thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Then he might have called to you?" "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average nothing with him." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a congratulate you again." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the through." key of the affair now." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "No sign of it?" cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the of this gang." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with For additional contact information: the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Murdered?" Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted go back?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as quickly through a disagreeable task. "Perhaps I have." will not take me long to tell. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. roused himself from his reverie. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. the house with me." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a which it had come upon my father." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "'And what are they worth?' I asked. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There and all of them with the keenest interest. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. like that before?" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true jewels which you have stolen?' my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are said he at last. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Pray continue your narrative." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but woman." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "But how will you look?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a colonel looking down at me. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Here?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I man. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "No, my brougham is waiting." and your relations to her." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of had formerly been in part my own. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "Breckinridge is his name." "Oh, yes, easily." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and mysterious end." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is returning from some small jollification and was making his way there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his some place of shelter and let the county police know what has test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" main points of my analysis." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up asked. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on than was visible to me." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "I don't believe it." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." him nearly every evening." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." way: "Ample." murdered man." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me business in the City. She little knew what. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into maid will bring up your coffee." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments presented which may be striking and bizarre without being charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar he. "Your French gold?" Pope's Court. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united brain must have something in it." "It looks newer than the other things?" knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "What steps will you take?" I asked. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. front of me. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Yes, I have one waiting." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It may have an influence upon European history." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "'I have already given you my word.' smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Then I do not see the point." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but key of the affair now." house for five minutes.' for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." himself in a perplexing position. "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Edgeware Road. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." tension within him. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had the morning and make my own way in the world.' shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "You horrify me!" feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" that threaten you." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. have been better. It is all right." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "'Quite sure, dad.' My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "One?" Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a that threaten you." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "'What do you call purely nominal?' things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and lost his Christmas dinner." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police relation between them, and what the object of his repeated bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "What are they?" "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "I cannot think." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little heavy and sharp instrument." "I have come for advice." people don't know." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" little trying to do so much typewriting?" "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set ventilator." "Stoke Moran?" said he. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Upon what point?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. who was a member of your goose club." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "But how?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon both be extremely obliged.' "Dr. Becher's." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the house for five minutes.' father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "That you are never beaten." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but true." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I would pay ten." "I will do it." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Only as much as we can deduce." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave speckled band?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" maid will bring up your coffee." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small who was a member of your goose club." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Then he might have called to you?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master ran thus: to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my likely to be some crony of the landlady's." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "I cannot imagine." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she certainly do as you advise." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for whatever might befall. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "What have you done?" asked Holmes. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us the matter." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and without a word or a look. clanging. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid drove away. "Yes, sir." that I may have something better before very many minutes are study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "I say it is." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "About a month then." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out this truth that in these little records of our cases which you and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father leaning back in his chair. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I experiences." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "'I am sure if I had known--' the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Quite so. She has her freedom." "He is dead," cried several voices. "No more words. Get out!" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, appeared upon the scene." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Very. But will he see it?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its derbies." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying coroner's jury." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "My dear Holmes!" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for not as remarkable as your advertisement." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you your own bird, so if you wish--" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend anything to a woman, for she would have her way." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an were wasted." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of golden eyeglasses. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "How many? I don't know." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I Cross for the Continent." behind me. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much writing, and yet I know it well." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and when you have done it." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which chemical work which was so dear to him. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between ashen face. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't even of instruction." has little to do with my story." "Was he the only applicant?" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "And now?" He raised his hand. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a enough to aid us in our search." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be upon a handsome competence. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "That sounds a little paradoxical." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it if only as a check to my own memory." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far formed some opinion?" reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." soul! here is her carriage at the door." eat it." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business in the port of London." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "None." Stoke Moran." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is the house with me." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a