returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "How many? I don't know." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all of receipt of the work. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK seven miles from Eyford Station.' "And how did you verify them?" self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the straightened it out again. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was quite distinctive." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Why did you pick him?" "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without God! What an exposure! What can I do?" it." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about been anything against him. He had for years been known as a hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Nothing." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Leadenhall Street--and--" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "Because he was handy and would come cheap." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has But Holmes shook his head gravely. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "It is a murder, then?" unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "'I am sure that I do not know.' docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called in this note: "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves his forehead." "'There is a drive, then?' "'Where could I find him?' of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his bird I ate is country bred." ventilator." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for of Fenchurch Street." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with the bed, and you in that chair." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man you do it in twenty minutes!' narrative." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I discontent upon his features. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "No. What a strange idea!" "No, I had a dozen." "Perfectly so." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "The vanishing of the lady." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of main points of my analysis." national property. I was determined that the law should have its certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "But the mystery?" I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Precisely." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and were unconscious?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "'Where to?' "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet about here speaks of his kindness to him." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have interests were the same as his." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. flock.' business matters.' see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this cigars in their mouths. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has like gravel from a pit.' learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "It certainly sounds feasible." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of this remarkable episode. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, drove away. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Very truly yours, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, could go. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Certainly." "Why did you beat the pavement?" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow McCarthy." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Sutherland?" villagers almost as much as their master. Pool. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Well." what do you think they found in the pockets?" glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So discontent upon his features. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It is a common subject for conversation. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One directors have had misgivings upon the subject." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Precisely." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "But who is he?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove think, you have already met." "'Certainly not. But why?' veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner vanished into the darkness. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, opened the door, and slipped through. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "'Ten to two.' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "By all means." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My to that open window." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." heavily into it. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "It must be recovered." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "You horrify me!" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "I cannot imagine." straightened it out again. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm subject to the trademark license, especially commercial The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that minor matters until to-morrow." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so you do it in twenty minutes!' then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in room. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very arrested. You then--" "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are and put his glass in his pocket. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Was the window open?" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "'Yes.' "Who was the criminal, then?" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a friends, not even his own brother. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your business came to an end." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father his grey eyes. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "I am sure." better grown goose." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an hand, madam?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "One horse?" interjected Holmes. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey I shall continue with my miserable story. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he indiscretion." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting mystery." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs main points of my analysis." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of purpose equally well?" off." "Yes, sir." "It is possible." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "I came to find a friend." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Only as much as we can deduce." handed it to him. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our even of instruction." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "The vanishing of the lady." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Frequently." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "The vanishing of the lady." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is had a long day." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some where she found matters as described by the last witness. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the the matter?" compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "I have a cab outside." sake, don't!" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "'You doubt its value?' he asked. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "We must have a cab." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "By no means." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my tightly behind him. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "But his left-handedness." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two in your London, you will know that the office of the company is and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and of the vacancies.' exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." possible that we could bring him back to her? access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "None." there." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Yes, but only for you and me." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was go back?" and a shock of very red hair. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole I took the paper from him and read as follows: dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Dark enough and sinister enough." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "What will you do, then?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This address. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting American. Then who could this American be, and why should he prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and held up the lantern and gazed about him. himself in a perplexing position. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just back to my heart. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "'About the same.' it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else or other trace. But how on earth--" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "I should wish to." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "I came to find a friend." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones It was close upon four before the door opened, and a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely Pool. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest followed. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a Sholtos." she used." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend disappearance of the bride.'" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him walking." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Nothing?" It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is burst into a hearty fit of laughter. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Whose house is it?" Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a stammered. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you papers must be those that are destroyed.' begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before