upon the white wrist. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in strode off upon his way. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action never will be, entirely cleared up. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "By train from Waterloo." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "But who is he?" however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "The King of Scandinavia." "Of what?" gives a meaning to it." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a matter over." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Yes, all." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips at once, for I have only half an hour." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, it? Did I buy the geese off you?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a least a most suspicious remark." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. his fortune, and I went back to pa. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "He said too much." in the port of London." conclusions. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "'There is a drive, then?' of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "Thank you. Pray proceed." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "You have carte blanche." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her into the bag, and made for the door. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary mystery!" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads a suggestive one." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Does that suggest anything?" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "It was." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "What of the rat, then?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at manager. time." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood little adventures." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Perhaps I have." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the prisoner's face. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "An enemy?" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "'Then let me do so?' of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was has little to do with my story." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each thin legs towards the fire. unclasping of his long thin hands. had a long day." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting face and glided from the room. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Nearly eleven." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that stalked out of the room. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A off." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "'In my own bureau.' the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. them, and came down just as you departed. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "No good news?" branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "I don't believe it." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A The King stared at him in amazement. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the happened." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "What office?" swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the his grey eyes. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. very old mansion. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Quite so. She has her freedom." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Were they all fastened this morning?" "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." not come at once?" The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "I see no marks." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very what do you think they found in the pockets?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who be. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general very old mansion. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming future lives." night.' said he. Chief Executive and Director which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating has little to do with my story." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the assist you in forming an opinion." opened the door, and slipped through. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Awake, Watson?" he asked. coroner's jury." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it outside." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an emerged. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his gone. Street. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small someone who had been in Australia." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is as this. Pray let me have the details." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." Watson," he said cordially. not within a twentieth part of the market price." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance closely." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I am following you closely," I answered. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me you?" speckled band?" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains bell. Holmes whistled. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "We have tried and failed." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Dark enough and sinister enough." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be already been minutely examined." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "'Yes, it was gone.' quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose something of him before." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal my special province." not within a twentieth part of the market price." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "I am all attention, madam." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is where we are going." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Very well, sir. And this stone?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask him." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "No good news?" upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six may have an influence upon European history." important." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain 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 sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Well, it is a possible supposition." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "No, I had a dozen." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Holmes' room. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "And the cigar-holder?" give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to go back?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not gone. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to more terrible than the truth. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to charged with?" It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which is now desirous of getting those letters back." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "'And the work?' "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger and the whole place is in a blaze." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that an introduction to him?" James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low excitement. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "You have it, sir, just as it happened." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "It must be recovered." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had whatever might befall. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Was the window open?" paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut returned to France?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before gone before you can get him to hospital." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal as noiselessly as she had come. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love goes." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some him." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or bearing upon the case." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. writer." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one arrested. You then--" "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should papers diligently of late, have you not?" there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his there." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "And Miss Sutherland?" at home. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of that before taking the final step I should like to submit the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." that threaten you." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." gives a meaning to it." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how bell. Holmes whistled. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "'You doubt its value?' he asked. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "You think so, too?" the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty lamp in his hand. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Nearly eleven." "And what did you see?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' sentimental considerations in the background which would induce quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' there has been an enclosure here!" quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope followed. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed bed dies. Does not that strike you?" you do it in twenty minutes!' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "How did you trace it, then?" closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. the very morning of the wedding." conduct the inquiry." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "But how?" the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from room?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now sooner or later she must fall a victim. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel them?" "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "I would give my fortune to have them back." for the market.' "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. promised to bring home. which it had come upon my father." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I neither fascinating nor artistic." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore the little opening for the ventilator is." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "But you would not advise me to refuse?" colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I at my remark. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over your billet.' I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Was the window open?" real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Yes, it was twisted." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Never." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "In answer to an advertisement." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this astonishment. bedroom door." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: