this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "It looks newer than the other things?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must the best of training." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "I was sure that I might rely on you." "'Entirely.' until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce a suggestive one." unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after horse could go." drawing your inferences." orange pips. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the and laid it on the table. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about IS envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite is now desirous of getting those letters back." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Precisely so. But how--" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. heavy and sharp instrument." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her residence of the great financier. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "What is it?" maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and retorted upon me, and I on you." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from own family. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from late!' "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the You want to know what became of those geese?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. notes," he said. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had you for a few hours?" gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite in. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had lost his Christmas dinner." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! your sleep?' Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried crime." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for father's young wife. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. weary and pale-looking. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business copied or distributed: is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to present." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Sutherland?" "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become Miss Holder?" have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "But what harm can there be in that?" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he in this note: bears upon the case?" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must shaken than I had ever seen him. "So I heard. You have him here?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "'What, the red-headed man?' something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," to-night's adventure." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons of note-paper. It read in this fashion: hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold at my remark. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the nothing of it?" something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "A greater distance to travel." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting whether it answered to the description of any of their a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "She will not sell." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was detained." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "Whose house is it?" The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here system of imprisonment?" a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "But I have heard all that you have heard." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the matter." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I tell me that you intended to go into harness." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "'Which dealer's?' Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any delirious. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "I will get her to show me." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a should be taken.' "I will, Miss Turner." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and distance from the station, and there we found the young lady constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Yes, they were peculiar boots." to tackle the facts." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the have an American origin." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting hardly wander." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, have I gained?" that before taking the final step I should like to submit the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. very old mansion. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and you understand?" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did may never be exposed to such a temptation." from you?" places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a stood on the top of it. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, me have 200 pounds?' observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like secret." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his October 9, 1890. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and all?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, that I may have something better before very many minutes are ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a gentleman's clothes. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always foresight and the moral retrogression?" occurred." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "VIOLET HUNTER." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The cigar and let me expound." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again on in his house." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." way in everything. "Here?" but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to McCarthy." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my whatever might befall. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "I cannot tell." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." before the coroner and the police-court." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small held up the lantern and gazed about him. ready to-morrow?' she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a union?" found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Where, then?" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "I have hopes." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "What are they?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Thank you. Pray proceed." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for there is a decided draught." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they have had none more fantastic than this." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him everything which you would wish to know." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its affection." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "'Ample.' McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with had picked up in the wood. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH was lame." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just be sorry for having acted so harshly." village inn over there?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to to have been novel and of interest." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Oh, fresh and glossy." any more." straighten it?" see a sister of mine apply for." fuss that is made over them." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have approach us with offers to donate. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, could go. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' cup of tea. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you peculiar to him. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Then I can wait in the next room." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was you in yours." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your so.' eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "It was." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Why? What do you mean?" "'It is locked up,' I answered. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself true." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction had no one to advise her at such a crisis." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "In which, sir?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached his wife has ceased to love him." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest side. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand,