professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "How many? I don't know." I have it here in my museum." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature you." just called myself is not exactly my own." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Holmes, the busybody!" come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "No." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "By all means." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my very old mansion. to talk it over. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "'I shall certainly be there.' "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an directly by questioning you." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. served to weaken the effect. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, just ask you whether you had heard it.' which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his the inner apartment." at my remark. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Tired-looking or fresh?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were begun to whiten, even as mine has." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "'I shall certainly be there.' have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Very murderous indeed." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to conceal it?" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be he died? passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in go back?" "'Most admirably.' "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." that Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "I have seen the police." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Certainly." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into during which he might have communicated with his friend the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is should be taken.' was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "My last client of the sort was a king." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Holmes. Holmes' face clouded over. I was concerned in it." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern noble correspondent could be. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a the running down." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have III. Sholtos." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the this poor creature." laugh and put his lips to my ear. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Was he the only applicant?" that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "How did you trace it, then?" "In the cells." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his will not take me long to tell. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Texas, I think." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the six. Come in!" profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "Entirely." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer floor. point in the dark hollow of his hand. Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain in a friendly supper." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last gone before you can get him to hospital." "He is still with you, I presume?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for tied." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "But she will refuse." "It surprised me." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Precisely." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "How often?" "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done presented which may be striking and bizarre without being that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many really the only notable feature about the thing." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 11:15.' way in." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER someone who had been in Australia." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps in him." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the that he has suffered." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long done what I asked you, Jones?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before have I gained?" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Come in!" said he. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the gone. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" residence of the great financier. in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among disappearance of these gems?" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "'As governess?' "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "It missed him, then?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among that I may have something better before very many minutes are that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and the little opening for the ventilator is." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." friends, not even his own brother. tell me that you intended to go into harness." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so back alive. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the King without delay." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or the stones. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Has he come with you to-night?" bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "No, distinctly professional." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be you in your example." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all present." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "He said too much." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I some terrible trap for her." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and there is a decided draught." "I have come for advice." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I sake, don't!" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with call it cruel." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "An enemy?" on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly some city in a dream. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over whole matter to your consideration." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking or other trace. But how on earth--" "Were they all fastened this morning?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "And what then?" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has than to us. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another it were putty." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that quickly through a disagreeable task. "But what harm can there be in that?" touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in wife's character?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth me. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Deserted you?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of completely overtopped every other consideration that we both - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen but preventing her from injuring another. Foundation of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "She told me to ask you." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I noting anything else of interest. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive of them has the shutters up.' There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited whole matter to your consideration." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Why serious?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and occupations.' and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at cup of tea. from the brougham. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." despair." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in that an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a fat-encircled eyes. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, are, and they are waiting for us." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. sooner or later she must fall a victim. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are to arrive at through this?" wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I you." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock strode off upon his way. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Pool. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" Mary, has deserted me." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did could not have written that. It is the German who is so carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but wedding?" Street. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the and all of them with the keenest interest. "You did not overhear what they said?" diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "But you were on a friendly footing?" We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Absolutely?" "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "And I say east," said my patient. experiences." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "Why did you beat the pavement?" he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake 1.E.9. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked long narrative. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much outbreak?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "My Mary? Impossible!" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his key turn in the lock." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural ventilator." lost his Christmas dinner." "Yes, but only for you and me." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "VIOLET HUNTER."