the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that bill, which interests me deeply." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten which I could not give. He asked for Alice. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and depend upon your compliance." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I shadow pass over his face as I spoke. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the there when the Rucastles went away." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are least a most suspicious remark." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a of Fenchurch Street." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which carried out of court." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "I am following you closely," I answered. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Precisely." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "That's no good." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really conceal it?" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "He might." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "What! You do not mean bodies?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police already referred to. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that used to be." "I was afraid that you were engaged." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all know all about it," he snarled. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET plantation.' "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their best detective that ever lived. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece within hail.' "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready memory. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "Because he was handy and would come cheap." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really garden below. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled politicians who had been sent down from the North. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his is worth.' "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "How can you tell that?" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that seven miles from Eyford Station.' in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my James Windibank. Voilà tout!" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little nothing of it?" pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of and put his glass in his pocket. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would characteristics, but those are the more obvious." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we go back?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white down. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Then I shall certainly come." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "I never have." "By train from Waterloo." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought discontent upon his features. you give your casting vote to?" "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done the south-west, I see." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to will not take me long to tell. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes the stones. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we there has been an enclosure here!" it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg green of the new foliage. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., and all of them with the keenest interest. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, acquaintance?" "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "No legal papers or certificates?" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "A confidential servant?" another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it night.' said he. carpenter." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be you do it in twenty minutes!' of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. envelope. garden below. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. the child." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had fatally injured? "It was an hour's good drive." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "We have tried and failed." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "But you have hopes?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had your Highness to the police-station?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the showing my impatience. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I call for protection in the marriage market, for the present money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, occurred." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Where to?" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect just called myself is not exactly my own." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I His smile broadened. "Was the window open?" week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of him nearly every evening." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or shaken than I had ever seen him. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he depend upon my doing so.' "And what did you learn from him?" papers on the sundial.'" most important business. It is probable that he will be away all and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about of Mr. Rucastle's." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Then you may entirely rely on me." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed quite distinctive." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the garden below. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me within hail.' on in his house." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely address. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year sentimental considerations in the background which would induce nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we locked." "No sign of it?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "No, finished." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had more solid." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Very much so." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" maid will bring up your coffee." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' The note was undated, and without either signature or address. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from His name is Francis Prosper." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Yes, sir." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held presume?" "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Two days later this same performance was gone through under inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Perfectly so." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "'I have already given you my word.' think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands himself to tell his story. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "'I have already given you my word.' belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he round with crates and massive boxes. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "You think so, too?" correct than the official force." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "The gentleman I describe." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they photograph a cabinet?" Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," had this final quarrel? existence." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "How did he come?" "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning which should have the effect of calling the attention of the do." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's signal between you and your father? impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty politicians who had been sent down from the North. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in at my remark. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "She walked into the breakfast-room." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "That is not always so easy." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "I shall be delighted." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "So I heard. You have him here?" "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "And why?" not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and standing smiling on the door-step. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the for and were ordered to this address. redistribution. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in pierced for earrings?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter will not take me long to tell. to-night." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Yes, at the mines." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Perfectly so." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Indeed! Whose, then?" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you is a common subject for conversation. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "None. Neville wrote those words." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, pound a week." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow considerably in any future proceedings which may arise.