police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Your French gold?" middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "I was sure that I might rely on you." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly murdered man." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying Watson," he said cordially. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "And why in hopes?" "It must be recovered." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do of the vacancies.' hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "How do you know, then?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have affection." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my learned something! Where are the gems?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking me have 200 pounds?' "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making said he, "my real name is James Ryder." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept in your London, you will know that the office of the company is his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss situation." "But I have heard all that you have heard." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "It goes to the housekeeper's room." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "It goes to the housekeeper's room." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have straightened it out again. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Serpentine Avenue. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "So it appears." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "By no means." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough business?" looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At that than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could reach." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Her father is very rich?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "Never to return." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their his forehead." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose chamber." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "You think so, too?" "I answered that I had not. "But you can know nothing of this?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the was a loud and authoritative tap. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "You have the photograph?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Not in a good cause." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with good for you to do.' the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "He is dead," cried several voices. the coronet at all injured?" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a conduct the inquiry." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "How many? I don't know." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Nothing?" wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic compunction about shooting them down." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day better grown goose." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Dr. Gregory B. Newby "How about poison?" Pope's Court. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my him!" "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was always that they were such commands as a lady might with so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "But you would not advise me to refuse?" hurried by. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "No." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I place, I think that there is good ground to think that the she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her go--none." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did unkempt, staring out at me. depend upon my doing so.' other means.' only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Have you her photograph?" signal between you and your father? tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Married! When?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, that I may have something better before very many minutes are "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon obstinate." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been before the coroner and the police-court." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security trifles." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "At what time?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even against a man in the prime of life?" "Certainly." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was McCarthy's innocence. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "But who is he?" "You horrify me." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "You are all wrong." do you make of it all?" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the sneer upon his pale face. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the ceremony." the devil!" him!" "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I derbies." "And how did you find out?" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "Frequently." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "One?" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. bell. Holmes whistled. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was we went to search for him, face downward in a little scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique like that before?" lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders your bag." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which empty. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to been with you?" and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means waste of energy." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic disturbance in my wife." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went hands. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "I fear not." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Not him." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you asked with his eyes open. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into away into the river." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" advice." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An fire. You quite follow me?" "I assure you that I am in your hands." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me an introduction to him?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "But I have heard all that you have heard." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang out of this horrible affair." papers must be those that are destroyed.' "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "About a month then." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia his wife has ceased to love him." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" union?" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He will take you up to see the machine.' - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies rose-bushes. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, matter." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Where, indeed?" maid will bring up your coffee." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "She walked into the breakfast-room." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "You are all wrong." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the to-night." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as wall." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect to-night's adventure." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Yes." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. like gravel from a pit.' unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. to me. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a chance." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing train from Paddington which would bring you there at about horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a certainly do as you advise." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get this Miss Turner." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "'Tell me all about it,' said I. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps undoubtedly my uncle's." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Lee, in the county of Kent." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "I don't say that. Perhaps." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "And what then?" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Not social, then?" daring than any effort of the imagination." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Very. But will he see it?" name is different." "And your father? Did you tell him?" indeed which he could not unravel. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he