away into the river." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing more terrible than the truth. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." where we are going." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, results." second window is the one that I jumped from." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Pray let us have it, for all that." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would detained." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was The King stared at him in amazement. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of take the flies, but not before." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that green of the new foliage. is acting for the best. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked undoubtedly my uncle's." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after could gather together that I was able to avert another public never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his made him keep the appointment." hard-headed British jury." thin legs towards the fire. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "Then, as to money?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed and files of the old papers, following the future career of every unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Breckinridge is his name." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of III. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." a little more before I quite committed myself. "I cannot tell." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which and no precautions can guard against." maiden herself was most instructive." quite distinctive." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of feature." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, to his chemical studies. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' know what is wrong with it.' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Then you may entirely rely on me." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the already been minutely examined." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, to a light-house. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his then?" Munro.' was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their instituted." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what must be when I saw the door open.' thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you imbecility!" he cried. "What have you to say now?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." figure." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far awkward doing business with an alias." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father out of this horrible affair." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a ordinary clothes on?" frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they them?" it were putty." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and the general public were present, then?" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "That also I could fathom." "What, then?" annoyance, but no jest. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "It is very kind of you." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "And how?" "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted triumphant cloud from his cigarette. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed shall not find me ungrateful." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either during which he might have communicated with his friend the them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Here?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "And how did he make his money?" "Then, as to money?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "That is also quite modern," said the lady. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which true." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the opportunities to fix the problem. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Ten will be early enough." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." instituted." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the matter?" surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with mysterious end." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these spare." "'Why that?' I asks. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered persecution?" built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." hurried away. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his there." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard and all of them with the keenest interest. that threaten you." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the morning and make my own way in the world.' with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "It goes to the housekeeper's room." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "I know where it is." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since some place of shelter and let the county police know what has to his chemical studies. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the the coronet in his hands?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the the bottom.' "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Perfectly so." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of fatally injured? a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Pope's Court, Fleet Street." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the criminal. We have already had experience of such." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "Was there a secret marriage?" over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "I cannot imagine." coroner's jury." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "How did he come?" through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very just ask you whether you had heard it.' go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. learned something! Where are the gems?" was a loud and authoritative tap. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through nothing with him." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he brandy and water within his reach. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the whereabouts. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' and have this put in the evening papers." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached there was no need for father to know." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "To an English lawyer named Norton." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, lost nothing by them." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "'Where to?' "But your client--" "Dark enough and sinister enough." that you saw all that I did." "It surprised me." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. crackling voice. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman you found me to-night--and running through the front room she with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his I have it here in my museum." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest matter." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at train from Paddington which would bring you there at about delirious. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can I shall continue with my miserable story. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons carried out of court." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came despaired of." indeed which he could not unravel. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is weighed down with some great anxiety. spare." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers depend upon your compliance." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "Well, it is a possible supposition." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. heavily into it. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "I am in hopes that she does." brandy and water within his reach. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "The doctor?" formed some opinion?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should You can understand that this register and diary may implicate hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Yes." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the his eyes and forehead. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the never to learn it at all." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the the roots. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do wedding?" had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I neither fascinating nor artistic." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce behind me. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going hereditary King of Bohemia." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Chief Executive and Director well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "Just look it up, then." mystery." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as mysterious business." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Yes, that is the Crown." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my maid will bring up your coffee." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem is so. I know all about McCarthy." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "A client, then?" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a The summons was a brief and urgent one. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years secret." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "A greater distance to travel." behind me. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get ordinary clothes on?" I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: