think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our wife's character?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "I am armed." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again wedding?" where she found matters as described by the last witness. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and morning." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after The King stared at him in amazement. "Well, but China?" brandy and water within his reach. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Yes." "Of what?" unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the and laid it on the table. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" acted in my house last night?" have I gained?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "If I can be of use." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead Eyford at 11:15.' thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of the matter." "The best possible." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, you." tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who your troubles." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the footfalls from the street. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different easy-going way." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards before the coroner and the police-court." "The landlord of the Alpha." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. formed some opinion?" box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say the ceiling. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the call you and give you the chance." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about throat." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing hardly wander." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to main points of my analysis." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "And the cigar-holder?" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "At the wedding breakfast." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be key of the affair now." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. this as likely?" also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. had died away into the silence from which it rose. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical to surprise her." cheerful." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I upon the sideboard." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great come either from the window or the door. My attention was and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "'Where to?' attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us respectable self." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss friends, not even his own brother. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke was not a bird to be seen there. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "How many? I don't know." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is triumphant cloud from his cigarette. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have appeal." ran thus: too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler but preventing her from injuring another. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Why did you pick him?" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "You have but to name it." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood some terrible trap for her." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." events than those which have happened in my own family." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "No more words. Get out!" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become situation." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, in this note: Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "You don't mind breaking the law?" violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "It looks newer than the other things?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "I have my revolver," said I. "Absolutely?" all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "What office?" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Have you her photograph?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his minor matters until to-morrow." to a more successful conclusion." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is room had already been engaged for us. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country My friend smiled. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in her also." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "What then?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Sutherland?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater now. It seems that there had been some informality about their from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the promised to bring home. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "You did not overhear what they said?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your test if we have an answer to our advertisement." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was digesting their breakfasts at home." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "An enemy?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Yes, from Horsham." "It came here." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could tightly behind him. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be system of imprisonment?" but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come must compliment you." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "I see no marks." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "Imitated." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at night.' said he. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the forbidden door. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Yes." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Where, indeed?" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all think that he is innocent?" Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. fled together." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "His face fell immediately. formed some opinion?" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My feature." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his envelope. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we away into the river." bird I ate is country bred." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." conduct the inquiry." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "He slept on the premises." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but over part of the map. "What do you read?" the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, least a fellow-countryman. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, distance from the station, and there we found the young lady that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Holmes." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "The Cedars?" letters?" the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "But you were on a friendly footing?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Yes." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can said I. about here speaks of his kindness to him." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for that I may have something better before very many minutes are "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" directors, with the result that you have seen." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time third from London." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "What I expected to see." the address that was given us in the advertisement. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had grasp, he hurried from the room. child?' you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to nothing with him." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "I don't say that. Perhaps." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "By all means." "In heaven's name, what for?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "'Certainly,' I answered. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the public press." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of retorted upon me, and I on you." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "But what harm can there be in that?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the done what I asked you, Jones?" can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "So I heard. You have him here?" "Why serious?" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "But it has twice been burgled." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into humiliation." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, had died away into the silence from which it rose. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "But I have heard all that you have heard." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you together. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "You have but to name it." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had way in everything. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "'I have heard so.' beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "And who is her maid?" gentleman's clothes. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "Who was the criminal, then?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "I will get her to show me." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the back to my heart. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a himself. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back very old mansion. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in friend's singular character. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the least a fellow-countryman. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Texas, I think." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her entirely devoid of interest." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been strength of mind to control. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and invisible to me," I remarked. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came noble correspondent could be. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. overpowering excitement and concern. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his look dissatisfied." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses is so. I know all about McCarthy." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father,