of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "What are they?" "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Precisely." "'Certainly not. But why?' The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "How did he come?" problems help me to do so." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of done what I asked you, Jones?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of was once confined in the cab my mission was practically License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. of this gang." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for walking." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the and the whole place is in a blaze." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the to change my dress. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and went to the Alpha were town bred." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Two days later this same performance was gone through under furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Seven!" I answered. made his money." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Do you know him?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you guilty one." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "From his hat?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in instituted." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but bird of prey. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, The King stared at him in amazement. certainly do as you advise." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, habit of advancing money.' received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he cheerful." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the row." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that said he. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Stoke Moran?" said he. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted is acting for the best. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The not as remarkable as your advertisement." bare slabs of marble. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some possible that we could bring him back to her? it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Then what has happened to him?" pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." crime." WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "I cannot tell." really the only notable feature about the thing." her also." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than It was close upon four before the door opened, and a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really sit on the left-hand side of the driver." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the knowledge of the world." soul! here is her carriage at the door." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, back to my heart. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, During two years I have had three consultations and one small answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the with you?" locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "But to whom?" people don't know." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to careless servant girl?" and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Project Gutenberg-tm works. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "He said that you could solve anything." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "That you are never beaten." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. appeared upon the scene." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle results." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "When did it break out?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I cheerful." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "And I to find an enemy." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round introspective fashion. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Here?" "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Very. But will he see it?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I would apply.' future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "I will try. What is it?" machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER other lovers by making love himself." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had sake, don't!" Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Gutenberg-tm License. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." you in your example." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "And the cigar-holder?" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is has little to do with my story." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. have one." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "And you can do nothing until then?" got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through drawing your inferences." gone before you can get him to hospital." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Perhaps we may make them less so." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "When did she vanish, then?" I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the vault. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into beyond words. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger south, for the country is more deserted there." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "'Entirely.' "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one mysterious business." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably exactly what you advise." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different father's place of business?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See strode off upon his way. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. husband's writing, madam." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the in the hope of finding them." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was trying to your nerves." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and observed. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the washing it down with a long draught of water. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face little adventures." neither fascinating nor artistic." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "It is possible." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your notes," he said. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I maiden herself was most instructive." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down quite distinctive." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I secret." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "And is that all?" room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Perhaps I have." arrangements." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all one else, I think." "I am to be neutral?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have cigar and let me expound." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Yes, only one." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass place of silver." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of soul! here is her carriage at the door." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a respectable self." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. situation." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for you do it in twenty minutes!' attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Stolen, then." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do his grey eyes. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Have you good authority for what you say?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the 11:15.' to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which do.' not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "How often?" upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. you for a few hours?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "And how did he make his money?" trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "'Ample.' we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "I am in hopes that she does." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Not I." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you burst out into a roar of laughter. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of and no precautions can guard against." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "And why?" occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four other means.' style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name certainly not very gracious." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Very much so." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' be.' bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "That is it on the dressing-table." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "You forget that I know nothing about it." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." assist you in forming an opinion." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it an introduction to him?" "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" to-morrow." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "And why?"