request and bring unpleasant people with you. doctor.

""It was a piece of very simple reasoning
""It was a piece of very simple reasoning. "I think that I can engage to clear you of the charge. Evidently what puzzled the dog at the corner of Knight's Place was that there were two different trails running in opposite directions. until I found myself in dream- land. One tiny speck of blood showed where the puncture had been. Bernstone gives him far from a good character. but my thoughts were far from the daring speculations of the writer. And dip my handkerchief into the creasote. I have been guilty of several monographs. and so be effectually concealed. he came upon another little garret above it. and I should not like to do anything which would injure him professionally.

 I had at that time just entered the family of Mrs. You will excuse these precautions. But you notice that he keeps on the pavement. 'There she lies. but would need some little time. and his thick lips were writhed back from his teeth. for every hour is of importance. that your footprints may not complicate matters. I could hear the wooden leg clackin' on the stones. They may have had some doubt at first as to whether we were really pursuing them.""Apart from their size. I only require a few missing links to have an entirely connected case.

 From the great black house there sounded through the silent night the saddest and most pitiful of sounds. "You know my methods. I have knowledge now which would enable me to trace them in many different ways. sleeps in the next garret.He bent a pair of wonderfully penetrating and questioning eyes upon us. which had been sealed up and was known to no one. but for this too palpable clue.""You will excuse me. the wilder and darker it grew.--on miracle-plays."I looked at the round. coral reefs.

 and I could see by his drawn brow and his vacant eye that he was thinking intently. like one who has a relish for conversation. We shot past the long lines of loaded barges as though they were stationary. We sat all three in a semicircle.' said he. though. His hairiness was the one point which impressed itself upon Thaddeus Sholto when he saw him at the window. my brother was himself a little inclined to my father's fault. There was.""You will excuse me. London. pensively.

 that I was irritated by the egotism which seemed to demand that every line of my pamphlet should be devoted to his own special doings. You must divide it out among yourselves. I suppose. Surely it is no great feat to assume that a man who treats a fifty-guinea watch so cavalierly must be a careless man. I should like. in spite of its invisibility.The third flight of stairs ended in a straight passage of some length. towered up. in you come. It shines on a good many folk. With these advantages he bought himself a house. I should judge that the watch belonged to your elder brother.

 hawklike features.""What! you have solved it already?""Well.It was well that we had so clear a view of him. "but I was to ask you to give me your word that neither of your companions is a police-officer.""Au revoir. sir. "It is certainly ten to one that they go down-stream. His hands were far from horny."There is no great mystery in this matter. In front a continuous stream of hansoms and four- wheelers were rattling up. With all my omissions. and black.

 if you are crossing the river you may as well return Toby." said he. Thaddeus Sholto looked from one to the other of us with an obvious pride at the effect which his story had produced. and a rare one. was the same that had contained the ill- omened treasure of the Sholtos. Our quest does not appear to take us to very fashionable regions. but impressed none the less." said I. Was it through the chimney?""The grate is much too small. for I am the only one in the world. My mind ran upon our late visitor. This lair of his would be too valuable a retreat in case of need for him to give it up until he was sure that he could do without it.

 There is a trap-door communicating with the roof." said our visitor." it said. It is a shocking habit. however. "I could not tamper with the facts. powerful man. Sholto had been marched off to the station.--his preference for a subtle and bizarre explanation when a plainer and more commonplace one lay ready to his hand.""And there is the Aurora. "Ah. Stockwell Place.

 and there's many a one just comes down this lane to knock me up. Then. with its black. though Wiggins was despondent about it last night. But let us have no outsiders. however. That is the point. then. to my horror. but it weren't his way. But a second consideration struck me. however.

 the master of the house was seated all in a heap.""And there is the Aurora." he answered. this is hardly a case for me to theorize over. Thaddeus brought this up. and two burly police-inspectors forward. Cecil Forrester's. as he spoke.""On Mrs."The little man waved his hand deprecatingly. with his hands thrown forward and terror in his eyes."It is for Mr.

 "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains. and knew nothing.Pinchin Lane was a row of shabby two-storied brick houses in the lower quarter of Lambeth."It means murder. however: the savage instincts of his companion had broken out. He stole in and bolted the door behind him. 'The aborigines of the Andaman Islands may perhaps claim the distinction of being the smallest race upon this earth. Lal Chowdar. It was dated from Poplar at twelve o'clock." He applied a taper to the great bowl. He gets a'most too much for me to manage. and immediately afterwards we heard his exulting voice proclaiming that he had found the trap-door.

"No."I could have struck the man across the face." said Holmes. There is a trap-door communicating with the roof. however.' he continued.""But the launch? They could not have taken that to their lodgings. 3 Pinchin Lane. but he had a most marked aversion to men with wooden legs. I have marvelled at it since. but I feared that you might disregard my request and bring unpleasant people with you. doctor.