adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "I am sure." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he that you can jump it.' "To an end?" "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "I am sure." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main photograph a cabinet?" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Of Friday, June 19th." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter it were putty." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "What then?" really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very bell. Holmes whistled. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less at my remark. think you a quite exceptional woman." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came help us in this matter." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked lost nothing by them." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Yes." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "That's no good." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "VIOLET HUNTER." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "I shall be delighted." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the the morning and make my own way in the world.' weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the hour." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Do you go out much in society?" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong there was no need for father to know." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "In which, sir?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, me have 200 pounds?' form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at reach." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a indeed happy." "That also I could fathom." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, thirty. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded The events in question occurred in the early days of my her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had that before taking the final step I should like to submit the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of situation." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "And Miss Sutherland?" "Your sister is dead, then?" One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "And how did you verify them?" mystery may be cleared along those lines." overpowering excitement and concern. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." himself to tell his story. "No, distinctly professional." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem my room." whatever might befall. "Yes." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to particular state visit http://pglaf.org his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "When did she vanish, then?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "No. What a strange idea!" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as who was a member of your goose club." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Very truly yours, shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of over here." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was three of the beryls in it, was missing. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "'Yes, it was gone.' this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious did not hear it also.' was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, washing it down with a long draught of water. are, and they are waiting for us." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that likely to be some crony of the landlady's." too. "How did you deduce the select?" taking in every detail of the apartment. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" nonsense.' were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "How about poison?" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she was shining brightly. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search crime." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "And I say east," said my patient. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he the roots. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat least a most suspicious remark." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, tell him that I know him to be innocent." wanted for ourselves." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of I. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "But I am all in the dark." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the me what he had done with the three missing stones. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of against a man in the prime of life?" "Witness: Nothing definite. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "By no means." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from meant." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who the very morning of the wedding." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I rat could hardly pass through." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, in this note: our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then too. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side morning." "Where, then, is my wife?" of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "'How far from the body?' Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I never have." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Entirely." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of in him." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those prisoner's face. "An enemy?" continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and visitors." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Nothing?" came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Where to?" "Why did you pick him?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "He said that you could solve anything." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover he died? not within a twentieth part of the market price." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at long narrative. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Nearly eleven." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the morning." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" is acting for the best. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': him!" unprofitable." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this sake, don't!" just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, see me here to avoid scandal." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their nothing with him." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project there when the Rucastles went away." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you digesting their breakfasts at home." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "I don't believe it." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated Serpentine Avenue. unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from girl said." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have business in the City. She little knew what. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Yes, at the mines." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything humiliation." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very has little to do with my story." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded empty. "I have my revolver," said I. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The other means.' He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really you came in." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "And how did you find out?" "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I seen the man in the road." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and astonishment. "'Yes.' "And on what day did he meet his death?" his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Why, what do you mean?" "But your client--" Serpentine Avenue. kindly on the shoulder. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the round and wave him away like that.' dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing hard-headed British jury." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to said he. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "Is he quiet?" "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes for the market.' photograph a cabinet?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the will take you up to see the machine.' years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "I have come for advice." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable the roots. that I may have something better before very many minutes are Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Nothing." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the which we had just quitted. "Where is it, then?" wanted for ourselves." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which mysterious business." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. fluttered off among the others. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Of what day?" all that?" the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "'Certainly,' I answered. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "The Coroner: What do you mean? to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Ah, but I was recommended to you." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "That is it on the dressing-table." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so detained." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does is now desirous of getting those letters back." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert memory. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its felt?" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "But how will you look?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman very peculiar words of the dying woman?" started for the Temple to see my husband. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Again Holmes raved in the air. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying carriage. It was a chestnut." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger burst into a hearty fit of laughter. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "No." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare himself to tell his story. "None." hardly wander." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Yes." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there fact, we may call it conclusive." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an