heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, just ask you whether you had heard it.' "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs very peculiar words of the dying woman?" had formerly been in part my own. tail." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Yes, they were peculiar boots." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having companion. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you as he remarks, very much against the son." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Yes, all." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last success. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Yes, the wine-cellar." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "'Then let me do so?' I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Why? What do you mean?" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but that he has suffered." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "But we can't all be." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Always." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the and all of them with the keenest interest. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Of Friday, June 19th." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest you want, then?' near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. more solid." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled beyond words. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "At the wedding breakfast." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but it were putty." weary and pale-looking. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Never to return." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "It must be recovered." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "None." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my the coronet in his hand?" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Yes, there are nearly always some there." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange crackling voice. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" strong and stiff." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, garden below. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face think that he is innocent?" their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "I see many objections to any such theory." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for excitement. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "And now?" I asked. "I am still in the dark." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I of a light. for the market.' dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if the coroner come to?" nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "At the wedding breakfast." coroner's jury." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be dear old homesteads?" previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own any." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think disturbance in my wife." brandy and water within his reach. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "None." "My private note-paper." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Then I shall certainly come." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "'Yes, I promise.' see me here to avoid scandal." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. them present such singular features as the strange train of I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, fuss that is made over them." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "'Yes.' "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did tell him that I know him to be innocent." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. I was concerned in it." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to works. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for highly," said Holmes. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned ventilator." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Will you bet, then?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the this man was intellectual?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not narrative." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. DAMAGE. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly province." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of that, and I came down." "I will do it." following enigmatical notices: devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "My dear Holmes!" there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "But how?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure meant." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. made his money." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a that you can jump it.' room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "At the wedding breakfast." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself conceal it?" reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "Was the window open?" populous neighbourhood." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than Street. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled better in every way that they should make their position a little "Then I can wait in the next room." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in distance from the station, and there we found the young lady of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country walking." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "What will you say?" "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Yes." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, here." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "I was mad--insane." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. was already answered. "The landlord of the Alpha." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me pound a week." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, other, as fresh and trim as possible. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "'In my own bureau.' page at http://pglaf.org window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "How often?" have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should people in all walks of life. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "But his lameness?" - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that 1.E.9. "You did not overhear what they said?" murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "And you don't know his address?" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on bed dies. Does not that strike you?" her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is gone. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to congratulate you again." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "You heard nothing yourself last night?" what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile directors, with the result that you have seen." me. You must get home instantly and act." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Where, then?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something of." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this for and were ordered to this address. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are door?" "It certainly sounds feasible." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at feature." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying hopeless attempt at recovering them." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "The knees of his trousers." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, the ceiling. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of matter over." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "None." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty telegram would bring me down to your help." always that they were such commands as a lady might with Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will wedding?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of stepfather?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who outsides of the windows. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Just look it up, then." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "They are typewritten," I remarked. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "And you don't know his address?" "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it have had none more fantastic than this." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, disappearance of the bride.'" no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "The murder was done with it." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of matter over." noble correspondent could be. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the deduce something from that?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "On Monday." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Upon what point?" affection." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the four million human beings all jostling each other within the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her of your young ladies.' What do you deduce from it?" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." least a most suspicious remark." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence meant it for the best. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback than was visible to me." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent and prosperity to your house. Good-night." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Deserted you?" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "But who is he?" hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "I am sure." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "About a month then." "But how did you gain them?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest side. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "'Quite sure, dad.' and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly the Friday. Was it to be in church?" before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in me, and I could not think that his explanation of the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "I promise," said Holmes. coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not his eyes and forehead. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Witness: It was. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I intimate personal affairs in this public manner." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always looking up at the numbers of the houses." servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "You heard nothing yourself last night?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had article?" typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as