"'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE several quiet little villages up there." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she kindly on the shoulder. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should from you?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, had formerly been in part my own. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella this poor creature." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be would apply.' "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to gentleman's clothes. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "'What do you call purely nominal?' door?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. other, as fresh and trim as possible. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb felt?" blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too chance at all." read over the extraordinary announcement. rat could hardly pass through." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than brought there to personate someone, and the real person is accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present few hundred pounds.' meant." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to congenial hunt. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather his knees, staring into the fire. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the chair. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, here and I will read it to you: "Precisely so. But how--" certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his of them has the shutters up.' can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon information in his hands the value of which he did not himself house for five minutes.' handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "If I can be of use." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was them present such singular features as the strange train of tapping his fingers upon the table. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat prisoner's face. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon corner of the building. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "None." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker know what is wrong with it.' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they opened the door, and slipped through. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A I was concerned in it." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the side-table." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind opened the door, and slipped through. amused." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Did you observe the colour?" house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was him to be an active member of the medical profession." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell upon a handsome competence. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would are windows in it, of course?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. coroner's jury." it." "Did you observe the colour?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "I would pay ten." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. I am not easy in my mind about them." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Tired-looking or fresh?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it families. Now for the facts. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps I am not easy in my mind about them." feature." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it stalked out of the room. "Look there!" said he. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, place of silver." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had retorted upon me, and I on you." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "'Most admirably.' "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort relief. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "I beg pardon." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the you in yours." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "That is not always so easy." I took the paper from him and read as follows: registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not I took the paper from him and read as follows: "None. Neville wrote those words." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Yes." "You have a clue?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Yes, that is the Crown." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the coronet in his hand?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a such attractions and accomplishments?' "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single tell them apart.' "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon presented more singular features than that which was associated time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch signal between you and your father? my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, his face which made him a very different person to the round, "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the very morning of the wedding." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place nothing with him." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond fled together." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to few hundred pounds.' are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only possible that we could bring him back to her? wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then straightened it out again. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many must compliment you." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of as this. Pray let me have the details." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "My opinion is in no way altered." like that before?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "How on earth--" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to society." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew me. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "I will get her to show me." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! but preventing her from injuring another. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Was she in good spirits?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked upon the white wrist. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates 11:15.' impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "What will you do, then?" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Nothing?" locked. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who narrative." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The was it brought him the coronet? willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old the nursery. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." lost his Christmas dinner." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "That is possible." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to written. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." papers diligently of late, have you not?" bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of desk. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "It missed him, then?" Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "It was." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he wife's character?" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being so.' swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or Holmes' face clouded over. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to presented more singular features than that which was associated "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "And I." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As have been better. It is all right." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save least a fellow-countryman. "Pray let us have it, for all that." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. to that open window." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in o'clock is it?" night.' said he. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for know all about it," he snarled. as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that the roots. "To an English lawyer named Norton." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Of what?" telegram would bring me down to your help." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a begin with, and I had not got mine yet." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "And how in the world did you find them?" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," purpose equally well?" "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." fishes. "Yes." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a said he. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "A thing like a cleaver," said he. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Leave Paddington by the 11:15." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired and inquire as to the address." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It allusion to a rat. 11:15.' where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across hour." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it I have it here in my museum." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Sutherland?" "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who was a perfect sample of the class. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "'Ample.' "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "No." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "But of what society?" writer." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to Surrey." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may