floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the a few minutes he said that it would be all right. strength." "I came to find a friend." have an American origin." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there important." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had and glanced through. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of she used." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution speckled band?" "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was sake, don't!" snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Where, indeed?" and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" tapping his fingers upon the table. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the one as in the other." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to you." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I purpose of examination. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a with you alone." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "One?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. place of silver." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little know that the truth is known." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "I cannot say that I have." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Yes, from Horsham." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "And your mother is alive?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and crime." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay bearing upon the case." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my did not hear it also.' on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. know what is wrong with it.' a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Yes." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he followed. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he himself. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "I was sure that I might rely on you." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "And why in hopes?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "You heard nothing yourself last night?" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." name is different." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you will find little credit to be gained out of this case." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "I say it is." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." to-night's adventure." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "One of his hands." thought that she would have been so carried away." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one weapon." I held the little printed slip to the light. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Henry Baker is a member." "The knees of his trousers." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." said he. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "And what then?" It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique only touch the interest." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "And sit in the dark?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the your own bird, so if you wish--" the roots. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in the driver. think that he is innocent?" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "She told me to ask you." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very call the police, let the police find what they can.' enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The heavily into it. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "An enemy?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out skylight. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall father's young wife. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "'Very good.' It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say he bowed and left the room without another word. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one the so-precious time, but come!' receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Quite so." crackling voice. "Where, indeed?" "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in meanly of me." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' hard-headed British jury." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, with the outside air!" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I am all attention, madam." all that?" Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell come either from the window or the door. My attention was Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "I don't believe it." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds there in twenty minutes." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and standing smiling on the door-step. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the when you have done it." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though be there in time for your coming." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "May I see it?" hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a with her." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on might have a private word with us. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in instincts rose up against that laugh. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my You want to know what became of those geese?" that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be dear old homesteads?" really the only notable feature about the thing." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "How do you know, then?" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "I will do it." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "'As governess?' and that he would see to anything that turned up. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." I leave." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I woman." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Stolen, then." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "What is it?" "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were had picked up in the wood. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of ceremony." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then entirely lost his self-respect." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is his fortune, and I went back to pa. present." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "No, I think that I'll take it." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience here and I will read it to you: houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. intrusion of other matters." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "No bad?" are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must pound a week." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table my former friend and companion. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not way in everything. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six are windows in it, of course?" "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting tail." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted his face which made him a very different person to the round, opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a have been better. It is all right." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "'What then?' I asked. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. morning." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Very well, sir. And this stone?" the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a voice. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "So I heard. You have him here?" "It's nothing of the kind." himself in a perplexing position. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Did he not advertise?" case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a noise which awoke you from your sleep?" inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until you, my dear young lady?' chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than a room. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has assist you in forming an opinion." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "I promise," said Holmes. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is and that he would see to anything that turned up. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "No, distinctly professional." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her 1.E.9. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, gone before you can get him to hospital." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Of what day?" "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "That sounds a little paradoxical." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "What, then?" "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon in the dead of the night?' It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Yes, that is the Crown." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, him and tried to hold him back. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible long narrative. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences this poor creature." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "Dirty?" "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must useful material for showing traces. The double line a little dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my