question you as to those details which seem to me to be most foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the bottom.' to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four and files of the old papers, following the future career of every a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. that, and I came down." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "I should wish to." anything to do with the matter?" course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "On Monday." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "No?" passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir indiscretion." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as upon the white wrist. a room. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "What can you not understand?" was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I that you saw all that I did." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Count Von Kramm." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. strength in the others." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it returned to France?" "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "In which, sir?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the foot. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Not yet." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "I do." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Come in!" said he. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "Do you go out much in society?" with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Nearly eleven." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the there in twenty minutes." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master were new raised from a basin. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered You want to know what became of those geese?" your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in clanging. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand door?" these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "And why in hopes?" probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime daring than any effort of the imagination." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Witness: Nothing definite. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what have I gained?" them?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "You think so, too?" "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "He might." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace begun to whiten, even as mine has." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as ill-usage at the hands of fortune. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on front of the hall door has given its name to the place. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always business matters.' "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' the south-west, I see." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Does that suggest anything?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is outsides of the windows. someone who had been in Australia." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. individual and becomes the badge of a society." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its Henry Baker is a member." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it companion. to miss it." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction know all about it," he snarled. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me these bleak autumnal evenings." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Does that suggest anything?" contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Yes, sir." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his anything to do with the matter?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "And I." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is joking. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Yes." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a tapping his fingers upon the table. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Why? What do you mean?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Come in!" said Holmes. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, empty. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them in a friendly supper." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I again, where I was soon asleep. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative bearing upon the case." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't me. You must get home instantly and act." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies lost nothing by them." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one always that they were such commands as a lady might with "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Project Gutenberg-tm works. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Yes, they were peculiar boots." this remarkable episode. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the carpenter." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away quite distinctive." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "An enemy?" that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to surprise her." knowledge of the world." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "I cannot as yet see any connection." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "What of the rat, then?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "But he might be a bachelor." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for companion imperturbably. character. "No. What a strange idea!" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then call you and give you the chance." this as likely?" "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "A confidential servant?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial dramatic, in fact." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some chamber." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. tell him that I know him to be innocent." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "Indeed! Whose, then?" despaired of." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern What do you deduce from it?" thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and jewels which you have stolen?' mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Yes, certainly." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Witness: It was. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. was already answered. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out of his shoulders. "Certainly." business in the City. She little knew what. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid I nodded to show that I had heard. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed his face which made him a very different person to the round, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. you?" "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend them, and came down just as you departed. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' might help us?" ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "What I expected to see." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing burst out into a roar of laughter. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the must compliment you." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster Holmes' thin, eager face. national property. I was determined that the law should have its of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might mysterious business." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Oh, the cause is excellent!" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Yes, only one." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her see me here to avoid scandal." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say presume?" official police." "I know where it is." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after bonnet, and went out." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate Pope's Court. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. lumber-room." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I had died away into the silence from which it rose. think that any burglar could have done. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, do you make of it all?" concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he this man was intellectual?" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' article?" and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Very truly yours, "And the cigar-holder?" done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Henry Baker is a member." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. Sutherland. at a side door. congratulate you again." "Is he quiet?" it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent throat." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they hopeless attempt at recovering them." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the I shall communicate with you." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "What do you mean?" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every