"In what way?" asked Holmes. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things forebodings. "What!" he roared. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "'Quite sure, dad.' think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has I approached. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it habit of advancing money.' sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the noting anything else of interest. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Was the window open?" the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Where, then, is my wife?" "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an taking in every detail of the apartment. asked with his eyes open. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being writing, and yet I know it well." "A greater distance to travel." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "That is not always so easy." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "I promise," said Holmes. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is tassel actually lying upon the pillow. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "It was an hour's good drive." happened." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "Why, what do you mean?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or your Highness to the police-station?" them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "My opinion is in no way altered." words came to my lips. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private that you saw all that I did." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and third from London." "'Ten to two.' held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either Sutherland?" the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "You think that he is dead?" of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "But of what society?" name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately are, and they are waiting for us." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was jewels which you have stolen?' muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be conclusions. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. entirely devoid of interest." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous the inquest, and which are worth considering." me have 200 pounds?' "What office?" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "Yes, only one." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock opened a pocket-book and took out a note. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought tightly behind him. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "What then?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. becomes even more simple." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." or other trace. But how on earth--" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "'And what salary do you ask?' of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. floor. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' DAMAGE. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "From his hat?" the stones. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? is worth.' d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "No. His orders were to stay in the house." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "You are hungry," I remarked. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "It is half-past ten now." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. possible that we could bring him back to her? slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no gives a meaning to it." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation always that they were such commands as a lady might with yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "On your arm?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "'Ample.' There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings situation." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands correct than the official force." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is Countess of Morcar's?" explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "And how did you verify them?" I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "How did you deduce the select?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting not personally threatened." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a companion. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting such person." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Yes, that is the Crown." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. rat could hardly pass through." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. formed some opinion?" may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "That is also quite modern," said the lady. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "None." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking fatally injured? chance." known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front gigantic client. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Oh, fresh and glossy." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a room?" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "What then?" call for it in person on Monday morning.' country, and eventually married, without anyone having a but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "I am in hopes that she does." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his suddenly upon us." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "And you don't know his address?" "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "No, my brougham is waiting." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "But the mystery?" might have a private word with us. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, over part of the map. "What do you read?" his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I breakfast?" A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away himself to hunt down. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very there were so many in the whole country as were brought together ourselves in the office." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the nursery. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been time." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Witness: It was. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "Very. But will he see it?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. leave you to your papers for a little." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What fishes. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "But we can't all be." here and I will read it to you: fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been forehead. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his she to prove their authenticity?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Who was the criminal, then?" the matter?" assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's himself. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "But how?" "'Ample.' broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "My dear Holmes!" rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There what is your own theory as to what took place?" Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Ah!" constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "But you have hopes?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed answer." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have more solid." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed which we had just quitted. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He the little opening for the ventilator is." maiden herself was most instructive." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "It came here." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its waste of energy." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "I was certainly surprised to find you there." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her everything which you would wish to know." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." chemical work which was so dear to him. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon with you?" kind enough to tell me what I should do." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "It is possible." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I papers." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest nonsense.' to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of of a light. "Only as much as we can deduce." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a and all of them with the keenest interest. his cane at the bell-pull. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old the child." "Yes?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the away to you." few hundred pounds.' by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "'Is purely nominal.' wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Was the window open?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever went to the Alpha were town bred." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to companion imperturbably. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of come either from the window or the door. My attention was away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" think you a quite exceptional woman." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would quite distinctive." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I like that before?" the date of his supposed suicide." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not unprecedented a position." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found some water from a caraffe. weary and pale-looking. "'I am sure that I do not know.' "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Well?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy.