tail." throat." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official cigars in the box." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I most interesting one." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Clair, of Lee." "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to directors, with the result that you have seen." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she chance." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Yes, they were peculiar boots." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Witness: Nothing definite. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. goes." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do standing smiling on the door-step. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to the King without delay." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it searched, without anything being found which could incriminate inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "Your sister is dead, then?" beg that you will break it off." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion I leave." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. happened." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "But I have heard all that you have heard." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "How can you tell that?" strength." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "Oh, the cause is excellent!" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no views." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the front of me. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by Holmes' thin, eager face. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black himself to hunt down. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional up this clue while it is still hot." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. legal crime." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the the one as in the other." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Then, as to money?" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "What then?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Upon what point?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock this poor creature." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. bird of prey. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. chance at all." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" said I. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat province." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's Pope's Court. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "'Certainly not.' out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his you." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and several quiet little villages up there." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater detained." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United redistribution. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Quite so. She has her freedom." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about to tell." of this gang." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our hopeless attempt at recovering them." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "So I am. Very much so." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Come in!" said he. of a light. "Where, then?" met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" character. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get dead, shall be safe with us." conclusions. the south-west, I see." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Of Friday, June 19th." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Why, what do you mean?" covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "Really! You surprise me." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never house for five minutes.' wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger client, rising. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Where to?" "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." better in every way that they should make their position a little his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Yes, all." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter of them has the shutters up.' "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the absorbing." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy your troubles." rooms." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "That is easily got." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "He said that you could solve anything." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." towards the blaze. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a night.' said he. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "My dear Holmes!" "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, rose-bushes. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I but preventing her from injuring another. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to ashen face. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is any more." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." which we had just quitted. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' http://gutenberg.net/license). see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the happened." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to question. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Ha! you find it so?" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found entirely devoid of interest." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear like gravel from a pit.' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as awkward doing business with an alias." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger certainly not very gracious." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "But what is it you wish?" slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many manager. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. mystery may be cleared along those lines." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Very. But will he see it?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." written. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it begun to whiten, even as mine has." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "'Is purely nominal.' bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' it with his own hands." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because presume?" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard of note-paper. It read in this fashion: so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' voice. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a all that?" Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes and that he would see to anything that turned up. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window I am not easy in my mind about them." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be learned something! Where are the gems?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Nothing." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. helping a boy to put up the shutters. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Texas, I think." works. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and which our visitor detailed to us. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, weighed down with some great anxiety. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of sparkled upon his finger. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "How do you know, then?" father's place of business?" seen the man in the road." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Where did you address your letters, then?" results." "No good news?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by has little to do with my story." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "But he might be a bachelor." himself to tell his story. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the running down." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for matter." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'And the work?' And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your Holmes' room. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a formed some opinion?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "I am still in the dark." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, brandy and water within his reach. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain may have an influence upon European history." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Your French gold?" "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "You have the photograph?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich been deceived." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," case-book, which he consulted. "Your presence might be invaluable." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" vague figure huddled up in the darkness. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "I came to find a friend." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the The summons was a brief and urgent one. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "I cannot tell." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. never came back." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, outside." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one in darkness. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'Which dealer's?' printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the business." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. call for it in person on Monday morning.' shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "What is it?" foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring criminal. We have already had experience of such." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It carriage. It was a chestnut." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned