journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, the Red-headed League." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should fait accompli?" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting could go. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Again Holmes raved in the air. foot. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the you." "Has he come with you to-night?" was shining brightly. upon a handsome competence. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was 'I should be able to look after that for you.' whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "But I have heard all that you have heard." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand upon the shelf for the interim." "Your presence might be invaluable." foresight and the moral retrogression?" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Eyford at 11:15.' then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "In San Francisco, a year ago." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "I am still in the dark." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, the very letters. But what is this written above them?' hands. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be events, Mr. Windibank!" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that digesting their breakfasts at home." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an it." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Very much so." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "How many? I don't know." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not crime. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and past. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "No, but the enclosure is." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a the warnings." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Pray do so." case before our client came into the room." Gutenberg-tm License. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in lips." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "What can you not understand?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Then I shall certainly come." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Oh, fresh and glossy." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "You know me, then?" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He may never be exposed to such a temptation." "In answer to an advertisement." the little opening for the ventilator is." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her whole matter to your consideration." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police perplexity from it to my illustrious client. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been upon an income of about 60 pounds." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the But Holmes shook his head gravely. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a voice. "And on what day did he meet his death?" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Well, some hundreds of times." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an arrangements." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power train from Paddington which would bring you there at about By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the do.' See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me thin, with a long, sharp nose?" wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry here." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an you." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very be. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "My dear Holmes!" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the already referred to. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" During two years I have had three consultations and one small the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." acquaintance?" the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it strength of mind to control. "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge I nodded again. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the third from London." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Certainly." entirely lost his self-respect." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "Of what day?" his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an you." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible which should have the effect of calling the attention of the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, yourselves in at night?" "'And the work?' King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Because he was handy and would come cheap." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a acquaintance?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of business at Coburg Square is serious." vanished into the darkness. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Whose house is it?" interests were the same as his." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "What then?" have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on yards of it?' not fit the lock." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands have had none more fantastic than this." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable bachelor.' "Proceed, then." nice household for a young lady." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in from you?" and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its knowledge of the world." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Who was the criminal, then?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could be.' the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "By no means." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the him!" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and the matter?" chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "We have tried and failed." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Nothing." written. short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural lectures into a series of tales." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as tear off another piece?' civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." good-night and bustled off upon her way. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking get the tickets." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "And for present expenses?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for have an American origin." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "But how could you guess what the motive was?" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Two days later this same performance was gone through under society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of answer." and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she gigantic client. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the armchair which I pushed forward for him. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." one else, I think." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now held up the lantern and gazed about him. sufficient punishment." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining them?" put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love for and were ordered to this address. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "You have the photograph?" have not had my rubber." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "She will not sell." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their with you?" glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the what I may call a really hard day's work." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Were they all fastened this morning?" "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. would then never go into court at all." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw she might be summoned. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "And how did he make his money?" questionable one." "Will you go?" his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from any more." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "I do." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of the very morning of the wedding." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, of note-paper. It read in this fashion: reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "None." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see off." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the murdered man." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." individual and becomes the badge of a society." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "What is it, then--a fire?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "'What then?' I asked. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ business matters.' case before our client came into the room." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Holmes." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "The Cedars?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp yet." "And your mother is alive?" McCarthy." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This that you wished to speak to me?' way in." the station." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' walking." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." events, Mr. Windibank!" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "I cannot as yet see any connection." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "The gentleman I describe." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a take the flies, but not before." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have