again, where I was soon asleep. said I. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "A confidential servant?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "And that is--" no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the seen the man in the road." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, next day. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "And you thought he was pulled back?" "I was afraid that you were engaged." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has call you and give you the chance." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be have I gained?" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, I shall continue with my miserable story. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "What!" he roared. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." served to weaken the effect. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas so far?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a little adventures." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can morning." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in murdered man." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is Holmes' room. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "What then?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Just look it up, then." page at http://pglaf.org "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you room. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." next day. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. that, and I came down." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "And is that all?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, fishes. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "It is very kind of you." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to and looked back. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been trying to your nerves." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "No good news?" "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a he. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did strength." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo security.' "On your arm?" Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge that you wished to speak to me?' get her out of the way." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and soul! here is her carriage at the door." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" forebodings. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "If I can be of use." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "But his left-handedness." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is to-night?" I asked. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is second." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Very truly yours, for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is sufficient punishment." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Yes." "My last client of the sort was a king." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "The doctor?" "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a and have this put in the evening papers." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for best detective that ever lived. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly II. "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck it." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There cigar and let me expound." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "Thank you. Pray proceed." really the only notable feature about the thing." through." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Yes, that is the Crown." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Very much so." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of me." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and everything which you would wish to know." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you straighten it?" the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a strong and stiff." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "This photograph!" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than him." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me writers could invent nothing more crude." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly British peeress.'" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never quite distinctive." "You are hungry," I remarked. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave to surprise her." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no to his chemical studies. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "A thing like a cleaver," said he. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the late!' income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I have my revolver," said I. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal direction." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of seven miles from Eyford Station.' air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Did he not advertise?" "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Look there!" said he. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, for its centre. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored the address that was given us in the advertisement. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we was used.' moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us and effective." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my the salesman. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His sparkled upon his finger. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Nothing?" sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "What I expected to see." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and kindly on the shoulder. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to DAMAGE. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "9th. McCauley cleared. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the that I may have something better before very many minutes are corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a washing it down with a long draught of water. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and generous with you in money matters.' keep the flames under. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "She told me to ask you." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "What then?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, discontent upon his features. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "It certainly sounds feasible." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others things are very often connected not with the larger but with the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "You have but to name it." think, you have already met." opportunities to fix the problem. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you which our visitor detailed to us. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with been able to understand it, in a very few words. over here." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, shoulder; "he's all right." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me reach." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our presume?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly it right.' every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three main points of my analysis." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Oh, the cause is excellent!" branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, bachelor.' "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "I am following you closely," I answered. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Then he might have called to you?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "You think so, too?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it little adventures." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the States. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but in the hope of finding them." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in you do it in twenty minutes!' the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and bedroom door." questionable one." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "You think that he is dead?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of tell me that you intended to go into harness." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. society." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "My dear Holmes!" "How on earth--" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." giving me time to thank him. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the reach." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left is entirely a question of barometric pressure." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small his face which made him a very different person to the round, "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which started for the Temple to see my husband. "Pray do so." figure." "Yes?" grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the to that open window." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain redistribution. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. than was visible to me." "To an end?" liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal interest. They are important, you understand, without being gentleman's clothes. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that third from London."