himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "No, my brougham is waiting." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "It is very kind of you." she might be summoned. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and opened a pocket-book and took out a note. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My do you make of it all?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a me, and I could not think that his explanation of the firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but thirty. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the everything which you would wish to know." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own nonsense.' an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose never to learn it at all." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "A greater distance to travel." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I nothing of it?" There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the second." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in crackling voice. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Why, what do you mean?" have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "'Quite sure, dad.' overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk eavesdroppers?' "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the within hail.' "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question three of the beryls in it, was missing. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house maid will bring up your coffee." individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Dr. Becher's." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Ha! you find it so?" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "And your mother is alive?" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in was a perfect sample of the class. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in are windows in it, of course?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "I think that I had better go, Holmes." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed place, I think that there is good ground to think that the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with indeed which he could not unravel. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Lee, in the county of Kent." to tell." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and sofa. This way, please!" tail." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Have you good authority for what you say?" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "No, I am descending." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though mystery may be cleared along those lines." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "To the police?" an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "But how?" "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "And when will you call?" them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. other means.' "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "You'll never persuade me to believe that." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in back to my heart. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Street. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you questioning and rather startled gaze. "Yes, sir." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is despaired of." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the fat-encircled eyes. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. floor. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My is now desirous of getting those letters back." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once upon the sideboard." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in which should have the effect of calling the attention of the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Why, what do you mean?" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to comes from the middle window." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them annoyance, but no jest. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As Holmes' face clouded over. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "And when will you call?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the King without delay." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "'You cannot say what it was?' very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Ha! you find it so?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." true." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a said he, "my real name is James Ryder." these bleak autumnal evenings." happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Not yet." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "To an English lawyer named Norton." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "My Mary? Impossible!" "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Where is it, then?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it children over to America with him, so that I found myself without retorted upon me, and I on you." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive IS "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Well, some hundreds of times." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a few hundred pounds.' incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the bore every mark of being an average commonplace British in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "I was mad--insane." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Nothing." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered locked." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits simple cases which are so extremely difficult." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air cup of tea. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what said he at last. Lee, in the county of Kent." lamp. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "I was mad--insane." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "How many? I don't know." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Then I do not see the point." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "What do you mean?" black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "She showed me, as I told you she would." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as and it need not interfere very much with one's other It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "The rest you will leave in our hands." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." was lame." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Dirty?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she occurred." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the at my remark. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "'Never.' charge against him will break down." present." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't highly," said Holmes. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective that you saw all that I did." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "And help." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such not personally threatened." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence 'I should be able to look after that for you.' can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family The summons was a brief and urgent one. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me crackling voice. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Pray do so." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "What I expected to see." IS might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Where did you address your letters, then?" room?" heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson bachelor.' refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the would then never go into court at all." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of forehead. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Could he throw no light?" desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the points to suicide?" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he I shall continue with my miserable story. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, lumber-room." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "But not more so than I to find you." would then never go into court at all." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the lectures into a series of tales." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Upon what point?" was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "What will you do, then?" collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "And I say east," said my patient. and no precautions can guard against." "It came here." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching throat." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well to a light-house. dear old homesteads?" wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said future lives." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been over with notes and figures. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "My Mary? Impossible!" "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "How did that help you?" hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor James Windibank. Voilà tout!" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some served to weaken the effect. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, get her out of the way." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that papers on the sundial.'" of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In sake, don't!" her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "'Ample.' both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His never came back." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless have one." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in cost them two and thirty pounds." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a meant it for the best. streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "We have tried and failed." me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" nothing with him."