could not account in any way for the presence of the missing he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if the general public were present, then?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or nights." his fortune, and I went back to pa. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, she used." "My stepfather's business papers." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "How often?" "I am following you closely," I answered. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Yes." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in and the whole place is in a blaze." "Was the window open?" Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Certainly." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Not particularly." The King stared at him in amazement. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm shaken than I had ever seen him. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the skylight. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it papers must be those that are destroyed.' surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young promised to bring home. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Yes." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable John Swain, of St. Augustine. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Won't it ring?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "That sounds a little paradoxical." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "It must be recovered." in the port of London." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and my former friend and companion. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I figure." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental never to learn it at all." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Then, as to money?" corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, is now desirous of getting those letters back." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. than to us. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "I have a cab outside." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, which was all perfectly true. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to believe that I should never have any practice at all. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "My photograph." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from least a most suspicious remark." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and frequently gained my first real insight into the character of there has been an enclosure here!" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which 1.E.9. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the unkempt, staring out at me. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." stood on the top of it. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and down. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "I beg pardon." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite his fortune, and I went back to pa. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had our word." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "He said too much." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between recover the gem." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to drove away. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and security.' copied or distributed: their singular warning or token before them when starting upon gone. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "On Monday." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." appeared upon the scene." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes For additional contact information: eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, ordinary clothes on?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "No." stood on the top of it. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "It is very clear." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Where did he live, then?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and passage and a tap at the door. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and is entirely a question of barometric pressure." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. quick march!" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in test if we have an answer to our advertisement." of the vacancies.' the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the unprecedented a position." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely works. See paragraph 1.E below. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would returned to France?" woman." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is said I. October 9, 1890. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon ago." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our was already answered. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Upon what point?" "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country several quiet little villages up there." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is your sleep?' road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong back to my heart. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been there was no need for father to know." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet nice household for a young lady." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the hereditary King of Bohemia." gone before you can get him to hospital." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "I don't say that. Perhaps." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "You have a clue?" and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "BALLARAT." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or weighed down with some great anxiety. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Then you may be so with me." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be the coronet at all injured?" "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by room?" presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "My dear Holmes!" "Nothing." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few go--none." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very guilty one." "I see no marks." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Well, but China?" brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the have had none more fantastic than this." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. that he will be back before evening." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in questioning and rather startled gaze. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "To an English lawyer named Norton." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the very morning of the wedding." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran closely." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave posted to-day." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike at home. papers on the sundial.'" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "'Why that?' I asks. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an served to weaken the effect. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they instituted." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner is acting for the best. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A a little more before I quite committed myself. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" client, rising. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is States. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood frequently gained my first real insight into the character of investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor to go into your room and bar your shutters?" reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" your most interesting statement." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he cheerful." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. of." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "What of the rat, then?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were away into the river." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Well?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "Whose house is it?" late!' of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came dear old homesteads?" light and attacked it." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Well, but China?" and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up he died? appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "Which surely he restored to their owner?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Frequently." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But and laid it on the table. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Yes."