"You may rely upon my doing all that I can." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and been anything against him. He had for years been known as a to where he stood hid behind the curtain. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. possible that we could bring him back to her? nothing with him." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "No good news?" me. You must get home instantly and act." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Why? What do you mean?" them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster security.' "'You doubt its value?' he asked. himself to tell his story. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "What is it, then--a fire?" play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "But who is he?" set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and least a fellow-countryman. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. the child." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Look there!" said he. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy shall use the carriage to-night." "I don't believe it." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" that there was nothing in it, after all." I shall communicate with you." "My photograph." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that in this way: sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having floor. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. business." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few intimate personal affairs in this public manner." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the nursery. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains anything to do with the matter?" could not account in any way for the presence of the missing footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, me what he had done with the three missing stones. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite in this note: and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the the dangers which encompass me." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned call for it in person on Monday morning.' I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice guilty parties." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "To the police?" Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "You know me, then?" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "It is a murder, then?" will he say when he returns?" he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it it." to arrive at through this?" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to habit of advancing money.' upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "She showed me, as I told you she would." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I hair?' sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Then the page we have seen--" "'Ten to two.' floor. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all hour." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival absorbing." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own During two years I have had three consultations and one small serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the sake, don't!" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down the address that was given us in the advertisement. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor arrangements." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "It surprised me." "I don't say that. Perhaps." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the ready to-morrow?' blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay be.' "Then I can wait in the next room." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "And on what day did he meet his death?" hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Perhaps we may make them less so." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Will you go?" 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. Edgeware Road. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned arms and began to sob in a high treble key. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Oh, fresh and glossy." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble if I call to-morrow?" all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. trying to your nerves." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "'And what salary do you ask?' these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I see many objections to any such theory." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." woven round him. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and had this final quarrel? disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has once more for Briony Lodge. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "'And what salary do you ask?' material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and closing the door. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope way in." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced interest. They are important, you understand, without being front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I gigantic client. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "She walked into the breakfast-room." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, imbecility!" he cried. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "And sit in the dark?" "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the until night should bring an explanation. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly guilty parties." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the Dr. Gregory B. Newby staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over cause to be." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." then?" such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different despair." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and me where it went to?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident gbnewby@pglaf.org "What office?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "I cannot as yet see any connection." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face away to you." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Chief Executive and Director and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but at once, for I have only half an hour." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal directors, with the result that you have seen." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to to surprise her." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Holmes' face clouded over. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon unkempt, staring out at me. the child." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "And why?" doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham the child." and capable of preserving a secret.' Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a chair. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the she to prove their authenticity?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" shoulder. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent the side-table." "How do you know, then?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Seven!" I answered. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what believe that I should never have any practice at all. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "I don't believe it." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' pound a week." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Where to?" three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, the iron safe, which he closed upon it. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe future lives." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil ready to-morrow?' "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not lumber-room." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of six. Come in!" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Yes." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop The note was undated, and without either signature or address. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Holmes." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "In heaven's name, what for?" lost his Christmas dinner." touch that coronet?' she to prove their authenticity?" separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager very morning of my second wedding." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would fear." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, daring than any effort of the imagination." there was no need for father to know." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is charge against him will break down." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may man. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Dark enough and sinister enough." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "To an English lawyer named Norton." me have 200 pounds?' think that any burglar could have done. the so-precious time, but come!' that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it ordinary clothes on?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Nearly eleven." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I to tell." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence my friend's incisive reasoning. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite bore every mark of being an average commonplace British has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at see a sister of mine apply for." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were occurred." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended o'clock is it?" corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Who by?" chamber." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need unclasping of his long thin hands. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and would then never go into court at all." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been good-night and bustled off upon her way. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, to that open window." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "If I can be of use." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Could he throw no light?" "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or peculiar to him. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from