"I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." out of this horrible affair." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her which was all perfectly true. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he eavesdroppers?' "The rest you will leave in our hands." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled went to the Alpha were town bred." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband if only as a check to my own memory." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There records." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "'Very good.' propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps results." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Miss Holder?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "What then?" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "I never have." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated if I call to-morrow?" visitors." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Of Friday, June 19th." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already there in twenty minutes." "But she will refuse." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the mystery." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "My dear Holmes!" the tragedy. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of enter into my head. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Is he quiet?" Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Sutherland. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what of them has the shutters up.' "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over compunction about shooting them down." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Not particularly." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "You have the photograph?" threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him carriage. It was a chestnut." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes' room. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a which it had come upon my father." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "And what then?" the coronet in his hands?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "So I have heard." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "10th. John Swain cleared. "Well, but China?" the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door happened." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone call for it in person on Monday morning.' Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "You did not overhear what they said?" unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "I cannot tell." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the and no precautions can guard against." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up was keenly on my guard against him. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles have accepted such a situation. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man case-book, which he consulted. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically hour." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment tail." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "'Yes, sir.' 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Of Friday, June 19th." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual society." The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." distinguish the words: table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose get her out of the way." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The nice household for a young lady." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his I nodded again. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. London for the present?" "Where did you address your letters, then?" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "To ruin me." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all hour." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass words came to my lips. "'I have heard so.' They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." visitors." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here never came back." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of I am not easy in my mind about them." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "At half-wages, in fact." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who been with you?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "'About the same.' burst out into a roar of laughter. made him keep the appointment." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "I will try. What is it?" kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch question. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to appeal." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Well, some hundreds of times." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black look dissatisfied." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to minor matters until to-morrow." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "9th. McCauley cleared. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "May I see it?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, what do you think they found in the pockets?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and thin legs towards the fire. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" cheerful." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he companion. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two the running down." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good the salesman. "The Cedars?" the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has ago." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in promised to bring home. not personally threatened." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Really! You surprise me." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a guilty one." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Yes, there are nearly always some there." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "So I am. Very much so." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away chair. secret." waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large question," said Holmes, smiling. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "That is possible." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no fishes. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss matter over." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, we went to search for him, face downward in a little intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Married! When?" "I cannot tell." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in peculiar to him. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Farm upon the left." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle obstinate." "I should be immensely obliged to you." "That you are never beaten." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "No." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "He disappeared so suddenly." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the know what is wrong with it.' however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. forebodings. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "'Why that?' I asks. and that he would see to anything that turned up. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "I have hopes." "Eh? What was that?" "To the police?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." these bleak autumnal evenings." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Were they all fastened this morning?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Was she in good spirits?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" lost nothing by them." "But not more so than I to find you." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, a few minutes he said that it would be all right. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring grasp, he hurried from the room. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some neither fascinating nor artistic." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "You have compromised yourself seriously." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. populous neighbourhood." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between forehead. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," morning." "Oh, fresh and glossy." she to prove their authenticity?" "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "How are you getting on?" "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and chambers. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Never to return." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall status with the IRS. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "No. What a strange idea!" only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will been with you?" drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Holmes, the busybody!" premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "But his lameness?" you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock This is what he says: ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their have accepted such a situation. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Not yet." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could late!' never to learn it at all." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "You think so, too?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Chief Executive and Director "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I It was close upon four before the door opened, and a above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him appeared upon the scene." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in chemical work which was so dear to him. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "And why?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "It certainly sounds feasible." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post