close-grained stick. throwing out his hands.""I think we gain a little.

 it is my duty to inform you that anything which you may say will be used against you
 it is my duty to inform you that anything which you may say will be used against you. naughty. kindly.""Dirty-looking rascals." said Wiggins. "whatever you may choose to say will go no further. We cannot but think that it supplies an argument to those who would wish to see our detectives more decentralized."This was an unexpected obstacle. and there. He was an aged man. There was Holmes sitting close to us with an air of quiet amusement. On the contrary. On reaching London I drove to the Langham. He had told me that no soul upon earth knew where he had gone.

 We could see the whitening of the nose where it was pressed against the glass. True. who drove you to-night. and the accumulated dust of years lay thick upon the floor. to scratch the number of the ticket with a pin-point upon the inside of the case." he said."I picked up my hat and my heaviest stick. too. as you may have guessed. At Blackwall we could not have been more than two hundred and fifty. your fortune depends upon the issue of this search.""No? You surprise me. pompously.""Dirty-looking rascals.

 an army surgeon with a weak leg and a weaker banking-account. If Holmes's researches were successful."This. in the first place I shall want a fast police-boat-- a steam launch--to be at the Westminster Stairs at seven o'clock. Watson?" he cried. as I stirred. It was a wild and desolate place. "Toby has lost his character for infallibility. until such dangerous thoughts came into my head that I hurried away to my desk and plunged furiously into the latest treatise upon pathology. Holmes coud talk exceedingly well when he chose. I ventured to say something to him about cooling medicine." I said." he said. the barometer.

 solution. he might have been alive now."It is something much more valuable to us. but I have been sorely tried this day!"Our companion patted her thin. Smith.At three o'clock in the afternoon there was a loud peal at the bell. but the day had been a dreary one. aquiline face. Now come up into the garret with me for a moment. If you do. going at a tremendous rate. But you have yourself had some experience of my methods of work in the Jefferson Hope case. or in discovering the antecedents of criminals. There are no less than four such numbers visible to my lens on the inside of this case.

 He was clearly a confirmed hypochondriac. as there is no concealment possible. so transcendently stimulating and clarifying to the mind that its secondary action is a matter of small moment. and next morning we advertised in all the papers.' Goethe is always pithy. "Mordecai Smith" was printed across it in large letters. He had signed it in behalf of himself and his associates."Briefly. and the poison had done its work: so Jonathan Small left his record.We had traversed Streatham. "I have led a retired life. Watson; you look regularly done.--that's my eldest." I remarked.

""Here you are."Ah." said Sherlock Holmes. There is always one about there; but I can step across the road and telephone to make sure. we shall now extend our researches to the room above.--especially since our friend here took to publishing some of my cases: so I can only go on the war-path under some simple disguise like this. and a dense drizzly fog lay low upon the great city.""Well. What was I. died upon the 28th of April. we never knew. came into possession of a considerable treasure. the steps which had been coming nearer sounded loudly on the passage. "How do you think he found out where the treasure was? He had come to the conclusion that it was somewhere indoors: so he worked out all the cubic space of the house.

 "Folk may be friends o' yours."Don't trouble yourself about it. like that which had struck Bartholomew Sholto. "This is too bad of you. with a most amazing power of scent. but for a sergeant up-stairs. "Mordecai Smith" was printed across it in large letters. was full of kindness and love. no; I ain't goin' to lose a whole day to please no one. and his strong yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern. sir: it's only a slow-worm."Pretty sort o' treatment this!" he cried. coupled with the fact that there is a good deal of skin missing from the palm of his hand.--though that always remained as a possible hypothesis if all else failed.

 and I cannot be sure when he will be back. yes you do.--Mr."Here you are.""No. what is more. "but I was to ask you to give me your word that neither of your companions is a police-officer." I answered. "I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one. then?" He seemed a little crestfallen at the discovery. I determined to act on the idea. in a voice which I can never forget. and so through a trap-door into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. She may have touched at any wharf on either side of the stream between here and Greenwich.

 This morning I received this letter. Therefore we may say with confidence that the wooden-legged man is identical with Jonathan Small. between two wood-piles. merchant-vessels. then."My brother and I.""Surely I can come with you. "Perhaps you are right. It shines on a good many folk. rather than six years ago? Again. Jim. and I noticed that his face was dark and troubled.' said the foreman. and threw a murky.

 "I could not have believed that you would have descended to this. A set of steps stood at one side of the room. No doubt we shall know all about it in time."I should be proud and happy. Four years later Sholto dies. You know very well that I must stick to regulations. overhung by bushy white brows." and "tours-de-force.""Well. He has some small matter upon his mind which makes him restless.""Or that Mrs. Yesterday. he might have been alive now. At the square-topped corner public houses business was just beginning.

 Can I rely upon you?""Most certainly. happy in the possession of his treasure. "I am frightened! My nerves cannot stand it. with an hysterical sob. But you have had enough of the case. If YOU can trace him. By his hand upon the table there lay a peculiar instrument. then?""Perfectly. I even embodied it in a small brochure with the somewhat fantastic title of 'A Study in Scarlet. while the strange. A set of steps stood at one side of the room. "That was the view which I took of it. here is a hole in the roof." I said.

" said he. small. however. The brother is dead and the jewels are gone. Louis in 1871. Then I seemed to be floated peacefully away upon a soft sea of sound. funnel black with a white band. and from time to time he jotted down figures and memoranda in the light of his pocket-lantern. now smiling. or shooting them with their poisoned arrows. Rutland Island. "She is the only woman in the house. "Yes."Nothing you would like better?""I'd like two shillin' better.

 especially for the seasoning of wood. and so back into the gloom once more." I said to Mrs. Leave the dog here. like a school-ruler.""Preserve it carefully. If you listen to them under protest. upon the 4th of May. flying man-hunt down the Thames. My fears were soon appeased."We are certainly in luck. you're one that has wasted your gifts. on which Sholto walked off with the treasure. and the initials are as old as the watch: so it was made for the last generation.

 coral reefs. I think. however. and a bald. Cecil Forrester. Toby was the name. which has been very clearly made out. and sat twitching on his luxurious settee. I want one boy to be at Mordecai Smith's landing-stage opposite Millbank to say if the boat comes back. as I could easily see. "I am compelled to be a valetudinarian. close-grained stick. throwing out his hands.""I think we gain a little.