"Where is it, then?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." cigars in their mouths. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you remarked. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all ceremony." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be excitement. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. might help us?" beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in to surprise her." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the are, I think, all that we need." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "And how did you verify them?" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Very truly yours, thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray to where he stood hid behind the curtain. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "No." which we had just quitted. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Yes." problems help me to do so." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "You saw the ventilator, too?" "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "What steps will you take?" I asked. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence you understand?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a showing my impatience. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "And why?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. mysterious end." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better closely." with some details as to your case." "Not yet." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "It is his hat." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my hurried away. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "To an end?" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Which surely he restored to their owner?" hard-headed British jury." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have tassel actually lying upon the pillow. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a disappearance of the bride.'" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "How are you getting on?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the soul! here is her carriage at the door." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand enter Dr. Roylott's room." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Then I am your man." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third points to suicide?" "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to I shall communicate with you." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond and laid it on the table. "Nothing." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. have accepted such a situation. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how coroner's jury." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it stammered. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a them?" affection." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "I would give my fortune to have them back." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back ourselves in the office." "Imitated." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. affair. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very fasten all the windows?" in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "And how did you verify them?" woman who has had her own way to make in the world. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I that I am arrested." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to voice, changing her seat as requested. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "No, I think that I'll take it." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic if she died from some sudden fright." "Entirely." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon developed." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I head. So long, then!" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the the running down." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "He slept on the premises." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the imbecility!" he cried. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Then what has happened to him?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in in one or two places in England?' clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was the so-precious time, but come!' "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Yes." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, pressing in one house as in another. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to extraordinary contortions. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Nothing?" for and were ordered to this address. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "'And the work?' Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" question," said Holmes, smiling. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Did your wife hear all this?" were unconscious?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" read over the extraordinary announcement. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out papers." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between neither fascinating nor artistic." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the tied." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no derbies." "'Yes.' was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "What office?" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed the driver. introspective fashion. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Nearly eleven." "BALLARAT." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son to that open window." "What of the rat, then?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "No, I am descending." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "Where, then, is my wife?" was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee tightly behind him. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "Did your wife hear all this?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Yes, only one." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my is acting for the best. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "To ruin me." tail." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a the coroner come to?" unkempt, staring out at me. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "'Yes, it was gone.' to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable suspect him." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "I would pay ten." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "One?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, did not hear it also.' answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Pope's Court. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Then how many are there?" address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the as yours." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "'Ample.' "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come allusion to a rat. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few gone. she to prove their authenticity?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we correct than the official force." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the waste of energy." papers." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Yes, it would be as well." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice and glanced through. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single lamp in his hand. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "'I am sure if I had known--' was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left a good hundred miles off by now." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he you." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "A confidential servant?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as know all about it," he snarled. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "She will not sell." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his made his money." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "'And the work?' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, works. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Awake, Watson?" he asked. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel own family. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "It is half-past ten now." than to us. help us in this matter." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow newspaper selections." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet suspect him." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." remarked. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "I am in hopes that she does." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and there were one or two details which were new to me. But the The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen said he, "my real name is James Ryder." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was look dissatisfied." is now desirous of getting those letters back." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a there." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn made him keep the appointment." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "But what is it you wish?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our His name is Francis Prosper." "The Cedars?" with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. more terrible than the truth. there!' me, and I could not think that his explanation of the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in matter." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing considering the formidable letters which were received by himself than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Whose house is it?" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "And now?" He raised his hand. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still have been better. It is all right." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." him." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "And on what day did he meet his death?" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly himself to tell his story. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "How did you trace it, then?" Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the than was visible to me." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of