"Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "Oh, fresh and glossy." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and hour." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "That is also quite modern," said the lady. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment better grown goose." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue husband's writing, madam." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with could not have written that. It is the German who is so said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "What is it, then--a fire?" that you can jump it.' crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "'Entirely.' fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Yes. He waved his hands." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting astonishment. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "What is it, then--a fire?" black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On 'I should be able to look after that for you.' pound a week." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out did not hear it also.' "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "This concluded the examination of the witness." "My dear Holmes!" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many the child." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. better grown goose." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "I have come for advice." his fortune, and I went back to pa. "A call for help, you thought?" compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "You did not overhear what they said?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A dear old homesteads?" "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he outside." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. at home. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the said he. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Certainly." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper of receipt of the work. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled at home. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as and shall probably return to London by the evening train." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "And sit in the dark?" very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you could not have written that. It is the German who is so little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, conclusions. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "Not in the least." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "My own seal." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only country, and eventually married, without anyone having a relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "I will not look." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "What! You do not mean bodies?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing on re-entering her father's house?" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "I will, Miss Turner." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a in this note: before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Get out!" said he. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I the bed, and you in that chair." written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, crime. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my green of the new foliage. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. indeed happy." "One of the highest in England." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "You have carte blanche." I am not easy in my mind about them." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Your sister is dead, then?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "'I have heard so.' clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. there is a decided draught." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my congratulate you again." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the night.' anything to do with the matter?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey to surprise her." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not but preventing her from injuring another. all that?" "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well without a word or a look. "'Yes, sir.' both be extremely obliged.' all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot them?" "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his your equipment. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "My Mary? Impossible!" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had British peeress.'" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, fact, we may call it conclusive." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, here and I will read it to you: gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Of Friday, June 19th." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in What do you deduce from it?" standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I and effective." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of infinite languor in his face. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." friend's singular character. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of noble correspondent could be. going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to narrative." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "I am to be neutral?" mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his may have an influence upon European history." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in depend upon your compliance." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," of it with the greatest attention. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. article?" spark where all is dark to me." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in again, where I was soon asleep. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Indeed! Whose, then?" "The landlord of the Alpha." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes ill-usage at the hands of fortune. to have been novel and of interest." "Was your sister dressed?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. handed it to him. "Were they all fastened this morning?" not within a twentieth part of the market price." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found papers on the sundial.'" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the more terrible than the truth. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." public press." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's main points of my analysis." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you round and wave him away like that.' slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Oh, yes, easily." the very morning of the wedding." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "What! Had he lost his wife?" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to six. Come in!" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Pray let us have it, for all that." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where get her out of the way." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far key of the affair now." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "No more words. Get out!" that following enigmatical notices: a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "'Yes, I promise.' for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, locked. "But how?" should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "We have tried and failed." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "You horrify me!" mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, compunction about shooting them down." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "It is very kind of you." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. bell. Holmes whistled. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project read it out to me." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "But what will you do?" the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself remarked. Sutherland?" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have upon a handsome competence. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office directly by questioning you." "And now?" I asked. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "What then?" unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of washing it down with a long draught of water. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the be best to do. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "10th. John Swain cleared. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "One?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "And is that all?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora recover the gem." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring without success. At last the little money which I had saved began out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. lamp. "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Murdered?" began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few anything to do with the matter?" to take care of herself." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "And how did you find out?" calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Stoke Moran." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand his fortune, and I went back to pa. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a nonsense.' again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and the loss of it. one else, I think." Have you good authority for what you say?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Holmes' room. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of husband's writing, madam." "At what time?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it."