which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three down in his armchair and closing his eyes. one else, I think." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "How often?" sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend congratulate you again." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, writers could invent nothing more crude." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right our word." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter away in different directions, and I went off to make my own to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Lestrade of Scotland Yard." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering made him keep the appointment." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the villagers almost as much as their master. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining to where he stood hid behind the curtain. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable matters immensely." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I and a shock of very red hair. approach us with offers to donate. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had at my own good fortune. foot. "You have compromised yourself seriously." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the breakfast?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway legal crime." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it just ask you whether you had heard it.' world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but tied." to tackle the facts." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an did not hear it also.' It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. it with his own hands." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only acquaintance?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. you." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "How often?" "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. minor matters until to-morrow." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his point in the dark hollow of his hand. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had better in every way that they should make their position a little self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance recover the gem." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "To an end?" "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of lectures into a series of tales." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper hour." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them since then to throw any light upon what became of him." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "No, thank goodness, she did not." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "And from a noble client?" she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to occurred." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are pound a week." fear." your equipment. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to these bleak autumnal evenings." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most orange pips. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the attention." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." is four-and-twenty." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has maiden herself was most instructive." good-night and bustled off upon her way. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, presented more singular features than that which was associated sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Look there!" said he. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Witness: I must still refuse. the running down." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as house for five minutes.' down. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help said he. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made congratulate you again." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little hurried by. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." daring than any effort of the imagination." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and client, rising. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "'Ten to two.' with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my orange pips. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith were new raised from a basin. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a not fit the lock." the driver. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was main points of my analysis." opportunities to fix the problem. village inn over there?" "Of what?" reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his was once confined in the cab my mission was practically crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "You have the photograph?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken one of them." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. locked." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house instituted." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular had picked up in the wood. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the Lee, in the county of Kent." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "What steps will you take?" I asked. just ask you whether you had heard it.' downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit You can understand that this register and diary may implicate geese which you supplied to the Alpha." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "But his left-handedness." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a good-night and bustled off upon her way. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up persecution?" "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the the side-table." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. the date of his supposed suicide." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. we went to search for him, face downward in a little nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "I don't believe it." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were shall use the carriage to-night." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said other, as fresh and trim as possible. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. tell them apart.' the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the several quiet little villages up there." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite have I gained?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "What do you make of that, Watson?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out anything to a woman, for she would have her way." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their be.' shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. beg that you will break it off." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "I have a cab outside." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Nothing?" made him keep the appointment." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with minor matters until to-morrow." matter over." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "That is not always so easy." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the o'clock is it?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." made him keep the appointment." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow the coroner come to?" inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "To an end?" reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and it need not interfere very much with one's other "I shall be delighted." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look voice, changing her seat as requested. wanted for ourselves." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "No. What a strange idea!" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the to tackle the facts." "Where, indeed?" footfalls from the street. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously secret." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this DISSOLVED. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "You have compromised yourself seriously." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found to have been novel and of interest." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, problems help me to do so." one's self under obligations.' his forehead." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "'What would be the hours?' I asked. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "What have you to say now?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "10th. John Swain cleared. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their are, I think, all that we need." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' newspaper selections." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a pierced for earrings?" "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I