the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need not interfere, come what may. You understand?" ran thus: she to prove their authenticity?" "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I the one as in the other." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Murdered?" and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Of Friday, June 19th." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey national property. I was determined that the law should have its left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Pray continue your narrative." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Certainly." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she in. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then your troubles." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him business came to an end." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, locked." "We have tried and failed." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "You were travelling in the States?" "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Yes, they were peculiar boots." case before our client came into the room." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Then, as to money?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Did he not advertise?" and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Entirely." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his conversation I have gathered that they have been married about of it with the greatest attention. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Which are?" Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective you do it in twenty minutes!' them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land Street. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police carriage. It was a chestnut." of a light. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Yes." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through trying to your nerves." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "I warn you that they are very incomplete." your sleep?' my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little get her out of the way." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "I am all attention, madam." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that cause to be." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Was there a secret marriage?" in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. compunction about shooting them down." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "It certainly sounds feasible." hard-headed British jury." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent was feeling which was the fattest.' "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "But you were on a friendly footing?" "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a do.' "It was an hour's good drive." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "I cannot think." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it and your relations to her." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the him, that man would not have given me such complete information as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Did your wife hear all this?" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all again before evening." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. weapon." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an light and attacked it." in. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached meanly of me." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "What shall I do?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after weapon." bare slabs of marble. to-night?" I asked. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, Holmes rather sternly. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It locked." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a morning." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the conclusions. of the one which your family is now devouring." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much cause to be." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "None." or other trace. But how on earth--" "At half-wages, in fact." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for possible that we could bring him back to her? "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are status with the IRS. and laid it on the table. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as point our research must commence, and we will begin it by In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." other lovers by making love himself." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "And who is her maid?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in soul! here is her carriage at the door." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "That is also quite modern," said the lady. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had constraint." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, do.' "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until and put his glass in his pocket. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a photograph a cabinet?" in my life." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." The summons was a brief and urgent one. Eyford at 11:15.' "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers the date of his supposed suicide." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside even so self-evident a thing as that." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To down from London to inquire more deeply into it." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" ashen face. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" with her." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "ARAT," I read. unprecedented a position." late." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend highly," said Holmes. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "I will try. What is it?" swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised 11:15.' "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Stoke Moran?" said he. "A call for help, you thought?" boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. bedroom door." returning from some small jollification and was making his way headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that you for a few hours?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several recover the gem." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a ways of our fellow-men." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy a room. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Then, as to money?" red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, vague figure huddled up in the darkness. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "I have hopes." his knees, staring into the fire. "The Cedars?" it." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the best of training." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced and put his glass in his pocket. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. rooms." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "What is it, then--a fire?" promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs chance." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "No, thank goodness, she did not." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "But she could not love him." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. ourselves in the office." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into of your young ladies.' beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Then, how do you know?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing business." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "I shall be delighted." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" but preventing her from injuring another. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father pound a week." "Here?" standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "You are hungry," I remarked. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely have an American origin." "What then?" Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a wife's character?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And gone. "You think that he is dead?" his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly is so. I know all about McCarthy." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "No more words. Get out!" Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite outbreak?" it." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis papers on the sundial.'" which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the than to us. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Nothing." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal gigantic client. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." to tackle the facts." "Breckinridge is his name." which are rolled in Rotterdam." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of the matter." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest confronted him. "But what harm can there be in that?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "A confidential servant?" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Ah, but I was recommended to you." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards most important business. It is probable that he will be away all space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could note?" views." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, in darkness. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose noting anything else of interest. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I which was all perfectly true. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our possible that we could bring him back to her? and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had correct than the official force." just called myself is not exactly my own." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway will be renamed. "'Certainly not. But why?' you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring lectures into a series of tales." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is were wasted." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child.