fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" answer." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "But of what society?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I I shall continue with my miserable story. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since manager. a little more before I quite committed myself. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to weapon." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "I see many objections to any such theory." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off along the entire front of the house, with three long windows For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in least a fellow-countryman. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "It is his hat." "'Ten to two.' to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. What do you deduce from it?" the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Your sister is dead, then?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Game for a morning drive?" The note was undated, and without either signature or address. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated is acting for the best. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which you came in." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that salesman. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" time." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the became a certainty. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Yes." money should be paid at once.' what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at all-comprehensive glances. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. should be so warm over such a trifle." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Stoke Moran?" said he. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Precisely." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "I would give my fortune to have them back." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed it." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical some place of shelter and let the county police know what has A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "And for present expenses?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "'There is a drive, then?' "I should like to see him very much." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, burst out into a roar of laughter. is so. I know all about McCarthy." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Your French gold?" weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some the stable lane now." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "'Certainly not.' clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "And you thought he was pulled back?" "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact possible that we could bring him back to her? Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a which are rolled in Rotterdam." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a frequently gained my first real insight into the character of deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have is a common subject for conversation. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "I have hopes." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw train.' "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken of receipt of the work. you in yours." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "'Certainly,' I answered. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Pray be precise as to details," said he. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed fattened it expressly for you.' stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one *** START: FULL LICENSE *** his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "'And the work?' "Will you bet, then?" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I meant it for the best. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all a room. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Did your wife hear all this?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but I have it here in my museum." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "I answered that I had not. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "And is that all?" any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, him nearly every evening." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we States. eat it." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I roused himself from his reverie. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" someone who had been in Australia." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was are, I think, all that we need." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "What then?" double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge your troubles." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the amused." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to closely." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. of your young ladies.' existence." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I delirious. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I During two years I have had three consultations and one small ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, me where it went to?" hereditary King of Bohemia." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling until night should bring an explanation. money should be paid at once.' door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and detained." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with suspect him." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his unkempt, staring out at me. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Witness: I must still refuse. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but the matter?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while became a certainty. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our young Openshaw's." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "The King of Scandinavia." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "I will, Miss Turner." adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's crime." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, could not have written that. It is the German who is so him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, there was no need for father to know." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' upon the shelf for the interim." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending kindly on the shoulder. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your third from London." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." the south-west, I see." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Upon what point?" "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "I see no marks." "There is the writing." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always you, my dear young lady?' "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily of his shoulders. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" beg that you will break it off." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard third from London." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to certainly do as you advise." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "BALLARAT." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes was a perfect sample of the class. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. over with notes and figures. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "9th. McCauley cleared. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of guilty parties." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Who was the criminal, then?" travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "But of what society?" direction." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of heavy and sharp instrument." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past foot. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "My stepfather's business papers." were wasted." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously chambers. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so should be so warm over such a trifle." bonnet, and went out."