." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Yes." "Very much so." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was Holmes' face clouded over. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "And did you observe any change in her then?" George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "An accident, I presume?" reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to as he folded up the epistle. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Breckinridge is his name." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a cause to be." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "It was an hour's good drive." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Come in!" said he. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who stalked out of the room. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in thought that she would have been so carried away." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, upon the sideboard." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "You forget that I know nothing about it." hour." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "'Yes, it was gone.' sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the bottom.' flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and been with you?" became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their face and glided from the room. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Nothing." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was to you." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Yes." formed some opinion?" slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It some mystery and the punishment of some crime." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Do you go out much in society?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "'Yes, sir.' "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent client, rising. to miss it." guilty parties." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Literary Archive Foundation clanging. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I case-book, which he consulted. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle threw himself down with his face to the pillow. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose the King without delay." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "Has he come with you to-night?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length man. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a been with you?" "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "It is a murder, then?" "Her father is very rich?" "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco matter over." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose all?" figure." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are things are very often connected not with the larger but with the suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "Pray continue your narrative." "No, but the enclosure is." closing the door. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see the address that was given us in the advertisement. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me and effective." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "No, finished." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very she to prove their authenticity?" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "You saw the ventilator, too?" Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for I was concerned in it." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Yesterday." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Your sister is dead, then?" unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had one which it was hard to resist. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head questionable one." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "I saw her in conversation with her maid." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the License. You must require such a user to return or "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your in your London, you will know that the office of the company is may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home his wife has ceased to love him." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "If I can be of use." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by are windows in it, of course?" the house with me." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious morning." to some other building. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up."