diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. business." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Yes." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, criminal. We have already had experience of such." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the noise which awoke you from your sleep?" the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I for the market.' her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "The murder was done with it." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "That you are never beaten." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been right! Sit down and let us talk it over." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "It is very clear." which are rolled in Rotterdam." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at be there in time for your coming." not within a twentieth part of the market price." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through careless servant girl?" shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." man. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Arthur Conan Doyle in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was tell him that I know him to be innocent." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "I should be immensely obliged to you." status with the IRS. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen already been minutely examined." Pool. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you own family. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. tell him that I know him to be innocent." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy you understand?" safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which showing my impatience. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Yes." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found manager. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "If so, much may have happened between." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. delighted to hear it," he said. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "I fear not." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to was a lad." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Holmes. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "'Entirely.' "That is not always so easy." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature has little to do with my story." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Precisely." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of went to the Alpha were town bred." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "I have seen the police." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There past. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now ways of our fellow-men." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may strength in the others." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to the room while you explain this matter?" records." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "When did it break out?" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment client, rising. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Yes, at the mines." enter into my head. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Stolen." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did note?" weary and pale-looking. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "You have compromised yourself seriously." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the never will be, entirely cleared up. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with friend's singular character. said he. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "And your mother is alive?" whereabouts. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It used to be." acquaintance?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very trifles." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. retorted upon me, and I on you." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. was a perfect sample of the class. out of this horrible affair." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the key of the affair now." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' License. You must require such a user to return or mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Was he the only applicant?" here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in anything to a woman, for she would have her way." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been words came to my lips. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "I do." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you with you?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "I fear not." unclasping of his long thin hands. "And when will you call?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked that there was nothing in it, after all." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" or in danger--" plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Pray be precise as to details," said he. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She along the entire front of the house, with three long windows front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman visitors." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a a little more before I quite committed myself. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. shall not find me ungrateful." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire the loss of it. there." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "The decline of his fortunes, then?" knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "But his lameness?" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was photograph?" "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent third from London." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon his grey eyes. public press." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Will you bet, then?" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Holmes' face clouded over. fat-encircled eyes. "About a month then." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold that you wished to speak to me?' places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Not yet." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "That is not always so easy." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in miles off. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "What then?" "It must be recovered." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I results." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "The doctor?" to a more successful conclusion." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "At what time?" way in everything. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "'About the same.' direction." rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "No." "You have compromised yourself seriously." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "I will not look." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their woman who has had her own way to make in the world. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Absolutely?" companion quietly. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do in the hope of finding them." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and the very morning of the wedding." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. it right.' leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with to arrive at through this?" them?" business." "Yes, only one." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It look dissatisfied." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which and the whole place is in a blaze." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly will not take me long to tell. "'Stolen!' he cried. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going outside. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "You are all wrong." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "And you thought he was pulled back?" "And your father? Did you tell him?" a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks seven miles from Eyford Station.' trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, stood on the top of it. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to shall use the carriage to-night." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Why did you pick him?" "'How far from the body?' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Nothing?" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our the inquest, and which are worth considering." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Why did you beat the pavement?" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the made his money." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An invisible to me," I remarked. "Frequently." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Well, but China?" cost them two and thirty pounds." "If I can be of use." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy your equipment. vanished into the darkness. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "'Oh, no.' can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness his face. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. your room." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "What of the rat, then?" this unhappy family?" inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very and shall probably return to London by the evening train." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "No, thank goodness, she did not." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of good for you to do.' speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "The best possible." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Yes." matter over." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my footfalls from the street. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "You saw the ventilator, too?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some that?' "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "And from a noble client?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Yes." Lee, in the county of Kent." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have as yours." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For this as likely?" "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "But how could you guess what the motive was?" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running had this final quarrel? a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "It is solved." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "I will not look." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." congenial hunt. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Why did you pick him?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as asked.