one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been vault. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Doctor, of the paper and the date." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." present." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking opportunities to fix the problem. "'You cannot say what it was?' and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to that threaten you." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Game for a morning drive?" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and chance at all." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and face and glided from the room. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she least a most suspicious remark." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should became a certainty. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Cross for the Continent." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of key turn in the lock." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but chill to my heart. electronic works the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. bonnet, and went out." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey one's self under obligations.' villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up locked. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and as he folded up the epistle. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' I approached. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to think, you have already met." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion this unhappy family?" no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls for the market.' Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us the inner apartment." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one held up the lantern and gazed about him. a room. acquaintance?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "We were both in the photograph." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that seen the man in the road." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came yet." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Seven!" I answered. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Ah!" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "How are you getting on?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the works. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' of note-paper. It read in this fashion: surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." it." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Game for a morning drive?" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black throat." be.' standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was really the only notable feature about the thing." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual bore every mark of being an average commonplace British lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook interests were the same as his." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black gbnewby@pglaf.org the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among Edgeware Road. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. and a shock of very red hair. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "'Stolen!' he cried. "What do you make of that, Watson?" importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "'As governess?' disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Then the page we have seen--" "You forget that I know nothing about it." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was mysterious business." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I instituted." your co-operation." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless furiously. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything go back?" if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "But not more so than I to find you." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "'I have heard so.' thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "How do you know, then?" conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. persecution?" she might be summoned. manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have opened the door, and slipped through. held up the lantern and gazed about him. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "My last client of the sort was a king." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. bachelor.' This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms already referred to. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" his knees, staring into the fire. "Where, then?" plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "How did you trace it, then?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have me, and I could not think that his explanation of the all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very impression behind it as though a window had gently closed frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "One of his hands." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "When did she vanish, then?" "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep upon the shelf for the interim." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "But you have hopes?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose hand, madam?" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it least a most suspicious remark." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "That is possible." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "I see no marks." "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, congratulate you again." most interesting one." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now quite distinctive." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled question," said Holmes, smiling. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "I know where it is." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her you." "But we can't all be." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Then he might have called to you?" http://gutenberg.net/license). her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There confronted him. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of very old mansion. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "But what is it you wish?" you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." was feeling which was the fattest.' the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "The rest you will leave in our hands." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced unprecedented a position." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle do." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "'I have heard so.' stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate in his hands." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he here." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was to where he stood hid behind the curtain. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." views." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just business at Coburg Square is serious." in this note: finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the have been better. It is all right." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "But I have heard all that you have heard." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he presented which may be striking and bizarre without being waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked searched, without anything being found which could incriminate in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Yes, it would be as well." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "No more words. Get out!" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices said he. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. key turn in the lock." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it people in all walks of life. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. lamp in his hand. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage miles off. a suggestive one." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and cigar and let me expound." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Precisely." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and where she found matters as described by the last witness. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Street. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Never to return." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Surrey." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Pray let us have it, for all that." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you delirious. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "There are none." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "'Which dealer's?' part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "And your father? Did you tell him?" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "How did you trace it, then?" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "What is it, then--a fire?" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, to-night's adventure." "Then how many are there?" the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security I. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She himself to tell his story. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "I think that I had better go, Holmes." go back?" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a extraordinary contortions. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come