as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, tension within him. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers amused." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "You know me, then?" Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your closely." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "Very much so." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback bell. Holmes whistled. "You saw the ventilator, too?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Why did you beat the pavement?" "I am in hopes that she does." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, pressing in one house as in another. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is my friend's incisive reasoning. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the this man was intellectual?" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you very morning of my second wedding." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the hereditary King of Bohemia." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." which it had come upon my father." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "I have a cab outside." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "'Ample.' information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if jewels which you have stolen?' heavy and sharp instrument." of Fenchurch Street." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "He slept on the premises." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he the house with me." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" been able to understand it, in a very few words. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Stolen, then." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "'What then?' I asked. at a side door. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not plantation.' "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. of the one which your family is now devouring." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A it." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "I have hopes." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. interest. They are important, you understand, without being though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and conceal it?" time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "No." business came to an end." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with directors have had misgivings upon the subject." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make if I call to-morrow?" "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn noble correspondent could be. minor matters until to-morrow." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "How on earth--" comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Then he might have called to you?" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Really! You surprise me." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "'Yes, I promise.' the coronet in his hand?" alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key security.' "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "But how did you gain them?" clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "'Entirely.' over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which papers." imbecility!" he cried. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my this remarkable episode. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper my former friend and companion. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a enter Dr. Roylott's room." "My Mary? Impossible!" "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his because she had spent so short a time in this country that she a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "The knees of his trousers." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at Munro.' ashen face. the bed, and you in that chair." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to one which it was hard to resist. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it to-night's adventure." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, brain must have something in it." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Perhaps we may make them less so." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "I never have." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about for securing the situation." "You know me, then?" "You know me, then?" lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter troubles have been weighing upon his mind. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg the coronet in his hands?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "I have my revolver," said I. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he rose-bushes. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "You are all wrong." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "'Certainly not.' WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it interest. They are important, you understand, without being swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Thank you. And your address?" of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who disturbance in my wife." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the note?" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "'Is purely nominal.' instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. and have this put in the evening papers." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any call it cruel." than was visible to me." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "At half-wages, in fact." again before evening." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just o'clock is it?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced to change my dress. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, noble correspondent could be. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "But it has twice been burgled." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that it right.' used to be." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "It goes to the housekeeper's room." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you arrangements." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "'Yes, it was gone.' pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and empty. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "My last client of the sort was a king." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell intimate personal affairs in this public manner." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "None. Neville wrote those words." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I to go into your room and bar your shutters?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by mysterious business." "Yes." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from breakfast?" to Leatherhead. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." the very morning of the wedding." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "She will not sell." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "When did she vanish, then?" Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying me have 200 pounds?' "To an end?" "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At he bowed and left the room without another word. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over relation between them, and what the object of his repeated dear old homesteads?" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "A thing like a cleaver," said he. at a side door. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up cause to be." "And Miss Sutherland?" Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Pray continue your narrative." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your time." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come unclasping of his long thin hands. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other a few minutes he said that it would be all right. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four an introduction to him?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The cost them two and thirty pounds." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some writer." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the so-precious time, but come!' isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture details." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "But she will refuse." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be October 9, 1890. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the attention." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Nothing." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but