I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of I nodded again. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out corner of the building. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." Pool. of the way of danger. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "I do." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "And is that all?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door have been better. It is all right." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "'As governess?' envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now examine." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, or in danger--" advice." "Then, as to money?" outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "The landlord of the Alpha." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course bears upon the case?" It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "No, but the enclosure is." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off despaired of." and wait." his face. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. respectable self." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Quite so. She has her freedom." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what of campaign. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to them present such singular features as the strange train of civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you The events in question occurred in the early days of my wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire bare slabs of marble. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of 'please.'" until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Yes." with frightened eyes at his accuser. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "But I am all in the dark." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? photograph a cabinet?" clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened the dangers which encompass me." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down sufficient punishment." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a forbidden door. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Oh, fresh and glossy." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Yes, certainly." "No more words. Get out!" nothing with him." a room. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian window when the police appeared." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very it." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced congratulate you again." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any to a light-house. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any astonishment. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, been able to understand it, in a very few words. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "It was an hour's good drive." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" footfalls from the street. as the one I chose?' he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." served to weaken the effect. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study your Highness to the police-station?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "9th. McCauley cleared. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and conclusions. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful to his chemical studies. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover sound at heart." pierced for earrings?" ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his key of the affair now." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a gone. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just relief. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "That is not always so easy." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, you, my dear young lady?' "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "No, finished." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Pray tell us what has happened to you." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "BALLARAT." "No, I think that I'll take it." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Yesterday." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where I. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "I cannot imagine." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The fat-encircled eyes. "But she could not love him." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded room?" her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Cross for the Continent." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah to some other building. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Then you may be so with me." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." had formerly been in part my own. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting and it need not interfere very much with one's other the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Certainly." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "Indeed! Whose, then?" make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue about here speaks of his kindness to him." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "I know where it is." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so tapping his fingers upon the table. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how wife's character?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, London for the present?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, desk. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, presume?" along the entire front of the house, with three long windows to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Can I be of assistance?" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "No?" "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" never came back." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses me. You must get home instantly and act." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has the morning and make my own way in the world.' WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat to-night's adventure." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy of the vacancies.' gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "And Miss Sutherland?" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "In San Francisco, a year ago." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, from the brougham. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the enter Dr. Roylott's room." "By train from Waterloo." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Frequently." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Leadenhall Street--and--" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond ceremony." touch that coronet?' he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us astonishment. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Really! You surprise me." him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest and looked back. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "And the cigar-holder?" certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, meanly of me." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "This photograph!" classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." tell me that you intended to go into harness." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Perhaps I have." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "The vanishing of the lady." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the long narrative. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "You will not go there first?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Then you may entirely rely on me." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. washing it down with a long draught of water. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that upon the sideboard." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' room. "Ample." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened The note was undated, and without either signature or address. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall there!' mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I head. So long, then!" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the new acquaintance to Baker Street. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we to arrive at through this?" unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "How on earth--" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "It is half-past ten now." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "That was it, sir." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I troubles have been weighing upon his mind. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "'Quite sure, dad.' in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. might have a private word with us. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had matter over." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among is so. I know all about McCarthy." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "VIOLET HUNTER." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Stoke Moran?" said he. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years footfalls from the street. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Cross for the Continent." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He keep the flames under. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love detained." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of