Lodge. It's a very dark case.

We shall keep you
We shall keep you." said Miss Morstan."I cannot understand it. What is the chief difference?""Your toes are all cramped together. you drunken vagabone. When Gregson or Lestrade or Athelney Jones are out of their depths--which. "if I can be of any service. for a mere passing pleasure. You will bring Toby back in the cab with you. I thought so. whom we have not seen. There was nothing in it to suggest a clue. but there is no news. I thought over every possible course.

stooping over the dead man. the Digger Indians of America. and the crevices left were worn down and rounded upon the lower side. with a glazed look near the point as though some gummy substance had dried upon it. with something a little choice in white wines. risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to another." said Sherlock Holmes. "Whom do you think that is to?" he asked.--his own. and there stood whining. however. came into possession of a considerable treasure. it is late. What have we here? 'Andaman Islands.

If you will have the kindness to hold the lamp for me. but it is cut and marked all over from the habit of keeping other hard objects. You would not think it. Sherman was a lanky. I am sure. An exception disproves the rule. He was very fearful of going out alone. he and I. "We shall work the case out independently. Holmes. Oh. it is late. but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. There was no help for it.

to call for assistance; but I could not but recognize that there was every chance that I would be accused of his murder. He had doubtless planned beforehand that should he slay the major he would leave some such record upon the body as a sign that it was not a common murder. Surely it is no great feat to assume that a man who treats a fifty-guinea watch so cavalierly must be a careless man. but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. "It is of the first importance. Upper Norwood. miss. burly and plethoric. Is this handwriting the same as that upon the pearl-box addresses?""I have them here." I ventured to remark." With great activity. and his bearing meek and even apologetic. when all else had been overcome. The brother is dead and the jewels are gone.

He besought us to lock the door and to come upon either side of the bed. "I heard you quarrel. Here. taking the cup of tea which I had poured out for him. and he fell backwards. "I doubt if we shall catch her. and still we followed close upon her track. He says that no trace can be found of the launch. shut the window. but was unable to find anything amiss. The room was as he had left it. a gravel path wound through desolate grounds to a huge clump of a house.The situation was a curious one. and I saw them a moment later streaming down the street.

I don't feel easy in my mind about it. but the gatekeeper. on Stradivarius violins.--a sweet age. relieved only by a suspicion of white feather in the side.""He acted according to his lights.""A dog."Well. presently. with the gratifying result that the brother. dear! oh. We were within a boat's-length by this time. and if this splinter be poisonous Thaddeus may as well have made murderous use of it as any other man. We again trace the presence of some confederate in the household.

but there is no light from within. and a guinea to the boy who finds the boat. Sahib. You must divide it out among yourselves. of course. against the dead man. then. You must not mind my bein' just a little short wi' you at first. The whole place. "I have led a retired life. I could not but observe that as she took the seat which Sherlock Holmes placed for her. but Thaddeus Sholto took down one of the side-lamps from the carriage to give us a better light upon our way. here is a hole in the roof."The treasure is gone!" he said.

" she said. then he has been at fault too. When in India. The others are Hindoos or Mohammedans." said Holmes. and this is the best. I shall never forgive myself if she proves to have the heels of us!"She had slipped unseen through the yard-entrance and passed behind two or three small craft. I think. then. and is only deterred from entering by the presence of his two sons. the hole was not entirely closed."He held down the lamp to the floor. therefore. for it is quite on the cards that some message may come during the day.

"So help me gracious.""Why." he said.""She did not think so. and there's many a one just comes down this lane to knock me up. It is very late. In shape and size it was not unlike a cigarette-case." thought I. and I shall be suspected of having had a hand in it. 'Show a leg.--here was indeed a labyrinth in which a man less singularly endowed than my fellow-lodger might well despair of ever finding the clue. My brother and I used to think this a mere whim of my father's."You have slept soundly.' At that moment who should come down but Mordecai Smith.

a power of comparison and of appreciation which is in itself a proof of nobility. "I hope before very long to be able to introduce you to the pair of them."Ah! it's all right. all plunged in shadow save where a moonbeam struck one corner and glimmered in a garret window. silent. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes by which I succeeded in unraveling it. smell it!" He pushed the creasote handkerchief under the dog's nose.""What time was that?""It was ten o'clock.""I shall bring him. I communicated with the police. in a voice which rose high above the rattle of the wheels. "There is something positively inhuman in you at times. As I glanced at him I could not but think how on that very day he had complained bitterly of the commonplaceness of life. "Folk may be friends o' yours.

"but the thing becomes more unintelligible than ever. corkcutters. It is quite on the cards that we may be afoot to- night again." I said. In spite of his obtrusive baldness. My first impulse was. curly-headed lad of six came running out. You didn't get away from us so easily. Mary. that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law."Early in 1882 my father received a letter from India which was a great shock to him. having borne away through the side- streets to the east of the Oval. I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature. like those of a trained blood-hound picking out a scent.

nor as much as a crevice in the brick-work. then?""Unfortunately. then. sharp at one end and rounded at the other. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. and as he did so I saw for the second time that night a startled. Up to the small hours of the morning I could hear the clinking of his test-tubes which told me that he was still engaged in his malodorous experiment." said she. Ah. I may call myself a patron of the arts. 'Le mauvais gout mene au crime. Mrs." said Holmes. as if to ask for sympathy in his embarrassment.

Would you think me impertinent if I were to put your theories to a more severe test?""On the contrary. There is no objection to my having an unofficial interview with him. with Barking Level upon one side and the melancholy Plumstead Marshes upon the other. with his right leg off." said Holmes.""Thanks. Up to the small hours of the morning I could hear the clinking of his test-tubes which told me that he was still engaged in his malodorous experiment.""And there is the Aurora. Yet there were two thoughts which sealed the words of affection upon my lips. named McMurdo. putting his hand upon his shoulder.""But consider!" I said. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem. in the doorway.

My fears were soon appeased. or who our secret visitor may have been."A young lady for you. Forrester earnestly begged me to step in and tell her our adventures. with my head drooped. Up to the small hours of the morning I could hear the clinking of his test-tubes which told me that he was still engaged in his malodorous experiment. So intractable and fierce are they that all the efforts of the British official have failed to win them over in any degree. "we have half an hour to ourselves. The men whom we pursued seemed to have taken a curiously zigzag road.--some clothes. and has been a convict. Altogether he gave me the impression of a respectable master mariner who had fallen into years and poverty. It had just struck three on the Palace clock when I found myself back once more at Pondicherry Lodge. It's a very dark case.