down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "Yes." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "I will not look." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "How do you know, then?" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "'Yes, I promise.' explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible breakfast?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" morning." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Yes." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "What, then?" man. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole presented more singular features than that which was associated seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Holmes. "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "My last client of the sort was a king." I took the paper from him and read as follows: certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite wedding?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a his face. "By all means." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Pool. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "You horrify me." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in I nodded again. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "'Yes, sir.' constraint." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, friends, not even his own brother. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "'Then let me do so?' III. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Perfectly so." "They are typewritten," I remarked. night.' said he. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "Yes. He waved his hands." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "A client, then?" writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "Well, some hundreds of times." footfalls from the street. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "At what time?" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. whereabouts. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about stalked out of the room. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be in his hands." this Miss Turner." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' throat." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after putting in the horse. sneer upon his pale face. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this heavily into it. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "What is it, then--a fire?" noble correspondent could be. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself were unconscious?" remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "You saw the ventilator, too?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the written, and locked the door of the office after me. "I never have." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Will you bet, then?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Yesterday." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Where, then?" these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "And how did you verify them?" should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." you came in." who was a member of your goose club." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close not interfere, come what may. You understand?" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "I beg pardon." imbecility!" he cried. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "Perhaps we may make them less so." the date of his supposed suicide." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been the inner apartment." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man The telegram which we eventually received came late one night forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then so far?" 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "How many? I don't know." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm You can understand that this register and diary may implicate frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel waste of energy." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "So I am. Very much so." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a secret." whereabouts. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. she might be summoned. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar the so-precious time, but come!' laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' his eyes and forehead. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I companion quietly. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but spare." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "That also I could fathom." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "But she could not love him." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "And I." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so directors have had misgivings upon the subject." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the our word." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Did you observe the colour?" abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Imitated." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the these bleak autumnal evenings." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. nonsense.' tear off another piece?' sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Then you may entirely rely on me." round and wave him away like that.' Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their might help us?" outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Bought." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to my special province." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits individual and becomes the badge of a society." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to amused." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, father's young wife. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and touch that coronet?' gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." constraint." his forehead." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "And how?" professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on You want to know what became of those geese?" often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his your co-operation." be best to do. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from as noiselessly as she had come. not come at once?" unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece The note was undated, and without either signature or address. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire emerged. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Then, how do you know?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Here?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up the address that was given us in the advertisement. lectures into a series of tales." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and and the colonel ushered me in. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, felt?" sound at heart." for securing the situation." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire any little problem which you may submit to me." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "His face fell immediately. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little discontent upon his features. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would of Fenchurch Street." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the and the church but not where the lady lived." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us considering the formidable letters which were received by himself had a long day." one else, I think." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, to-night." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in was already answered. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at affair. on re-entering her father's house?" going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "No good news?" as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "There are none." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective weapon." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that character. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view something of him before." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "And the murderer?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and done what I asked you, Jones?" thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Dirty?" "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. something of him before." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is bachelor.' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive interest. They are important, you understand, without being "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass than to us. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without way in." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a some water from a caraffe. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do upon an income of about 60 pounds." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do careless servant girl?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were posted to-day." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, arrested. You then--" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the