And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "It may not come to that," said Holmes. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. upon the sideboard." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. during that time.' the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. do.' this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. galvanised. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "No?" "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "And on what day did he meet his death?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when take the flies, but not before." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR point in the dark hollow of his hand. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first your co-operation." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between behind me. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered desk. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Very much so." "'Where could I find him?' He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Could he throw no light?" that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his must be when I saw the door open.' unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "'Ample.' my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "'You doubt its value?' he asked. to me. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "You know me, then?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the help us in this matter." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been DAMAGE. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Henry Baker is a member." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for it? Did I buy the geese off you?" receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Dr. Gregory B. Newby was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in into her hand at the door and which lured her within their room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a dates and names. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Was he the only applicant?" the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." was a lad." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "How many? I don't know." digesting their breakfasts at home." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Nearly eleven." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "It is possible." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had are, and they are waiting for us." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put yet." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage will be renamed. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." rose-bushes. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most charge against him will break down." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings stammered. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat highroad, where all traces were lost. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "Yes." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital Have you good authority for what you say?" "Witness: I must still refuse. that I am arrested." "A call for help, you thought?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "No, thank goodness, she did not." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to at my own good fortune. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "I shall most certainly do so." against a man in the prime of life?" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for come either from the window or the door. My attention was bonnet, and went out." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may one which it was hard to resist. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and system of imprisonment?" the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very bare slabs of marble. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "What office?" Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Certainly." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired congratulate you again." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just who was a member of your goose club." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his redistribution. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third derbies." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your the very letters. But what is this written above them?' lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. someone who had been in Australia." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very done what I asked you, Jones?" looking up at the numbers of the houses." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a it were putty." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and in a friendly supper." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the at my own good fortune. "Then I am your man." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to digesting their breakfasts at home." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "You horrify me!" confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "It's nothing of the kind." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to British peeress.'" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "Well, some hundreds of times." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know writer." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Yes." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond the general public were present, then?" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "At half-wages, in fact." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps extraordinary contortions. I was concerned in it." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "I shall most certainly do so." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Yes." "Well, but China?" building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches like gravel from a pit.' it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was way in." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to union?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell them?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his papers diligently of late, have you not?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Witness: It was. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "How are you getting on?" play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and the date of his supposed suicide." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know death." people don't know." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "We were both in the photograph." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about do." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." passage and a tap at the door. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had gone before you can get him to hospital." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I say it is." appeared upon the scene." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "My last client of the sort was a king." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. me what he had done with the three missing stones. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; Sholtos." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "His face fell immediately. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "This concluded the examination of the witness." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank likely to be some crony of the landlady's." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side new acquaintance to Baker Street. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Not social, then?" "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of of Fenchurch Street." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, to have been novel and of interest." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a key of the affair now." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this deduce something from that?" sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "And I to find an enemy." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right a good hundred miles off by now." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the forebodings. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "I have hopes." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I certainly not very gracious." some terrible trap for her." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." was it brought him the coronet? the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these village inn over there?" I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the affection." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "But he might be a bachelor." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would desk. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves his knees, staring into the fire. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I what I may call a really hard day's work." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "My dear Holmes!" you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "'Yes.' stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be mysterious business." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "None." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may morning." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I reach." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "My Mary? Impossible!" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a