"Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up garden below. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' few hundred pounds.' It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "It looks newer than the other things?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had I shall continue with my miserable story. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely until night should bring an explanation. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the became a certainty. "So I heard. You have him here?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to photograph?" "But you can know nothing of this?" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Thank you. And your address?" much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "The gentleman I describe." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a late." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was young Openshaw's." at once, for I have only half an hour." remarked. good-night and bustled off upon her way. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." was shining brightly. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "My dear Holmes!" leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the too. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur is acting for the best. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." crackling voice. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "The gentleman I describe." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "I say it is." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "Certainly." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger bled considerably." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman joking. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "You think that he is dead?" said I. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. bell. Holmes whistled. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Absolutely?" to surprise her." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" morning." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms maiden herself was most instructive." "But to whom?" applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for fishes. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I see a sister of mine apply for." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after eavesdroppers?' "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "It is true that I have been generally successful." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action back into the street. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "I would pay ten." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Yes." outside." to have that photograph." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the you in yours." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "What will you say?" himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were him. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital within hail.' bearing upon the case." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to strong reason behind." such attractions and accomplishments?' surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was meant it for the best. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I Lee, in the county of Kent." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a of Fenchurch Street." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil here and I will read it to you: possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client good for you to do.' lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Witness: It was. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "'Yes, sir.' it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly one or two very singular points about this room. For example, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I despair." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of your sleep?' chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "But not more so than I to find you." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I to have that photograph." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "It looks newer than the other things?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Two days later this same performance was gone through under Sholtos." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "And why in hopes?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he father's young wife. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "It's nothing of the kind." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One have had none more fantastic than this." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows really the only notable feature about the thing." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an may have an influence upon European history." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "How did he come?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "The landlord of the Alpha." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Why? What do you mean?" profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted him nearly every evening." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "How did you trace it, then?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with our word." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. must compliment you." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "You are hungry," I remarked. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "How often?" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran over here." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "You did not overhear what they said?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "No legal papers or certificates?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go electronic works have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he yet." "Yes. He waved his hands." chemical work which was so dear to him. "My dear Holmes!" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet best detective that ever lived. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "Of Friday, June 19th." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman presume?" "Well?" problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "So I have heard." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "Then you may be so with me." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, a very grave face. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any drawing your inferences." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "'Yes, sir.' "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Yes." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I swore that no one else had been in the front room during the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that IS said Mr. Holder. wall." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What or other trace. But how on earth--" "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Dr. Becher's." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to to change my dress. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to question you as to those details which seem to me to be most sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, invisible to me," I remarked. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "And how have you succeeded?" "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a his wife has ceased to love him." go from here to the Strand." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution do.' shall use the carriage to-night." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I nonsense.' "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously direction." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name at a side door. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Perhaps I have." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "No, distinctly professional." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "That is it on the dressing-table." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I your room." "Ah!" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "In answer to an advertisement." that there was nothing in it, after all." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this photograph a cabinet?" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "I guessed as much." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he appeal." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Yes." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able to-night?" I asked. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "I see no marks." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child me. You must get home instantly and act." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing himself to hunt down. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Yes." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." exactly what you advise." before, for it was considerably after midnight. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so chill to my heart. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and