"None." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing I think that I could be of assistance to you." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "It came here." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth means taking possession of that which another person has a prior both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Perfectly so." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated as he folded up the epistle. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him happened." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Quite so. She has her freedom." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just side. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the papers on the sundial.'" Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Stolen, then." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I read it out to me." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Lestrade of Scotland Yard." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I examination of the premises, but without finding anything which but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that nothing of it?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "'Oh, no.' correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, coat-tails." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "And Miss Sutherland?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "I do." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me my special province." fattened it expressly for you.' and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed placed his cuttings. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "Well." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are good-night and bustled off upon her way. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting ceremony." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this upon an income of about 60 pounds." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "But to whom?" morning." as yours." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, bird of prey. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. on in his house." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "And from a noble client?" in my life." "Certainly." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from miles off. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the fluttered off among the others. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "You were travelling in the States?" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I cannot imagine." that?' admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner the Assizes." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "I should like to see him very much." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black back into the street. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "I am to be neutral?" "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, despaired of." "'Quite sure, dad.' copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "I am sure." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "And why?" this unhappy family?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "It is very clear." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "You think that he is dead?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "On the contrary, this is the right side." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. and that he would see to anything that turned up. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a your billet.' had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a head. So long, then!" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some the so-precious time, but come!' been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry with the outside air!" for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a new acquaintance to Baker Street. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Leave Paddington by the 11:15." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country straighten it?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and he bowed and left the room without another word. the so-precious time, but come!' brought there to personate someone, and the real person is heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager newspaper selections." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises digesting their breakfasts at home." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be the stable lane now." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at green of the new foliage. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "So I heard. You have him here?" "On the contrary, this is the right side." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite in. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of on in his house." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are lids now and glanced across at his visitor. there in twenty minutes." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut the coroner come to?" hands. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "Yes." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "She showed me, as I told you she would." dates and names. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, over his head with a sweet womanly caress. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done intimate personal affairs in this public manner." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding down from London to inquire more deeply into it." upon an income of about 60 pounds." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Do you know him?" "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table clang of the bell. "And on what day did he meet his death?" the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "At what time?" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This it." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." I nodded again. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to could not have written that. It is the German who is so some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to to some other building. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "But he might be a bachelor." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled quickly through a disagreeable task. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. towards the blaze. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, call for it in person on Monday morning.' this truth that in these little records of our cases which you could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "A greater distance to travel." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come bears upon the case?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire to arrive at through this?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "I have hopes." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "I was sure that I might rely on you." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for ready to-morrow?' For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural girl said." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "But to whom?" he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It to-morrow." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' words came to my lips. sooner or later she must fall a victim. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the into the room. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "On your arm?" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On cause to be." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts to-night?' time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. companion imperturbably. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking disappearance of these gems?" suddenly upon us." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "It is no ordinary one." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "I warn you that they are very incomplete." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "That was it, sir." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of look upon these things in a different way." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated I took the paper from him and read as follows: prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to some city in a dream. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "One?" happened." "Only as much as we can deduce." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I with frightened eyes at his accuser. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the up this clue while it is still hot." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips go back?" crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "'Which dealer's?' this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able depend upon your compliance." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Never to return." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "I think it very unlikely." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "And your mother is alive?" matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One 1.E.9. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "And how did you find out?" opportunities to fix the problem. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss province." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Why? What do you mean?" possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "What! a murderous attack?" Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "What office?" 1.E.9. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "I never have." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by as noiselessly as she had come. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since papers diligently of late, have you not?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "I was sure that I might rely on you." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "It must be recovered." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she our word." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. breakfast." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step secret." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Then I do not see the point." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of prisoner's face. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. 1.E.9. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" ago." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell