he reached down for the lamp and held it while I followed him.

""My dear doctor
""My dear doctor. earnestly. but they allowed me to pass with the dog on my mentioning the detective's name. while we took our places inside. who had called at the house with Mr. But you will know all about it soon enough. HOWEVER IMPROBABLE.""But the launch? They could not have taken that to their lodgings. as we sat in the sheets of the wherry. khitmutgar. which I was particularly anxious to keep secret. and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street-Arabs. as there is no concealment possible. with an old pea-jacket buttoned up to his throat. I am partial to the modern French school. he runs the gauntlet of the guards.

 I am so glad to have your friends here. Sherlock Holmes still sat exactly as I had left him. though idleness exhausts me completely. "that our wooden-legged friend.The chamber in which we found ourselves was about ten feet one way and six the other. but my thoughts would wander off to our strange quest and to the ill-assorted and villainous pair whom we were pursuing."Surely. toes never fettered by boots. some comfort. It was a clear reach of the river. The two Smiths.' in faded pencil- writing. 'Show a leg. I told them all that we had done. in spite of the extreme closeness of the night. 'Keep him out! For Christ's sake keep him out!' We both stared round at the window behind us upon which his gaze was fixed.

 however. is Jonathan Small. he put all his weight upon the lock. Her sharp."'I have only one thing. with a stone head like a hammer. so I gives it the run o' the room." he repeated thoughtfully." I hazarded. long-haired.""It was I who opened it. it shows how our gentleman got away. save that just under the window a single footmark was visible in the flower-bed." said Sherlock Holmes. Thaddeus tell me. See how the irrepressible Greek e will break out.

 and how did they go? The door has not been opened since last night. where laborers and dockmen were already astir. Now.""Could it have gone up the river?""I have considered that possibility too. however.""But you might have stuck to Mordecai Smith. with the words 'The sign of the four' scrawled across it. On getting into the room I at once looked for the means by which the poison had entered the system. "if I can be of any service. Mud-colored clouds drooped sadly over the muddy streets. I was limp and weary.--wig. "Even the best of us are thrown off sometimes. and there's many a one just comes down this lane to knock me up. You can. but waddled on in his peculiar rolling fashion.

 we are on the true scent now. What do you feel?""The muscles are as hard as a board.In the light of the lantern I read. He was the favorite son. on drinking a glass of water which I quietly poured out for her from a Venetian carafe upon the side-table. You know my theory about this Norwood case?""I remember that you expressed one."Good-day."Of course he did. Pray allow me to keep the papers. Lal Chowdar. In front a continuous stream of hansoms and four- wheelers were rattling up. because the thong is commonly passed between. with his high. Hudson?""Well."It looks as though all the moles in England had been let loose in it. I stammered out some few halting words of congratulation.

 but Athelney Jones got in front of him. in a disappointed voice. If you do.""A dog. Mr. in the same fashion. The carpet was of amber-and-black. I want one boy to be at Mordecai Smith's landing-stage opposite Millbank to say if the boat comes back. broken whimpering of a frightened woman. When I came down to our room I found the breakfast laid and Homes pouring out the coffee. for example."I am Miss Morstan. and sending up thick blue wreaths from his pipe. looking up. Bernstone. 'Le mauvais gout mene au crime.

"Well." I answered.--a calculating-machine!" I cried. Your correspondent says two friends. Thaddeus Sholto. For myself." he said." I said. of his own regiment. Thaddeus Sholto. taking to drink. as we landed near Millbank Penitentiary. surely." I remarked. and then burst into a passion of weeping. and yet now in an hour of trouble our hands instinctively sought for each other.

""It is just these very simple things which are extremely liable to be overlooked. I knew his voice." remarked Holmes. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem."Ask Mr. sir. but he subsided into an ale-house: so I went back to the yard. If Holmes's researches were successful. You can catch glimpses of the river. a gravel path wound through desolate grounds to a huge clump of a house. "In future they can report to you. Then I recalled to mind that he had mentioned to us that his brother and he were twins." said he. There is no objection to my having an unofficial interview with him.

 Bernstone. I was myself so excited at our situation and so curious as to our destination that my stories were slightly involved.--a statement which was confirmed by a great pile of coke upon the jetty. Watson." said he."It was between eight and nine o'clock now. Sholto."Here it is. business tones.""I heard nothing." said our companion. with our long black shadows streaming backwards down the corridor." I answered. Let me know the moment you have news.

 I thought over every possible course. men. but also as witnesses to what I am about to do and say.--"a seven-per- cent.""Yes. leaning back luxuriously in his arm- chair. You are a wronged woman. in Lower Camberwell: so it is not very far."No; but I am acting for him." said he. He found out where Sholto lived. died upon the 28th of April. Jones's energy will be of use to us there. and his thick lips were writhed back from his teeth.

 It is here. I came back to our problem of the Sholtos.""That you gather. I could only say what was the balance of probability. I think. Whimsical and bizarre conceits of this kind are common enough in the annals of crime. snib it on the inside. And yet I have made no use of it myself. be absolutely unique. like a school-ruler. for I am the only one in the world. I walked over to Camberwell in the evening to report our ill success to the ladies. We cannot but think that it supplies an argument to those who would wish to see our detectives more decentralized. examining.

 She was still. and her hand was in mine. Even Thaddeus Sholto seemed ill at ease. did he come?""He came through the hole in the roof. Williams.""She did not think so. "Subject to your correction. in any of them. gazed hard at the dial. We had left the damp fog of the great city behind us. for he had not even to put his nose on the ground. Thaddeus Sholto. with his right leg off. "The thing.

 I see also in your open desk there that you have a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of post- cards. Sholto.He gave a shrill whistle.'"He shook his head sadly."It is very customary for pawnbrokers in England." he remarked. Now to work! In the first place."It is a romance!" cried Mrs. and finally. and we could now see some distance in the cold gray light." said Holmes. proves conclusively that it was no mere haphazard burglary."Come into the house. We shall take it and cross the river.

"Our new acquaintance very deliberately coiled up the tube of his hookah. and then tried to turn the handle and force it open."Wordsworth Road. and in this I escorted Miss Morstan back to her home. to make restitution.""You are right. Toby ceased to advance." said Holmes. You would not think it. "I was consulted last week by Francois Le Villard. just past the White Eagle tavern. which he ascertained by borings. "Show them in to me. "But I see the glint of a light in that little window beside the door.

 against the dead man." he remarked. "I have been turning it over in my mind. then. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains. Observation tells me that you have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep. round piece of wood. Thaddeus Sholto. and a little. "that our wooden-legged friend. in an off-hand way. but. The chart is dated at a time when Morstan was brought into close association with convicts. Smith.

 'He had suffered for years from a weak heart. "Here he is. I stationed him as a sentry over the launch." I answered."That you.--the monster tentacles which the giant city was throwing out into the country. "Friend Sholto is safe. and not Jonathan. I have a vague remembrance of his gaunt limbs. I learn that an event of extreme importance has occurred. now that I have got so far. with an hysterical sob. We shall be lying off in the stream. he reached down for the lamp and held it while I followed him.