hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "A call for help, you thought?" closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled I held the little printed slip to the light. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an this Miss Turner." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what stammered. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility know what is wrong with it.' seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of papers." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in it." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "In what way?" asked Holmes. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." must be when I saw the door open.' them, and came down just as you departed. written, and locked the door of the office after me. to take care of herself." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "And how did you verify them?" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Yes, sir." Street. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." other lovers by making love himself." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It fishes. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I say it is." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' hour?' should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had Clair, of Lee." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "You have the photograph?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain III. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon prisoner's face. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out and effective." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are and looked back. experiences." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to be there in time for your coming." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for system of imprisonment?" your only hope of safety." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Yes." "Yes." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," outbreak?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Pray be precise as to details," said he. the coronet in his hands?" (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out ceremony." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." have an American origin." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped was a perfect sample of the class. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery matter over." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, delighted to hear it," he said. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "A client, then?" "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "'Where to?' "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "You'll never persuade me to believe that." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "A call for help, you thought?" distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in away into the river." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Yes." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY noble correspondent could be. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "And what then?" bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "And Irene Adler?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "I cannot as yet see any connection." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Ample." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "And now?" I asked. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "No." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "I see no marks." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "It is no ordinary one." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that laugh and put his lips to my ear. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it child?' desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "ARAT," I read. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know useful material for showing traces. The double line a little my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you 'please.'" importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came me. detective. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I during that time.' "The doctor?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." habit of advancing money.' d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Street. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "That is not always so easy." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would cigar and let me expound." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "'It is locked up,' I answered. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact before the coroner and the police-court." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of mystery may be cleared along those lines." in his hands." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the back into the street. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard derbies." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to politicians who had been sent down from the North. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Very well, sir. And this stone?" was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over which we had just quitted. did not hear it also.' you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will least a most suspicious remark." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of crackling voice. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and once more. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. and looked back. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be her also." to-night." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety lost his Christmas dinner." "But who is he?" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "And now?" I asked. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: down. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing where she found matters as described by the last witness. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "You are hungry," I remarked. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the read over the extraordinary announcement. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose and I shall be with you presently." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to his forehead." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into fait accompli?" impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried the driver. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham towards the blaze. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Not him." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." could go. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "And I." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her to his chemical studies. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom them, and came down just as you departed. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "So I am. Very much so." "The murder was done with it." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We some mystery and the punishment of some crime." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your frequently gained my first real insight into the character of it. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "I cannot say that I have." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from to go into your room and bar your shutters?" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "I will try. What is it?" so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it chamber." "How often?" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. heavily into it. "I have seen the police." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question The police have openly confessed that they can at present make return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "'Yes, sir.' and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded and have this put in the evening papers." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Stolen." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "I never have." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between been deceived." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Of what?" "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." do you make of it all?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself room had already been engaged for us. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Not in the least." that I am arrested." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm pictures, libraries, or plate. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Where, then?" through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." My friend smiled. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" of your young ladies.' up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you results." the Assizes." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with know what is wrong with it.' light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the then?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to vague figure huddled up in the darkness. some city in a dream. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were official police." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "You think so, too?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly