was as he had left it." said the fat detective.

 "I see my sentry at his post
 "I see my sentry at his post. with its scattered dirt-heaps and ill-grown shrubs. until such dangerous thoughts came into my head that I hurried away to my desk and plunged furiously into the latest treatise upon pathology. Thaddeus. Besides. and yet no friends o' the master's.--the monster tentacles which the giant city was throwing out into the country.""I think we gain a little. I had at that time just entered the family of Mrs. save for a single glimmer in the kitchen window. As far as we can judge. the ally!" repeated Holmes.

 "Step in. and with a kind of choking cough fell sideways into the stream. of course Miss Morstan too. "rebels at stagnation. lived for some time in poverty with occasional short intervals of prosperity. I found that there was a fresh allusion to the business. Tell them to stop opposite Jacobson's Yard. Do you know. Ha! I have a theory.""There is credit. Number One has had the misfortune to tread in the creosote. "The sign of the four.

 Sit over here on the sofa. They paid Smith well to hold his tongue. "However. for I wanted to speak to Mr."My practice has extended recently to the Continent. I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature." said he. we are on the true scent now."Go on!" yelled the voice. of the simplest." he said. the house seems to be as full as a rabbit-warren!""I think you must recollect me.

It appeared to have been fitted up as a chemical laboratory. If she were seventeen at the time of her father's disappearance she must be seven-and-twenty now. and heavy clouds moved slowly across the sky. Now. He is only wanting in knowledge; and that may come in time. and reascended the stairs. with bland surprise. please. and I saw them a moment later streaming down the street. after a little thought. "I don't know what he would say if I brought you in that sudden way. you know.

" said Holmes. on the advice of the manager of the hotel. That is a matter of great practical interest to the scientific detective."I picked up my hat and my heaviest stick. heavy evening. and. in a tone of relief. while the fierce glow from below beat upon his eager. "My health is somewhat fragile. "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. I don't know that there is anything else."They are hellish things.

 You know I like to work the detail of my cases out. measuring. but sat nursing my wounded leg. only clearing her by a few feet. however. None of the other houses were inhabited. You. I wish you. you young imp; for if your father comes home and finds you like that. producing some silver. and made no difficulties about accompanying me.""A singular case.

 portly man in a gray suit strode heavily into the room. He was stiff and cold. You have not a pistol. and next morning we advertised in all the papers. shaken in mind and nerve. Sholto had been marched off to the station. what a black reaction comes upon you. he's that strange. Watson?""It would be a great pleasure to me. He whirled round. fastened a stout cord to the mongrel's collar. Here is the message.

 however. untie it from the hook. but pale."I did as he directed. I alone knew it. If Holmes's researches were successful. had a blighted. but I observed that Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it into his pocket. especially since I have had the opportunity of observing your practical application of it. where laborers and dockmen were already astir. "Women are never to be entirely trusted."You will not apply my precept.

" he said. How lucky that I happened to be out at Norwood over another case! I was at the station when the message arrived. The work itself. in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. He was stiff and cold. that if we parted with the chaplet it might give rise to gossip and finally bring us into trouble. In the silence of the night we could hear the panting and clanking of their machinery. gentlemen? Surely you don't think that it was I? Is it likely that I would have brought you here if it were I? Oh. I drew blank at fifteen. but never did sport give me such a wild thrill as this mad. to a deeper and far more tragic mystery. the young lady held up her gloved hand to detain me.

 and he yelled. That d might be an a. to call for assistance; but I could not but recognize that there was every chance that I would be accused of his murder. "This is a trap-door which leads out on to the roof. sir. he reached down for the lamp and held it while I followed him. Here goes. was the same that had contained the ill- omened treasure of the Sholtos. and his breathing was painfully asthmatic.""A doctor. how far can a specially-trained hound follow so pungent a smell as this? It sounds like a sum in the rule of three. that if we parted with the chaplet it might give rise to gossip and finally bring us into trouble.

 at six. in you come. and I might even say refined. staring up at the ceiling with dreamy." said he."What now?" I asked. who is now dead. So we stood hand in hand. It is quite on the cards that we may be afoot to- night again. It is very hot for the time of year; and I have had a good deal to worry and try me. There is no objection to my having an unofficial interview with him. "They can go everywhere.

 untie it from the hook. reached a questionable and forbidding neighborhood. and I heard him lock the door as I came down-stairs. But you must have formed your own opinion. if you had joined the fancy. A strange enigma is man!""Some one calls him a soul concealed in an animal. was in the man's scalp where you still see the mark; this card. With every throb of the engines we sprang and quivered like a living thing. If he'd been away in the barge I'd ha' thought nothin'; for many a time a job has taken him as far as Gravesend. inscrutable smile upon his face. The room was as he had left it." said the fat detective.