bore every mark of being an average commonplace British narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. 1.E.9. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." this unhappy family?" just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily foot. least a fellow-countryman. point in the dark hollow of his hand. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, absorbing." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Holmes." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "'You doubt its value?' he asked. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the danger is over." voice. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "In answer to an advertisement." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the key of the affair now." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by his cane at the bell-pull. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "And on what day did he meet his death?" leaning back in his chair. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Nothing?" up this clue while it is still hot." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to own family. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, ill-usage at the hands of fortune. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. hand, madam?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich the date of his supposed suicide." locked. problems help me to do so." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "None." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." asked. note?" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door morning." one which it was hard to resist. the so-precious time, but come!' crowd. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "The knees of his trousers." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he my friend's incisive reasoning. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much mystery." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the driver. "Was the window open?" "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the take the flies, but not before." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly and prosperity to your house. Good-night." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "I would pay ten." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. morning." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "But your client--" "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, views." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary companion. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your carried out of court." "Why? What do you mean?" be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest that you can jump it.' - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "How are you getting on?" "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. detained." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have fait accompli?" "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for attention." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof make me his representative both with the servants and with the "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short feature." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a least a fellow-countryman. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "And for present expenses?" "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out some city in a dream. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." call you and give you the chance." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, is worth.' during which he might have communicated with his friend the delirious. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "And your father? Did you tell him?" really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in appeared upon the scene." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire were new raised from a basin. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been through." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. me." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating were new raised from a basin. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "'What would be the hours?' I asked. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no and the church but not where the lady lived." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your distance from the station, and there we found the young lady asked. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Surrey." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed was it brought him the coronet? "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." photograph?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Edgeware Road. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall keep the flames under. It may be so in this case, also." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "'What are you doing there?' he asked. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "This photograph!" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "I have a cab outside." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this mysterious business." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "The King of Scandinavia." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." a room. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Get out!" said he. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which recover the gem." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might questioning and rather startled gaze. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It examine." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family to me. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his ashen face. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from other, as fresh and trim as possible. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper be. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name beg that you will break it off." be there in time for your coming." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and morning." "No more words. Get out!" inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "It's nothing of the kind." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is narrative." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would companion. "The murder was done with it." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "'Stolen!' he cried. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less was a lad." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of been lifted and conveyed somewhere." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I house for five minutes.' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Ha! you find it so?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a and looked back. are, and they are waiting for us." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, rooms." "I am following you closely," I answered. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "One of the highest in England." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "No, but the enclosure is." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest she might be summoned. I nodded again. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he is a common subject for conversation. "How long did she speak to this Alice?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident chill to my heart. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace humiliation." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended Heh?' "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Sholtos." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "My own seal." "Nothing?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his prison!" one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a beg that you will break it off." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had miles off. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "Certainly, madam." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable The note was undated, and without either signature or address. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Why? What do you mean?" wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and them present such singular features as the strange train of The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. you in yours." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid putting in the horse. had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in soul! here is her carriage at the door." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which get the tickets." over with notes and figures. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." bill, which interests me deeply." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have respectable self." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had towards the blaze. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "I cannot imagine." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, me have 200 pounds?' the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack in one or two places in England?' read it out to me." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich breakfast?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can it means?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. directors, with the result that you have seen." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend there when the Rucastles went away." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Yes." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "In heaven's name, what for?" before the coroner and the police-court." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking such person." intrusion of other matters." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or him!" "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "By all means." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two events, Mr. Windibank!" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the writers could invent nothing more crude." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than