"Precisely." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "'And the work?' "I am sure." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "How about poison?" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some you." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but and no precautions can guard against." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that it. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. business came to an end." details." speckled band?" course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "We must sit without light. He would see it through the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy your sleep?' "Witness: I must still refuse. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass them, and came down just as you departed. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "I will try. What is it?" was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "But how will you look?" increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be developed." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his true." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. for and were ordered to this address. lips." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "No?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "The Coroner: What do you mean? Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, will take you up to see the machine.' all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" some mystery and the punishment of some crime." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front anything to do with the matter?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any one of them." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps wall." or in danger--" or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "She will not sell." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry hurried away. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his of your young ladies.' the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is the salesman. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "ARAT," I read. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical sparkled upon his finger. them, and came down just as you departed. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several vault. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "To the police?" "He is still with you, I presume?" "Where to?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key away into the river." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his 11:15.' doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty country, and eventually married, without anyone having a work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill passage and a tap at the door. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of back alive. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy charge against him will break down." maiden herself was most instructive." "But who is he?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." of Mr. Rucastle's." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "I cannot tell." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the in a very precise fashion." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No to have been novel and of interest." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with suddenly upon us." "'Stolen!' he cried. "Well, some hundreds of times." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An next day. have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I do.' were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "'Never.' "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "The gentleman I describe." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the weary and pale-looking. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are investigation." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. what is your own theory as to what took place?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to directors, with the result that you have seen." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I I nodded again. ago." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the best of training." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "Yes." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. discontent upon his features. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will pictures, libraries, or plate. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this forbidden door. "I am armed." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "You have the photograph?" "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first occupations.' "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a signal between you and your father? slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had way: occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for status with the IRS. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon and files of the old papers, following the future career of every when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Serpentine Avenue. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate laugh and put his lips to my ear. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat particular state visit http://pglaf.org glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared key of the affair now." your most interesting statement." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and maid will bring up your coffee." "None." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "To an English lawyer named Norton." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers breakfast?" "Pray continue your narrative." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Awake, Watson?" he asked. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret of Fenchurch Street." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window colour had been driven from his face. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and there." "9th. McCauley cleared. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know you want, then?' "And why?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." already been minutely examined." most interesting one." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet I. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "'There is a drive, then?' habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" all?" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Then how many are there?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and to you." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that approach us with offers to donate. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the my room." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "How on earth--" exactly what you advise." to-night?' logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "We must have a cab." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House memory. "What do you make of that, Watson?" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my best detective that ever lived. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In manager. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to vault. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "And your mother is alive?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some returned to France?" call it cruel." "And your mother is alive?" "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the purpose equally well?" huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, horse could go." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without the dangers which encompass me." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Ha! you find it so?" same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should are, I think, all that we need." may never be exposed to such a temptation." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror leave you to your papers for a little." "Certainly." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and which was all perfectly true. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with despaired of." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "'Very good.' three of the beryls in it, was missing. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is I nodded to show that I had heard. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture peculiar to him. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged you in yours." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again to surprise her." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "I warn you that they are very incomplete." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, might help us?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of and files of the old papers, following the future career of every bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do once more. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of awaited us upon the table. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will God! What an exposure! What can I do?" constraint." the window, rose as we entered. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for bare slabs of marble. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm to have that photograph." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some despaired of." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which absorbing." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the questionable one." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, and effective." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, like that before?" annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" photograph?" "Precisely." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain go from here to the Strand." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'Where could I find him?' entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. seen the man in the road." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion was a loud and authoritative tap. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought you?' "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "'I have already given you my word.' across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and