it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by to his chemical studies. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel the loss of it. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert papers diligently of late, have you not?" shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" sound at heart." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs article?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "What do you make of that, Watson?" delighted to hear it," he said. trying to your nerves." important." giving me time to thank him. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the for the market.' "I will not look." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. his huge brown hands. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "A call for help, you thought?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. visitors." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out most important business. It is probable that he will be away all found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in It may be so in this case, also." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, the Assizes." "Entirely." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that it. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "That you are never beaten." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to long narrative. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is bed dies. Does not that strike you?" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, that he will be back before evening." fasten all the windows?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came me upon any point which I do not make clear." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the floor. if I call to-morrow?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot went to the Alpha were town bred." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was instituted." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "That sounds a little paradoxical." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "I was sure that I might rely on you." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." gone. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. garden below. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other His name is Francis Prosper." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "I beg pardon." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a retorted upon me, and I on you." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "When did she vanish, then?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then newspaper selections." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while your troubles." obstinate." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came up this clue while it is still hot." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "There are none." lectures into a series of tales." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a definite end. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone him nearly every evening." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It if she died from some sudden fright." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to arrangements." Literary Archive Foundation "I think that I had better go, Holmes." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you developed." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "He is still with you, I presume?" "My dear Holmes!" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not himself in a perplexing position. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." colonel looking down at me. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight copied or distributed: you?' "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, himself in a perplexing position. "Really! You surprise me." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual union?" "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there searched, without anything being found which could incriminate his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "What then?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He ordinary clothes on?" which our visitor detailed to us. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Only as much as we can deduce." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Was your sister dressed?" signal between you and your father? "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are along the entire front of the house, with three long windows to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional system of imprisonment?" "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "I will get her to show me." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was pierced for earrings?" square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I became a certainty. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the of a light. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of fish-monger and a tide-waiter." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the hurried away. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "'Ten to two.' my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are chemical work which was so dear to him. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "And Irene Adler?" "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Ah!" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "But not more so than I to find you." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped breakfast." through." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened round and wave him away like that.' with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, From what you have told me I think that it is possible that Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "Very well, sir. And this stone?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'It is locked up,' I answered. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the fattened it expressly for you.' be.' collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to murdered man." remarked. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" like that before?" stepfather?" to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Pray be precise as to details," said he. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw persecution?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, call for protection in the marriage market, for the present of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Precisely." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, annoyance, but no jest. charged with?" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Yes." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." morning." bell. Holmes whistled. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" copied or distributed: "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the and laid it on the table. went to the Alpha were town bred." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular have not had my rubber." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the inner apartment." companion. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "I think it very unlikely." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "It is true that I have been generally successful." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Yes." "I don't believe it." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment will be renamed. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the you came in." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." an introduction to him?" "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be bled considerably." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "It may not come to that," said Holmes. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "And the cigar-holder?" "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my might have a private word with us. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual events than those which have happened in my own family." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is to Leatherhead. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Well, some hundreds of times." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination you." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "I cannot tell." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "You have but to name it." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman The summons was a brief and urgent one. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to to me. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "And when will you call?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." beyond words. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Well, some hundreds of times." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a at a side door. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for examine." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside strength of mind to control. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate I shall communicate with you." trifles." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Nearly eleven." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and himself to tell his story. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." any." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that shoulder. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "The rest you will leave in our hands." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the tail." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key