diff --git a/.idea/codeStyleSettings.xml b/.idea/codeStyleSettings.xml
index d6a1399..1fe0405 100644
--- a/.idea/codeStyleSettings.xml
+++ b/.idea/codeStyleSettings.xml
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
           <value>
             <package name="android" withSubpackages="true" static="true" />
             <emptyLine />
+            <package name="androidx" withSubpackages="true" static="true" />
+            <emptyLine />
             <package name="com.android" withSubpackages="true" static="true" />
             <emptyLine />
             <package name="dalvik" withSubpackages="true" static="true" />
@@ -35,6 +37,8 @@
             <emptyLine />
             <package name="android" withSubpackages="true" static="false" />
             <emptyLine />
+            <package name="androidx" withSubpackages="true" static="false" />
+            <emptyLine />
             <package name="com.android" withSubpackages="true" static="false" />
             <emptyLine />
             <package name="dalvik" withSubpackages="true" static="false" />
diff --git a/OWNERS b/OWNERS
index 0de3634..e679222 100644
--- a/OWNERS
+++ b/OWNERS
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@
 kkam@google.com
 mount@google.com
 sergeyv@google.com
-yboyar@google.com
\ No newline at end of file
+sumir@google.com
+yboyar@google.com
diff --git a/app-toolkit/settings.gradle b/app-toolkit/settings.gradle
index a9aa472..6355803 100644
--- a/app-toolkit/settings.gradle
+++ b/app-toolkit/settings.gradle
@@ -111,6 +111,15 @@
 include ':room:integration-tests:kotlintestapp'
 project(':room:integration-tests:kotlintestapp').projectDir = new File(supportRoot, "room/integration-tests/kotlintestapp")
 
+include ':work:work-runtime'
+project(':work:work-runtime').projectDir = new File(supportRoot, "work/workmanager")
+
+include ':work:work-firebase'
+project(':work:work-firebase').projectDir = new File(supportRoot, "work/workmanager-firebase")
+
+include ':work:integration-tests:testapp'
+project(':work:integration-tests:testapp').projectDir = new File(supportRoot, "work/integration-tests/testapp")
+
 /////////////////////////////
 //
 // External
diff --git a/buildSrc/repos.gradle b/buildSrc/repos.gradle
index ba56c75..2dae79e 100644
--- a/buildSrc/repos.gradle
+++ b/buildSrc/repos.gradle
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
                  "${repos.prebuiltsRoot}/tools/common/m2/repository",
                  // Historical releases updated as part of public release
                  "${repos.prebuiltsRoot}/maven_repo/android",
+                 "${repos.prebuiltsRoot}/maven_repo/google-play-service-client-libraries-3p",
                  // Manually constructed, but soon to be updated by update_current.py
                  "${repos.prebuiltsRoot}/sdk/current/extras/material-design",
                  // Full checkout prebuilts updated by update_current.py
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/ErrorProneConfiguration.kt b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/ErrorProneConfiguration.kt
index 55f010f..cb3f62a 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/ErrorProneConfiguration.kt
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/ErrorProneConfiguration.kt
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
             // Enforce the following checks.
             "-Xep:RestrictTo:OFF",
             "-Xep:ParameterNotNullable:ERROR",
-            "-Xep:MissingOverride:ERROR",
+            //"-Xep:MissingOverride:ERROR",
             "-Xep:JdkObsolete:ERROR",
             "-Xep:NarrowingCompoundAssignment:ERROR",
             "-Xep:ClassNewInstance:ERROR",
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/LibraryGroups.kt b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/LibraryGroups.kt
index 9c983bb..ddd30c0 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/LibraryGroups.kt
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/LibraryGroups.kt
@@ -27,4 +27,5 @@
     const val ARCH_CORE = "android.arch.core"
     const val PAGING = "android.arch.paging"
     const val NAVIGATION = "android.arch.navigation"
+    const val WORKMANAGER = "androidx.work"
 }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/LibraryVersions.kt b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/LibraryVersions.kt
index 1fe2b54..458bd14 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/LibraryVersions.kt
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/LibraryVersions.kt
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     /**
      * Version code of the support library components.
      */
-    val SUPPORT_LIBRARY = Version("27.1.1")
+    val SUPPORT_LIBRARY = Version("27.1.0-SNAPSHOT")
 
     /**
      * Version code for Room
@@ -76,4 +76,9 @@
      * Version code for shared testing code of flatfoot
      */
     val ARCH_CORE_TESTING = ARCH_CORE
+
+    /**
+     * Version code for WorkManager
+     */
+    val WORKMANAGER = Version("1.0.0-alpha1")
 }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/dependencies/Dependencies.kt b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/dependencies/Dependencies.kt
index 0844832..f10be1c 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/dependencies/Dependencies.kt
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/android/support/dependencies/Dependencies.kt
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 const val DEXMAKER_MOCKITO = "com.linkedin.dexmaker:dexmaker-mockito:2.2.0"
 const val ESPRESSO_CONTRIB = "com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-contrib:3.0.1"
 const val ESPRESSO_CORE = "com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.0.1"
+const val FIREBASE_JOBDISPATCHER = "com.firebase:firebase-jobdispatcher:0.8.3"
 const val GOOGLE_COMPILE_TESTING = "com.google.testing.compile:compile-testing:0.11"
 const val GSON = "com.google.code.gson:gson:2.8.0"
 const val GUAVA = "com.google.guava:guava:21.0"
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@
 const val MOCKITO_CORE = "org.mockito:mockito-core:2.7.6"
 const val MULTIDEX = "com.android.support:multidex:1.0.1"
 const val NULLAWAY = "com.uber.nullaway:nullaway:0.2.0"
+const val PLAY_SERVICES = "com.google.android.gms:play-services-base:11.6.0"
 const val REACTIVE_STREAMS = "org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0"
 const val RX_JAVA = "io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.6"
 const val TEST_RUNNER = "com.android.support.test:runner:1.0.1"
diff --git a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_day.xml b/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_day.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 16b1d0c..0000000
--- a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_day.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
-<!--
-  ~ Copyright (C) 2018 The Android Open Source Project
-  ~
-  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
-  ~
-  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-  ~
-  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-  ~ limitations under the License.
-  -->
-<ripple
-    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
-    android:color="@color/car_card_ripple_background_dark" />
diff --git a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_inverse.xml b/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_inverse.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 660dbcd..0000000
--- a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_inverse.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
-<!--
-  ~ Copyright (C) 2018 The Android Open Source Project
-  ~
-  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
-  ~
-  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-  ~
-  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-  ~ limitations under the License.
-  -->
-<ripple
-    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
-    android:color="@color/car_card_ripple_background_inverse" />
diff --git a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_night.xml b/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_night.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 6160768..0000000
--- a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background_night.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
-<!--
-  ~ Copyright (C) 2018 The Android Open Source Project
-  ~
-  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
-  ~
-  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-  ~
-  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-  ~ limitations under the License.
-  -->
-<ripple
-    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
-    android:color="@color/car_card_ripple_background_light" />
diff --git a/car/res/layout/car_paged_scrollbar_buttons.xml b/car/res/layout/car_paged_scrollbar_buttons.xml
index e982b66..b126b48 100644
--- a/car/res/layout/car_paged_scrollbar_buttons.xml
+++ b/car/res/layout/car_paged_scrollbar_buttons.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     android:gravity="center"
     android:orientation="vertical">
 
-    <ImageButton
+    <ImageView
         android:id="@+id/page_up"
         android:layout_width="@dimen/car_scroll_bar_button_size"
         android:layout_height="@dimen/car_scroll_bar_button_size"
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
             android:background="@drawable/car_scrollbar_thumb" />
     </FrameLayout>
 
-    <ImageButton
+    <ImageView
         android:id="@+id/page_down"
         android:layout_width="@dimen/car_scroll_bar_button_size"
         android:layout_height="@dimen/car_scroll_bar_button_size"
diff --git a/car/src/main/java/androidx/car/widget/PagedScrollBarView.java b/car/src/main/java/androidx/car/widget/PagedScrollBarView.java
index 4fa71ba..2f09892 100644
--- a/car/src/main/java/androidx/car/widget/PagedScrollBarView.java
+++ b/car/src/main/java/androidx/car/widget/PagedScrollBarView.java
@@ -248,22 +248,22 @@
             case DayNightStyle.AUTO:
                 tintResId = R.color.car_tint;
                 thumbColorResId = R.color.car_scrollbar_thumb;
-                upDownBackgroundResId = R.drawable.car_button_ripple_background;
+                upDownBackgroundResId = R.drawable.car_card_ripple_background;
                 break;
             case DayNightStyle.AUTO_INVERSE:
                 tintResId = R.color.car_tint_inverse;
                 thumbColorResId = R.color.car_scrollbar_thumb_inverse;
-                upDownBackgroundResId = R.drawable.car_button_ripple_background_inverse;
+                upDownBackgroundResId = R.drawable.car_card_ripple_background_inverse;
                 break;
             case DayNightStyle.FORCE_NIGHT:
                 tintResId = R.color.car_tint_light;
                 thumbColorResId = R.color.car_scrollbar_thumb_light;
-                upDownBackgroundResId = R.drawable.car_button_ripple_background_night;
+                upDownBackgroundResId = R.drawable.car_card_ripple_background_night;
                 break;
             case DayNightStyle.FORCE_DAY:
                 tintResId =  R.color.car_tint_dark;
                 thumbColorResId = R.color.car_scrollbar_thumb_dark;
-                upDownBackgroundResId = R.drawable.car_button_ripple_background_day;
+                upDownBackgroundResId = R.drawable.car_card_ripple_background_day;
                 break;
             default:
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown DayNightStyle: " + mDayNightStyle);
diff --git a/compat/api/27.1.0.txt b/compat/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 81a85b8..0000000
--- a/compat/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2421 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v13.view {
-
-  public final class DragAndDropPermissionsCompat {
-    method public void release();
-  }
-
-  public class DragStartHelper {
-    ctor public DragStartHelper(android.view.View, android.support.v13.view.DragStartHelper.OnDragStartListener);
-    method public void attach();
-    method public void detach();
-    method public void getTouchPosition(android.graphics.Point);
-    method public boolean onLongClick(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean onTouch(android.view.View, android.view.MotionEvent);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface DragStartHelper.OnDragStartListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onDragStart(android.view.View, android.support.v13.view.DragStartHelper);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v13.view.inputmethod {
-
-  public final class EditorInfoCompat {
-    ctor public EditorInfoCompat();
-    method public static java.lang.String[] getContentMimeTypes(android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo);
-    method public static void setContentMimeTypes(android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo, java.lang.String[]);
-    field public static final int IME_FLAG_FORCE_ASCII = -2147483648; // 0x80000000
-    field public static final int IME_FLAG_NO_PERSONALIZED_LEARNING = 16777216; // 0x1000000
-  }
-
-  public final class InputConnectionCompat {
-    ctor public InputConnectionCompat();
-    method public static boolean commitContent(android.view.inputmethod.InputConnection, android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo, android.support.v13.view.inputmethod.InputContentInfoCompat, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public static android.view.inputmethod.InputConnection createWrapper(android.view.inputmethod.InputConnection, android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo, android.support.v13.view.inputmethod.InputConnectionCompat.OnCommitContentListener);
-    field public static int INPUT_CONTENT_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface InputConnectionCompat.OnCommitContentListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onCommitContent(android.support.v13.view.inputmethod.InputContentInfoCompat, int, android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public final class InputContentInfoCompat {
-    ctor public InputContentInfoCompat(android.net.Uri, android.content.ClipDescription, android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.net.Uri getContentUri();
-    method public android.content.ClipDescription getDescription();
-    method public android.net.Uri getLinkUri();
-    method public void releasePermission();
-    method public void requestPermission();
-    method public java.lang.Object unwrap();
-    method public static android.support.v13.view.inputmethod.InputContentInfoCompat wrap(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.accessibilityservice {
-
-  public final class AccessibilityServiceInfoCompat {
-    method public static java.lang.String capabilityToString(int);
-    method public static java.lang.String feedbackTypeToString(int);
-    method public static java.lang.String flagToString(int);
-    method public static int getCapabilities(android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityServiceInfo);
-    method public static java.lang.String loadDescription(android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityServiceInfo, android.content.pm.PackageManager);
-    field public static final int CAPABILITY_CAN_FILTER_KEY_EVENTS = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int CAPABILITY_CAN_REQUEST_ENHANCED_WEB_ACCESSIBILITY = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int CAPABILITY_CAN_REQUEST_TOUCH_EXPLORATION = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CAPABILITY_CAN_RETRIEVE_WINDOW_CONTENT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int FEEDBACK_ALL_MASK = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int FEEDBACK_BRAILLE = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int FLAG_INCLUDE_NOT_IMPORTANT_VIEWS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int FLAG_REPORT_VIEW_IDS = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int FLAG_REQUEST_ENHANCED_WEB_ACCESSIBILITY = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int FLAG_REQUEST_FILTER_KEY_EVENTS = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int FLAG_REQUEST_TOUCH_EXPLORATION_MODE = 4; // 0x4
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.app {
-
-  public class ActivityCompat extends android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat {
-    ctor protected ActivityCompat();
-    method public static void finishAffinity(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static void finishAfterTransition(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static android.net.Uri getReferrer(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static deprecated boolean invalidateOptionsMenu(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static void postponeEnterTransition(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static android.support.v13.view.DragAndDropPermissionsCompat requestDragAndDropPermissions(android.app.Activity, android.view.DragEvent);
-    method public static void requestPermissions(android.app.Activity, java.lang.String[], int);
-    method public static <T extends android.view.View> T requireViewById(android.app.Activity, int);
-    method public static void setEnterSharedElementCallback(android.app.Activity, android.support.v4.app.SharedElementCallback);
-    method public static void setExitSharedElementCallback(android.app.Activity, android.support.v4.app.SharedElementCallback);
-    method public static void setPermissionCompatDelegate(android.support.v4.app.ActivityCompat.PermissionCompatDelegate);
-    method public static boolean shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(android.app.Activity, java.lang.String);
-    method public static void startActivityForResult(android.app.Activity, android.content.Intent, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public static void startIntentSenderForResult(android.app.Activity, android.content.IntentSender, int, android.content.Intent, int, int, int, android.os.Bundle) throws android.content.IntentSender.SendIntentException;
-    method public static void startPostponedEnterTransition(android.app.Activity);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ActivityCompat.OnRequestPermissionsResultCallback {
-    method public abstract void onRequestPermissionsResult(int, java.lang.String[], int[]);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ActivityCompat.PermissionCompatDelegate {
-    method public abstract boolean onActivityResult(android.app.Activity, int, int, android.content.Intent);
-    method public abstract boolean requestPermissions(android.app.Activity, java.lang.String[], int);
-  }
-
-  public final class ActivityManagerCompat {
-    method public static boolean isLowRamDevice(android.app.ActivityManager);
-  }
-
-  public class ActivityOptionsCompat {
-    ctor protected ActivityOptionsCompat();
-    method public android.graphics.Rect getLaunchBounds();
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat makeBasic();
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat makeClipRevealAnimation(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat makeCustomAnimation(android.content.Context, int, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat makeScaleUpAnimation(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat makeSceneTransitionAnimation(android.app.Activity, android.view.View, java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat makeSceneTransitionAnimation(android.app.Activity, android.support.v4.util.Pair<android.view.View, java.lang.String>...);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat makeTaskLaunchBehind();
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat makeThumbnailScaleUpAnimation(android.view.View, android.graphics.Bitmap, int, int);
-    method public void requestUsageTimeReport(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat setLaunchBounds(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public android.os.Bundle toBundle();
-    method public void update(android.support.v4.app.ActivityOptionsCompat);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_USAGE_TIME_REPORT = "android.activity.usage_time";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_USAGE_TIME_REPORT_PACKAGES = "android.usage_time_packages";
-  }
-
-  public final class AlarmManagerCompat {
-    method public static void setAlarmClock(android.app.AlarmManager, long, android.app.PendingIntent, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public static void setAndAllowWhileIdle(android.app.AlarmManager, int, long, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public static void setExact(android.app.AlarmManager, int, long, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public static void setExactAndAllowWhileIdle(android.app.AlarmManager, int, long, android.app.PendingIntent);
-  }
-
-  public final class AppOpsManagerCompat {
-    method public static int noteOp(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, int, java.lang.String);
-    method public static int noteOpNoThrow(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, int, java.lang.String);
-    method public static int noteProxyOp(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public static int noteProxyOpNoThrow(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public static java.lang.String permissionToOp(java.lang.String);
-    field public static final int MODE_ALLOWED = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int MODE_DEFAULT = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int MODE_ERRORED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int MODE_IGNORED = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public final class BundleCompat {
-    method public static android.os.IBinder getBinder(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String);
-    method public static void putBinder(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, android.os.IBinder);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class JobIntentService extends android.app.Service {
-    ctor public JobIntentService();
-    method public static void enqueueWork(android.content.Context, java.lang.Class, int, android.content.Intent);
-    method public static void enqueueWork(android.content.Context, android.content.ComponentName, int, android.content.Intent);
-    method public boolean isStopped();
-    method public android.os.IBinder onBind(android.content.Intent);
-    method protected abstract void onHandleWork(android.content.Intent);
-    method public boolean onStopCurrentWork();
-    method public void setInterruptIfStopped(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class NotificationCompat {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat();
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action getAction(android.app.Notification, int);
-    method public static int getActionCount(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static int getBadgeIconType(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static java.lang.String getCategory(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static java.lang.String getChannelId(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static android.os.Bundle getExtras(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static java.lang.String getGroup(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static int getGroupAlertBehavior(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static boolean getLocalOnly(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static java.lang.String getShortcutId(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static java.lang.String getSortKey(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static long getTimeoutAfter(android.app.Notification);
-    method public static boolean isGroupSummary(android.app.Notification);
-    field public static final int BADGE_ICON_LARGE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int BADGE_ICON_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int BADGE_ICON_SMALL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_ALARM = "alarm";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_CALL = "call";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_EMAIL = "email";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_ERROR = "err";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_EVENT = "event";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_MESSAGE = "msg";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_PROGRESS = "progress";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_PROMO = "promo";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_RECOMMENDATION = "recommendation";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_REMINDER = "reminder";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_SERVICE = "service";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_SOCIAL = "social";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_STATUS = "status";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_SYSTEM = "sys";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_TRANSPORT = "transport";
-    field public static final int COLOR_DEFAULT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_ALL = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_LIGHTS = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_SOUND = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_VIBRATE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_AUDIO_CONTENTS_URI = "android.audioContents";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_BACKGROUND_IMAGE_URI = "android.backgroundImageUri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_BIG_TEXT = "android.bigText";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_COMPACT_ACTIONS = "android.compactActions";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_CONVERSATION_TITLE = "android.conversationTitle";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_INFO_TEXT = "android.infoText";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_LARGE_ICON = "android.largeIcon";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_LARGE_ICON_BIG = "android.largeIcon.big";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_MEDIA_SESSION = "android.mediaSession";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_MESSAGES = "android.messages";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_PEOPLE = "android.people";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_PICTURE = "android.picture";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_PROGRESS = "android.progress";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_PROGRESS_INDETERMINATE = "android.progressIndeterminate";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_PROGRESS_MAX = "android.progressMax";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_REMOTE_INPUT_HISTORY = "android.remoteInputHistory";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SELF_DISPLAY_NAME = "android.selfDisplayName";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SHOW_CHRONOMETER = "android.showChronometer";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SHOW_WHEN = "android.showWhen";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SMALL_ICON = "android.icon";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SUB_TEXT = "android.subText";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SUMMARY_TEXT = "android.summaryText";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TEMPLATE = "android.template";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TEXT = "android.text";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TEXT_LINES = "android.textLines";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TITLE = "android.title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TITLE_BIG = "android.title.big";
-    field public static final int FLAG_AUTO_CANCEL = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int FLAG_FOREGROUND_SERVICE = 64; // 0x40
-    field public static final int FLAG_GROUP_SUMMARY = 512; // 0x200
-    field public static final deprecated int FLAG_HIGH_PRIORITY = 128; // 0x80
-    field public static final int FLAG_INSISTENT = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int FLAG_LOCAL_ONLY = 256; // 0x100
-    field public static final int FLAG_NO_CLEAR = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int FLAG_ONGOING_EVENT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int FLAG_ONLY_ALERT_ONCE = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int FLAG_SHOW_LIGHTS = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int GROUP_ALERT_ALL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int GROUP_ALERT_CHILDREN = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int GROUP_ALERT_SUMMARY = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PRIORITY_DEFAULT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int PRIORITY_HIGH = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PRIORITY_LOW = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int PRIORITY_MAX = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int PRIORITY_MIN = -2; // 0xfffffffe
-    field public static final int STREAM_DEFAULT = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int VISIBILITY_PRIVATE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int VISIBILITY_PUBLIC = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int VISIBILITY_SECRET = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.Action {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.Action(int, java.lang.CharSequence, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.app.PendingIntent getActionIntent();
-    method public boolean getAllowGeneratedReplies();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput[] getDataOnlyRemoteInputs();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public int getIcon();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput[] getRemoteInputs();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    field public android.app.PendingIntent actionIntent;
-    field public int icon;
-    field public java.lang.CharSequence title;
-  }
-
-  public static final class NotificationCompat.Action.Builder {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.Action.Builder(int, java.lang.CharSequence, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.Action.Builder(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Builder addExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Builder addRemoteInput(android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action build();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Builder extend(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Extender);
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Builder setAllowGeneratedReplies(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface NotificationCompat.Action.Extender {
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Builder extend(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Builder);
-  }
-
-  public static final class NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender implements android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Extender {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender();
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender clone();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Builder extend(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.Builder);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getCancelLabel();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getConfirmLabel();
-    method public boolean getHintDisplayActionInline();
-    method public boolean getHintLaunchesActivity();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getInProgressLabel();
-    method public boolean isAvailableOffline();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender setAvailableOffline(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender setCancelLabel(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender setConfirmLabel(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender setHintDisplayActionInline(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender setHintLaunchesActivity(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action.WearableExtender setInProgressLabel(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.BigPictureStyle extends android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Style {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.BigPictureStyle();
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.BigPictureStyle(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.BigPictureStyle bigLargeIcon(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.BigPictureStyle bigPicture(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.BigPictureStyle setBigContentTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.BigPictureStyle setSummaryText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle extends android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Style {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle();
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle bigText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle setBigContentTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle setSummaryText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.Builder {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.Builder(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    ctor public deprecated NotificationCompat.Builder(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder addAction(int, java.lang.CharSequence, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder addAction(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder addExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder addPerson(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.app.Notification build();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder extend(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Extender);
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public deprecated android.app.Notification getNotification();
-    method protected static java.lang.CharSequence limitCharSequenceLength(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setAutoCancel(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setBadgeIconType(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setCategory(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setChannelId(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setColorized(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setContent(android.widget.RemoteViews);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setContentInfo(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setContentIntent(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setContentText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setContentTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setCustomBigContentView(android.widget.RemoteViews);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setCustomContentView(android.widget.RemoteViews);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setCustomHeadsUpContentView(android.widget.RemoteViews);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setDefaults(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setDeleteIntent(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setFullScreenIntent(android.app.PendingIntent, boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setGroup(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setGroupAlertBehavior(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setGroupSummary(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setLargeIcon(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setLights(int, int, int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setLocalOnly(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setNumber(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setOngoing(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setOnlyAlertOnce(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setPriority(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setProgress(int, int, boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setPublicVersion(android.app.Notification);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setRemoteInputHistory(java.lang.CharSequence[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setShortcutId(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setShowWhen(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setSmallIcon(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setSmallIcon(int, int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setSortKey(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setSound(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setSound(android.net.Uri, int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setStyle(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Style);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setSubText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setTicker(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setTicker(java.lang.CharSequence, android.widget.RemoteViews);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setTimeoutAfter(long);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setUsesChronometer(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setVibrate(long[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setVisibility(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder setWhen(long);
-    field public deprecated java.util.ArrayList<java.lang.String> mPeople;
-  }
-
-  public static final class NotificationCompat.CarExtender implements android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Extender {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.CarExtender();
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.CarExtender(android.app.Notification);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder extend(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder);
-    method public int getColor();
-    method public android.graphics.Bitmap getLargeIcon();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation getUnreadConversation();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender setColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender setLargeIcon(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender setUnreadConversation(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation);
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation {
-    method public long getLatestTimestamp();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getMessages();
-    method public java.lang.String getParticipant();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getParticipants();
-    method public android.app.PendingIntent getReadPendingIntent();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput getRemoteInput();
-    method public android.app.PendingIntent getReplyPendingIntent();
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation.Builder {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation.Builder(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation.Builder addMessage(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation build();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation.Builder setLatestTimestamp(long);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation.Builder setReadPendingIntent(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.CarExtender.UnreadConversation.Builder setReplyAction(android.app.PendingIntent, android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput);
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.DecoratedCustomViewStyle extends android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Style {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.DecoratedCustomViewStyle();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface NotificationCompat.Extender {
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder extend(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder);
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.InboxStyle extends android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Style {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.InboxStyle();
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.InboxStyle(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.InboxStyle addLine(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.InboxStyle setBigContentTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.InboxStyle setSummaryText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle extends android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Style {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void addCompatExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle addMessage(java.lang.CharSequence, long, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle addMessage(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle.Message);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle extractMessagingStyleFromNotification(android.app.Notification);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getConversationTitle();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle.Message> getMessages();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getUserDisplayName();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle setConversationTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    field public static final int MAXIMUM_RETAINED_MESSAGES = 25; // 0x19
-  }
-
-  public static final class NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle.Message {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle.Message(java.lang.CharSequence, long, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public java.lang.String getDataMimeType();
-    method public android.net.Uri getDataUri();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSender();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getText();
-    method public long getTimestamp();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.MessagingStyle.Message setData(java.lang.String, android.net.Uri);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class NotificationCompat.Style {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.Style();
-    method public android.app.Notification build();
-    method public void setBuilder(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder);
-  }
-
-  public static final class NotificationCompat.WearableExtender implements android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Extender {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.WearableExtender();
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.WearableExtender(android.app.Notification);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender addAction(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender addActions(java.util.List<android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action>);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender addPage(android.app.Notification);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender addPages(java.util.List<android.app.Notification>);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender clearActions();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender clearPages();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender clone();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder extend(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Action> getActions();
-    method public android.graphics.Bitmap getBackground();
-    method public java.lang.String getBridgeTag();
-    method public int getContentAction();
-    method public int getContentIcon();
-    method public int getContentIconGravity();
-    method public boolean getContentIntentAvailableOffline();
-    method public int getCustomContentHeight();
-    method public int getCustomSizePreset();
-    method public java.lang.String getDismissalId();
-    method public android.app.PendingIntent getDisplayIntent();
-    method public int getGravity();
-    method public boolean getHintAmbientBigPicture();
-    method public boolean getHintAvoidBackgroundClipping();
-    method public boolean getHintContentIntentLaunchesActivity();
-    method public boolean getHintHideIcon();
-    method public int getHintScreenTimeout();
-    method public boolean getHintShowBackgroundOnly();
-    method public java.util.List<android.app.Notification> getPages();
-    method public boolean getStartScrollBottom();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setBackground(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setBridgeTag(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setContentAction(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setContentIcon(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setContentIconGravity(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setContentIntentAvailableOffline(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setCustomContentHeight(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setCustomSizePreset(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setDismissalId(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setDisplayIntent(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setGravity(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setHintAmbientBigPicture(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setHintAvoidBackgroundClipping(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setHintContentIntentLaunchesActivity(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setHintHideIcon(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setHintScreenTimeout(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setHintShowBackgroundOnly(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.WearableExtender setStartScrollBottom(boolean);
-    field public static final int SCREEN_TIMEOUT_LONG = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int SCREEN_TIMEOUT_SHORT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SIZE_DEFAULT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SIZE_FULL_SCREEN = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int SIZE_LARGE = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int SIZE_MEDIUM = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int SIZE_SMALL = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SIZE_XSMALL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int UNSET_ACTION_INDEX = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public final class NotificationCompatExtras {
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ACTION_EXTRAS = "android.support.actionExtras";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_GROUP_KEY = "android.support.groupKey";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_GROUP_SUMMARY = "android.support.isGroupSummary";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_LOCAL_ONLY = "android.support.localOnly";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_REMOTE_INPUTS = "android.support.remoteInputs";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SORT_KEY = "android.support.sortKey";
-  }
-
-  public abstract class NotificationCompatSideChannelService extends android.app.Service {
-    ctor public NotificationCompatSideChannelService();
-    method public abstract void cancel(java.lang.String, int, java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract void cancelAll(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract void notify(java.lang.String, int, java.lang.String, android.app.Notification);
-    method public android.os.IBinder onBind(android.content.Intent);
-  }
-
-  public final class NotificationManagerCompat {
-    method public boolean areNotificationsEnabled();
-    method public void cancel(int);
-    method public void cancel(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public void cancelAll();
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.NotificationManagerCompat from(android.content.Context);
-    method public static java.util.Set<java.lang.String> getEnabledListenerPackages(android.content.Context);
-    method public int getImportance();
-    method public void notify(int, android.app.Notification);
-    method public void notify(java.lang.String, int, android.app.Notification);
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_BIND_SIDE_CHANNEL = "android.support.BIND_NOTIFICATION_SIDE_CHANNEL";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_USE_SIDE_CHANNEL = "android.support.useSideChannel";
-    field public static final int IMPORTANCE_DEFAULT = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int IMPORTANCE_HIGH = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int IMPORTANCE_LOW = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int IMPORTANCE_MAX = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int IMPORTANCE_MIN = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int IMPORTANCE_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int IMPORTANCE_UNSPECIFIED = -1000; // 0xfffffc18
-  }
-
-  public final class RemoteInput {
-    method public static void addDataResultToIntent(android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput, android.content.Intent, java.util.Map<java.lang.String, android.net.Uri>);
-    method public static void addResultsToIntent(android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput[], android.content.Intent, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public boolean getAllowFreeFormInput();
-    method public java.util.Set<java.lang.String> getAllowedDataTypes();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence[] getChoices();
-    method public static java.util.Map<java.lang.String, android.net.Uri> getDataResultsFromIntent(android.content.Intent, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getLabel();
-    method public java.lang.String getResultKey();
-    method public static android.os.Bundle getResultsFromIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public boolean isDataOnly();
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_RESULTS_DATA = "android.remoteinput.resultsData";
-    field public static final java.lang.String RESULTS_CLIP_LABEL = "android.remoteinput.results";
-  }
-
-  public static final class RemoteInput.Builder {
-    ctor public RemoteInput.Builder(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput.Builder addExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput build();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput.Builder setAllowDataType(java.lang.String, boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput.Builder setAllowFreeFormInput(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput.Builder setChoices(java.lang.CharSequence[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.RemoteInput.Builder setLabel(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public final class ServiceCompat {
-    method public static void stopForeground(android.app.Service, int);
-    field public static final int START_STICKY = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int STOP_FOREGROUND_DETACH = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public final class ShareCompat {
-    method public static void configureMenuItem(android.view.MenuItem, android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder);
-    method public static void configureMenuItem(android.view.Menu, int, android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder);
-    method public static android.content.ComponentName getCallingActivity(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static java.lang.String getCallingPackage(android.app.Activity);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_CALLING_ACTIVITY = "android.support.v4.app.EXTRA_CALLING_ACTIVITY";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_CALLING_PACKAGE = "android.support.v4.app.EXTRA_CALLING_PACKAGE";
-  }
-
-  public static class ShareCompat.IntentBuilder {
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder addEmailBcc(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder addEmailBcc(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder addEmailCc(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder addEmailCc(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder addEmailTo(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder addEmailTo(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder addStream(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.content.Intent createChooserIntent();
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder from(android.app.Activity);
-    method public android.content.Intent getIntent();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setChooserTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setChooserTitle(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setEmailBcc(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setEmailCc(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setEmailTo(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setHtmlText(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setStream(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setSubject(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentBuilder setType(java.lang.String);
-    method public void startChooser();
-  }
-
-  public static class ShareCompat.IntentReader {
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat.IntentReader from(android.app.Activity);
-    method public android.content.ComponentName getCallingActivity();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getCallingActivityIcon();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getCallingApplicationIcon();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getCallingApplicationLabel();
-    method public java.lang.String getCallingPackage();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getEmailBcc();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getEmailCc();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getEmailTo();
-    method public java.lang.String getHtmlText();
-    method public android.net.Uri getStream();
-    method public android.net.Uri getStream(int);
-    method public int getStreamCount();
-    method public java.lang.String getSubject();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getText();
-    method public java.lang.String getType();
-    method public boolean isMultipleShare();
-    method public boolean isShareIntent();
-    method public boolean isSingleShare();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class SharedElementCallback {
-    ctor public SharedElementCallback();
-    method public android.os.Parcelable onCaptureSharedElementSnapshot(android.view.View, android.graphics.Matrix, android.graphics.RectF);
-    method public android.view.View onCreateSnapshotView(android.content.Context, android.os.Parcelable);
-    method public void onMapSharedElements(java.util.List<java.lang.String>, java.util.Map<java.lang.String, android.view.View>);
-    method public void onRejectSharedElements(java.util.List<android.view.View>);
-    method public void onSharedElementEnd(java.util.List<java.lang.String>, java.util.List<android.view.View>, java.util.List<android.view.View>);
-    method public void onSharedElementStart(java.util.List<java.lang.String>, java.util.List<android.view.View>, java.util.List<android.view.View>);
-    method public void onSharedElementsArrived(java.util.List<java.lang.String>, java.util.List<android.view.View>, android.support.v4.app.SharedElementCallback.OnSharedElementsReadyListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SharedElementCallback.OnSharedElementsReadyListener {
-    method public abstract void onSharedElementsReady();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.content {
-
-  public final class ContentResolverCompat {
-    method public static android.database.Cursor query(android.content.ContentResolver, android.net.Uri, java.lang.String[], java.lang.String, java.lang.String[], java.lang.String, android.support.v4.os.CancellationSignal);
-  }
-
-  public class ContextCompat {
-    ctor protected ContextCompat();
-    method public static int checkSelfPermission(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.content.Context createDeviceProtectedStorageContext(android.content.Context);
-    method public static java.io.File getCodeCacheDir(android.content.Context);
-    method public static int getColor(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public static android.content.res.ColorStateList getColorStateList(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public static java.io.File getDataDir(android.content.Context);
-    method public static android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawable(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public static java.io.File[] getExternalCacheDirs(android.content.Context);
-    method public static java.io.File[] getExternalFilesDirs(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    method public static java.io.File getNoBackupFilesDir(android.content.Context);
-    method public static java.io.File[] getObbDirs(android.content.Context);
-    method public static boolean isDeviceProtectedStorage(android.content.Context);
-    method public static boolean startActivities(android.content.Context, android.content.Intent[]);
-    method public static boolean startActivities(android.content.Context, android.content.Intent[], android.os.Bundle);
-    method public static void startActivity(android.content.Context, android.content.Intent, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public static void startForegroundService(android.content.Context, android.content.Intent);
-  }
-
-  public final class IntentCompat {
-    method public static android.content.Intent makeMainSelectorActivity(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_LEANBACK_LAUNCHER = "android.intent.category.LEANBACK_LAUNCHER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_HTML_TEXT = "android.intent.extra.HTML_TEXT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_START_PLAYBACK = "android.intent.extra.START_PLAYBACK";
-  }
-
-  public final deprecated class SharedPreferencesCompat {
-  }
-
-  public static final deprecated class SharedPreferencesCompat.EditorCompat {
-    method public deprecated void apply(android.content.SharedPreferences.Editor);
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.content.SharedPreferencesCompat.EditorCompat getInstance();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.content.pm {
-
-  public final deprecated class ActivityInfoCompat {
-    field public static final deprecated int CONFIG_UI_MODE = 512; // 0x200
-  }
-
-  public class ShortcutInfoCompat {
-    method public android.content.ComponentName getActivity();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getDisabledMessage();
-    method public java.lang.String getId();
-    method public android.content.Intent getIntent();
-    method public android.content.Intent[] getIntents();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getLongLabel();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getShortLabel();
-    method public android.content.pm.ShortcutInfo toShortcutInfo();
-  }
-
-  public static class ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder {
-    ctor public ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat build();
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder setActivity(android.content.ComponentName);
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder setAlwaysBadged();
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder setDisabledMessage(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder setIcon(android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.IconCompat);
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder setIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder setIntents(android.content.Intent[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder setLongLabel(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder setShortLabel(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public class ShortcutManagerCompat {
-    method public static android.content.Intent createShortcutResultIntent(android.content.Context, android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat);
-    method public static boolean isRequestPinShortcutSupported(android.content.Context);
-    method public static boolean requestPinShortcut(android.content.Context, android.support.v4.content.pm.ShortcutInfoCompat, android.content.IntentSender);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.content.res {
-
-  public final class ConfigurationHelper {
-    method public static int getDensityDpi(android.content.res.Resources);
-  }
-
-  public final class ResourcesCompat {
-    method public static int getColor(android.content.res.Resources, int, android.content.res.Resources.Theme) throws android.content.res.Resources.NotFoundException;
-    method public static android.content.res.ColorStateList getColorStateList(android.content.res.Resources, int, android.content.res.Resources.Theme) throws android.content.res.Resources.NotFoundException;
-    method public static android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawable(android.content.res.Resources, int, android.content.res.Resources.Theme) throws android.content.res.Resources.NotFoundException;
-    method public static android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawableForDensity(android.content.res.Resources, int, int, android.content.res.Resources.Theme) throws android.content.res.Resources.NotFoundException;
-    method public static android.graphics.Typeface getFont(android.content.Context, int) throws android.content.res.Resources.NotFoundException;
-    method public static void getFont(android.content.Context, int, android.support.v4.content.res.ResourcesCompat.FontCallback, android.os.Handler) throws android.content.res.Resources.NotFoundException;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ResourcesCompat.FontCallback {
-    ctor public ResourcesCompat.FontCallback();
-    method public abstract void onFontRetrievalFailed(int);
-    method public abstract void onFontRetrieved(android.graphics.Typeface);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.database {
-
-  public final deprecated class DatabaseUtilsCompat {
-    method public static deprecated java.lang.String[] appendSelectionArgs(java.lang.String[], java.lang.String[]);
-    method public static deprecated java.lang.String concatenateWhere(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.graphics {
-
-  public final class BitmapCompat {
-    method public static int getAllocationByteCount(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public static boolean hasMipMap(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public static void setHasMipMap(android.graphics.Bitmap, boolean);
-  }
-
-  public final class PaintCompat {
-    method public static boolean hasGlyph(android.graphics.Paint, java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.graphics.drawable {
-
-  public final class DrawableCompat {
-    method public static void applyTheme(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.content.res.Resources.Theme);
-    method public static boolean canApplyTheme(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static void clearColorFilter(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static int getAlpha(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static android.graphics.ColorFilter getColorFilter(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static int getLayoutDirection(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static void inflate(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.content.res.Resources, org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser, android.util.AttributeSet, android.content.res.Resources.Theme) throws java.io.IOException, org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException;
-    method public static boolean isAutoMirrored(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static deprecated void jumpToCurrentState(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static void setAutoMirrored(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, boolean);
-    method public static void setHotspot(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, float, float);
-    method public static void setHotspotBounds(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, int, int, int, int);
-    method public static boolean setLayoutDirection(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, int);
-    method public static void setTint(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, int);
-    method public static void setTintList(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public static void setTintMode(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public static <T extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable> T unwrap(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static android.graphics.drawable.Drawable wrap(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-  }
-
-  public class IconCompat {
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.IconCompat createWithAdaptiveBitmap(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.IconCompat createWithBitmap(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.IconCompat createWithContentUri(java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.IconCompat createWithContentUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.IconCompat createWithData(byte[], int, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.IconCompat createWithResource(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Icon toIcon();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.hardware.display {
-
-  public abstract class DisplayManagerCompat {
-    method public abstract android.view.Display getDisplay(int);
-    method public abstract android.view.Display[] getDisplays();
-    method public abstract android.view.Display[] getDisplays(java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.support.v4.hardware.display.DisplayManagerCompat getInstance(android.content.Context);
-    field public static final java.lang.String DISPLAY_CATEGORY_PRESENTATION = "android.hardware.display.category.PRESENTATION";
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.hardware.fingerprint {
-
-  public final class FingerprintManagerCompat {
-    method public void authenticate(android.support.v4.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManagerCompat.CryptoObject, int, android.support.v4.os.CancellationSignal, android.support.v4.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManagerCompat.AuthenticationCallback, android.os.Handler);
-    method public static android.support.v4.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManagerCompat from(android.content.Context);
-    method public boolean hasEnrolledFingerprints();
-    method public boolean isHardwareDetected();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class FingerprintManagerCompat.AuthenticationCallback {
-    ctor public FingerprintManagerCompat.AuthenticationCallback();
-    method public void onAuthenticationError(int, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void onAuthenticationFailed();
-    method public void onAuthenticationHelp(int, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void onAuthenticationSucceeded(android.support.v4.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManagerCompat.AuthenticationResult);
-  }
-
-  public static final class FingerprintManagerCompat.AuthenticationResult {
-    ctor public FingerprintManagerCompat.AuthenticationResult(android.support.v4.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManagerCompat.CryptoObject);
-    method public android.support.v4.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManagerCompat.CryptoObject getCryptoObject();
-  }
-
-  public static class FingerprintManagerCompat.CryptoObject {
-    ctor public FingerprintManagerCompat.CryptoObject(java.security.Signature);
-    ctor public FingerprintManagerCompat.CryptoObject(javax.crypto.Cipher);
-    ctor public FingerprintManagerCompat.CryptoObject(javax.crypto.Mac);
-    method public javax.crypto.Cipher getCipher();
-    method public javax.crypto.Mac getMac();
-    method public java.security.Signature getSignature();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.net {
-
-  public final class ConnectivityManagerCompat {
-    method public static android.net.NetworkInfo getNetworkInfoFromBroadcast(android.net.ConnectivityManager, android.content.Intent);
-    method public static int getRestrictBackgroundStatus(android.net.ConnectivityManager);
-    method public static boolean isActiveNetworkMetered(android.net.ConnectivityManager);
-    field public static final int RESTRICT_BACKGROUND_STATUS_DISABLED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int RESTRICT_BACKGROUND_STATUS_ENABLED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int RESTRICT_BACKGROUND_STATUS_WHITELISTED = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public final class TrafficStatsCompat {
-    method public static deprecated void clearThreadStatsTag();
-    method public static deprecated int getThreadStatsTag();
-    method public static deprecated void incrementOperationCount(int);
-    method public static deprecated void incrementOperationCount(int, int);
-    method public static deprecated void setThreadStatsTag(int);
-    method public static void tagDatagramSocket(java.net.DatagramSocket) throws java.net.SocketException;
-    method public static deprecated void tagSocket(java.net.Socket) throws java.net.SocketException;
-    method public static void untagDatagramSocket(java.net.DatagramSocket) throws java.net.SocketException;
-    method public static deprecated void untagSocket(java.net.Socket) throws java.net.SocketException;
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.os {
-
-  public class BuildCompat {
-    method public static deprecated boolean isAtLeastN();
-    method public static deprecated boolean isAtLeastNMR1();
-    method public static deprecated boolean isAtLeastO();
-    method public static deprecated boolean isAtLeastOMR1();
-    method public static boolean isAtLeastP();
-  }
-
-  public final class CancellationSignal {
-    ctor public CancellationSignal();
-    method public void cancel();
-    method public java.lang.Object getCancellationSignalObject();
-    method public boolean isCanceled();
-    method public void setOnCancelListener(android.support.v4.os.CancellationSignal.OnCancelListener);
-    method public void throwIfCanceled();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface CancellationSignal.OnCancelListener {
-    method public abstract void onCancel();
-  }
-
-  public final class ConfigurationCompat {
-    method public static android.support.v4.os.LocaleListCompat getLocales(android.content.res.Configuration);
-  }
-
-  public final class EnvironmentCompat {
-    method public static java.lang.String getStorageState(java.io.File);
-    field public static final java.lang.String MEDIA_UNKNOWN = "unknown";
-  }
-
-  public final class LocaleListCompat {
-    method public static android.support.v4.os.LocaleListCompat create(java.util.Locale...);
-    method public static android.support.v4.os.LocaleListCompat forLanguageTags(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.util.Locale get(int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.os.LocaleListCompat getAdjustedDefault();
-    method public static android.support.v4.os.LocaleListCompat getDefault();
-    method public static android.support.v4.os.LocaleListCompat getEmptyLocaleList();
-    method public java.util.Locale getFirstMatch(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public int indexOf(java.util.Locale);
-    method public boolean isEmpty();
-    method public int size();
-    method public java.lang.String toLanguageTags();
-    method public java.lang.Object unwrap();
-    method public static android.support.v4.os.LocaleListCompat wrap(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public class OperationCanceledException extends java.lang.RuntimeException {
-    ctor public OperationCanceledException();
-    ctor public OperationCanceledException(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public final deprecated class ParcelableCompat {
-    method public static deprecated <T> android.os.Parcelable.Creator<T> newCreator(android.support.v4.os.ParcelableCompatCreatorCallbacks<T>);
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated interface ParcelableCompatCreatorCallbacks<T> {
-    method public abstract T createFromParcel(android.os.Parcel, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    method public abstract T[] newArray(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class TraceCompat {
-    method public static void beginSection(java.lang.String);
-    method public static void endSection();
-  }
-
-  public class UserManagerCompat {
-    method public static boolean isUserUnlocked(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.provider {
-
-  public final class FontRequest {
-    ctor public FontRequest(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.util.List<java.util.List<byte[]>>);
-    ctor public FontRequest(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.String, int);
-    method public java.util.List<java.util.List<byte[]>> getCertificates();
-    method public int getCertificatesArrayResId();
-    method public java.lang.String getProviderAuthority();
-    method public java.lang.String getProviderPackage();
-    method public java.lang.String getQuery();
-  }
-
-  public class FontsContractCompat {
-    method public static android.graphics.Typeface buildTypeface(android.content.Context, android.os.CancellationSignal, android.support.v4.provider.FontsContractCompat.FontInfo[]);
-    method public static android.support.v4.provider.FontsContractCompat.FontFamilyResult fetchFonts(android.content.Context, android.os.CancellationSignal, android.support.v4.provider.FontRequest) throws android.content.pm.PackageManager.NameNotFoundException;
-    method public static void requestFont(android.content.Context, android.support.v4.provider.FontRequest, android.support.v4.provider.FontsContractCompat.FontRequestCallback, android.os.Handler);
-  }
-
-  public static final class FontsContractCompat.Columns implements android.provider.BaseColumns {
-    ctor public FontsContractCompat.Columns();
-    field public static final java.lang.String FILE_ID = "file_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ITALIC = "font_italic";
-    field public static final java.lang.String RESULT_CODE = "result_code";
-    field public static final int RESULT_CODE_FONT_NOT_FOUND = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int RESULT_CODE_FONT_UNAVAILABLE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int RESULT_CODE_MALFORMED_QUERY = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int RESULT_CODE_OK = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final java.lang.String TTC_INDEX = "font_ttc_index";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VARIATION_SETTINGS = "font_variation_settings";
-    field public static final java.lang.String WEIGHT = "font_weight";
-  }
-
-  public static class FontsContractCompat.FontFamilyResult {
-    method public android.support.v4.provider.FontsContractCompat.FontInfo[] getFonts();
-    method public int getStatusCode();
-    field public static final int STATUS_OK = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATUS_UNEXPECTED_DATA_PROVIDED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int STATUS_WRONG_CERTIFICATES = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static class FontsContractCompat.FontInfo {
-    method public int getResultCode();
-    method public int getTtcIndex();
-    method public android.net.Uri getUri();
-    method public int getWeight();
-    method public boolean isItalic();
-  }
-
-  public static class FontsContractCompat.FontRequestCallback {
-    ctor public FontsContractCompat.FontRequestCallback();
-    method public void onTypefaceRequestFailed(int);
-    method public void onTypefaceRetrieved(android.graphics.Typeface);
-    field public static final int FAIL_REASON_FONT_LOAD_ERROR = -3; // 0xfffffffd
-    field public static final int FAIL_REASON_FONT_NOT_FOUND = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int FAIL_REASON_FONT_UNAVAILABLE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int FAIL_REASON_MALFORMED_QUERY = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int FAIL_REASON_PROVIDER_NOT_FOUND = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int FAIL_REASON_SECURITY_VIOLATION = -4; // 0xfffffffc
-    field public static final int FAIL_REASON_WRONG_CERTIFICATES = -2; // 0xfffffffe
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.text {
-
-  public final class BidiFormatter {
-    method public static android.support.v4.text.BidiFormatter getInstance();
-    method public static android.support.v4.text.BidiFormatter getInstance(boolean);
-    method public static android.support.v4.text.BidiFormatter getInstance(java.util.Locale);
-    method public boolean getStereoReset();
-    method public boolean isRtl(java.lang.String);
-    method public boolean isRtl(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public boolean isRtlContext();
-    method public java.lang.String unicodeWrap(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat, boolean);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence unicodeWrap(java.lang.CharSequence, android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat, boolean);
-    method public java.lang.String unicodeWrap(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence unicodeWrap(java.lang.CharSequence, android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat);
-    method public java.lang.String unicodeWrap(java.lang.String, boolean);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence unicodeWrap(java.lang.CharSequence, boolean);
-    method public java.lang.String unicodeWrap(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence unicodeWrap(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public static final class BidiFormatter.Builder {
-    ctor public BidiFormatter.Builder();
-    ctor public BidiFormatter.Builder(boolean);
-    ctor public BidiFormatter.Builder(java.util.Locale);
-    method public android.support.v4.text.BidiFormatter build();
-    method public android.support.v4.text.BidiFormatter.Builder setTextDirectionHeuristic(android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat);
-    method public android.support.v4.text.BidiFormatter.Builder stereoReset(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public final class ICUCompat {
-    method public static java.lang.String maximizeAndGetScript(java.util.Locale);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface TextDirectionHeuristicCompat {
-    method public abstract boolean isRtl(char[], int, int);
-    method public abstract boolean isRtl(java.lang.CharSequence, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public final class TextDirectionHeuristicsCompat {
-    field public static final android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat ANYRTL_LTR;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat FIRSTSTRONG_LTR;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat FIRSTSTRONG_RTL;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat LOCALE;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat LTR;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.text.TextDirectionHeuristicCompat RTL;
-  }
-
-  public final class TextUtilsCompat {
-    method public static int getLayoutDirectionFromLocale(java.util.Locale);
-    method public static java.lang.String htmlEncode(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.text.util {
-
-  public final class LinkifyCompat {
-    method public static boolean addLinks(android.text.Spannable, int);
-    method public static boolean addLinks(android.widget.TextView, int);
-    method public static void addLinks(android.widget.TextView, java.util.regex.Pattern, java.lang.String);
-    method public static void addLinks(android.widget.TextView, java.util.regex.Pattern, java.lang.String, android.text.util.Linkify.MatchFilter, android.text.util.Linkify.TransformFilter);
-    method public static void addLinks(android.widget.TextView, java.util.regex.Pattern, java.lang.String, java.lang.String[], android.text.util.Linkify.MatchFilter, android.text.util.Linkify.TransformFilter);
-    method public static boolean addLinks(android.text.Spannable, java.util.regex.Pattern, java.lang.String);
-    method public static boolean addLinks(android.text.Spannable, java.util.regex.Pattern, java.lang.String, android.text.util.Linkify.MatchFilter, android.text.util.Linkify.TransformFilter);
-    method public static boolean addLinks(android.text.Spannable, java.util.regex.Pattern, java.lang.String, java.lang.String[], android.text.util.Linkify.MatchFilter, android.text.util.Linkify.TransformFilter);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.util {
-
-  public class ArrayMap<K, V> extends android.support.v4.util.SimpleArrayMap implements java.util.Map {
-    ctor public ArrayMap();
-    ctor public ArrayMap(int);
-    ctor public ArrayMap(android.support.v4.util.SimpleArrayMap);
-    method public boolean containsAll(java.util.Collection<?>);
-    method public java.util.Set<java.util.Map.Entry<K, V>> entrySet();
-    method public java.util.Set<K> keySet();
-    method public void putAll(java.util.Map<? extends K, ? extends V>);
-    method public boolean removeAll(java.util.Collection<?>);
-    method public boolean retainAll(java.util.Collection<?>);
-    method public java.util.Collection<V> values();
-  }
-
-  public final class ArraySet<E> implements java.util.Collection java.util.Set {
-    ctor public ArraySet();
-    ctor public ArraySet(int);
-    ctor public ArraySet(android.support.v4.util.ArraySet<E>);
-    ctor public ArraySet(java.util.Collection<E>);
-    method public boolean add(E);
-    method public void addAll(android.support.v4.util.ArraySet<? extends E>);
-    method public boolean addAll(java.util.Collection<? extends E>);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public boolean contains(java.lang.Object);
-    method public boolean containsAll(java.util.Collection<?>);
-    method public void ensureCapacity(int);
-    method public int indexOf(java.lang.Object);
-    method public boolean isEmpty();
-    method public java.util.Iterator<E> iterator();
-    method public boolean remove(java.lang.Object);
-    method public boolean removeAll(android.support.v4.util.ArraySet<? extends E>);
-    method public boolean removeAll(java.util.Collection<?>);
-    method public E removeAt(int);
-    method public boolean retainAll(java.util.Collection<?>);
-    method public int size();
-    method public java.lang.Object[] toArray();
-    method public <T> T[] toArray(T[]);
-    method public E valueAt(int);
-  }
-
-  public class AtomicFile {
-    ctor public AtomicFile(java.io.File);
-    method public void delete();
-    method public void failWrite(java.io.FileOutputStream);
-    method public void finishWrite(java.io.FileOutputStream);
-    method public java.io.File getBaseFile();
-    method public java.io.FileInputStream openRead() throws java.io.FileNotFoundException;
-    method public byte[] readFully() throws java.io.IOException;
-    method public java.io.FileOutputStream startWrite() throws java.io.IOException;
-  }
-
-  public final class CircularArray<E> {
-    ctor public CircularArray();
-    ctor public CircularArray(int);
-    method public void addFirst(E);
-    method public void addLast(E);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public E get(int);
-    method public E getFirst();
-    method public E getLast();
-    method public boolean isEmpty();
-    method public E popFirst();
-    method public E popLast();
-    method public void removeFromEnd(int);
-    method public void removeFromStart(int);
-    method public int size();
-  }
-
-  public final class CircularIntArray {
-    ctor public CircularIntArray();
-    ctor public CircularIntArray(int);
-    method public void addFirst(int);
-    method public void addLast(int);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public int get(int);
-    method public int getFirst();
-    method public int getLast();
-    method public boolean isEmpty();
-    method public int popFirst();
-    method public int popLast();
-    method public void removeFromEnd(int);
-    method public void removeFromStart(int);
-    method public int size();
-  }
-
-  public class LongSparseArray<E> implements java.lang.Cloneable {
-    ctor public LongSparseArray();
-    ctor public LongSparseArray(int);
-    method public void append(long, E);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public android.support.v4.util.LongSparseArray<E> clone();
-    method public void delete(long);
-    method public E get(long);
-    method public E get(long, E);
-    method public int indexOfKey(long);
-    method public int indexOfValue(E);
-    method public long keyAt(int);
-    method public void put(long, E);
-    method public void remove(long);
-    method public void removeAt(int);
-    method public void setValueAt(int, E);
-    method public int size();
-    method public E valueAt(int);
-  }
-
-  public class LruCache<K, V> {
-    ctor public LruCache(int);
-    method protected V create(K);
-    method public final synchronized int createCount();
-    method protected void entryRemoved(boolean, K, V, V);
-    method public final void evictAll();
-    method public final synchronized int evictionCount();
-    method public final V get(K);
-    method public final synchronized int hitCount();
-    method public final synchronized int maxSize();
-    method public final synchronized int missCount();
-    method public final V put(K, V);
-    method public final synchronized int putCount();
-    method public final V remove(K);
-    method public void resize(int);
-    method public final synchronized int size();
-    method protected int sizeOf(K, V);
-    method public final synchronized java.util.Map<K, V> snapshot();
-    method public final synchronized java.lang.String toString();
-    method public void trimToSize(int);
-  }
-
-  public class ObjectsCompat {
-    method public static boolean equals(java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object);
-    method public static int hash(java.lang.Object...);
-    method public static int hashCode(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public class Pair<F, S> {
-    ctor public Pair(F, S);
-    method public static <A, B> android.support.v4.util.Pair<A, B> create(A, B);
-    field public final F first;
-    field public final S second;
-  }
-
-  public final class PatternsCompat {
-    field public static final java.util.regex.Pattern DOMAIN_NAME;
-    field public static final java.util.regex.Pattern EMAIL_ADDRESS;
-    field public static final java.util.regex.Pattern IP_ADDRESS;
-    field public static final java.util.regex.Pattern WEB_URL;
-  }
-
-  public final class Pools {
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Pools.Pool<T> {
-    method public abstract T acquire();
-    method public abstract boolean release(T);
-  }
-
-  public static class Pools.SimplePool<T> implements android.support.v4.util.Pools.Pool {
-    ctor public Pools.SimplePool(int);
-    method public T acquire();
-    method public boolean release(T);
-  }
-
-  public static class Pools.SynchronizedPool<T> extends android.support.v4.util.Pools.SimplePool {
-    ctor public Pools.SynchronizedPool(int);
-  }
-
-  public class SimpleArrayMap<K, V> {
-    ctor public SimpleArrayMap();
-    ctor public SimpleArrayMap(int);
-    ctor public SimpleArrayMap(android.support.v4.util.SimpleArrayMap<K, V>);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public boolean containsKey(java.lang.Object);
-    method public boolean containsValue(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void ensureCapacity(int);
-    method public V get(java.lang.Object);
-    method public int indexOfKey(java.lang.Object);
-    method public boolean isEmpty();
-    method public K keyAt(int);
-    method public V put(K, V);
-    method public void putAll(android.support.v4.util.SimpleArrayMap<? extends K, ? extends V>);
-    method public V remove(java.lang.Object);
-    method public V removeAt(int);
-    method public V setValueAt(int, V);
-    method public int size();
-    method public V valueAt(int);
-  }
-
-  public class SparseArrayCompat<E> implements java.lang.Cloneable {
-    ctor public SparseArrayCompat();
-    ctor public SparseArrayCompat(int);
-    method public void append(int, E);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public android.support.v4.util.SparseArrayCompat<E> clone();
-    method public void delete(int);
-    method public E get(int);
-    method public E get(int, E);
-    method public int indexOfKey(int);
-    method public int indexOfValue(E);
-    method public int keyAt(int);
-    method public void put(int, E);
-    method public void remove(int);
-    method public void removeAt(int);
-    method public void removeAtRange(int, int);
-    method public void setValueAt(int, E);
-    method public int size();
-    method public E valueAt(int);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.view {
-
-  public class AccessibilityDelegateCompat {
-    ctor public AccessibilityDelegateCompat();
-    method public boolean dispatchPopulateAccessibilityEvent(android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeProviderCompat getAccessibilityNodeProvider(android.view.View);
-    method public void onInitializeAccessibilityEvent(android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public void onInitializeAccessibilityNodeInfo(android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat);
-    method public void onPopulateAccessibilityEvent(android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public boolean onRequestSendAccessibilityEvent(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public boolean performAccessibilityAction(android.view.View, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void sendAccessibilityEvent(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void sendAccessibilityEventUnchecked(android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class ActionProvider {
-    ctor public ActionProvider(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public boolean hasSubMenu();
-    method public boolean isVisible();
-    method public abstract android.view.View onCreateActionView();
-    method public android.view.View onCreateActionView(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public boolean onPerformDefaultAction();
-    method public void onPrepareSubMenu(android.view.SubMenu);
-    method public boolean overridesItemVisibility();
-    method public void refreshVisibility();
-    method public void setVisibilityListener(android.support.v4.view.ActionProvider.VisibilityListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ActionProvider.VisibilityListener {
-    method public abstract void onActionProviderVisibilityChanged(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public final class GestureDetectorCompat {
-    ctor public GestureDetectorCompat(android.content.Context, android.view.GestureDetector.OnGestureListener);
-    ctor public GestureDetectorCompat(android.content.Context, android.view.GestureDetector.OnGestureListener, android.os.Handler);
-    method public boolean isLongpressEnabled();
-    method public boolean onTouchEvent(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public void setIsLongpressEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setOnDoubleTapListener(android.view.GestureDetector.OnDoubleTapListener);
-  }
-
-  public final class GravityCompat {
-    method public static void apply(int, int, int, android.graphics.Rect, android.graphics.Rect, int);
-    method public static void apply(int, int, int, android.graphics.Rect, int, int, android.graphics.Rect, int);
-    method public static void applyDisplay(int, android.graphics.Rect, android.graphics.Rect, int);
-    method public static int getAbsoluteGravity(int, int);
-    field public static final int END = 8388613; // 0x800005
-    field public static final int RELATIVE_HORIZONTAL_GRAVITY_MASK = 8388615; // 0x800007
-    field public static final int RELATIVE_LAYOUT_DIRECTION = 8388608; // 0x800000
-    field public static final int START = 8388611; // 0x800003
-  }
-
-  public final class InputDeviceCompat {
-    field public static final int SOURCE_ANY = -256; // 0xffffff00
-    field public static final int SOURCE_CLASS_BUTTON = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SOURCE_CLASS_JOYSTICK = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int SOURCE_CLASS_MASK = 255; // 0xff
-    field public static final int SOURCE_CLASS_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SOURCE_CLASS_POINTER = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SOURCE_CLASS_POSITION = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int SOURCE_CLASS_TRACKBALL = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int SOURCE_DPAD = 513; // 0x201
-    field public static final int SOURCE_GAMEPAD = 1025; // 0x401
-    field public static final int SOURCE_HDMI = 33554433; // 0x2000001
-    field public static final int SOURCE_JOYSTICK = 16777232; // 0x1000010
-    field public static final int SOURCE_KEYBOARD = 257; // 0x101
-    field public static final int SOURCE_MOUSE = 8194; // 0x2002
-    field public static final int SOURCE_ROTARY_ENCODER = 4194304; // 0x400000
-    field public static final int SOURCE_STYLUS = 16386; // 0x4002
-    field public static final int SOURCE_TOUCHPAD = 1048584; // 0x100008
-    field public static final int SOURCE_TOUCHSCREEN = 4098; // 0x1002
-    field public static final int SOURCE_TOUCH_NAVIGATION = 2097152; // 0x200000
-    field public static final int SOURCE_TRACKBALL = 65540; // 0x10004
-    field public static final int SOURCE_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public final class LayoutInflaterCompat {
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.view.LayoutInflaterFactory getFactory(android.view.LayoutInflater);
-    method public static deprecated void setFactory(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.support.v4.view.LayoutInflaterFactory);
-    method public static void setFactory2(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.LayoutInflater.Factory2);
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated interface LayoutInflaterFactory {
-    method public abstract android.view.View onCreateView(android.view.View, java.lang.String, android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-  }
-
-  public final class MarginLayoutParamsCompat {
-    method public static int getLayoutDirection(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    method public static int getMarginEnd(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    method public static int getMarginStart(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    method public static boolean isMarginRelative(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    method public static void resolveLayoutDirection(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams, int);
-    method public static void setLayoutDirection(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams, int);
-    method public static void setMarginEnd(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams, int);
-    method public static void setMarginStart(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams, int);
-  }
-
-  public final class MenuCompat {
-    method public static deprecated void setShowAsAction(android.view.MenuItem, int);
-  }
-
-  public final class MenuItemCompat {
-    method public static deprecated boolean collapseActionView(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static deprecated boolean expandActionView(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.ActionProvider getActionProvider(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static deprecated android.view.View getActionView(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static int getAlphabeticModifiers(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static java.lang.CharSequence getContentDescription(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static android.content.res.ColorStateList getIconTintList(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getIconTintMode(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static int getNumericModifiers(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static java.lang.CharSequence getTooltipText(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static deprecated boolean isActionViewExpanded(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public static android.view.MenuItem setActionProvider(android.view.MenuItem, android.support.v4.view.ActionProvider);
-    method public static deprecated android.view.MenuItem setActionView(android.view.MenuItem, android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated android.view.MenuItem setActionView(android.view.MenuItem, int);
-    method public static void setAlphabeticShortcut(android.view.MenuItem, char, int);
-    method public static void setContentDescription(android.view.MenuItem, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public static void setIconTintList(android.view.MenuItem, android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public static void setIconTintMode(android.view.MenuItem, android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public static void setNumericShortcut(android.view.MenuItem, char, int);
-    method public static deprecated android.view.MenuItem setOnActionExpandListener(android.view.MenuItem, android.support.v4.view.MenuItemCompat.OnActionExpandListener);
-    method public static void setShortcut(android.view.MenuItem, char, char, int, int);
-    method public static deprecated void setShowAsAction(android.view.MenuItem, int);
-    method public static void setTooltipText(android.view.MenuItem, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    field public static final deprecated int SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final deprecated int SHOW_AS_ACTION_COLLAPSE_ACTION_VIEW = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final deprecated int SHOW_AS_ACTION_IF_ROOM = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final deprecated int SHOW_AS_ACTION_NEVER = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final deprecated int SHOW_AS_ACTION_WITH_TEXT = 4; // 0x4
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface MenuItemCompat.OnActionExpandListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onMenuItemActionCollapse(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public abstract boolean onMenuItemActionExpand(android.view.MenuItem);
-  }
-
-  public final class MotionEventCompat {
-    method public static deprecated int findPointerIndex(android.view.MotionEvent, int);
-    method public static deprecated int getActionIndex(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public static deprecated int getActionMasked(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public static deprecated float getAxisValue(android.view.MotionEvent, int);
-    method public static deprecated float getAxisValue(android.view.MotionEvent, int, int);
-    method public static deprecated int getButtonState(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public static deprecated int getPointerCount(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public static deprecated int getPointerId(android.view.MotionEvent, int);
-    method public static deprecated int getSource(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public static deprecated float getX(android.view.MotionEvent, int);
-    method public static deprecated float getY(android.view.MotionEvent, int);
-    method public static boolean isFromSource(android.view.MotionEvent, int);
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_HOVER_ENTER = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_HOVER_EXIT = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_HOVER_MOVE = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_MASK = 255; // 0xff
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_POINTER_DOWN = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_POINTER_INDEX_MASK = 65280; // 0xff00
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_POINTER_INDEX_SHIFT = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_POINTER_UP = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final deprecated int ACTION_SCROLL = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_BRAKE = 23; // 0x17
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_DISTANCE = 24; // 0x18
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GAS = 22; // 0x16
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_1 = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_10 = 41; // 0x29
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_11 = 42; // 0x2a
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_12 = 43; // 0x2b
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_13 = 44; // 0x2c
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_14 = 45; // 0x2d
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_15 = 46; // 0x2e
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_16 = 47; // 0x2f
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_2 = 33; // 0x21
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_3 = 34; // 0x22
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_4 = 35; // 0x23
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_5 = 36; // 0x24
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_6 = 37; // 0x25
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_7 = 38; // 0x26
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_8 = 39; // 0x27
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_GENERIC_9 = 40; // 0x28
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_HAT_X = 15; // 0xf
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_HAT_Y = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_HSCROLL = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_LTRIGGER = 17; // 0x11
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_ORIENTATION = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_PRESSURE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int AXIS_RELATIVE_X = 27; // 0x1b
-    field public static final int AXIS_RELATIVE_Y = 28; // 0x1c
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_RTRIGGER = 18; // 0x12
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_RUDDER = 20; // 0x14
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_RX = 12; // 0xc
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_RY = 13; // 0xd
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_RZ = 14; // 0xe
-    field public static final int AXIS_SCROLL = 26; // 0x1a
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_SIZE = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_THROTTLE = 19; // 0x13
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_TILT = 25; // 0x19
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_TOOL_MAJOR = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_TOOL_MINOR = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_TOUCH_MAJOR = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_TOUCH_MINOR = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_VSCROLL = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_WHEEL = 21; // 0x15
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_X = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_Y = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final deprecated int AXIS_Z = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final deprecated int BUTTON_PRIMARY = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface NestedScrollingChild {
-    method public abstract boolean dispatchNestedFling(float, float, boolean);
-    method public abstract boolean dispatchNestedPreFling(float, float);
-    method public abstract boolean dispatchNestedPreScroll(int, int, int[], int[]);
-    method public abstract boolean dispatchNestedScroll(int, int, int, int, int[]);
-    method public abstract boolean hasNestedScrollingParent();
-    method public abstract boolean isNestedScrollingEnabled();
-    method public abstract void setNestedScrollingEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract boolean startNestedScroll(int);
-    method public abstract void stopNestedScroll();
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface NestedScrollingChild2 implements android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingChild {
-    method public abstract boolean dispatchNestedPreScroll(int, int, int[], int[], int);
-    method public abstract boolean dispatchNestedScroll(int, int, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public abstract boolean hasNestedScrollingParent(int);
-    method public abstract boolean startNestedScroll(int, int);
-    method public abstract void stopNestedScroll(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface NestedScrollingParent {
-    method public abstract int getNestedScrollAxes();
-    method public abstract boolean onNestedFling(android.view.View, float, float, boolean);
-    method public abstract boolean onNestedPreFling(android.view.View, float, float);
-    method public abstract void onNestedPreScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int[]);
-    method public abstract void onNestedScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public abstract void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public abstract boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public abstract void onStopNestedScroll(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface NestedScrollingParent2 implements android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingParent {
-    method public abstract void onNestedPreScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public abstract void onNestedScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public abstract void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public abstract boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public abstract void onStopNestedScroll(android.view.View, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface OnApplyWindowInsetsListener {
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat onApplyWindowInsets(android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat);
-  }
-
-  public final class PointerIconCompat {
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.PointerIconCompat create(android.graphics.Bitmap, float, float);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.PointerIconCompat getSystemIcon(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.PointerIconCompat load(android.content.res.Resources, int);
-    field public static final int TYPE_ALIAS = 1010; // 0x3f2
-    field public static final int TYPE_ALL_SCROLL = 1013; // 0x3f5
-    field public static final int TYPE_ARROW = 1000; // 0x3e8
-    field public static final int TYPE_CELL = 1006; // 0x3ee
-    field public static final int TYPE_CONTEXT_MENU = 1001; // 0x3e9
-    field public static final int TYPE_COPY = 1011; // 0x3f3
-    field public static final int TYPE_CROSSHAIR = 1007; // 0x3ef
-    field public static final int TYPE_DEFAULT = 1000; // 0x3e8
-    field public static final int TYPE_GRAB = 1020; // 0x3fc
-    field public static final int TYPE_GRABBING = 1021; // 0x3fd
-    field public static final int TYPE_HAND = 1002; // 0x3ea
-    field public static final int TYPE_HELP = 1003; // 0x3eb
-    field public static final int TYPE_HORIZONTAL_DOUBLE_ARROW = 1014; // 0x3f6
-    field public static final int TYPE_NO_DROP = 1012; // 0x3f4
-    field public static final int TYPE_NULL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int TYPE_TEXT = 1008; // 0x3f0
-    field public static final int TYPE_TOP_LEFT_DIAGONAL_DOUBLE_ARROW = 1017; // 0x3f9
-    field public static final int TYPE_TOP_RIGHT_DIAGONAL_DOUBLE_ARROW = 1016; // 0x3f8
-    field public static final int TYPE_VERTICAL_DOUBLE_ARROW = 1015; // 0x3f7
-    field public static final int TYPE_VERTICAL_TEXT = 1009; // 0x3f1
-    field public static final int TYPE_WAIT = 1004; // 0x3ec
-    field public static final int TYPE_ZOOM_IN = 1018; // 0x3fa
-    field public static final int TYPE_ZOOM_OUT = 1019; // 0x3fb
-  }
-
-  public final class ScaleGestureDetectorCompat {
-    method public static deprecated boolean isQuickScaleEnabled(java.lang.Object);
-    method public static boolean isQuickScaleEnabled(android.view.ScaleGestureDetector);
-    method public static deprecated void setQuickScaleEnabled(java.lang.Object, boolean);
-    method public static void setQuickScaleEnabled(android.view.ScaleGestureDetector, boolean);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface ScrollingView {
-    method public abstract int computeHorizontalScrollExtent();
-    method public abstract int computeHorizontalScrollOffset();
-    method public abstract int computeHorizontalScrollRange();
-    method public abstract int computeVerticalScrollExtent();
-    method public abstract int computeVerticalScrollOffset();
-    method public abstract int computeVerticalScrollRange();
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface TintableBackgroundView {
-    method public abstract android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public abstract android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public abstract void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public abstract void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public final deprecated class VelocityTrackerCompat {
-    method public static deprecated float getXVelocity(android.view.VelocityTracker, int);
-    method public static deprecated float getYVelocity(android.view.VelocityTracker, int);
-  }
-
-  public class ViewCompat {
-    ctor protected ViewCompat();
-    method public static void addKeyboardNavigationClusters(android.view.View, java.util.Collection<android.view.View>, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat animate(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated boolean canScrollHorizontally(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static deprecated boolean canScrollVertically(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void cancelDragAndDrop(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated int combineMeasuredStates(int, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat dispatchApplyWindowInsets(android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat);
-    method public static void dispatchFinishTemporaryDetach(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean dispatchNestedFling(android.view.View, float, float, boolean);
-    method public static boolean dispatchNestedPreFling(android.view.View, float, float);
-    method public static boolean dispatchNestedPreScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int[], int[]);
-    method public static boolean dispatchNestedPreScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int[], int[], int);
-    method public static boolean dispatchNestedScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int, int, int[]);
-    method public static boolean dispatchNestedScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public static void dispatchStartTemporaryDetach(android.view.View);
-    method public static int generateViewId();
-    method public static int getAccessibilityLiveRegion(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeProviderCompat getAccessibilityNodeProvider(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getAlpha(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.content.res.ColorStateList getBackgroundTintList(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getBackgroundTintMode(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.graphics.Rect getClipBounds(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.view.Display getDisplay(android.view.View);
-    method public static float getElevation(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean getFitsSystemWindows(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getImportantForAccessibility(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getImportantForAutofill(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getLabelFor(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated int getLayerType(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getLayoutDirection(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated android.graphics.Matrix getMatrix(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated int getMeasuredHeightAndState(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated int getMeasuredState(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated int getMeasuredWidthAndState(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getMinimumHeight(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getMinimumWidth(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getNextClusterForwardId(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated int getOverScrollMode(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getPaddingEnd(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getPaddingStart(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.view.ViewParent getParentForAccessibility(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getPivotX(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getPivotY(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getRotation(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getRotationX(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getRotationY(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getScaleX(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getScaleY(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getScrollIndicators(android.view.View);
-    method public static java.lang.String getTransitionName(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getTranslationX(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getTranslationY(android.view.View);
-    method public static float getTranslationZ(android.view.View);
-    method public static int getWindowSystemUiVisibility(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getX(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated float getY(android.view.View);
-    method public static float getZ(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean hasAccessibilityDelegate(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean hasExplicitFocusable(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean hasNestedScrollingParent(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean hasNestedScrollingParent(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static boolean hasOnClickListeners(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean hasOverlappingRendering(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean hasTransientState(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isAttachedToWindow(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isFocusedByDefault(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isImportantForAccessibility(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isImportantForAutofill(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isInLayout(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isKeyboardNavigationCluster(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isLaidOut(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isLayoutDirectionResolved(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isNestedScrollingEnabled(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated boolean isOpaque(android.view.View);
-    method public static boolean isPaddingRelative(android.view.View);
-    method public static deprecated void jumpDrawablesToCurrentState(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.view.View keyboardNavigationClusterSearch(android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void offsetLeftAndRight(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void offsetTopAndBottom(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat onApplyWindowInsets(android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat);
-    method public static deprecated void onInitializeAccessibilityEvent(android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public static void onInitializeAccessibilityNodeInfo(android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat);
-    method public static deprecated void onPopulateAccessibilityEvent(android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public static boolean performAccessibilityAction(android.view.View, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public static void postInvalidateOnAnimation(android.view.View);
-    method public static void postInvalidateOnAnimation(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public static void postOnAnimation(android.view.View, java.lang.Runnable);
-    method public static void postOnAnimationDelayed(android.view.View, java.lang.Runnable, long);
-    method public static void requestApplyInsets(android.view.View);
-    method public static <T extends android.view.View> T requireViewById(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static deprecated int resolveSizeAndState(int, int, int);
-    method public static boolean restoreDefaultFocus(android.view.View);
-    method public static void setAccessibilityDelegate(android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.AccessibilityDelegateCompat);
-    method public static void setAccessibilityLiveRegion(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static deprecated void setActivated(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public static deprecated void setAlpha(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static void setAutofillHints(android.view.View, java.lang.String...);
-    method public static void setBackground(android.view.View, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static void setBackgroundTintList(android.view.View, android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public static void setBackgroundTintMode(android.view.View, android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public static deprecated void setChildrenDrawingOrderEnabled(android.view.ViewGroup, boolean);
-    method public static void setClipBounds(android.view.View, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public static void setElevation(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setFitsSystemWindows(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public static void setFocusedByDefault(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public static void setHasTransientState(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public static void setImportantForAccessibility(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setImportantForAutofill(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setKeyboardNavigationCluster(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public static void setLabelFor(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setLayerPaint(android.view.View, android.graphics.Paint);
-    method public static deprecated void setLayerType(android.view.View, int, android.graphics.Paint);
-    method public static void setLayoutDirection(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setNestedScrollingEnabled(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public static void setNextClusterForwardId(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.OnApplyWindowInsetsListener);
-    method public static deprecated void setOverScrollMode(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setPaddingRelative(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public static deprecated void setPivotX(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setPivotY(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static void setPointerIcon(android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.PointerIconCompat);
-    method public static deprecated void setRotation(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setRotationX(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setRotationY(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setSaveFromParentEnabled(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public static deprecated void setScaleX(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setScaleY(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static void setScrollIndicators(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setScrollIndicators(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public static void setTooltipText(android.view.View, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public static void setTransitionName(android.view.View, java.lang.String);
-    method public static deprecated void setTranslationX(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setTranslationY(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static void setTranslationZ(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setX(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static deprecated void setY(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static void setZ(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static boolean startDragAndDrop(android.view.View, android.content.ClipData, android.view.View.DragShadowBuilder, java.lang.Object, int);
-    method public static boolean startNestedScroll(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static boolean startNestedScroll(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public static void stopNestedScroll(android.view.View);
-    method public static void stopNestedScroll(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void updateDragShadow(android.view.View, android.view.View.DragShadowBuilder);
-    field public static final int ACCESSIBILITY_LIVE_REGION_ASSERTIVE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ACCESSIBILITY_LIVE_REGION_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ACCESSIBILITY_LIVE_REGION_POLITE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int IMPORTANT_FOR_ACCESSIBILITY_AUTO = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int IMPORTANT_FOR_ACCESSIBILITY_NO = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int IMPORTANT_FOR_ACCESSIBILITY_NO_HIDE_DESCENDANTS = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int IMPORTANT_FOR_ACCESSIBILITY_YES = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final deprecated int LAYER_TYPE_HARDWARE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final deprecated int LAYER_TYPE_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final deprecated int LAYER_TYPE_SOFTWARE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int LAYOUT_DIRECTION_INHERIT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int LAYOUT_DIRECTION_LOCALE = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int LAYOUT_DIRECTION_LTR = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int LAYOUT_DIRECTION_RTL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final deprecated int MEASURED_HEIGHT_STATE_SHIFT = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final deprecated int MEASURED_SIZE_MASK = 16777215; // 0xffffff
-    field public static final deprecated int MEASURED_STATE_MASK = -16777216; // 0xff000000
-    field public static final deprecated int MEASURED_STATE_TOO_SMALL = 16777216; // 0x1000000
-    field public static final deprecated int OVER_SCROLL_ALWAYS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final deprecated int OVER_SCROLL_IF_CONTENT_SCROLLS = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final deprecated int OVER_SCROLL_NEVER = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SCROLL_AXIS_HORIZONTAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SCROLL_AXIS_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SCROLL_AXIS_VERTICAL = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SCROLL_INDICATOR_BOTTOM = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SCROLL_INDICATOR_END = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int SCROLL_INDICATOR_LEFT = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int SCROLL_INDICATOR_RIGHT = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int SCROLL_INDICATOR_START = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int SCROLL_INDICATOR_TOP = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int TYPE_NON_TOUCH = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int TYPE_TOUCH = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public final class ViewConfigurationCompat {
-    method public static float getScaledHorizontalScrollFactor(android.view.ViewConfiguration, android.content.Context);
-    method public static deprecated int getScaledPagingTouchSlop(android.view.ViewConfiguration);
-    method public static float getScaledVerticalScrollFactor(android.view.ViewConfiguration, android.content.Context);
-    method public static deprecated boolean hasPermanentMenuKey(android.view.ViewConfiguration);
-  }
-
-  public final class ViewGroupCompat {
-    method public static int getLayoutMode(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public static int getNestedScrollAxes(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public static boolean isTransitionGroup(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public static deprecated boolean onRequestSendAccessibilityEvent(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public static void setLayoutMode(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public static deprecated void setMotionEventSplittingEnabled(android.view.ViewGroup, boolean);
-    method public static void setTransitionGroup(android.view.ViewGroup, boolean);
-    field public static final int LAYOUT_MODE_CLIP_BOUNDS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int LAYOUT_MODE_OPTICAL_BOUNDS = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public final class ViewParentCompat {
-    method public static void notifySubtreeAccessibilityStateChanged(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public static boolean onNestedFling(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, float, float, boolean);
-    method public static boolean onNestedPreFling(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, float, float);
-    method public static void onNestedPreScroll(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, int, int, int[]);
-    method public static void onNestedPreScroll(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public static void onNestedScroll(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public static void onNestedScroll(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public static void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public static boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public static boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public static void onStopNestedScroll(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View);
-    method public static void onStopNestedScroll(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, int);
-    method public static deprecated boolean requestSendAccessibilityEvent(android.view.ViewParent, android.view.View, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-  }
-
-  public final class ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat {
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat alpha(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat alphaBy(float);
-    method public void cancel();
-    method public long getDuration();
-    method public android.view.animation.Interpolator getInterpolator();
-    method public long getStartDelay();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat rotation(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat rotationBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat rotationX(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat rotationXBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat rotationY(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat rotationYBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat scaleX(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat scaleXBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat scaleY(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat scaleYBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat setDuration(long);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat setInterpolator(android.view.animation.Interpolator);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat setListener(android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorListener);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat setStartDelay(long);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat setUpdateListener(android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorUpdateListener);
-    method public void start();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat translationX(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat translationXBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat translationY(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat translationYBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat translationZ(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat translationZBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat withEndAction(java.lang.Runnable);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat withLayer();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat withStartAction(java.lang.Runnable);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat x(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat xBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat y(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat yBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat z(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorCompat zBy(float);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface ViewPropertyAnimatorListener {
-    method public abstract void onAnimationCancel(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onAnimationEnd(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onAnimationStart(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public class ViewPropertyAnimatorListenerAdapter implements android.support.v4.view.ViewPropertyAnimatorListener {
-    ctor public ViewPropertyAnimatorListenerAdapter();
-    method public void onAnimationCancel(android.view.View);
-    method public void onAnimationEnd(android.view.View);
-    method public void onAnimationStart(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface ViewPropertyAnimatorUpdateListener {
-    method public abstract void onAnimationUpdate(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public final class WindowCompat {
-    method public static <T extends android.view.View> T requireViewById(android.view.Window, int);
-    field public static final int FEATURE_ACTION_BAR = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int FEATURE_ACTION_BAR_OVERLAY = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final int FEATURE_ACTION_MODE_OVERLAY = 10; // 0xa
-  }
-
-  public class WindowInsetsCompat {
-    ctor public WindowInsetsCompat(android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat consumeStableInsets();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat consumeSystemWindowInsets();
-    method public int getStableInsetBottom();
-    method public int getStableInsetLeft();
-    method public int getStableInsetRight();
-    method public int getStableInsetTop();
-    method public int getSystemWindowInsetBottom();
-    method public int getSystemWindowInsetLeft();
-    method public int getSystemWindowInsetRight();
-    method public int getSystemWindowInsetTop();
-    method public boolean hasInsets();
-    method public boolean hasStableInsets();
-    method public boolean hasSystemWindowInsets();
-    method public boolean isConsumed();
-    method public boolean isRound();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat replaceSystemWindowInsets(int, int, int, int);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat replaceSystemWindowInsets(android.graphics.Rect);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.view.accessibility {
-
-  public final class AccessibilityEventCompat {
-    method public static deprecated void appendRecord(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecordCompat);
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecordCompat asRecord(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public static int getAction(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public static int getContentChangeTypes(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public static int getMovementGranularity(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecordCompat getRecord(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent, int);
-    method public static deprecated int getRecordCount(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public static void setAction(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent, int);
-    method public static void setContentChangeTypes(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent, int);
-    method public static void setMovementGranularity(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent, int);
-    field public static final int CONTENT_CHANGE_TYPE_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int CONTENT_CHANGE_TYPE_SUBTREE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int CONTENT_CHANGE_TYPE_TEXT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CONTENT_CHANGE_TYPE_UNDEFINED = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int TYPES_ALL_MASK = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int TYPE_ANNOUNCEMENT = 16384; // 0x4000
-    field public static final int TYPE_ASSIST_READING_CONTEXT = 16777216; // 0x1000000
-    field public static final int TYPE_GESTURE_DETECTION_END = 524288; // 0x80000
-    field public static final int TYPE_GESTURE_DETECTION_START = 262144; // 0x40000
-    field public static final deprecated int TYPE_TOUCH_EXPLORATION_GESTURE_END = 1024; // 0x400
-    field public static final deprecated int TYPE_TOUCH_EXPLORATION_GESTURE_START = 512; // 0x200
-    field public static final int TYPE_TOUCH_INTERACTION_END = 2097152; // 0x200000
-    field public static final int TYPE_TOUCH_INTERACTION_START = 1048576; // 0x100000
-    field public static final int TYPE_VIEW_ACCESSIBILITY_FOCUSED = 32768; // 0x8000
-    field public static final int TYPE_VIEW_ACCESSIBILITY_FOCUS_CLEARED = 65536; // 0x10000
-    field public static final int TYPE_VIEW_CONTEXT_CLICKED = 8388608; // 0x800000
-    field public static final deprecated int TYPE_VIEW_HOVER_ENTER = 128; // 0x80
-    field public static final deprecated int TYPE_VIEW_HOVER_EXIT = 256; // 0x100
-    field public static final deprecated int TYPE_VIEW_SCROLLED = 4096; // 0x1000
-    field public static final deprecated int TYPE_VIEW_TEXT_SELECTION_CHANGED = 8192; // 0x2000
-    field public static final int TYPE_VIEW_TEXT_TRAVERSED_AT_MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY = 131072; // 0x20000
-    field public static final int TYPE_WINDOWS_CHANGED = 4194304; // 0x400000
-    field public static final deprecated int TYPE_WINDOW_CONTENT_CHANGED = 2048; // 0x800
-  }
-
-  public final class AccessibilityManagerCompat {
-    method public static deprecated boolean addAccessibilityStateChangeListener(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManagerCompat.AccessibilityStateChangeListener);
-    method public static boolean addTouchExplorationStateChangeListener(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManagerCompat.TouchExplorationStateChangeListener);
-    method public static deprecated java.util.List<android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityServiceInfo> getEnabledAccessibilityServiceList(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager, int);
-    method public static deprecated java.util.List<android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityServiceInfo> getInstalledAccessibilityServiceList(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager);
-    method public static deprecated boolean isTouchExplorationEnabled(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager);
-    method public static deprecated boolean removeAccessibilityStateChangeListener(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManagerCompat.AccessibilityStateChangeListener);
-    method public static boolean removeTouchExplorationStateChangeListener(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManagerCompat.TouchExplorationStateChangeListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface AccessibilityManagerCompat.AccessibilityStateChangeListener {
-    method public abstract deprecated void onAccessibilityStateChanged(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated class AccessibilityManagerCompat.AccessibilityStateChangeListenerCompat implements android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManagerCompat.AccessibilityStateChangeListener {
-    ctor public AccessibilityManagerCompat.AccessibilityStateChangeListenerCompat();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface AccessibilityManagerCompat.TouchExplorationStateChangeListener {
-    method public abstract void onTouchExplorationStateChanged(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat {
-    ctor public deprecated AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void addAction(int);
-    method public void addAction(android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat);
-    method public void addChild(android.view.View);
-    method public void addChild(android.view.View, int);
-    method public boolean canOpenPopup();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat> findAccessibilityNodeInfosByText(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat> findAccessibilityNodeInfosByViewId(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat findFocus(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat focusSearch(int);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat> getActionList();
-    method public int getActions();
-    method public void getBoundsInParent(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public void getBoundsInScreen(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getChild(int);
-    method public int getChildCount();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getClassName();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.CollectionInfoCompat getCollectionInfo();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.CollectionItemInfoCompat getCollectionItemInfo();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getContentDescription();
-    method public int getDrawingOrder();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getError();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public deprecated java.lang.Object getInfo();
-    method public int getInputType();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getLabelFor();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getLabeledBy();
-    method public int getLiveRegion();
-    method public int getMaxTextLength();
-    method public int getMovementGranularities();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getPackageName();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getParent();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.RangeInfoCompat getRangeInfo();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getRoleDescription();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getText();
-    method public int getTextSelectionEnd();
-    method public int getTextSelectionStart();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getTraversalAfter();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getTraversalBefore();
-    method public java.lang.String getViewIdResourceName();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityWindowInfoCompat getWindow();
-    method public int getWindowId();
-    method public boolean isAccessibilityFocused();
-    method public boolean isCheckable();
-    method public boolean isChecked();
-    method public boolean isClickable();
-    method public boolean isContentInvalid();
-    method public boolean isContextClickable();
-    method public boolean isDismissable();
-    method public boolean isEditable();
-    method public boolean isEnabled();
-    method public boolean isFocusable();
-    method public boolean isFocused();
-    method public boolean isImportantForAccessibility();
-    method public boolean isLongClickable();
-    method public boolean isMultiLine();
-    method public boolean isPassword();
-    method public boolean isScrollable();
-    method public boolean isSelected();
-    method public boolean isVisibleToUser();
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat obtain(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat obtain(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat obtain();
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat obtain(android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat);
-    method public boolean performAction(int);
-    method public boolean performAction(int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void recycle();
-    method public boolean refresh();
-    method public boolean removeAction(android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat);
-    method public boolean removeChild(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean removeChild(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setAccessibilityFocused(boolean);
-    method public void setBoundsInParent(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public void setBoundsInScreen(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public void setCanOpenPopup(boolean);
-    method public void setCheckable(boolean);
-    method public void setChecked(boolean);
-    method public void setClassName(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setClickable(boolean);
-    method public void setCollectionInfo(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setCollectionItemInfo(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setContentInvalid(boolean);
-    method public void setContextClickable(boolean);
-    method public void setDismissable(boolean);
-    method public void setDrawingOrder(int);
-    method public void setEditable(boolean);
-    method public void setEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setError(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setFocusable(boolean);
-    method public void setFocused(boolean);
-    method public void setImportantForAccessibility(boolean);
-    method public void setInputType(int);
-    method public void setLabelFor(android.view.View);
-    method public void setLabelFor(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setLabeledBy(android.view.View);
-    method public void setLabeledBy(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setLiveRegion(int);
-    method public void setLongClickable(boolean);
-    method public void setMaxTextLength(int);
-    method public void setMovementGranularities(int);
-    method public void setMultiLine(boolean);
-    method public void setPackageName(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setParent(android.view.View);
-    method public void setParent(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setPassword(boolean);
-    method public void setRangeInfo(android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.RangeInfoCompat);
-    method public void setRoleDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setScrollable(boolean);
-    method public void setSelected(boolean);
-    method public void setSource(android.view.View);
-    method public void setSource(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTextSelection(int, int);
-    method public void setTraversalAfter(android.view.View);
-    method public void setTraversalAfter(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setTraversalBefore(android.view.View);
-    method public void setTraversalBefore(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setViewIdResourceName(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setVisibleToUser(boolean);
-    method public android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfo unwrap();
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat wrap(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfo);
-    field public static final int ACTION_ACCESSIBILITY_FOCUS = 64; // 0x40
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_COLUMN_INT = "android.view.accessibility.action.ARGUMENT_COLUMN_INT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_EXTEND_SELECTION_BOOLEAN = "ACTION_ARGUMENT_EXTEND_SELECTION_BOOLEAN";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_HTML_ELEMENT_STRING = "ACTION_ARGUMENT_HTML_ELEMENT_STRING";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY_INT = "ACTION_ARGUMENT_MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY_INT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_PROGRESS_VALUE = "android.view.accessibility.action.ARGUMENT_PROGRESS_VALUE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_ROW_INT = "android.view.accessibility.action.ARGUMENT_ROW_INT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_SELECTION_END_INT = "ACTION_ARGUMENT_SELECTION_END_INT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_SELECTION_START_INT = "ACTION_ARGUMENT_SELECTION_START_INT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ARGUMENT_SET_TEXT_CHARSEQUENCE = "ACTION_ARGUMENT_SET_TEXT_CHARSEQUENCE";
-    field public static final int ACTION_CLEAR_ACCESSIBILITY_FOCUS = 128; // 0x80
-    field public static final int ACTION_CLEAR_FOCUS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ACTION_CLEAR_SELECTION = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int ACTION_CLICK = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int ACTION_COLLAPSE = 524288; // 0x80000
-    field public static final int ACTION_COPY = 16384; // 0x4000
-    field public static final int ACTION_CUT = 65536; // 0x10000
-    field public static final int ACTION_DISMISS = 1048576; // 0x100000
-    field public static final int ACTION_EXPAND = 262144; // 0x40000
-    field public static final int ACTION_FOCUS = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ACTION_LONG_CLICK = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int ACTION_NEXT_AT_MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY = 256; // 0x100
-    field public static final int ACTION_NEXT_HTML_ELEMENT = 1024; // 0x400
-    field public static final int ACTION_PASTE = 32768; // 0x8000
-    field public static final int ACTION_PREVIOUS_AT_MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY = 512; // 0x200
-    field public static final int ACTION_PREVIOUS_HTML_ELEMENT = 2048; // 0x800
-    field public static final int ACTION_SCROLL_BACKWARD = 8192; // 0x2000
-    field public static final int ACTION_SCROLL_FORWARD = 4096; // 0x1000
-    field public static final int ACTION_SELECT = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int ACTION_SET_SELECTION = 131072; // 0x20000
-    field public static final int ACTION_SET_TEXT = 2097152; // 0x200000
-    field public static final int FOCUS_ACCESSIBILITY = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int FOCUS_INPUT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY_CHARACTER = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY_LINE = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY_PAGE = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY_PARAGRAPH = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY_WORD = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static class AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat {
-    ctor public AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat(int, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public int getId();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getLabel();
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_ACCESSIBILITY_FOCUS;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_CLEAR_ACCESSIBILITY_FOCUS;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_CLEAR_FOCUS;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_CLEAR_SELECTION;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_CLICK;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_COLLAPSE;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_CONTEXT_CLICK;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_COPY;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_CUT;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_DISMISS;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_EXPAND;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_FOCUS;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_LONG_CLICK;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_NEXT_AT_MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_NEXT_HTML_ELEMENT;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_PASTE;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_PREVIOUS_AT_MOVEMENT_GRANULARITY;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_PREVIOUS_HTML_ELEMENT;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SCROLL_BACKWARD;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SCROLL_DOWN;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SCROLL_FORWARD;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SCROLL_LEFT;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SCROLL_RIGHT;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SCROLL_TO_POSITION;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SCROLL_UP;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SELECT;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SET_PROGRESS;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SET_SELECTION;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SET_TEXT;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat ACTION_SHOW_ON_SCREEN;
-  }
-
-  public static class AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.CollectionInfoCompat {
-    method public int getColumnCount();
-    method public int getRowCount();
-    method public int getSelectionMode();
-    method public boolean isHierarchical();
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.CollectionInfoCompat obtain(int, int, boolean, int);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.CollectionInfoCompat obtain(int, int, boolean);
-    field public static final int SELECTION_MODE_MULTIPLE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SELECTION_MODE_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SELECTION_MODE_SINGLE = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static class AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.CollectionItemInfoCompat {
-    method public int getColumnIndex();
-    method public int getColumnSpan();
-    method public int getRowIndex();
-    method public int getRowSpan();
-    method public boolean isHeading();
-    method public boolean isSelected();
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.CollectionItemInfoCompat obtain(int, int, int, int, boolean, boolean);
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.CollectionItemInfoCompat obtain(int, int, int, int, boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static class AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.RangeInfoCompat {
-    method public float getCurrent();
-    method public float getMax();
-    method public float getMin();
-    method public int getType();
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.RangeInfoCompat obtain(int, float, float, float);
-    field public static final int RANGE_TYPE_FLOAT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int RANGE_TYPE_INT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int RANGE_TYPE_PERCENT = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public class AccessibilityNodeProviderCompat {
-    ctor public AccessibilityNodeProviderCompat();
-    ctor public AccessibilityNodeProviderCompat(java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat createAccessibilityNodeInfo(int);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat> findAccessibilityNodeInfosByText(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat findFocus(int);
-    method public java.lang.Object getProvider();
-    method public boolean performAction(int, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    field public static final int HOST_VIEW_ID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public class AccessibilityRecordCompat {
-    ctor public deprecated AccessibilityRecordCompat(java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated boolean equals(java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated int getAddedCount();
-    method public deprecated java.lang.CharSequence getBeforeText();
-    method public deprecated java.lang.CharSequence getClassName();
-    method public deprecated java.lang.CharSequence getContentDescription();
-    method public deprecated int getCurrentItemIndex();
-    method public deprecated int getFromIndex();
-    method public deprecated java.lang.Object getImpl();
-    method public deprecated int getItemCount();
-    method public deprecated int getMaxScrollX();
-    method public static int getMaxScrollX(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecord);
-    method public deprecated int getMaxScrollY();
-    method public static int getMaxScrollY(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecord);
-    method public deprecated android.os.Parcelable getParcelableData();
-    method public deprecated int getRemovedCount();
-    method public deprecated int getScrollX();
-    method public deprecated int getScrollY();
-    method public deprecated android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getSource();
-    method public deprecated java.util.List<java.lang.CharSequence> getText();
-    method public deprecated int getToIndex();
-    method public deprecated int getWindowId();
-    method public deprecated int hashCode();
-    method public deprecated boolean isChecked();
-    method public deprecated boolean isEnabled();
-    method public deprecated boolean isFullScreen();
-    method public deprecated boolean isPassword();
-    method public deprecated boolean isScrollable();
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecordCompat obtain(android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecordCompat);
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecordCompat obtain();
-    method public deprecated void recycle();
-    method public deprecated void setAddedCount(int);
-    method public deprecated void setBeforeText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public deprecated void setChecked(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setClassName(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public deprecated void setContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public deprecated void setCurrentItemIndex(int);
-    method public deprecated void setEnabled(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setFromIndex(int);
-    method public deprecated void setFullScreen(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setItemCount(int);
-    method public deprecated void setMaxScrollX(int);
-    method public static void setMaxScrollX(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecord, int);
-    method public deprecated void setMaxScrollY(int);
-    method public static void setMaxScrollY(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecord, int);
-    method public deprecated void setParcelableData(android.os.Parcelable);
-    method public deprecated void setPassword(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setRemovedCount(int);
-    method public deprecated void setScrollX(int);
-    method public deprecated void setScrollY(int);
-    method public deprecated void setScrollable(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setSource(android.view.View);
-    method public deprecated void setSource(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setSource(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityRecord, android.view.View, int);
-    method public deprecated void setToIndex(int);
-  }
-
-  public class AccessibilityWindowInfoCompat {
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getAnchor();
-    method public void getBoundsInScreen(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityWindowInfoCompat getChild(int);
-    method public int getChildCount();
-    method public int getId();
-    method public int getLayer();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityWindowInfoCompat getParent();
-    method public android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat getRoot();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public int getType();
-    method public boolean isAccessibilityFocused();
-    method public boolean isActive();
-    method public boolean isFocused();
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityWindowInfoCompat obtain();
-    method public static android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityWindowInfoCompat obtain(android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityWindowInfoCompat);
-    method public void recycle();
-    field public static final int TYPE_ACCESSIBILITY_OVERLAY = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int TYPE_APPLICATION = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int TYPE_INPUT_METHOD = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int TYPE_SPLIT_SCREEN_DIVIDER = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int TYPE_SYSTEM = 3; // 0x3
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.view.animation {
-
-  public final class PathInterpolatorCompat {
-    method public static android.view.animation.Interpolator create(android.graphics.Path);
-    method public static android.view.animation.Interpolator create(float, float);
-    method public static android.view.animation.Interpolator create(float, float, float, float);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.widget {
-
-  public final class CompoundButtonCompat {
-    method public static android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getButtonDrawable(android.widget.CompoundButton);
-    method public static android.content.res.ColorStateList getButtonTintList(android.widget.CompoundButton);
-    method public static android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getButtonTintMode(android.widget.CompoundButton);
-    method public static void setButtonTintList(android.widget.CompoundButton, android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public static void setButtonTintMode(android.widget.CompoundButton, android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public final class EdgeEffectCompat {
-    ctor public deprecated EdgeEffectCompat(android.content.Context);
-    method public deprecated boolean draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public deprecated void finish();
-    method public deprecated boolean isFinished();
-    method public deprecated boolean onAbsorb(int);
-    method public deprecated boolean onPull(float);
-    method public deprecated boolean onPull(float, float);
-    method public static void onPull(android.widget.EdgeEffect, float, float);
-    method public deprecated boolean onRelease();
-    method public deprecated void setSize(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class ImageViewCompat {
-    method public static android.content.res.ColorStateList getImageTintList(android.widget.ImageView);
-    method public static android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getImageTintMode(android.widget.ImageView);
-    method public static void setImageTintList(android.widget.ImageView, android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public static void setImageTintMode(android.widget.ImageView, android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public final class ListPopupWindowCompat {
-    method public static deprecated android.view.View.OnTouchListener createDragToOpenListener(java.lang.Object, android.view.View);
-    method public static android.view.View.OnTouchListener createDragToOpenListener(android.widget.ListPopupWindow, android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public final class ListViewCompat {
-    method public static boolean canScrollList(android.widget.ListView, int);
-    method public static void scrollListBy(android.widget.ListView, int);
-  }
-
-  public final class PopupMenuCompat {
-    method public static android.view.View.OnTouchListener getDragToOpenListener(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public final class PopupWindowCompat {
-    method public static boolean getOverlapAnchor(android.widget.PopupWindow);
-    method public static int getWindowLayoutType(android.widget.PopupWindow);
-    method public static void setOverlapAnchor(android.widget.PopupWindow, boolean);
-    method public static void setWindowLayoutType(android.widget.PopupWindow, int);
-    method public static void showAsDropDown(android.widget.PopupWindow, android.view.View, int, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public final deprecated class ScrollerCompat {
-    method public deprecated void abortAnimation();
-    method public deprecated boolean computeScrollOffset();
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.widget.ScrollerCompat create(android.content.Context);
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.widget.ScrollerCompat create(android.content.Context, android.view.animation.Interpolator);
-    method public deprecated void fling(int, int, int, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public deprecated void fling(int, int, int, int, int, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public deprecated float getCurrVelocity();
-    method public deprecated int getCurrX();
-    method public deprecated int getCurrY();
-    method public deprecated int getFinalX();
-    method public deprecated int getFinalY();
-    method public deprecated boolean isFinished();
-    method public deprecated boolean isOverScrolled();
-    method public deprecated void notifyHorizontalEdgeReached(int, int, int);
-    method public deprecated void notifyVerticalEdgeReached(int, int, int);
-    method public deprecated boolean springBack(int, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public deprecated void startScroll(int, int, int, int);
-    method public deprecated void startScroll(int, int, int, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public final class TextViewCompat {
-    method public static int getAutoSizeMaxTextSize(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public static int getAutoSizeMinTextSize(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public static int getAutoSizeStepGranularity(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public static int[] getAutoSizeTextAvailableSizes(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public static int getAutoSizeTextType(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public static android.graphics.drawable.Drawable[] getCompoundDrawablesRelative(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public static int getMaxLines(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public static int getMinLines(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public static void setAutoSizeTextTypeUniformWithConfiguration(android.widget.TextView, int, int, int, int) throws java.lang.IllegalArgumentException;
-    method public static void setAutoSizeTextTypeUniformWithPresetSizes(android.widget.TextView, int[], int) throws java.lang.IllegalArgumentException;
-    method public static void setAutoSizeTextTypeWithDefaults(android.widget.TextView, int);
-    method public static void setCompoundDrawablesRelative(android.widget.TextView, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static void setCompoundDrawablesRelativeWithIntrinsicBounds(android.widget.TextView, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static void setCompoundDrawablesRelativeWithIntrinsicBounds(android.widget.TextView, int, int, int, int);
-    method public static void setCustomSelectionActionModeCallback(android.widget.TextView, android.view.ActionMode.Callback);
-    method public static void setTextAppearance(android.widget.TextView, int);
-    field public static final int AUTO_SIZE_TEXT_TYPE_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int AUTO_SIZE_TEXT_TYPE_UNIFORM = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface TintableCompoundButton {
-    method public abstract android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportButtonTintList();
-    method public abstract android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportButtonTintMode();
-    method public abstract void setSupportButtonTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public abstract void setSupportButtonTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/content/api/27.1.0.txt b/content/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index e0b4fa3..0000000
--- a/content/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.content {
-
-  public class ContentPager {
-    ctor public ContentPager(android.content.ContentResolver, android.support.content.ContentPager.QueryRunner);
-    ctor public ContentPager(android.content.ContentResolver, android.support.content.ContentPager.QueryRunner, int);
-    method public static android.os.Bundle createArgs(int, int);
-    method public android.support.content.Query query(android.net.Uri, java.lang.String[], android.os.Bundle, android.os.CancellationSignal, android.support.content.ContentPager.ContentCallback);
-    method public void reset();
-    field public static final int CURSOR_DISPOSITION_COPIED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int CURSOR_DISPOSITION_PAGED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CURSOR_DISPOSITION_REPAGED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int CURSOR_DISPOSITION_WRAPPED = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_HONORED_ARGS = "android.content.extra.HONORED_ARGS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_REQUESTED_LIMIT = "android-support:extra-ignored-limit";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SUGGESTED_LIMIT = "android-support:extra-suggested-limit";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TOTAL_COUNT = "android.content.extra.TOTAL_COUNT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String QUERY_ARG_LIMIT = "android:query-arg-limit";
-    field public static final java.lang.String QUERY_ARG_OFFSET = "android:query-arg-offset";
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ContentPager.ContentCallback {
-    method public abstract void onCursorReady(android.support.content.Query, android.database.Cursor);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ContentPager.CursorDisposition implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ContentPager.QueryRunner {
-    method public abstract void cancel(android.support.content.Query);
-    method public abstract boolean isRunning(android.support.content.Query);
-    method public abstract void query(android.support.content.Query, android.support.content.ContentPager.QueryRunner.Callback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ContentPager.QueryRunner.Callback {
-    method public abstract void onQueryFinished(android.support.content.Query, android.database.Cursor);
-    method public abstract android.database.Cursor runQueryInBackground(android.support.content.Query);
-  }
-
-  public final class LoaderQueryRunner implements android.support.content.ContentPager.QueryRunner {
-    ctor public LoaderQueryRunner(android.content.Context, android.app.LoaderManager);
-    method public void cancel(android.support.content.Query);
-    method public boolean isRunning(android.support.content.Query);
-    method public void query(android.support.content.Query, android.support.content.ContentPager.QueryRunner.Callback);
-  }
-
-  public final class Query {
-    method public int getId();
-    method public int getLimit();
-    method public int getOffset();
-    method public android.net.Uri getUri();
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/core-ui/api/27.1.0.txt b/core-ui/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 815d6e3..0000000
--- a/core-ui/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,750 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.design.widget {
-
-  public class CoordinatorLayout extends android.view.ViewGroup implements android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingParent2 {
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void dispatchDependentViewsChanged(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean doViewsOverlap(android.view.View, android.view.View);
-    method protected android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public java.util.List<android.view.View> getDependencies(android.view.View);
-    method public java.util.List<android.view.View> getDependents(android.view.View);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getStatusBarBackground();
-    method public boolean isPointInChildBounds(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public void onAttachedToWindow();
-    method public void onDetachedFromWindow();
-    method public void onDraw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public void onLayoutChild(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void onMeasureChild(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void onNestedPreScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public void onNestedScroll(android.view.View, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public void onStopNestedScroll(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setStatusBarBackground(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setStatusBarBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setStatusBarBackgroundResource(int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface CoordinatorLayout.AttachedBehavior {
-    method public abstract android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.Behavior getBehavior();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class CoordinatorLayout.Behavior<V extends android.view.View> {
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout.Behavior();
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout.Behavior(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public boolean blocksInteractionBelow(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V);
-    method public boolean getInsetDodgeRect(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public int getScrimColor(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V);
-    method public float getScrimOpacity(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V);
-    method public static java.lang.Object getTag(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean layoutDependsOn(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat onApplyWindowInsets(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.support.v4.view.WindowInsetsCompat);
-    method public void onAttachedToLayoutParams(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams);
-    method public boolean onDependentViewChanged(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View);
-    method public void onDependentViewRemoved(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View);
-    method public void onDetachedFromLayoutParams();
-    method public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public boolean onLayoutChild(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, int);
-    method public boolean onMeasureChild(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, int, int, int, int);
-    method public boolean onNestedFling(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, float, float, boolean);
-    method public boolean onNestedPreFling(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, float, float);
-    method public deprecated void onNestedPreScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, int, int, int[]);
-    method public void onNestedPreScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public deprecated void onNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void onNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public deprecated void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public boolean onRequestChildRectangleOnScreen(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.graphics.Rect, boolean);
-    method public void onRestoreInstanceState(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.os.Parcelable);
-    method public android.os.Parcelable onSaveInstanceState(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V);
-    method public deprecated boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public deprecated void onStopNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View);
-    method public void onStopNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, int);
-    method public boolean onTouchEvent(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public static void setTag(android.view.View, java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated class CoordinatorLayout.DefaultBehavior implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static class CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams extends android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams {
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getAnchorId();
-    method public android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.Behavior getBehavior();
-    method public void setAnchorId(int);
-    method public void setBehavior(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.Behavior);
-    field public int anchorGravity;
-    field public int dodgeInsetEdges;
-    field public int gravity;
-    field public int insetEdge;
-    field public int keyline;
-  }
-
-  protected static class CoordinatorLayout.SavedState extends android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState {
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout.SavedState(android.os.Parcel, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    ctor public CoordinatorLayout.SavedState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.SavedState> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.app {
-
-  public deprecated class ActionBarDrawerToggle implements android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout.DrawerListener {
-    ctor public ActionBarDrawerToggle(android.app.Activity, android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout, int, int, int);
-    ctor public ActionBarDrawerToggle(android.app.Activity, android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout, boolean, int, int, int);
-    method public boolean isDrawerIndicatorEnabled();
-    method public void onConfigurationChanged(android.content.res.Configuration);
-    method public void onDrawerClosed(android.view.View);
-    method public void onDrawerOpened(android.view.View);
-    method public void onDrawerSlide(android.view.View, float);
-    method public void onDrawerStateChanged(int);
-    method public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public void setDrawerIndicatorEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setHomeAsUpIndicator(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setHomeAsUpIndicator(int);
-    method public void syncState();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface ActionBarDrawerToggle.Delegate {
-    method public abstract android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getThemeUpIndicator();
-    method public abstract void setActionBarDescription(int);
-    method public abstract void setActionBarUpIndicator(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface ActionBarDrawerToggle.DelegateProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle.Delegate getDrawerToggleDelegate();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.view {
-
-  public abstract class AbsSavedState implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    ctor protected AbsSavedState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    ctor protected AbsSavedState(android.os.Parcel);
-    ctor protected AbsSavedState(android.os.Parcel, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public final android.os.Parcelable getSuperState();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState> CREATOR;
-    field public static final android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState EMPTY_STATE;
-  }
-
-  public final class AsyncLayoutInflater {
-    ctor public AsyncLayoutInflater(android.content.Context);
-    method public void inflate(int, android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.v4.view.AsyncLayoutInflater.OnInflateFinishedListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface AsyncLayoutInflater.OnInflateFinishedListener {
-    method public abstract void onInflateFinished(android.view.View, int, android.view.ViewGroup);
-  }
-
-  public class NestedScrollingChildHelper {
-    ctor public NestedScrollingChildHelper(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedFling(float, float, boolean);
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedPreFling(float, float);
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedPreScroll(int, int, int[], int[]);
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedPreScroll(int, int, int[], int[], int);
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedScroll(int, int, int, int, int[]);
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedScroll(int, int, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public boolean hasNestedScrollingParent();
-    method public boolean hasNestedScrollingParent(int);
-    method public boolean isNestedScrollingEnabled();
-    method public void onDetachedFromWindow();
-    method public void onStopNestedScroll(android.view.View);
-    method public void setNestedScrollingEnabled(boolean);
-    method public boolean startNestedScroll(int);
-    method public boolean startNestedScroll(int, int);
-    method public void stopNestedScroll();
-    method public void stopNestedScroll(int);
-  }
-
-  public class NestedScrollingParentHelper {
-    ctor public NestedScrollingParentHelper(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public int getNestedScrollAxes();
-    method public void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public void onNestedScrollAccepted(android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public void onStopNestedScroll(android.view.View);
-    method public void onStopNestedScroll(android.view.View, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PagerAdapter {
-    ctor public PagerAdapter();
-    method public void destroyItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated void destroyItem(android.view.View, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void finishUpdate(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public deprecated void finishUpdate(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract int getCount();
-    method public int getItemPosition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getPageTitle(int);
-    method public float getPageWidth(int);
-    method public java.lang.Object instantiateItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public deprecated java.lang.Object instantiateItem(android.view.View, int);
-    method public abstract boolean isViewFromObject(android.view.View, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void notifyDataSetChanged();
-    method public void registerDataSetObserver(android.database.DataSetObserver);
-    method public void restoreState(android.os.Parcelable, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    method public android.os.Parcelable saveState();
-    method public void setPrimaryItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated void setPrimaryItem(android.view.View, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void startUpdate(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public deprecated void startUpdate(android.view.View);
-    method public void unregisterDataSetObserver(android.database.DataSetObserver);
-    field public static final int POSITION_NONE = -2; // 0xfffffffe
-    field public static final int POSITION_UNCHANGED = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public class PagerTabStrip extends android.support.v4.view.PagerTitleStrip {
-    ctor public PagerTabStrip(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PagerTabStrip(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public boolean getDrawFullUnderline();
-    method public int getTabIndicatorColor();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setDrawFullUnderline(boolean);
-    method public void setTabIndicatorColor(int);
-    method public void setTabIndicatorColorResource(int);
-  }
-
-  public class PagerTitleStrip extends android.view.ViewGroup {
-    ctor public PagerTitleStrip(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PagerTitleStrip(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public int getTextSpacing();
-    method public void setGravity(int);
-    method public void setNonPrimaryAlpha(float);
-    method public void setTextColor(int);
-    method public void setTextSize(int, float);
-    method public void setTextSpacing(int);
-  }
-
-  public class ViewPager extends android.view.ViewGroup {
-    ctor public ViewPager(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public ViewPager(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void addOnAdapterChangeListener(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.OnAdapterChangeListener);
-    method public void addOnPageChangeListener(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener);
-    method public boolean arrowScroll(int);
-    method public boolean beginFakeDrag();
-    method protected boolean canScroll(android.view.View, boolean, int, int, int);
-    method public void clearOnPageChangeListeners();
-    method public void endFakeDrag();
-    method public boolean executeKeyEvent(android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public void fakeDragBy(float);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public int getCurrentItem();
-    method public int getOffscreenPageLimit();
-    method public int getPageMargin();
-    method public boolean isFakeDragging();
-    method protected void onPageScrolled(int, float, int);
-    method public void onRestoreInstanceState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    method public android.os.Parcelable onSaveInstanceState();
-    method public void removeOnAdapterChangeListener(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.OnAdapterChangeListener);
-    method public void removeOnPageChangeListener(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener);
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter);
-    method public void setCurrentItem(int);
-    method public void setCurrentItem(int, boolean);
-    method public void setOffscreenPageLimit(int);
-    method public deprecated void setOnPageChangeListener(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener);
-    method public void setPageMargin(int);
-    method public void setPageMarginDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setPageMarginDrawable(int);
-    method public void setPageTransformer(boolean, android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.PageTransformer);
-    method public void setPageTransformer(boolean, android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.PageTransformer, int);
-    field public static final int SCROLL_STATE_DRAGGING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SCROLL_STATE_IDLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SCROLL_STATE_SETTLING = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ViewPager.DecorView implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static class ViewPager.LayoutParams extends android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public ViewPager.LayoutParams();
-    ctor public ViewPager.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    field public int gravity;
-    field public boolean isDecor;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ViewPager.OnAdapterChangeListener {
-    method public abstract void onAdapterChanged(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager, android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter, android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener {
-    method public abstract void onPageScrollStateChanged(int);
-    method public abstract void onPageScrolled(int, float, int);
-    method public abstract void onPageSelected(int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ViewPager.PageTransformer {
-    method public abstract void transformPage(android.view.View, float);
-  }
-
-  public static class ViewPager.SavedState extends android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState {
-    ctor public ViewPager.SavedState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.SavedState> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public static class ViewPager.SimpleOnPageChangeListener implements android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener {
-    ctor public ViewPager.SimpleOnPageChangeListener();
-    method public void onPageScrollStateChanged(int);
-    method public void onPageScrolled(int, float, int);
-    method public void onPageSelected(int);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.view.animation {
-
-  public class FastOutLinearInInterpolator implements android.view.animation.Interpolator {
-    ctor public FastOutLinearInInterpolator();
-  }
-
-  public class FastOutSlowInInterpolator implements android.view.animation.Interpolator {
-    ctor public FastOutSlowInInterpolator();
-  }
-
-  public class LinearOutSlowInInterpolator implements android.view.animation.Interpolator {
-    ctor public LinearOutSlowInInterpolator();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.widget {
-
-  public abstract class AutoScrollHelper implements android.view.View.OnTouchListener {
-    ctor public AutoScrollHelper(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract boolean canTargetScrollHorizontally(int);
-    method public abstract boolean canTargetScrollVertically(int);
-    method public boolean isEnabled();
-    method public boolean isExclusive();
-    method public boolean onTouch(android.view.View, android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public abstract void scrollTargetBy(int, int);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setActivationDelay(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setEdgeType(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setEnabled(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setExclusive(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setMaximumEdges(float, float);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setMaximumVelocity(float, float);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setMinimumVelocity(float, float);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setRampDownDuration(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setRampUpDuration(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setRelativeEdges(float, float);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper setRelativeVelocity(float, float);
-    field public static final int EDGE_TYPE_INSIDE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int EDGE_TYPE_INSIDE_EXTEND = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int EDGE_TYPE_OUTSIDE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final float NO_MAX = 3.4028235E38f;
-    field public static final float NO_MIN = 0.0f;
-    field public static final float RELATIVE_UNSPECIFIED = 0.0f;
-  }
-
-  public class CircularProgressDrawable extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable implements android.graphics.drawable.Animatable {
-    ctor public CircularProgressDrawable(android.content.Context);
-    method public void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public boolean getArrowEnabled();
-    method public float getArrowHeight();
-    method public float getArrowScale();
-    method public float getArrowWidth();
-    method public int getBackgroundColor();
-    method public float getCenterRadius();
-    method public int[] getColorSchemeColors();
-    method public float getEndTrim();
-    method public int getOpacity();
-    method public float getProgressRotation();
-    method public float getStartTrim();
-    method public android.graphics.Paint.Cap getStrokeCap();
-    method public float getStrokeWidth();
-    method public boolean isRunning();
-    method public void setAlpha(int);
-    method public void setArrowDimensions(float, float);
-    method public void setArrowEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setArrowScale(float);
-    method public void setBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setCenterRadius(float);
-    method public void setColorFilter(android.graphics.ColorFilter);
-    method public void setColorSchemeColors(int...);
-    method public void setProgressRotation(float);
-    method public void setStartEndTrim(float, float);
-    method public void setStrokeCap(android.graphics.Paint.Cap);
-    method public void setStrokeWidth(float);
-    method public void setStyle(int);
-    method public void start();
-    method public void stop();
-    field public static final int DEFAULT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int LARGE = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public class ContentLoadingProgressBar extends android.widget.ProgressBar {
-    ctor public ContentLoadingProgressBar(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public ContentLoadingProgressBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public synchronized void hide();
-    method public void onAttachedToWindow();
-    method public void onDetachedFromWindow();
-    method public synchronized void show();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class CursorAdapter extends android.widget.BaseAdapter implements android.widget.Filterable {
-    ctor public deprecated CursorAdapter(android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor);
-    ctor public CursorAdapter(android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor, boolean);
-    ctor public CursorAdapter(android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor, int);
-    method public abstract void bindView(android.view.View, android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor);
-    method public void changeCursor(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence convertToString(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public int getCount();
-    method public android.database.Cursor getCursor();
-    method public android.widget.Filter getFilter();
-    method public android.widget.FilterQueryProvider getFilterQueryProvider();
-    method public java.lang.Object getItem(int);
-    method public long getItemId(int);
-    method public android.view.View getView(int, android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected deprecated void init(android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor, boolean);
-    method public android.view.View newDropDownView(android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public abstract android.view.View newView(android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected void onContentChanged();
-    method public android.database.Cursor runQueryOnBackgroundThread(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setFilterQueryProvider(android.widget.FilterQueryProvider);
-    method public android.database.Cursor swapCursor(android.database.Cursor);
-    field public static final deprecated int FLAG_AUTO_REQUERY = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int FLAG_REGISTER_CONTENT_OBSERVER = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public class DrawerLayout extends android.view.ViewGroup {
-    ctor public DrawerLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public DrawerLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public DrawerLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void addDrawerListener(android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout.DrawerListener);
-    method public void closeDrawer(android.view.View);
-    method public void closeDrawer(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public void closeDrawer(int);
-    method public void closeDrawer(int, boolean);
-    method public void closeDrawers();
-    method public float getDrawerElevation();
-    method public int getDrawerLockMode(int);
-    method public int getDrawerLockMode(android.view.View);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getDrawerTitle(int);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getStatusBarBackgroundDrawable();
-    method public boolean isDrawerOpen(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean isDrawerOpen(int);
-    method public boolean isDrawerVisible(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean isDrawerVisible(int);
-    method public void onDraw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public void openDrawer(android.view.View);
-    method public void openDrawer(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public void openDrawer(int);
-    method public void openDrawer(int, boolean);
-    method public void removeDrawerListener(android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout.DrawerListener);
-    method public void setDrawerElevation(float);
-    method public deprecated void setDrawerListener(android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout.DrawerListener);
-    method public void setDrawerLockMode(int);
-    method public void setDrawerLockMode(int, int);
-    method public void setDrawerLockMode(int, android.view.View);
-    method public void setDrawerShadow(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, int);
-    method public void setDrawerShadow(int, int);
-    method public void setDrawerTitle(int, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setScrimColor(int);
-    method public void setStatusBarBackground(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setStatusBarBackground(int);
-    method public void setStatusBarBackgroundColor(int);
-    field public static final int LOCK_MODE_LOCKED_CLOSED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int LOCK_MODE_LOCKED_OPEN = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int LOCK_MODE_UNDEFINED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int LOCK_MODE_UNLOCKED = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_DRAGGING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int STATE_IDLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_SETTLING = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface DrawerLayout.DrawerListener {
-    method public abstract void onDrawerClosed(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onDrawerOpened(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onDrawerSlide(android.view.View, float);
-    method public abstract void onDrawerStateChanged(int);
-  }
-
-  public static class DrawerLayout.LayoutParams extends android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams {
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.LayoutParams(int, int, int);
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.LayoutParams(android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    field public int gravity;
-  }
-
-  protected static class DrawerLayout.SavedState extends android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState {
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.SavedState(android.os.Parcel, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.SavedState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout.SavedState> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class DrawerLayout.SimpleDrawerListener implements android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout.DrawerListener {
-    ctor public DrawerLayout.SimpleDrawerListener();
-    method public void onDrawerClosed(android.view.View);
-    method public void onDrawerOpened(android.view.View);
-    method public void onDrawerSlide(android.view.View, float);
-    method public void onDrawerStateChanged(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class ExploreByTouchHelper extends android.support.v4.view.AccessibilityDelegateCompat {
-    ctor public ExploreByTouchHelper(android.view.View);
-    method public final boolean clearKeyboardFocusForVirtualView(int);
-    method public final boolean dispatchHoverEvent(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public final boolean dispatchKeyEvent(android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public final int getAccessibilityFocusedVirtualViewId();
-    method public deprecated int getFocusedVirtualView();
-    method public final int getKeyboardFocusedVirtualViewId();
-    method protected abstract int getVirtualViewAt(float, float);
-    method protected abstract void getVisibleVirtualViews(java.util.List<java.lang.Integer>);
-    method public final void invalidateRoot();
-    method public final void invalidateVirtualView(int);
-    method public final void invalidateVirtualView(int, int);
-    method public final void onFocusChanged(boolean, int, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method protected abstract boolean onPerformActionForVirtualView(int, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected void onPopulateEventForHost(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method protected void onPopulateEventForVirtualView(int, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method protected void onPopulateNodeForHost(android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat);
-    method protected abstract void onPopulateNodeForVirtualView(int, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat);
-    method protected void onVirtualViewKeyboardFocusChanged(int, boolean);
-    method public final boolean requestKeyboardFocusForVirtualView(int);
-    method public final boolean sendEventForVirtualView(int, int);
-    field public static final int HOST_ID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int INVALID_ID = -2147483648; // 0x80000000
-  }
-
-  public class ListViewAutoScrollHelper extends android.support.v4.widget.AutoScrollHelper {
-    ctor public ListViewAutoScrollHelper(android.widget.ListView);
-    method public boolean canTargetScrollHorizontally(int);
-    method public boolean canTargetScrollVertically(int);
-    method public void scrollTargetBy(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class NestedScrollView extends android.widget.FrameLayout implements android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingChild2 android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingParent android.support.v4.view.ScrollingView {
-    ctor public NestedScrollView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public NestedScrollView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public NestedScrollView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public boolean arrowScroll(int);
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollExtent();
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollOffset();
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollRange();
-    method protected int computeScrollDeltaToGetChildRectOnScreen(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollExtent();
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollOffset();
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollRange();
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedPreScroll(int, int, int[], int[], int);
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedScroll(int, int, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public boolean executeKeyEvent(android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public void fling(int);
-    method public boolean fullScroll(int);
-    method public int getMaxScrollAmount();
-    method public boolean hasNestedScrollingParent(int);
-    method public boolean isFillViewport();
-    method public boolean isSmoothScrollingEnabled();
-    method public void onAttachedToWindow();
-    method public boolean pageScroll(int);
-    method public void setFillViewport(boolean);
-    method public void setOnScrollChangeListener(android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView.OnScrollChangeListener);
-    method public void setSmoothScrollingEnabled(boolean);
-    method public final void smoothScrollBy(int, int);
-    method public final void smoothScrollTo(int, int);
-    method public boolean startNestedScroll(int, int);
-    method public void stopNestedScroll(int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface NestedScrollView.OnScrollChangeListener {
-    method public abstract void onScrollChange(android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView, int, int, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class ResourceCursorAdapter extends android.support.v4.widget.CursorAdapter {
-    ctor public deprecated ResourceCursorAdapter(android.content.Context, int, android.database.Cursor);
-    ctor public deprecated ResourceCursorAdapter(android.content.Context, int, android.database.Cursor, boolean);
-    ctor public ResourceCursorAdapter(android.content.Context, int, android.database.Cursor, int);
-    method public android.view.View newView(android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public void setDropDownViewResource(int);
-    method public void setViewResource(int);
-  }
-
-  public class SimpleCursorAdapter extends android.support.v4.widget.ResourceCursorAdapter {
-    ctor public deprecated SimpleCursorAdapter(android.content.Context, int, android.database.Cursor, java.lang.String[], int[]);
-    ctor public SimpleCursorAdapter(android.content.Context, int, android.database.Cursor, java.lang.String[], int[], int);
-    method public void bindView(android.view.View, android.content.Context, android.database.Cursor);
-    method public void changeCursorAndColumns(android.database.Cursor, java.lang.String[], int[]);
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.SimpleCursorAdapter.CursorToStringConverter getCursorToStringConverter();
-    method public int getStringConversionColumn();
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.SimpleCursorAdapter.ViewBinder getViewBinder();
-    method public void setCursorToStringConverter(android.support.v4.widget.SimpleCursorAdapter.CursorToStringConverter);
-    method public void setStringConversionColumn(int);
-    method public void setViewBinder(android.support.v4.widget.SimpleCursorAdapter.ViewBinder);
-    method public void setViewImage(android.widget.ImageView, java.lang.String);
-    method public void setViewText(android.widget.TextView, java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SimpleCursorAdapter.CursorToStringConverter {
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence convertToString(android.database.Cursor);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SimpleCursorAdapter.ViewBinder {
-    method public abstract boolean setViewValue(android.view.View, android.database.Cursor, int);
-  }
-
-  public class SlidingPaneLayout extends android.view.ViewGroup {
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method protected boolean canScroll(android.view.View, boolean, int, int, int);
-    method public deprecated boolean canSlide();
-    method public boolean closePane();
-    method public int getCoveredFadeColor();
-    method public int getParallaxDistance();
-    method public int getSliderFadeColor();
-    method public boolean isOpen();
-    method public boolean isSlideable();
-    method public boolean openPane();
-    method public void setCoveredFadeColor(int);
-    method public void setPanelSlideListener(android.support.v4.widget.SlidingPaneLayout.PanelSlideListener);
-    method public void setParallaxDistance(int);
-    method public deprecated void setShadowDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setShadowDrawableLeft(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setShadowDrawableRight(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public deprecated void setShadowResource(int);
-    method public void setShadowResourceLeft(int);
-    method public void setShadowResourceRight(int);
-    method public void setSliderFadeColor(int);
-    method public deprecated void smoothSlideClosed();
-    method public deprecated void smoothSlideOpen();
-  }
-
-  public static class SlidingPaneLayout.LayoutParams extends android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams {
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout.LayoutParams();
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout.LayoutParams(android.support.v4.widget.SlidingPaneLayout.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    field public float weight;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SlidingPaneLayout.PanelSlideListener {
-    method public abstract void onPanelClosed(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onPanelOpened(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onPanelSlide(android.view.View, float);
-  }
-
-  public static class SlidingPaneLayout.SimplePanelSlideListener implements android.support.v4.widget.SlidingPaneLayout.PanelSlideListener {
-    ctor public SlidingPaneLayout.SimplePanelSlideListener();
-    method public void onPanelClosed(android.view.View);
-    method public void onPanelOpened(android.view.View);
-    method public void onPanelSlide(android.view.View, float);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class Space extends android.view.View {
-    ctor public deprecated Space(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public deprecated Space(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public deprecated Space(android.content.Context);
-    method public deprecated void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method protected deprecated void onMeasure(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class SwipeRefreshLayout extends android.view.ViewGroup implements android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingChild android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingParent {
-    ctor public SwipeRefreshLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SwipeRefreshLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public boolean canChildScrollUp();
-    method public int getProgressCircleDiameter();
-    method public int getProgressViewEndOffset();
-    method public int getProgressViewStartOffset();
-    method public boolean isRefreshing();
-    method public void onMeasure(int, int);
-    method public deprecated void setColorScheme(int...);
-    method public void setColorSchemeColors(int...);
-    method public void setColorSchemeResources(int...);
-    method public void setDistanceToTriggerSync(int);
-    method public void setOnChildScrollUpCallback(android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout.OnChildScrollUpCallback);
-    method public void setOnRefreshListener(android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout.OnRefreshListener);
-    method public deprecated void setProgressBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setProgressBackgroundColorSchemeColor(int);
-    method public void setProgressBackgroundColorSchemeResource(int);
-    method public void setProgressViewEndTarget(boolean, int);
-    method public void setProgressViewOffset(boolean, int, int);
-    method public void setRefreshing(boolean);
-    method public void setSize(int);
-    field public static final int DEFAULT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int LARGE = 0; // 0x0
-    field protected int mFrom;
-    field protected int mOriginalOffsetTop;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SwipeRefreshLayout.OnChildScrollUpCallback {
-    method public abstract boolean canChildScrollUp(android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout, android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SwipeRefreshLayout.OnRefreshListener {
-    method public abstract void onRefresh();
-  }
-
-  public class ViewDragHelper {
-    method public void abort();
-    method protected boolean canScroll(android.view.View, boolean, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void cancel();
-    method public void captureChildView(android.view.View, int);
-    method public boolean checkTouchSlop(int);
-    method public boolean checkTouchSlop(int, int);
-    method public boolean continueSettling(boolean);
-    method public static android.support.v4.widget.ViewDragHelper create(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.v4.widget.ViewDragHelper.Callback);
-    method public static android.support.v4.widget.ViewDragHelper create(android.view.ViewGroup, float, android.support.v4.widget.ViewDragHelper.Callback);
-    method public android.view.View findTopChildUnder(int, int);
-    method public void flingCapturedView(int, int, int, int);
-    method public int getActivePointerId();
-    method public android.view.View getCapturedView();
-    method public int getEdgeSize();
-    method public float getMinVelocity();
-    method public int getTouchSlop();
-    method public int getViewDragState();
-    method public boolean isCapturedViewUnder(int, int);
-    method public boolean isEdgeTouched(int);
-    method public boolean isEdgeTouched(int, int);
-    method public boolean isPointerDown(int);
-    method public boolean isViewUnder(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public void processTouchEvent(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public void setEdgeTrackingEnabled(int);
-    method public void setMinVelocity(float);
-    method public boolean settleCapturedViewAt(int, int);
-    method public boolean shouldInterceptTouchEvent(android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public boolean smoothSlideViewTo(android.view.View, int, int);
-    field public static final int DIRECTION_ALL = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int DIRECTION_HORIZONTAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int DIRECTION_VERTICAL = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int EDGE_ALL = 15; // 0xf
-    field public static final int EDGE_BOTTOM = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int EDGE_LEFT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int EDGE_RIGHT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int EDGE_TOP = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int INVALID_POINTER = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int STATE_DRAGGING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int STATE_IDLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_SETTLING = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ViewDragHelper.Callback {
-    ctor public ViewDragHelper.Callback();
-    method public int clampViewPositionHorizontal(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public int clampViewPositionVertical(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public int getOrderedChildIndex(int);
-    method public int getViewHorizontalDragRange(android.view.View);
-    method public int getViewVerticalDragRange(android.view.View);
-    method public void onEdgeDragStarted(int, int);
-    method public boolean onEdgeLock(int);
-    method public void onEdgeTouched(int, int);
-    method public void onViewCaptured(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void onViewDragStateChanged(int);
-    method public void onViewPositionChanged(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void onViewReleased(android.view.View, float, float);
-    method public abstract boolean tryCaptureView(android.view.View, int);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/core-utils/api/27.1.0.txt b/core-utils/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index d535653..0000000
--- a/core-utils/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,321 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v4.app {
-
-  public class AppLaunchChecker {
-    ctor public AppLaunchChecker();
-    method public static boolean hasStartedFromLauncher(android.content.Context);
-    method public static void onActivityCreate(android.app.Activity);
-  }
-
-  public class FrameMetricsAggregator {
-    ctor public FrameMetricsAggregator();
-    ctor public FrameMetricsAggregator(int);
-    method public void add(android.app.Activity);
-    method public android.util.SparseIntArray[] getMetrics();
-    method public android.util.SparseIntArray[] remove(android.app.Activity);
-    method public android.util.SparseIntArray[] reset();
-    method public android.util.SparseIntArray[] stop();
-    field public static final int ANIMATION_DURATION = 256; // 0x100
-    field public static final int ANIMATION_INDEX = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int COMMAND_DURATION = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int COMMAND_INDEX = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int DELAY_DURATION = 128; // 0x80
-    field public static final int DELAY_INDEX = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int DRAW_DURATION = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int DRAW_INDEX = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int EVERY_DURATION = 511; // 0x1ff
-    field public static final int INPUT_DURATION = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int INPUT_INDEX = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int LAYOUT_MEASURE_DURATION = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int LAYOUT_MEASURE_INDEX = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SWAP_DURATION = 64; // 0x40
-    field public static final int SWAP_INDEX = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int SYNC_DURATION = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int SYNC_INDEX = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int TOTAL_DURATION = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int TOTAL_INDEX = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public final class NavUtils {
-    method public static android.content.Intent getParentActivityIntent(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static android.content.Intent getParentActivityIntent(android.content.Context, java.lang.Class<?>) throws android.content.pm.PackageManager.NameNotFoundException;
-    method public static android.content.Intent getParentActivityIntent(android.content.Context, android.content.ComponentName) throws android.content.pm.PackageManager.NameNotFoundException;
-    method public static java.lang.String getParentActivityName(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static java.lang.String getParentActivityName(android.content.Context, android.content.ComponentName) throws android.content.pm.PackageManager.NameNotFoundException;
-    method public static void navigateUpFromSameTask(android.app.Activity);
-    method public static void navigateUpTo(android.app.Activity, android.content.Intent);
-    method public static boolean shouldUpRecreateTask(android.app.Activity, android.content.Intent);
-    field public static final java.lang.String PARENT_ACTIVITY = "android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY";
-  }
-
-  public final class TaskStackBuilder implements java.lang.Iterable {
-    method public android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder addNextIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder addNextIntentWithParentStack(android.content.Intent);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder addParentStack(android.app.Activity);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder addParentStack(java.lang.Class<?>);
-    method public android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder addParentStack(android.content.ComponentName);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder create(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.content.Intent editIntentAt(int);
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder from(android.content.Context);
-    method public deprecated android.content.Intent getIntent(int);
-    method public int getIntentCount();
-    method public android.content.Intent[] getIntents();
-    method public android.app.PendingIntent getPendingIntent(int, int);
-    method public android.app.PendingIntent getPendingIntent(int, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public deprecated java.util.Iterator<android.content.Intent> iterator();
-    method public void startActivities();
-    method public void startActivities(android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface TaskStackBuilder.SupportParentable {
-    method public abstract android.content.Intent getSupportParentActivityIntent();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.content {
-
-  public abstract class AsyncTaskLoader<D> extends android.support.v4.content.Loader {
-    ctor public AsyncTaskLoader(android.content.Context);
-    method public void cancelLoadInBackground();
-    method public boolean isLoadInBackgroundCanceled();
-    method public abstract D loadInBackground();
-    method public void onCanceled(D);
-    method protected D onLoadInBackground();
-    method public void setUpdateThrottle(long);
-  }
-
-  public class CursorLoader extends android.support.v4.content.AsyncTaskLoader {
-    ctor public CursorLoader(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public CursorLoader(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri, java.lang.String[], java.lang.String, java.lang.String[], java.lang.String);
-    method public void deliverResult(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public java.lang.String[] getProjection();
-    method public java.lang.String getSelection();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getSelectionArgs();
-    method public java.lang.String getSortOrder();
-    method public android.net.Uri getUri();
-    method public android.database.Cursor loadInBackground();
-    method public void onCanceled(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public void setProjection(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public void setSelection(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setSelectionArgs(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public void setSortOrder(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setUri(android.net.Uri);
-  }
-
-  public class FileProvider extends android.content.ContentProvider {
-    ctor public FileProvider();
-    method public int delete(android.net.Uri, java.lang.String, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public java.lang.String getType(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static android.net.Uri getUriForFile(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, java.io.File);
-    method public android.net.Uri insert(android.net.Uri, android.content.ContentValues);
-    method public boolean onCreate();
-    method public android.database.Cursor query(android.net.Uri, java.lang.String[], java.lang.String, java.lang.String[], java.lang.String);
-    method public int update(android.net.Uri, android.content.ContentValues, java.lang.String, java.lang.String[]);
-  }
-
-  public class Loader<D> {
-    ctor public Loader(android.content.Context);
-    method public void abandon();
-    method public boolean cancelLoad();
-    method public void commitContentChanged();
-    method public java.lang.String dataToString(D);
-    method public void deliverCancellation();
-    method public void deliverResult(D);
-    method public void dump(java.lang.String, java.io.FileDescriptor, java.io.PrintWriter, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public void forceLoad();
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public int getId();
-    method public boolean isAbandoned();
-    method public boolean isReset();
-    method public boolean isStarted();
-    method protected void onAbandon();
-    method protected boolean onCancelLoad();
-    method public void onContentChanged();
-    method protected void onForceLoad();
-    method protected void onReset();
-    method protected void onStartLoading();
-    method protected void onStopLoading();
-    method public void registerListener(int, android.support.v4.content.Loader.OnLoadCompleteListener<D>);
-    method public void registerOnLoadCanceledListener(android.support.v4.content.Loader.OnLoadCanceledListener<D>);
-    method public void reset();
-    method public void rollbackContentChanged();
-    method public final void startLoading();
-    method public void stopLoading();
-    method public boolean takeContentChanged();
-    method public void unregisterListener(android.support.v4.content.Loader.OnLoadCompleteListener<D>);
-    method public void unregisterOnLoadCanceledListener(android.support.v4.content.Loader.OnLoadCanceledListener<D>);
-  }
-
-  public final class Loader.ForceLoadContentObserver extends android.database.ContentObserver {
-    ctor public Loader.ForceLoadContentObserver();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Loader.OnLoadCanceledListener<D> {
-    method public abstract void onLoadCanceled(android.support.v4.content.Loader<D>);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Loader.OnLoadCompleteListener<D> {
-    method public abstract void onLoadComplete(android.support.v4.content.Loader<D>, D);
-  }
-
-  public final class LocalBroadcastManager {
-    method public static android.support.v4.content.LocalBroadcastManager getInstance(android.content.Context);
-    method public void registerReceiver(android.content.BroadcastReceiver, android.content.IntentFilter);
-    method public boolean sendBroadcast(android.content.Intent);
-    method public void sendBroadcastSync(android.content.Intent);
-    method public void unregisterReceiver(android.content.BroadcastReceiver);
-  }
-
-  public final class MimeTypeFilter {
-    method public static boolean matches(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public static java.lang.String matches(java.lang.String, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public static java.lang.String matches(java.lang.String[], java.lang.String);
-    method public static java.lang.String[] matchesMany(java.lang.String[], java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public final class PermissionChecker {
-    method public static int checkCallingOrSelfPermission(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    method public static int checkCallingPermission(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public static int checkPermission(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, int, int, java.lang.String);
-    method public static int checkSelfPermission(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    field public static final int PERMISSION_DENIED = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int PERMISSION_DENIED_APP_OP = -2; // 0xfffffffe
-    field public static final int PERMISSION_GRANTED = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated class WakefulBroadcastReceiver extends android.content.BroadcastReceiver {
-    ctor public WakefulBroadcastReceiver();
-    method public static boolean completeWakefulIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public static android.content.ComponentName startWakefulService(android.content.Context, android.content.Intent);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.graphics {
-
-  public final class ColorUtils {
-    method public static int HSLToColor(float[]);
-    method public static int LABToColor(double, double, double);
-    method public static void LABToXYZ(double, double, double, double[]);
-    method public static void RGBToHSL(int, int, int, float[]);
-    method public static void RGBToLAB(int, int, int, double[]);
-    method public static void RGBToXYZ(int, int, int, double[]);
-    method public static int XYZToColor(double, double, double);
-    method public static void XYZToLAB(double, double, double, double[]);
-    method public static int blendARGB(int, int, float);
-    method public static void blendHSL(float[], float[], float, float[]);
-    method public static void blendLAB(double[], double[], double, double[]);
-    method public static double calculateContrast(int, int);
-    method public static double calculateLuminance(int);
-    method public static int calculateMinimumAlpha(int, int, float);
-    method public static void colorToHSL(int, float[]);
-    method public static void colorToLAB(int, double[]);
-    method public static void colorToXYZ(int, double[]);
-    method public static int compositeColors(int, int);
-    method public static double distanceEuclidean(double[], double[]);
-    method public static int setAlphaComponent(int, int);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.graphics.drawable {
-
-  public abstract class RoundedBitmapDrawable extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable {
-    method public void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public final android.graphics.Bitmap getBitmap();
-    method public float getCornerRadius();
-    method public int getGravity();
-    method public int getOpacity();
-    method public final android.graphics.Paint getPaint();
-    method public boolean hasAntiAlias();
-    method public boolean hasMipMap();
-    method public boolean isCircular();
-    method public void setAlpha(int);
-    method public void setAntiAlias(boolean);
-    method public void setCircular(boolean);
-    method public void setColorFilter(android.graphics.ColorFilter);
-    method public void setCornerRadius(float);
-    method public void setDither(boolean);
-    method public void setGravity(int);
-    method public void setMipMap(boolean);
-    method public void setTargetDensity(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public void setTargetDensity(android.util.DisplayMetrics);
-    method public void setTargetDensity(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class RoundedBitmapDrawableFactory {
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.RoundedBitmapDrawable create(android.content.res.Resources, android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.RoundedBitmapDrawable create(android.content.res.Resources, java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.RoundedBitmapDrawable create(android.content.res.Resources, java.io.InputStream);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.math {
-
-  public class MathUtils {
-    method public static float clamp(float, float, float);
-    method public static double clamp(double, double, double);
-    method public static int clamp(int, int, int);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.print {
-
-  public final class PrintHelper {
-    ctor public PrintHelper(android.content.Context);
-    method public int getColorMode();
-    method public int getOrientation();
-    method public int getScaleMode();
-    method public void printBitmap(java.lang.String, android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public void printBitmap(java.lang.String, android.graphics.Bitmap, android.support.v4.print.PrintHelper.OnPrintFinishCallback);
-    method public void printBitmap(java.lang.String, android.net.Uri) throws java.io.FileNotFoundException;
-    method public void printBitmap(java.lang.String, android.net.Uri, android.support.v4.print.PrintHelper.OnPrintFinishCallback) throws java.io.FileNotFoundException;
-    method public void setColorMode(int);
-    method public void setOrientation(int);
-    method public void setScaleMode(int);
-    method public static boolean systemSupportsPrint();
-    field public static final int COLOR_MODE_COLOR = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int COLOR_MODE_MONOCHROME = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SCALE_MODE_FILL = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SCALE_MODE_FIT = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PrintHelper.OnPrintFinishCallback {
-    method public abstract void onFinish();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.provider {
-
-  public abstract class DocumentFile {
-    method public abstract boolean canRead();
-    method public abstract boolean canWrite();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile createDirectory(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile createFile(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract boolean delete();
-    method public abstract boolean exists();
-    method public android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile findFile(java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile fromFile(java.io.File);
-    method public static android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile fromSingleUri(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri);
-    method public static android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile fromTreeUri(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri);
-    method public abstract java.lang.String getName();
-    method public android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile getParentFile();
-    method public abstract java.lang.String getType();
-    method public abstract android.net.Uri getUri();
-    method public abstract boolean isDirectory();
-    method public static boolean isDocumentUri(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri);
-    method public abstract boolean isFile();
-    method public abstract boolean isVirtual();
-    method public abstract long lastModified();
-    method public abstract long length();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.provider.DocumentFile[] listFiles();
-    method public abstract boolean renameTo(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/customtabs/api/27.1.0.txt b/customtabs/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index e172dba..0000000
--- a/customtabs/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,208 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.customtabs {
-
-  public class CustomTabsCallback {
-    ctor public CustomTabsCallback();
-    method public void extraCallback(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onMessageChannelReady(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onNavigationEvent(int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onPostMessage(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onRelationshipValidationResult(int, android.net.Uri, boolean, android.os.Bundle);
-    field public static final int NAVIGATION_ABORTED = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int NAVIGATION_FAILED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int NAVIGATION_FINISHED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int NAVIGATION_STARTED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int TAB_HIDDEN = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int TAB_SHOWN = 5; // 0x5
-  }
-
-  public class CustomTabsClient {
-    method public static boolean bindCustomTabsService(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsServiceConnection);
-    method public static boolean connectAndInitialize(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.os.Bundle extraCommand(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public static java.lang.String getPackageName(android.content.Context, java.util.List<java.lang.String>);
-    method public static java.lang.String getPackageName(android.content.Context, java.util.List<java.lang.String>, boolean);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSession newSession(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsCallback);
-    method public boolean warmup(long);
-  }
-
-  public final class CustomTabsIntent {
-    method public static int getMaxToolbarItems();
-    method public void launchUrl(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri);
-    method public static android.content.Intent setAlwaysUseBrowserUI(android.content.Intent);
-    method public static boolean shouldAlwaysUseBrowserUI(android.content.Intent);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ACTION_BUTTON_BUNDLE = "android.support.customtabs.extra.ACTION_BUTTON_BUNDLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_CLOSE_BUTTON_ICON = "android.support.customtabs.extra.CLOSE_BUTTON_ICON";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_DEFAULT_SHARE_MENU_ITEM = "android.support.customtabs.extra.SHARE_MENU_ITEM";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ENABLE_INSTANT_APPS = "android.support.customtabs.extra.EXTRA_ENABLE_INSTANT_APPS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ENABLE_URLBAR_HIDING = "android.support.customtabs.extra.ENABLE_URLBAR_HIDING";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_EXIT_ANIMATION_BUNDLE = "android.support.customtabs.extra.EXIT_ANIMATION_BUNDLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_MENU_ITEMS = "android.support.customtabs.extra.MENU_ITEMS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_REMOTEVIEWS = "android.support.customtabs.extra.EXTRA_REMOTEVIEWS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_REMOTEVIEWS_CLICKED_ID = "android.support.customtabs.extra.EXTRA_REMOTEVIEWS_CLICKED_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_REMOTEVIEWS_PENDINGINTENT = "android.support.customtabs.extra.EXTRA_REMOTEVIEWS_PENDINGINTENT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_REMOTEVIEWS_VIEW_IDS = "android.support.customtabs.extra.EXTRA_REMOTEVIEWS_VIEW_IDS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SECONDARY_TOOLBAR_COLOR = "android.support.customtabs.extra.SECONDARY_TOOLBAR_COLOR";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SESSION = "android.support.customtabs.extra.SESSION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TINT_ACTION_BUTTON = "android.support.customtabs.extra.TINT_ACTION_BUTTON";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TITLE_VISIBILITY_STATE = "android.support.customtabs.extra.TITLE_VISIBILITY";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TOOLBAR_COLOR = "android.support.customtabs.extra.TOOLBAR_COLOR";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TOOLBAR_ITEMS = "android.support.customtabs.extra.TOOLBAR_ITEMS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_DESCRIPTION = "android.support.customtabs.customaction.DESCRIPTION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_ICON = "android.support.customtabs.customaction.ICON";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_ID = "android.support.customtabs.customaction.ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_MENU_ITEM_TITLE = "android.support.customtabs.customaction.MENU_ITEM_TITLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_PENDING_INTENT = "android.support.customtabs.customaction.PENDING_INTENT";
-    field public static final int NO_TITLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SHOW_PAGE_TITLE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int TOOLBAR_ACTION_BUTTON_ID = 0; // 0x0
-    field public final android.content.Intent intent;
-    field public final android.os.Bundle startAnimationBundle;
-  }
-
-  public static final class CustomTabsIntent.Builder {
-    ctor public CustomTabsIntent.Builder();
-    ctor public CustomTabsIntent.Builder(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSession);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder addDefaultShareMenuItem();
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder addMenuItem(java.lang.String, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public deprecated android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder addToolbarItem(int, android.graphics.Bitmap, java.lang.String, android.app.PendingIntent) throws java.lang.IllegalStateException;
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent build();
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder enableUrlBarHiding();
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setActionButton(android.graphics.Bitmap, java.lang.String, android.app.PendingIntent, boolean);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setActionButton(android.graphics.Bitmap, java.lang.String, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setCloseButtonIcon(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setExitAnimations(android.content.Context, int, int);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setInstantAppsEnabled(boolean);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setSecondaryToolbarColor(int);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setSecondaryToolbarViews(android.widget.RemoteViews, int[], android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setShowTitle(boolean);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setStartAnimations(android.content.Context, int, int);
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent.Builder setToolbarColor(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class CustomTabsService extends android.app.Service {
-    ctor public CustomTabsService();
-    method protected boolean cleanUpSession(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken);
-    method protected abstract android.os.Bundle extraCommand(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected abstract boolean mayLaunchUrl(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken, android.net.Uri, android.os.Bundle, java.util.List<android.os.Bundle>);
-    method protected abstract boolean newSession(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken);
-    method public android.os.IBinder onBind(android.content.Intent);
-    method protected abstract int postMessage(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken, java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected abstract boolean requestPostMessageChannel(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken, android.net.Uri);
-    method protected abstract boolean updateVisuals(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken, android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected abstract boolean validateRelationship(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken, int, android.net.Uri, android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected abstract boolean warmup(long);
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_CUSTOM_TABS_CONNECTION = "android.support.customtabs.action.CustomTabsService";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_URL = "android.support.customtabs.otherurls.URL";
-    field public static final int RELATION_HANDLE_ALL_URLS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int RELATION_USE_AS_ORIGIN = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int RESULT_FAILURE_DISALLOWED = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int RESULT_FAILURE_MESSAGING_ERROR = -3; // 0xfffffffd
-    field public static final int RESULT_FAILURE_REMOTE_ERROR = -2; // 0xfffffffe
-    field public static final int RESULT_SUCCESS = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class CustomTabsService.Relation implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class CustomTabsService.Result implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public abstract class CustomTabsServiceConnection implements android.content.ServiceConnection {
-    ctor public CustomTabsServiceConnection();
-    method public abstract void onCustomTabsServiceConnected(android.content.ComponentName, android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsClient);
-    method public final void onServiceConnected(android.content.ComponentName, android.os.IBinder);
-  }
-
-  public final class CustomTabsSession {
-    method public static android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSession createMockSessionForTesting(android.content.ComponentName);
-    method public boolean mayLaunchUrl(android.net.Uri, android.os.Bundle, java.util.List<android.os.Bundle>);
-    method public int postMessage(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public boolean requestPostMessageChannel(android.net.Uri);
-    method public boolean setActionButton(android.graphics.Bitmap, java.lang.String);
-    method public boolean setSecondaryToolbarViews(android.widget.RemoteViews, int[], android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public deprecated boolean setToolbarItem(int, android.graphics.Bitmap, java.lang.String);
-    method public boolean validateRelationship(int, android.net.Uri, android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public class CustomTabsSessionToken {
-    method public static android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken createMockSessionTokenForTesting();
-    method public android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsCallback getCallback();
-    method public static android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken getSessionTokenFromIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public boolean isAssociatedWith(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSession);
-  }
-
-  public class PostMessageService extends android.app.Service {
-    ctor public PostMessageService();
-    method public android.os.IBinder onBind(android.content.Intent);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PostMessageServiceConnection implements android.content.ServiceConnection {
-    ctor public PostMessageServiceConnection(android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsSessionToken);
-    method public boolean bindSessionToPostMessageService(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    method public final boolean notifyMessageChannelReady(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onPostMessageServiceConnected();
-    method public void onPostMessageServiceDisconnected();
-    method public final void onServiceConnected(android.content.ComponentName, android.os.IBinder);
-    method public final void onServiceDisconnected(android.content.ComponentName);
-    method public final boolean postMessage(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void unbindFromContext(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public class TrustedWebUtils {
-    method public static void launchAsTrustedWebActivity(android.content.Context, android.support.customtabs.CustomTabsIntent, android.net.Uri);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_LAUNCH_AS_TRUSTED_WEB_ACTIVITY = "android.support.customtabs.extra.LAUNCH_AS_TRUSTED_WEB_ACTIVITY";
-  }
-
-}
-
-package androidx.browser.browseractions {
-
-  public class BrowserActionItem {
-    ctor public BrowserActionItem(java.lang.String, android.app.PendingIntent, int);
-    ctor public BrowserActionItem(java.lang.String, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.app.PendingIntent getAction();
-    method public int getIconId();
-    method public java.lang.String getTitle();
-  }
-
-  public class BrowserActionsIntent {
-    method public static java.lang.String getCreatorPackageName(android.content.Intent);
-    method public android.content.Intent getIntent();
-    method public static void launchIntent(android.content.Context, android.content.Intent);
-    method public static void openBrowserAction(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri);
-    method public static void openBrowserAction(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri, int, java.util.ArrayList<androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionItem>, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public static java.util.List<androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionItem> parseBrowserActionItems(java.util.ArrayList<android.os.Bundle>);
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_BROWSER_ACTIONS_OPEN = "androidx.browser.browseractions.browser_action_open";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_APP_ID = "androidx.browser.browseractions.APP_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_MENU_ITEMS = "androidx.browser.browseractions.extra.MENU_ITEMS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SELECTED_ACTION_PENDING_INTENT = "androidx.browser.browseractions.extra.SELECTED_ACTION_PENDING_INTENT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_TYPE = "androidx.browser.browseractions.extra.TYPE";
-    field public static final int ITEM_COPY = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int ITEM_DOWNLOAD = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ITEM_INVALID_ITEM = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int ITEM_OPEN_IN_INCOGNITO = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ITEM_OPEN_IN_NEW_TAB = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ITEM_SHARE = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_ACTION = "androidx.browser.browseractions.ACTION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_ICON_ID = "androidx.browser.browseractions.ICON_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_TITLE = "androidx.browser.browseractions.TITLE";
-    field public static final int MAX_CUSTOM_ITEMS = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int URL_TYPE_AUDIO = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int URL_TYPE_FILE = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int URL_TYPE_IMAGE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int URL_TYPE_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int URL_TYPE_PLUGIN = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int URL_TYPE_VIDEO = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static final class BrowserActionsIntent.Builder {
-    ctor public BrowserActionsIntent.Builder(android.content.Context, android.net.Uri);
-    method public androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionsIntent build();
-    method public androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionsIntent.Builder setCustomItems(java.util.ArrayList<androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionItem>);
-    method public androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionsIntent.Builder setCustomItems(androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionItem...);
-    method public androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionsIntent.Builder setOnItemSelectedAction(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public androidx.browser.browseractions.BrowserActionsIntent.Builder setUrlType(int);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/design/api/27.1.0.txt b/design/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 71de20a..0000000
--- a/design/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,499 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.design.widget {
-
-  public class AppBarLayout extends android.widget.LinearLayout {
-    ctor public AppBarLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppBarLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void addOnOffsetChangedListener(android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.OnOffsetChangedListener);
-    method protected android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public deprecated float getTargetElevation();
-    method public final int getTotalScrollRange();
-    method public void removeOnOffsetChangedListener(android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.OnOffsetChangedListener);
-    method public void setExpanded(boolean);
-    method public void setExpanded(boolean, boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setTargetElevation(float);
-  }
-
-  public static class AppBarLayout.Behavior extends android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.Behavior {
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.Behavior();
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.Behavior(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public boolean onLayoutChild(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout, int);
-    method public boolean onMeasureChild(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void onNestedPreScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout, android.view.View, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public void onNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout, android.view.View, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void onRestoreInstanceState(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout, android.os.Parcelable);
-    method public android.os.Parcelable onSaveInstanceState(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout);
-    method public boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout, android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public void onStopNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout, android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setDragCallback(android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.Behavior.DragCallback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class AppBarLayout.Behavior.DragCallback {
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.Behavior.DragCallback();
-    method public abstract boolean canDrag(android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout);
-  }
-
-  protected static class AppBarLayout.Behavior.SavedState extends android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState {
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.Behavior.SavedState(android.os.Parcel, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.Behavior.SavedState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.Behavior.SavedState> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public static class AppBarLayout.LayoutParams extends android.widget.LinearLayout.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.LayoutParams(int, int, float);
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.LayoutParams(android.widget.LinearLayout.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.LayoutParams(android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getScrollFlags();
-    method public android.view.animation.Interpolator getScrollInterpolator();
-    method public void setScrollFlags(int);
-    method public void setScrollInterpolator(android.view.animation.Interpolator);
-    field public static final int SCROLL_FLAG_ENTER_ALWAYS = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int SCROLL_FLAG_ENTER_ALWAYS_COLLAPSED = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int SCROLL_FLAG_EXIT_UNTIL_COLLAPSED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SCROLL_FLAG_SCROLL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SCROLL_FLAG_SNAP = 16; // 0x10
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface AppBarLayout.OnOffsetChangedListener {
-    method public abstract void onOffsetChanged(android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout, int);
-  }
-
-  public static class AppBarLayout.ScrollingViewBehavior extends android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.Behavior {
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.ScrollingViewBehavior();
-    ctor public AppBarLayout.ScrollingViewBehavior(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public boolean layoutDependsOn(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.view.View, android.view.View);
-    method public boolean onDependentViewChanged(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.view.View, android.view.View);
-    method public boolean onRequestChildRectangleOnScreen(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.view.View, android.graphics.Rect, boolean);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class BaseTransientBottomBar<B extends android.support.design.widget.BaseTransientBottomBar<B>> {
-    ctor protected BaseTransientBottomBar(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View, android.support.design.widget.BaseTransientBottomBar.ContentViewCallback);
-    method public B addCallback(android.support.design.widget.BaseTransientBottomBar.BaseCallback<B>);
-    method public void dismiss();
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public int getDuration();
-    method public android.view.View getView();
-    method public boolean isShown();
-    method public boolean isShownOrQueued();
-    method public B removeCallback(android.support.design.widget.BaseTransientBottomBar.BaseCallback<B>);
-    method public B setDuration(int);
-    method public void show();
-    field public static final int LENGTH_INDEFINITE = -2; // 0xfffffffe
-    field public static final int LENGTH_LONG = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int LENGTH_SHORT = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class BaseTransientBottomBar.BaseCallback<B> {
-    ctor public BaseTransientBottomBar.BaseCallback();
-    method public void onDismissed(B, int);
-    method public void onShown(B);
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_ACTION = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_CONSECUTIVE = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_MANUAL = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_SWIPE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_TIMEOUT = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BaseTransientBottomBar.ContentViewCallback {
-    method public abstract void animateContentIn(int, int);
-    method public abstract void animateContentOut(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class BottomNavigationView extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public BottomNavigationView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public BottomNavigationView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public BottomNavigationView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public int getItemBackgroundResource();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getItemIconTintList();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getItemTextColor();
-    method public int getMaxItemCount();
-    method public android.view.Menu getMenu();
-    method public int getSelectedItemId();
-    method public void inflateMenu(int);
-    method public void setItemBackgroundResource(int);
-    method public void setItemIconTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setItemTextColor(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setOnNavigationItemReselectedListener(android.support.design.widget.BottomNavigationView.OnNavigationItemReselectedListener);
-    method public void setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener(android.support.design.widget.BottomNavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedItemId(int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BottomNavigationView.OnNavigationItemReselectedListener {
-    method public abstract void onNavigationItemReselected(android.view.MenuItem);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BottomNavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onNavigationItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem);
-  }
-
-  public class BottomSheetBehavior<V extends android.view.View> extends android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.Behavior {
-    ctor public BottomSheetBehavior();
-    ctor public BottomSheetBehavior(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public static <V extends android.view.View> android.support.design.widget.BottomSheetBehavior<V> from(V);
-    method public final int getPeekHeight();
-    method public boolean getSkipCollapsed();
-    method public final int getState();
-    method public boolean isHideable();
-    method public void onNestedPreScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, int, int, int[]);
-    method public boolean onStartNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View, android.view.View, int);
-    method public void onStopNestedScroll(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, V, android.view.View);
-    method public void setBottomSheetCallback(android.support.design.widget.BottomSheetBehavior.BottomSheetCallback);
-    method public void setHideable(boolean);
-    method public final void setPeekHeight(int);
-    method public void setSkipCollapsed(boolean);
-    method public final void setState(int);
-    field public static final int PEEK_HEIGHT_AUTO = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int STATE_COLLAPSED = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int STATE_DRAGGING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int STATE_EXPANDED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int STATE_HIDDEN = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int STATE_SETTLING = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class BottomSheetBehavior.BottomSheetCallback {
-    ctor public BottomSheetBehavior.BottomSheetCallback();
-    method public abstract void onSlide(android.view.View, float);
-    method public abstract void onStateChanged(android.view.View, int);
-  }
-
-  protected static class BottomSheetBehavior.SavedState extends android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState {
-    ctor public BottomSheetBehavior.SavedState(android.os.Parcel);
-    ctor public BottomSheetBehavior.SavedState(android.os.Parcel, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    ctor public BottomSheetBehavior.SavedState(android.os.Parcelable, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.design.widget.BottomSheetBehavior.SavedState> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public class BottomSheetDialog extends android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDialog {
-    ctor public BottomSheetDialog(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public BottomSheetDialog(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor protected BottomSheetDialog(android.content.Context, boolean, android.content.DialogInterface.OnCancelListener);
-  }
-
-  public class BottomSheetDialogFragment extends android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDialogFragment {
-    ctor public BottomSheetDialogFragment();
-  }
-
-  public class CollapsingToolbarLayout extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method protected android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method protected android.widget.FrameLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getCollapsedTitleGravity();
-    method public android.graphics.Typeface getCollapsedTitleTypeface();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getContentScrim();
-    method public int getExpandedTitleGravity();
-    method public int getExpandedTitleMarginBottom();
-    method public int getExpandedTitleMarginEnd();
-    method public int getExpandedTitleMarginStart();
-    method public int getExpandedTitleMarginTop();
-    method public android.graphics.Typeface getExpandedTitleTypeface();
-    method public long getScrimAnimationDuration();
-    method public int getScrimVisibleHeightTrigger();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getStatusBarScrim();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public boolean isTitleEnabled();
-    method public void setCollapsedTitleGravity(int);
-    method public void setCollapsedTitleTextAppearance(int);
-    method public void setCollapsedTitleTextColor(int);
-    method public void setCollapsedTitleTextColor(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setCollapsedTitleTypeface(android.graphics.Typeface);
-    method public void setContentScrim(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setContentScrimColor(int);
-    method public void setContentScrimResource(int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleColor(int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleGravity(int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleMargin(int, int, int, int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleMarginBottom(int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleMarginEnd(int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleMarginStart(int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleMarginTop(int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleTextAppearance(int);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleTextColor(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setExpandedTitleTypeface(android.graphics.Typeface);
-    method public void setScrimAnimationDuration(long);
-    method public void setScrimVisibleHeightTrigger(int);
-    method public void setScrimsShown(boolean);
-    method public void setScrimsShown(boolean, boolean);
-    method public void setStatusBarScrim(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setStatusBarScrimColor(int);
-    method public void setStatusBarScrimResource(int);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitleEnabled(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static class CollapsingToolbarLayout.LayoutParams extends android.widget.FrameLayout.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout.LayoutParams(int, int, int);
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public CollapsingToolbarLayout.LayoutParams(android.widget.FrameLayout.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getCollapseMode();
-    method public float getParallaxMultiplier();
-    method public void setCollapseMode(int);
-    method public void setParallaxMultiplier(float);
-    field public static final int COLLAPSE_MODE_OFF = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int COLLAPSE_MODE_PARALLAX = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int COLLAPSE_MODE_PIN = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public class FloatingActionButton extends android.widget.ImageButton {
-    ctor public FloatingActionButton(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public FloatingActionButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public FloatingActionButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public float getCompatElevation();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getContentBackground();
-    method public boolean getContentRect(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public int getCustomSize();
-    method public int getRippleColor();
-    method public int getSize();
-    method public boolean getUseCompatPadding();
-    method public void hide();
-    method public void hide(android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton.OnVisibilityChangedListener);
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setCompatElevation(float);
-    method public void setCustomSize(int);
-    method public void setRippleColor(int);
-    method public void setSize(int);
-    method public void setUseCompatPadding(boolean);
-    method public void show();
-    method public void show(android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton.OnVisibilityChangedListener);
-    field public static final int NO_CUSTOM_SIZE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SIZE_AUTO = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int SIZE_MINI = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SIZE_NORMAL = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static class FloatingActionButton.Behavior extends android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.Behavior {
-    ctor public FloatingActionButton.Behavior();
-    ctor public FloatingActionButton.Behavior(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public boolean getInsetDodgeRect(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public boolean isAutoHideEnabled();
-    method public boolean onDependentViewChanged(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton, android.view.View);
-    method public boolean onLayoutChild(android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout, android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton, int);
-    method public void setAutoHideEnabled(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class FloatingActionButton.OnVisibilityChangedListener {
-    ctor public FloatingActionButton.OnVisibilityChangedListener();
-    method public void onHidden(android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton);
-    method public void onShown(android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton);
-  }
-
-  public class NavigationView extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public NavigationView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public NavigationView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public NavigationView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void addHeaderView(android.view.View);
-    method public int getHeaderCount();
-    method public android.view.View getHeaderView(int);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getItemBackground();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getItemIconTintList();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getItemTextColor();
-    method public android.view.Menu getMenu();
-    method public android.view.View inflateHeaderView(int);
-    method public void inflateMenu(int);
-    method public void removeHeaderView(android.view.View);
-    method public void setCheckedItem(int);
-    method public void setItemBackground(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setItemBackgroundResource(int);
-    method public void setItemIconTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setItemTextAppearance(int);
-    method public void setItemTextColor(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setNavigationItemSelectedListener(android.support.design.widget.NavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface NavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onNavigationItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem);
-  }
-
-  public static class NavigationView.SavedState extends android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState {
-    ctor public NavigationView.SavedState(android.os.Parcel, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    ctor public NavigationView.SavedState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.design.widget.NavigationView.SavedState> CREATOR;
-    field public android.os.Bundle menuState;
-  }
-
-  public final class Snackbar extends android.support.design.widget.BaseTransientBottomBar {
-    method public static android.support.design.widget.Snackbar make(android.view.View, java.lang.CharSequence, int);
-    method public static android.support.design.widget.Snackbar make(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.Snackbar setAction(int, android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.Snackbar setAction(java.lang.CharSequence, android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.Snackbar setActionTextColor(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.Snackbar setActionTextColor(int);
-    method public deprecated android.support.design.widget.Snackbar setCallback(android.support.design.widget.Snackbar.Callback);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.Snackbar setText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.Snackbar setText(int);
-    field public static final int LENGTH_INDEFINITE = -2; // 0xfffffffe
-    field public static final int LENGTH_LONG = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int LENGTH_SHORT = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static class Snackbar.Callback extends android.support.design.widget.BaseTransientBottomBar.BaseCallback {
-    ctor public Snackbar.Callback();
-    method public void onDismissed(android.support.design.widget.Snackbar, int);
-    method public void onShown(android.support.design.widget.Snackbar);
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_ACTION = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_CONSECUTIVE = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_MANUAL = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_SWIPE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int DISMISS_EVENT_TIMEOUT = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public class SwipeDismissBehavior<V extends android.view.View> extends android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout.Behavior {
-    ctor public SwipeDismissBehavior();
-    method public boolean canSwipeDismissView(android.view.View);
-    method public int getDragState();
-    method public void setDragDismissDistance(float);
-    method public void setEndAlphaSwipeDistance(float);
-    method public void setListener(android.support.design.widget.SwipeDismissBehavior.OnDismissListener);
-    method public void setSensitivity(float);
-    method public void setStartAlphaSwipeDistance(float);
-    method public void setSwipeDirection(int);
-    field public static final int STATE_DRAGGING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int STATE_IDLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_SETTLING = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SWIPE_DIRECTION_ANY = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SWIPE_DIRECTION_END_TO_START = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SWIPE_DIRECTION_START_TO_END = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SwipeDismissBehavior.OnDismissListener {
-    method public abstract void onDismiss(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onDragStateChanged(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class TabItem extends android.view.View {
-    ctor public TabItem(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public TabItem(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-  }
-
-  public class TabLayout extends android.widget.HorizontalScrollView {
-    ctor public TabLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public TabLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public TabLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void addOnTabSelectedListener(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.OnTabSelectedListener);
-    method public void addTab(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab);
-    method public void addTab(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab, int);
-    method public void addTab(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab, boolean);
-    method public void addTab(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab, int, boolean);
-    method public void clearOnTabSelectedListeners();
-    method public int getSelectedTabPosition();
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab getTabAt(int);
-    method public int getTabCount();
-    method public int getTabGravity();
-    method public int getTabMode();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getTabTextColors();
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab newTab();
-    method public void removeAllTabs();
-    method public void removeOnTabSelectedListener(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.OnTabSelectedListener);
-    method public void removeTab(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab);
-    method public void removeTabAt(int);
-    method public deprecated void setOnTabSelectedListener(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.OnTabSelectedListener);
-    method public void setScrollPosition(int, float, boolean);
-    method public void setSelectedTabIndicatorColor(int);
-    method public void setSelectedTabIndicatorHeight(int);
-    method public void setTabGravity(int);
-    method public void setTabMode(int);
-    method public void setTabTextColors(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setTabTextColors(int, int);
-    method public deprecated void setTabsFromPagerAdapter(android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter);
-    method public void setupWithViewPager(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager);
-    method public void setupWithViewPager(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager, boolean);
-    field public static final int GRAVITY_CENTER = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int GRAVITY_FILL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int MODE_FIXED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int MODE_SCROLLABLE = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface TabLayout.OnTabSelectedListener {
-    method public abstract void onTabReselected(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab);
-    method public abstract void onTabSelected(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab);
-    method public abstract void onTabUnselected(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab);
-  }
-
-  public static final class TabLayout.Tab {
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getContentDescription();
-    method public android.view.View getCustomView();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getIcon();
-    method public int getPosition();
-    method public java.lang.Object getTag();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getText();
-    method public boolean isSelected();
-    method public void select();
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setContentDescription(int);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setCustomView(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setCustomView(int);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setIcon(int);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setTag(java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab setText(int);
-    field public static final int INVALID_POSITION = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static class TabLayout.TabLayoutOnPageChangeListener implements android.support.v4.view.ViewPager.OnPageChangeListener {
-    ctor public TabLayout.TabLayoutOnPageChangeListener(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout);
-    method public void onPageScrollStateChanged(int);
-    method public void onPageScrolled(int, float, int);
-    method public void onPageSelected(int);
-  }
-
-  public static class TabLayout.ViewPagerOnTabSelectedListener implements android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.OnTabSelectedListener {
-    ctor public TabLayout.ViewPagerOnTabSelectedListener(android.support.v4.view.ViewPager);
-    method public void onTabReselected(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab);
-    method public void onTabSelected(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab);
-    method public void onTabUnselected(android.support.design.widget.TabLayout.Tab);
-  }
-
-  public class TextInputEditText extends android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatEditText {
-    ctor public TextInputEditText(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public TextInputEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public TextInputEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-  }
-
-  public class TextInputLayout extends android.widget.LinearLayout implements android.support.v7.widget.WithHint {
-    ctor public TextInputLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public TextInputLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public TextInputLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public int getCounterMaxLength();
-    method public android.widget.EditText getEditText();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getError();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getHint();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getPasswordVisibilityToggleContentDescription();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getPasswordVisibilityToggleDrawable();
-    method public android.graphics.Typeface getTypeface();
-    method public boolean isCounterEnabled();
-    method public boolean isErrorEnabled();
-    method public boolean isHintAnimationEnabled();
-    method public boolean isHintEnabled();
-    method public boolean isPasswordVisibilityToggleEnabled();
-    method public android.os.Parcelable onSaveInstanceState();
-    method public void setCounterEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setCounterMaxLength(int);
-    method public void setError(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setErrorEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setErrorTextAppearance(int);
-    method public void setHint(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setHintAnimationEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setHintEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setHintTextAppearance(int);
-    method public void setPasswordVisibilityToggleContentDescription(int);
-    method public void setPasswordVisibilityToggleContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setPasswordVisibilityToggleDrawable(int);
-    method public void setPasswordVisibilityToggleDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setPasswordVisibilityToggleEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setPasswordVisibilityToggleTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setPasswordVisibilityToggleTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setTypeface(android.graphics.Typeface);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/dynamic-animation/api/27.1.0.txt b/dynamic-animation/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 73d20b8..0000000
--- a/dynamic-animation/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,103 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.animation {
-
-  public abstract class DynamicAnimation<T extends android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation<T>> {
-    method public T addEndListener(android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.OnAnimationEndListener);
-    method public T addUpdateListener(android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.OnAnimationUpdateListener);
-    method public void cancel();
-    method public float getMinimumVisibleChange();
-    method public boolean isRunning();
-    method public void removeEndListener(android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.OnAnimationEndListener);
-    method public void removeUpdateListener(android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.OnAnimationUpdateListener);
-    method public T setMaxValue(float);
-    method public T setMinValue(float);
-    method public T setMinimumVisibleChange(float);
-    method public T setStartValue(float);
-    method public T setStartVelocity(float);
-    method public void start();
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty ALPHA;
-    field public static final float MIN_VISIBLE_CHANGE_ALPHA = 0.00390625f;
-    field public static final float MIN_VISIBLE_CHANGE_PIXELS = 1.0f;
-    field public static final float MIN_VISIBLE_CHANGE_ROTATION_DEGREES = 0.1f;
-    field public static final float MIN_VISIBLE_CHANGE_SCALE = 0.002f;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty ROTATION;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty ROTATION_X;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty ROTATION_Y;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty SCALE_X;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty SCALE_Y;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty SCROLL_X;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty SCROLL_Y;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty TRANSLATION_X;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty TRANSLATION_Y;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty TRANSLATION_Z;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty X;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty Y;
-    field public static final android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty Z;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface DynamicAnimation.OnAnimationEndListener {
-    method public abstract void onAnimationEnd(android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation, boolean, float, float);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface DynamicAnimation.OnAnimationUpdateListener {
-    method public abstract void onAnimationUpdate(android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation, float, float);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class DynamicAnimation.ViewProperty extends android.support.animation.FloatPropertyCompat {
-  }
-
-  public final class FlingAnimation extends android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation {
-    ctor public FlingAnimation(android.support.animation.FloatValueHolder);
-    ctor public FlingAnimation(K, android.support.animation.FloatPropertyCompat<K>);
-    method public float getFriction();
-    method public android.support.animation.FlingAnimation setFriction(float);
-    method public android.support.animation.FlingAnimation setMaxValue(float);
-    method public android.support.animation.FlingAnimation setMinValue(float);
-    method public android.support.animation.FlingAnimation setStartVelocity(float);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class FloatPropertyCompat<T> {
-    ctor public FloatPropertyCompat(java.lang.String);
-    method public static <T> android.support.animation.FloatPropertyCompat<T> createFloatPropertyCompat(android.util.FloatProperty<T>);
-    method public abstract float getValue(T);
-    method public abstract void setValue(T, float);
-  }
-
-  public final class FloatValueHolder {
-    ctor public FloatValueHolder();
-    ctor public FloatValueHolder(float);
-    method public float getValue();
-    method public void setValue(float);
-  }
-
-  public final class SpringAnimation extends android.support.animation.DynamicAnimation {
-    ctor public SpringAnimation(android.support.animation.FloatValueHolder);
-    ctor public SpringAnimation(K, android.support.animation.FloatPropertyCompat<K>);
-    ctor public SpringAnimation(K, android.support.animation.FloatPropertyCompat<K>, float);
-    method public void animateToFinalPosition(float);
-    method public boolean canSkipToEnd();
-    method public android.support.animation.SpringForce getSpring();
-    method public android.support.animation.SpringAnimation setSpring(android.support.animation.SpringForce);
-    method public void skipToEnd();
-  }
-
-  public final class SpringForce {
-    ctor public SpringForce();
-    ctor public SpringForce(float);
-    method public float getDampingRatio();
-    method public float getFinalPosition();
-    method public float getStiffness();
-    method public android.support.animation.SpringForce setDampingRatio(float);
-    method public android.support.animation.SpringForce setFinalPosition(float);
-    method public android.support.animation.SpringForce setStiffness(float);
-    field public static final float DAMPING_RATIO_HIGH_BOUNCY = 0.2f;
-    field public static final float DAMPING_RATIO_LOW_BOUNCY = 0.75f;
-    field public static final float DAMPING_RATIO_MEDIUM_BOUNCY = 0.5f;
-    field public static final float DAMPING_RATIO_NO_BOUNCY = 1.0f;
-    field public static final float STIFFNESS_HIGH = 10000.0f;
-    field public static final float STIFFNESS_LOW = 200.0f;
-    field public static final float STIFFNESS_MEDIUM = 1500.0f;
-    field public static final float STIFFNESS_VERY_LOW = 50.0f;
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/emoji/appcompat/api/27.1.0.txt b/emoji/appcompat/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 2c5e5c0..0000000
--- a/emoji/appcompat/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.text.emoji.widget {
-
-  public class EmojiAppCompatButton extends android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatButton {
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatButton(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-  }
-
-  public class EmojiAppCompatEditText extends android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatEditText {
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatEditText(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public int getMaxEmojiCount();
-    method public void setMaxEmojiCount(int);
-  }
-
-  public class EmojiAppCompatTextView extends android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatTextView {
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatTextView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public EmojiAppCompatTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/emoji/bundled/api/27.1.0.txt b/emoji/bundled/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 8812247..0000000
--- a/emoji/bundled/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.text.emoji.bundled {
-
-  public class BundledEmojiCompatConfig extends android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config {
-    ctor public BundledEmojiCompatConfig(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/emoji/core/api/27.1.0.txt b/emoji/core/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 40bd7d8..0000000
--- a/emoji/core/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,136 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.text.emoji {
-
-  public class EmojiCompat {
-    method public static android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat get();
-    method public java.lang.String getAssetSignature();
-    method public int getLoadState();
-    method public static boolean handleDeleteSurroundingText(android.view.inputmethod.InputConnection, android.text.Editable, int, int, boolean);
-    method public static boolean handleOnKeyDown(android.text.Editable, int, android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public boolean hasEmojiGlyph(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public boolean hasEmojiGlyph(java.lang.CharSequence, int);
-    method public static android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat init(android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence process(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence process(java.lang.CharSequence, int, int);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence process(java.lang.CharSequence, int, int, int);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence process(java.lang.CharSequence, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void registerInitCallback(android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.InitCallback);
-    method public void unregisterInitCallback(android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.InitCallback);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EDITOR_INFO_METAVERSION_KEY = "android.support.text.emoji.emojiCompat_metadataVersion";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EDITOR_INFO_REPLACE_ALL_KEY = "android.support.text.emoji.emojiCompat_replaceAll";
-    field public static final int LOAD_STATE_FAILED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int LOAD_STATE_LOADING = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int LOAD_STATE_SUCCEEDED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int REPLACE_STRATEGY_ALL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int REPLACE_STRATEGY_DEFAULT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int REPLACE_STRATEGY_NON_EXISTENT = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class EmojiCompat.Config {
-    ctor protected EmojiCompat.Config(android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.MetadataRepoLoader);
-    method protected final android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.MetadataRepoLoader getMetadataRepoLoader();
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config registerInitCallback(android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.InitCallback);
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config setEmojiSpanIndicatorColor(int);
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config setEmojiSpanIndicatorEnabled(boolean);
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config setReplaceAll(boolean);
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config setUseEmojiAsDefaultStyle(boolean);
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config setUseEmojiAsDefaultStyle(boolean, java.util.List<java.lang.Integer>);
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config unregisterInitCallback(android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.InitCallback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class EmojiCompat.InitCallback {
-    ctor public EmojiCompat.InitCallback();
-    method public void onFailed(java.lang.Throwable);
-    method public void onInitialized();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface EmojiCompat.MetadataRepoLoader {
-    method public abstract void load(android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.MetadataRepoLoaderCallback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class EmojiCompat.MetadataRepoLoaderCallback {
-    ctor public EmojiCompat.MetadataRepoLoaderCallback();
-    method public abstract void onFailed(java.lang.Throwable);
-    method public abstract void onLoaded(android.support.text.emoji.MetadataRepo);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class EmojiSpan extends android.text.style.ReplacementSpan {
-    method public int getSize(android.graphics.Paint, java.lang.CharSequence, int, int, android.graphics.Paint.FontMetricsInt);
-  }
-
-  public class FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig extends android.support.text.emoji.EmojiCompat.Config {
-    ctor public FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig(android.content.Context, android.support.v4.provider.FontRequest);
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig setHandler(android.os.Handler);
-    method public android.support.text.emoji.FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig setRetryPolicy(android.support.text.emoji.FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig.RetryPolicy);
-  }
-
-  public static class FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig.ExponentialBackoffRetryPolicy extends android.support.text.emoji.FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig.RetryPolicy {
-    ctor public FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig.ExponentialBackoffRetryPolicy(long);
-    method public long getRetryDelay();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig.RetryPolicy {
-    ctor public FontRequestEmojiCompatConfig.RetryPolicy();
-    method public abstract long getRetryDelay();
-  }
-
-  public final class MetadataRepo {
-    method public static android.support.text.emoji.MetadataRepo create(android.graphics.Typeface, java.io.InputStream) throws java.io.IOException;
-    method public static android.support.text.emoji.MetadataRepo create(android.graphics.Typeface, java.nio.ByteBuffer) throws java.io.IOException;
-    method public static android.support.text.emoji.MetadataRepo create(android.content.res.AssetManager, java.lang.String) throws java.io.IOException;
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.text.emoji.widget {
-
-  public class EmojiButton extends android.widget.Button {
-    ctor public EmojiButton(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public EmojiButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public EmojiButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public EmojiButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class EmojiEditText extends android.widget.EditText {
-    ctor public EmojiEditText(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public EmojiEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public EmojiEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public EmojiEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public int getMaxEmojiCount();
-    method public void setMaxEmojiCount(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class EmojiEditTextHelper {
-    ctor public EmojiEditTextHelper(android.widget.EditText);
-    method public android.text.method.KeyListener getKeyListener(android.text.method.KeyListener);
-    method public int getMaxEmojiCount();
-    method public android.view.inputmethod.InputConnection onCreateInputConnection(android.view.inputmethod.InputConnection, android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo);
-    method public void setMaxEmojiCount(int);
-  }
-
-  public class EmojiExtractTextLayout extends android.widget.LinearLayout {
-    ctor public EmojiExtractTextLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public EmojiExtractTextLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public EmojiExtractTextLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public EmojiExtractTextLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public int getEmojiReplaceStrategy();
-    method public void onUpdateExtractingViews(android.inputmethodservice.InputMethodService, android.view.inputmethod.EditorInfo);
-    method public void setEmojiReplaceStrategy(int);
-  }
-
-  public class EmojiTextView extends android.widget.TextView {
-    ctor public EmojiTextView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public EmojiTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public EmojiTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public EmojiTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public final class EmojiTextViewHelper {
-    ctor public EmojiTextViewHelper(android.widget.TextView);
-    method public android.text.InputFilter[] getFilters(android.text.InputFilter[]);
-    method public void setAllCaps(boolean);
-    method public void updateTransformationMethod();
-    method public android.text.method.TransformationMethod wrapTransformationMethod(android.text.method.TransformationMethod);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/exifinterface/api/27.1.0.txt b/exifinterface/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 8533011..0000000
--- a/exifinterface/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,332 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.media {
-
-  public class ExifInterface {
-    ctor public ExifInterface(java.lang.String) throws java.io.IOException;
-    ctor public ExifInterface(java.io.InputStream) throws java.io.IOException;
-    method public void flipHorizontally();
-    method public void flipVertically();
-    method public double getAltitude(double);
-    method public java.lang.String getAttribute(java.lang.String);
-    method public double getAttributeDouble(java.lang.String, double);
-    method public int getAttributeInt(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public deprecated boolean getLatLong(float[]);
-    method public double[] getLatLong();
-    method public int getRotationDegrees();
-    method public byte[] getThumbnail();
-    method public android.graphics.Bitmap getThumbnailBitmap();
-    method public byte[] getThumbnailBytes();
-    method public long[] getThumbnailRange();
-    method public boolean hasThumbnail();
-    method public boolean isFlipped();
-    method public boolean isThumbnailCompressed();
-    method public void resetOrientation();
-    method public void rotate(int);
-    method public void saveAttributes() throws java.io.IOException;
-    method public void setAltitude(double);
-    method public void setAttribute(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public void setGpsInfo(android.location.Location);
-    method public void setLatLong(double, double);
-    field public static final short ALTITUDE_ABOVE_SEA_LEVEL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short ALTITUDE_BELOW_SEA_LEVEL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int[] BITS_PER_SAMPLE_GREYSCALE_1;
-    field public static final int[] BITS_PER_SAMPLE_GREYSCALE_2;
-    field public static final int[] BITS_PER_SAMPLE_RGB;
-    field public static final int COLOR_SPACE_S_RGB = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int COLOR_SPACE_UNCALIBRATED = 65535; // 0xffff
-    field public static final short CONTRAST_HARD = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short CONTRAST_NORMAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short CONTRAST_SOFT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int DATA_DEFLATE_ZIP = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int DATA_HUFFMAN_COMPRESSED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int DATA_JPEG = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int DATA_JPEG_COMPRESSED = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int DATA_LOSSY_JPEG = 34892; // 0x884c
-    field public static final int DATA_PACK_BITS_COMPRESSED = 32773; // 0x8005
-    field public static final int DATA_UNCOMPRESSED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_MODE_AUTO = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_MODE_AUTO_BRACKET = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_MODE_MANUAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_ACTION = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_APERTURE_PRIORITY = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_CREATIVE = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_LANDSCAPE_MODE = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_MANUAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_NORMAL = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_NOT_DEFINED = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_PORTRAIT_MODE = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final short EXPOSURE_PROGRAM_SHUTTER_PRIORITY = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final short FILE_SOURCE_DSC = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short FILE_SOURCE_OTHER = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short FILE_SOURCE_REFLEX_SCANNER = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short FILE_SOURCE_TRANSPARENT_SCANNER = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short FLAG_FLASH_FIRED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short FLAG_FLASH_MODE_AUTO = 24; // 0x18
-    field public static final short FLAG_FLASH_MODE_COMPULSORY_FIRING = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final short FLAG_FLASH_MODE_COMPULSORY_SUPPRESSION = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final short FLAG_FLASH_NO_FLASH_FUNCTION = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final short FLAG_FLASH_RED_EYE_SUPPORTED = 64; // 0x40
-    field public static final short FLAG_FLASH_RETURN_LIGHT_DETECTED = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final short FLAG_FLASH_RETURN_LIGHT_NOT_DETECTED = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final short FORMAT_CHUNKY = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short FORMAT_PLANAR = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short GAIN_CONTROL_HIGH_GAIN_DOWN = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final short GAIN_CONTROL_HIGH_GAIN_UP = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short GAIN_CONTROL_LOW_GAIN_DOWN = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short GAIN_CONTROL_LOW_GAIN_UP = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short GAIN_CONTROL_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_DIRECTION_MAGNETIC = "M";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_DIRECTION_TRUE = "T";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_DISTANCE_KILOMETERS = "K";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_DISTANCE_MILES = "M";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_DISTANCE_NAUTICAL_MILES = "N";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_MEASUREMENT_2D = "2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_MEASUREMENT_3D = "3";
-    field public static final short GPS_MEASUREMENT_DIFFERENTIAL_CORRECTED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_MEASUREMENT_INTERRUPTED = "V";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_MEASUREMENT_IN_PROGRESS = "A";
-    field public static final short GPS_MEASUREMENT_NO_DIFFERENTIAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_SPEED_KILOMETERS_PER_HOUR = "K";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_SPEED_KNOTS = "N";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GPS_SPEED_MILES_PER_HOUR = "M";
-    field public static final java.lang.String LATITUDE_NORTH = "N";
-    field public static final java.lang.String LATITUDE_SOUTH = "S";
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_CLOUDY_WEATHER = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_COOL_WHITE_FLUORESCENT = 14; // 0xe
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_D50 = 23; // 0x17
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_D55 = 20; // 0x14
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_D65 = 21; // 0x15
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_D75 = 22; // 0x16
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_DAYLIGHT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_DAYLIGHT_FLUORESCENT = 12; // 0xc
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_DAY_WHITE_FLUORESCENT = 13; // 0xd
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_FINE_WEATHER = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_FLASH = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_FLUORESCENT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_ISO_STUDIO_TUNGSTEN = 24; // 0x18
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_OTHER = 255; // 0xff
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_SHADE = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_STANDARD_LIGHT_A = 17; // 0x11
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_STANDARD_LIGHT_B = 18; // 0x12
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_STANDARD_LIGHT_C = 19; // 0x13
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_TUNGSTEN = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_WARM_WHITE_FLUORESCENT = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final short LIGHT_SOURCE_WHITE_FLUORESCENT = 15; // 0xf
-    field public static final java.lang.String LONGITUDE_EAST = "E";
-    field public static final java.lang.String LONGITUDE_WEST = "W";
-    field public static final short METERING_MODE_AVERAGE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short METERING_MODE_CENTER_WEIGHT_AVERAGE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short METERING_MODE_MULTI_SPOT = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final short METERING_MODE_OTHER = 255; // 0xff
-    field public static final short METERING_MODE_PARTIAL = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final short METERING_MODE_PATTERN = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final short METERING_MODE_SPOT = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short METERING_MODE_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_FLIP_HORIZONTAL = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_FLIP_VERTICAL = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_NORMAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_ROTATE_180 = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_ROTATE_270 = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_ROTATE_90 = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_TRANSPOSE = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_TRANSVERSE = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int ORIENTATION_UNDEFINED = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ORIGINAL_RESOLUTION_IMAGE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION_BLACK_IS_ZERO = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION_RGB = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION_WHITE_IS_ZERO = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION_YCBCR = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int REDUCED_RESOLUTION_IMAGE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short RENDERED_PROCESS_CUSTOM = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short RENDERED_PROCESS_NORMAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short RESOLUTION_UNIT_CENTIMETERS = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short RESOLUTION_UNIT_INCHES = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short SATURATION_HIGH = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short SATURATION_LOW = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short SATURATION_NORMAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short SCENE_CAPTURE_TYPE_LANDSCAPE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short SCENE_CAPTURE_TYPE_NIGHT = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short SCENE_CAPTURE_TYPE_PORTRAIT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short SCENE_CAPTURE_TYPE_STANDARD = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short SCENE_TYPE_DIRECTLY_PHOTOGRAPHED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short SENSITIVITY_TYPE_ISO_SPEED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short SENSITIVITY_TYPE_REI = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short SENSITIVITY_TYPE_REI_AND_ISO = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final short SENSITIVITY_TYPE_SOS = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short SENSITIVITY_TYPE_SOS_AND_ISO = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final short SENSITIVITY_TYPE_SOS_AND_REI = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final short SENSITIVITY_TYPE_SOS_AND_REI_AND_ISO = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final short SENSITIVITY_TYPE_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short SENSOR_TYPE_COLOR_SEQUENTIAL = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final short SENSOR_TYPE_COLOR_SEQUENTIAL_LINEAR = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final short SENSOR_TYPE_NOT_DEFINED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short SENSOR_TYPE_ONE_CHIP = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short SENSOR_TYPE_THREE_CHIP = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final short SENSOR_TYPE_TRILINEAR = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final short SENSOR_TYPE_TWO_CHIP = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short SHARPNESS_HARD = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short SHARPNESS_NORMAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short SHARPNESS_SOFT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short SUBJECT_DISTANCE_RANGE_CLOSE_VIEW = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final short SUBJECT_DISTANCE_RANGE_DISTANT_VIEW = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final short SUBJECT_DISTANCE_RANGE_MACRO = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short SUBJECT_DISTANCE_RANGE_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_APERTURE_VALUE = "ApertureValue";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ARTIST = "Artist";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_BITS_PER_SAMPLE = "BitsPerSample";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_BODY_SERIAL_NUMBER = "BodySerialNumber";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_BRIGHTNESS_VALUE = "BrightnessValue";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_CAMARA_OWNER_NAME = "CameraOwnerName";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_CFA_PATTERN = "CFAPattern";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_COLOR_SPACE = "ColorSpace";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_COMPONENTS_CONFIGURATION = "ComponentsConfiguration";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_COMPRESSED_BITS_PER_PIXEL = "CompressedBitsPerPixel";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_COMPRESSION = "Compression";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_CONTRAST = "Contrast";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_COPYRIGHT = "Copyright";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_CUSTOM_RENDERED = "CustomRendered";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_DATETIME = "DateTime";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_DATETIME_DIGITIZED = "DateTimeDigitized";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_DATETIME_ORIGINAL = "DateTimeOriginal";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_DEFAULT_CROP_SIZE = "DefaultCropSize";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_DEVICE_SETTING_DESCRIPTION = "DeviceSettingDescription";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_DIGITAL_ZOOM_RATIO = "DigitalZoomRatio";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_DNG_VERSION = "DNGVersion";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_EXIF_VERSION = "ExifVersion";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_EXPOSURE_BIAS_VALUE = "ExposureBiasValue";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_EXPOSURE_INDEX = "ExposureIndex";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_EXPOSURE_MODE = "ExposureMode";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_EXPOSURE_PROGRAM = "ExposureProgram";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_EXPOSURE_TIME = "ExposureTime";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FILE_SOURCE = "FileSource";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FLASH = "Flash";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FLASHPIX_VERSION = "FlashpixVersion";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FLASH_ENERGY = "FlashEnergy";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FOCAL_LENGTH = "FocalLength";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FOCAL_LENGTH_IN_35MM_FILM = "FocalLengthIn35mmFilm";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FOCAL_PLANE_RESOLUTION_UNIT = "FocalPlaneResolutionUnit";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FOCAL_PLANE_X_RESOLUTION = "FocalPlaneXResolution";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_FOCAL_PLANE_Y_RESOLUTION = "FocalPlaneYResolution";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_F_NUMBER = "FNumber";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GAIN_CONTROL = "GainControl";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GAMMA = "Gamma";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_ALTITUDE = "GPSAltitude";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_ALTITUDE_REF = "GPSAltitudeRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_AREA_INFORMATION = "GPSAreaInformation";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DATESTAMP = "GPSDateStamp";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DEST_BEARING = "GPSDestBearing";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DEST_BEARING_REF = "GPSDestBearingRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DEST_DISTANCE = "GPSDestDistance";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DEST_DISTANCE_REF = "GPSDestDistanceRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DEST_LATITUDE = "GPSDestLatitude";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DEST_LATITUDE_REF = "GPSDestLatitudeRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DEST_LONGITUDE = "GPSDestLongitude";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DEST_LONGITUDE_REF = "GPSDestLongitudeRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DIFFERENTIAL = "GPSDifferential";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_DOP = "GPSDOP";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_H_POSITIONING_ERROR = "GPSHPositioningError";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_IMG_DIRECTION = "GPSImgDirection";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_IMG_DIRECTION_REF = "GPSImgDirectionRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_LATITUDE = "GPSLatitude";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_LATITUDE_REF = "GPSLatitudeRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_LONGITUDE = "GPSLongitude";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_LONGITUDE_REF = "GPSLongitudeRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_MAP_DATUM = "GPSMapDatum";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_MEASURE_MODE = "GPSMeasureMode";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_PROCESSING_METHOD = "GPSProcessingMethod";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_SATELLITES = "GPSSatellites";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_SPEED = "GPSSpeed";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_SPEED_REF = "GPSSpeedRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_STATUS = "GPSStatus";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_TIMESTAMP = "GPSTimeStamp";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_TRACK = "GPSTrack";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_TRACK_REF = "GPSTrackRef";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_GPS_VERSION_ID = "GPSVersionID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_IMAGE_DESCRIPTION = "ImageDescription";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_IMAGE_LENGTH = "ImageLength";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_IMAGE_UNIQUE_ID = "ImageUniqueID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_IMAGE_WIDTH = "ImageWidth";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_INTEROPERABILITY_INDEX = "InteroperabilityIndex";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ISO_SPEED = "ISOSpeed";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ISO_SPEED_LATITUDE_YYY = "ISOSpeedLatitudeyyy";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ISO_SPEED_LATITUDE_ZZZ = "ISOSpeedLatitudezzz";
-    field public static final deprecated java.lang.String TAG_ISO_SPEED_RATINGS = "ISOSpeedRatings";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_JPEG_INTERCHANGE_FORMAT = "JPEGInterchangeFormat";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_JPEG_INTERCHANGE_FORMAT_LENGTH = "JPEGInterchangeFormatLength";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_LENS_MAKE = "LensMake";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_LENS_MODEL = "LensModel";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_LENS_SERIAL_NUMBER = "LensSerialNumber";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_LENS_SPECIFICATION = "LensSpecification";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_LIGHT_SOURCE = "LightSource";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_MAKE = "Make";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_MAKER_NOTE = "MakerNote";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_MAX_APERTURE_VALUE = "MaxApertureValue";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_METERING_MODE = "MeteringMode";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_MODEL = "Model";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_NEW_SUBFILE_TYPE = "NewSubfileType";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_OECF = "OECF";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ORF_ASPECT_FRAME = "AspectFrame";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ORF_PREVIEW_IMAGE_LENGTH = "PreviewImageLength";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ORF_PREVIEW_IMAGE_START = "PreviewImageStart";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ORF_THUMBNAIL_IMAGE = "ThumbnailImage";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ORIENTATION = "Orientation";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_PHOTOGRAPHIC_SENSITIVITY = "PhotographicSensitivity";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION = "PhotometricInterpretation";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_PIXEL_X_DIMENSION = "PixelXDimension";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_PIXEL_Y_DIMENSION = "PixelYDimension";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_PLANAR_CONFIGURATION = "PlanarConfiguration";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_PRIMARY_CHROMATICITIES = "PrimaryChromaticities";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RECOMMENDED_EXPOSURE_INDEX = "RecommendedExposureIndex";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_REFERENCE_BLACK_WHITE = "ReferenceBlackWhite";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RELATED_SOUND_FILE = "RelatedSoundFile";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RESOLUTION_UNIT = "ResolutionUnit";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_ROWS_PER_STRIP = "RowsPerStrip";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RW2_ISO = "ISO";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RW2_JPG_FROM_RAW = "JpgFromRaw";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RW2_SENSOR_BOTTOM_BORDER = "SensorBottomBorder";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RW2_SENSOR_LEFT_BORDER = "SensorLeftBorder";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RW2_SENSOR_RIGHT_BORDER = "SensorRightBorder";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_RW2_SENSOR_TOP_BORDER = "SensorTopBorder";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SAMPLES_PER_PIXEL = "SamplesPerPixel";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SATURATION = "Saturation";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SCENE_CAPTURE_TYPE = "SceneCaptureType";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SCENE_TYPE = "SceneType";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SENSING_METHOD = "SensingMethod";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SENSITIVITY_TYPE = "SensitivityType";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SHARPNESS = "Sharpness";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SHUTTER_SPEED_VALUE = "ShutterSpeedValue";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SOFTWARE = "Software";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SPATIAL_FREQUENCY_RESPONSE = "SpatialFrequencyResponse";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SPECTRAL_SENSITIVITY = "SpectralSensitivity";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_STANDARD_OUTPUT_SENSITIVITY = "StandardOutputSensitivity";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_STRIP_BYTE_COUNTS = "StripByteCounts";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_STRIP_OFFSETS = "StripOffsets";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SUBFILE_TYPE = "SubfileType";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SUBJECT_AREA = "SubjectArea";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SUBJECT_DISTANCE = "SubjectDistance";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SUBJECT_DISTANCE_RANGE = "SubjectDistanceRange";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SUBJECT_LOCATION = "SubjectLocation";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SUBSEC_TIME = "SubSecTime";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SUBSEC_TIME_DIGITIZED = "SubSecTimeDigitized";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_SUBSEC_TIME_ORIGINAL = "SubSecTimeOriginal";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_THUMBNAIL_IMAGE_LENGTH = "ThumbnailImageLength";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_THUMBNAIL_IMAGE_WIDTH = "ThumbnailImageWidth";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_TRANSFER_FUNCTION = "TransferFunction";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_USER_COMMENT = "UserComment";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_WHITE_BALANCE = "WhiteBalance";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_WHITE_POINT = "WhitePoint";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_X_RESOLUTION = "XResolution";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_Y_CB_CR_COEFFICIENTS = "YCbCrCoefficients";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_Y_CB_CR_POSITIONING = "YCbCrPositioning";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_Y_CB_CR_SUB_SAMPLING = "YCbCrSubSampling";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TAG_Y_RESOLUTION = "YResolution";
-    field public static final deprecated int WHITEBALANCE_AUTO = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final deprecated int WHITEBALANCE_MANUAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short WHITE_BALANCE_AUTO = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final short WHITE_BALANCE_MANUAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short Y_CB_CR_POSITIONING_CENTERED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final short Y_CB_CR_POSITIONING_CO_SITED = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/fragment/api/27.1.0.txt b/fragment/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 5df18f8..0000000
--- a/fragment/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,404 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v4.app {
-
-  public class DialogFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment implements android.content.DialogInterface.OnCancelListener android.content.DialogInterface.OnDismissListener {
-    ctor public DialogFragment();
-    method public void dismiss();
-    method public void dismissAllowingStateLoss();
-    method public android.app.Dialog getDialog();
-    method public boolean getShowsDialog();
-    method public int getTheme();
-    method public boolean isCancelable();
-    method public void onCancel(android.content.DialogInterface);
-    method public android.app.Dialog onCreateDialog(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onDismiss(android.content.DialogInterface);
-    method public void setCancelable(boolean);
-    method public void setShowsDialog(boolean);
-    method public void setStyle(int, int);
-    method public void show(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, java.lang.String);
-    method public int show(android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction, java.lang.String);
-    method public void showNow(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, java.lang.String);
-    field public static final int STYLE_NORMAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STYLE_NO_FRAME = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int STYLE_NO_INPUT = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int STYLE_NO_TITLE = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public class Fragment implements android.content.ComponentCallbacks android.arch.lifecycle.LifecycleOwner android.view.View.OnCreateContextMenuListener android.arch.lifecycle.ViewModelStoreOwner {
-    ctor public Fragment();
-    method public void dump(java.lang.String, java.io.FileDescriptor, java.io.PrintWriter, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public final boolean equals(java.lang.Object);
-    method public final android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity getActivity();
-    method public boolean getAllowEnterTransitionOverlap();
-    method public boolean getAllowReturnTransitionOverlap();
-    method public final android.os.Bundle getArguments();
-    method public final android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager getChildFragmentManager();
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public java.lang.Object getEnterTransition();
-    method public java.lang.Object getExitTransition();
-    method public final android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager getFragmentManager();
-    method public final java.lang.Object getHost();
-    method public final int getId();
-    method public final android.view.LayoutInflater getLayoutInflater();
-    method public android.arch.lifecycle.Lifecycle getLifecycle();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.LoaderManager getLoaderManager();
-    method public final android.support.v4.app.Fragment getParentFragment();
-    method public java.lang.Object getReenterTransition();
-    method public final android.content.res.Resources getResources();
-    method public final boolean getRetainInstance();
-    method public java.lang.Object getReturnTransition();
-    method public java.lang.Object getSharedElementEnterTransition();
-    method public java.lang.Object getSharedElementReturnTransition();
-    method public final java.lang.String getString(int);
-    method public final java.lang.String getString(int, java.lang.Object...);
-    method public final java.lang.String getTag();
-    method public final android.support.v4.app.Fragment getTargetFragment();
-    method public final int getTargetRequestCode();
-    method public final java.lang.CharSequence getText(int);
-    method public boolean getUserVisibleHint();
-    method public android.view.View getView();
-    method public android.arch.lifecycle.ViewModelStore getViewModelStore();
-    method public final int hashCode();
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.Fragment instantiate(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.Fragment instantiate(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public final boolean isAdded();
-    method public final boolean isDetached();
-    method public final boolean isHidden();
-    method public final boolean isInLayout();
-    method public final boolean isRemoving();
-    method public final boolean isResumed();
-    method public final boolean isStateSaved();
-    method public final boolean isVisible();
-    method public void onActivityCreated(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onActivityResult(int, int, android.content.Intent);
-    method public void onAttach(android.content.Context);
-    method public deprecated void onAttach(android.app.Activity);
-    method public void onAttachFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public void onConfigurationChanged(android.content.res.Configuration);
-    method public boolean onContextItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public void onCreate(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.view.animation.Animation onCreateAnimation(int, boolean, int);
-    method public android.animation.Animator onCreateAnimator(int, boolean, int);
-    method public void onCreateContextMenu(android.view.ContextMenu, android.view.View, android.view.ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo);
-    method public void onCreateOptionsMenu(android.view.Menu, android.view.MenuInflater);
-    method public android.view.View onCreateView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onDestroy();
-    method public void onDestroyOptionsMenu();
-    method public void onDestroyView();
-    method public void onDetach();
-    method public android.view.LayoutInflater onGetLayoutInflater(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onHiddenChanged(boolean);
-    method public void onInflate(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public deprecated void onInflate(android.app.Activity, android.util.AttributeSet, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onLowMemory();
-    method public void onMultiWindowModeChanged(boolean);
-    method public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public void onOptionsMenuClosed(android.view.Menu);
-    method public void onPause();
-    method public void onPictureInPictureModeChanged(boolean);
-    method public void onPrepareOptionsMenu(android.view.Menu);
-    method public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int, java.lang.String[], int[]);
-    method public void onResume();
-    method public void onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onStart();
-    method public void onStop();
-    method public void onViewCreated(android.view.View, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onViewStateRestored(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void postponeEnterTransition();
-    method public void registerForContextMenu(android.view.View);
-    method public final void requestPermissions(java.lang.String[], int);
-    method public final android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity requireActivity();
-    method public final android.content.Context requireContext();
-    method public final android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager requireFragmentManager();
-    method public final java.lang.Object requireHost();
-    method public void setAllowEnterTransitionOverlap(boolean);
-    method public void setAllowReturnTransitionOverlap(boolean);
-    method public void setArguments(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void setEnterSharedElementCallback(android.support.v4.app.SharedElementCallback);
-    method public void setEnterTransition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setExitSharedElementCallback(android.support.v4.app.SharedElementCallback);
-    method public void setExitTransition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setHasOptionsMenu(boolean);
-    method public void setInitialSavedState(android.support.v4.app.Fragment.SavedState);
-    method public void setMenuVisibility(boolean);
-    method public void setReenterTransition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setRetainInstance(boolean);
-    method public void setReturnTransition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setSharedElementEnterTransition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setSharedElementReturnTransition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setTargetFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, int);
-    method public void setUserVisibleHint(boolean);
-    method public boolean shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(java.lang.String);
-    method public void startActivity(android.content.Intent);
-    method public void startActivity(android.content.Intent, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void startActivityForResult(android.content.Intent, int);
-    method public void startActivityForResult(android.content.Intent, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void startIntentSenderForResult(android.content.IntentSender, int, android.content.Intent, int, int, int, android.os.Bundle) throws android.content.IntentSender.SendIntentException;
-    method public void startPostponedEnterTransition();
-    method public void unregisterForContextMenu(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public static class Fragment.InstantiationException extends java.lang.RuntimeException {
-    ctor public Fragment.InstantiationException(java.lang.String, java.lang.Exception);
-  }
-
-  public static class Fragment.SavedState implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.app.Fragment.SavedState> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public class FragmentActivity extends android.support.v4.app.SupportActivity implements android.support.v4.app.ActivityCompat.OnRequestPermissionsResultCallback android.support.v4.app.ActivityCompat.RequestPermissionsRequestCodeValidator android.arch.lifecycle.ViewModelStoreOwner {
-    ctor public FragmentActivity();
-    method public java.lang.Object getLastCustomNonConfigurationInstance();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager getSupportFragmentManager();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.LoaderManager getSupportLoaderManager();
-    method public android.arch.lifecycle.ViewModelStore getViewModelStore();
-    method public void onAttachFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public void onMultiWindowModeChanged(boolean);
-    method public void onPictureInPictureModeChanged(boolean);
-    method protected void onResumeFragments();
-    method public java.lang.Object onRetainCustomNonConfigurationInstance();
-    method public final java.lang.Object onRetainNonConfigurationInstance();
-    method public void setEnterSharedElementCallback(android.support.v4.app.SharedElementCallback);
-    method public void setExitSharedElementCallback(android.support.v4.app.SharedElementCallback);
-    method public void startActivityFromFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.content.Intent, int);
-    method public void startActivityFromFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.content.Intent, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void startIntentSenderFromFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.content.IntentSender, int, android.content.Intent, int, int, int, android.os.Bundle) throws android.content.IntentSender.SendIntentException;
-    method public void supportFinishAfterTransition();
-    method public deprecated void supportInvalidateOptionsMenu();
-    method public void supportPostponeEnterTransition();
-    method public void supportStartPostponedEnterTransition();
-    method public final void validateRequestPermissionsRequestCode(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class FragmentContainer {
-    ctor public FragmentContainer();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.Fragment instantiate(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract android.view.View onFindViewById(int);
-    method public abstract boolean onHasView();
-  }
-
-  public class FragmentController {
-    method public void attachHost(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public static android.support.v4.app.FragmentController createController(android.support.v4.app.FragmentHostCallback<?>);
-    method public void dispatchActivityCreated();
-    method public void dispatchConfigurationChanged(android.content.res.Configuration);
-    method public boolean dispatchContextItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public void dispatchCreate();
-    method public boolean dispatchCreateOptionsMenu(android.view.Menu, android.view.MenuInflater);
-    method public void dispatchDestroy();
-    method public void dispatchDestroyView();
-    method public void dispatchLowMemory();
-    method public void dispatchMultiWindowModeChanged(boolean);
-    method public boolean dispatchOptionsItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public void dispatchOptionsMenuClosed(android.view.Menu);
-    method public void dispatchPause();
-    method public void dispatchPictureInPictureModeChanged(boolean);
-    method public boolean dispatchPrepareOptionsMenu(android.view.Menu);
-    method public void dispatchReallyStop();
-    method public void dispatchResume();
-    method public void dispatchStart();
-    method public void dispatchStop();
-    method public deprecated void doLoaderDestroy();
-    method public deprecated void doLoaderRetain();
-    method public deprecated void doLoaderStart();
-    method public deprecated void doLoaderStop(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void dumpLoaders(java.lang.String, java.io.FileDescriptor, java.io.PrintWriter, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public boolean execPendingActions();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.Fragment findFragmentByWho(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.app.Fragment> getActiveFragments(java.util.List<android.support.v4.app.Fragment>);
-    method public int getActiveFragmentsCount();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager getSupportFragmentManager();
-    method public deprecated android.support.v4.app.LoaderManager getSupportLoaderManager();
-    method public void noteStateNotSaved();
-    method public android.view.View onCreateView(android.view.View, java.lang.String, android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public deprecated void reportLoaderStart();
-    method public deprecated void restoreAllState(android.os.Parcelable, java.util.List<android.support.v4.app.Fragment>);
-    method public void restoreAllState(android.os.Parcelable, android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerNonConfig);
-    method public deprecated void restoreLoaderNonConfig(android.support.v4.util.SimpleArrayMap<java.lang.String, android.support.v4.app.LoaderManager>);
-    method public deprecated android.support.v4.util.SimpleArrayMap<java.lang.String, android.support.v4.app.LoaderManager> retainLoaderNonConfig();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerNonConfig retainNestedNonConfig();
-    method public deprecated java.util.List<android.support.v4.app.Fragment> retainNonConfig();
-    method public android.os.Parcelable saveAllState();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class FragmentHostCallback<E> extends android.support.v4.app.FragmentContainer {
-    ctor public FragmentHostCallback(android.content.Context, android.os.Handler, int);
-    method public void onDump(java.lang.String, java.io.FileDescriptor, java.io.PrintWriter, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.view.View onFindViewById(int);
-    method public abstract E onGetHost();
-    method public android.view.LayoutInflater onGetLayoutInflater();
-    method public int onGetWindowAnimations();
-    method public boolean onHasView();
-    method public boolean onHasWindowAnimations();
-    method public void onRequestPermissionsFromFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, java.lang.String[], int);
-    method public boolean onShouldSaveFragmentState(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public boolean onShouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onStartActivityFromFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.content.Intent, int);
-    method public void onStartActivityFromFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.content.Intent, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onStartIntentSenderFromFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.content.IntentSender, int, android.content.Intent, int, int, int, android.os.Bundle) throws android.content.IntentSender.SendIntentException;
-    method public void onSupportInvalidateOptionsMenu();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class FragmentManager {
-    ctor public FragmentManager();
-    method public abstract void addOnBackStackChangedListener(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager.OnBackStackChangedListener);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction beginTransaction();
-    method public abstract void dump(java.lang.String, java.io.FileDescriptor, java.io.PrintWriter, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public static void enableDebugLogging(boolean);
-    method public abstract boolean executePendingTransactions();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.Fragment findFragmentById(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.Fragment findFragmentByTag(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager.BackStackEntry getBackStackEntryAt(int);
-    method public abstract int getBackStackEntryCount();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.Fragment getFragment(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract java.util.List<android.support.v4.app.Fragment> getFragments();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.Fragment getPrimaryNavigationFragment();
-    method public abstract boolean isDestroyed();
-    method public abstract boolean isStateSaved();
-    method public abstract void popBackStack();
-    method public abstract void popBackStack(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public abstract void popBackStack(int, int);
-    method public abstract boolean popBackStackImmediate();
-    method public abstract boolean popBackStackImmediate(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public abstract boolean popBackStackImmediate(int, int);
-    method public abstract void putFragment(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract void registerFragmentLifecycleCallbacks(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager.FragmentLifecycleCallbacks, boolean);
-    method public abstract void removeOnBackStackChangedListener(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager.OnBackStackChangedListener);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.Fragment.SavedState saveFragmentInstanceState(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract void unregisterFragmentLifecycleCallbacks(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager.FragmentLifecycleCallbacks);
-    field public static final int POP_BACK_STACK_INCLUSIVE = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface FragmentManager.BackStackEntry {
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getBreadCrumbShortTitle();
-    method public abstract int getBreadCrumbShortTitleRes();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getBreadCrumbTitle();
-    method public abstract int getBreadCrumbTitleRes();
-    method public abstract int getId();
-    method public abstract java.lang.String getName();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class FragmentManager.FragmentLifecycleCallbacks {
-    ctor public FragmentManager.FragmentLifecycleCallbacks();
-    method public void onFragmentActivityCreated(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onFragmentAttached(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.content.Context);
-    method public void onFragmentCreated(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onFragmentDestroyed(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public void onFragmentDetached(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public void onFragmentPaused(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public void onFragmentPreAttached(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.content.Context);
-    method public void onFragmentPreCreated(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onFragmentResumed(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public void onFragmentSaveInstanceState(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onFragmentStarted(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public void onFragmentStopped(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public void onFragmentViewCreated(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, android.view.View, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onFragmentViewDestroyed(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface FragmentManager.OnBackStackChangedListener {
-    method public abstract void onBackStackChanged();
-  }
-
-  public class FragmentManagerNonConfig {
-  }
-
-  public abstract class FragmentPagerAdapter extends android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter {
-    ctor public FragmentPagerAdapter(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.Fragment getItem(int);
-    method public long getItemId(int);
-    method public boolean isViewFromObject(android.view.View, java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class FragmentStatePagerAdapter extends android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter {
-    ctor public FragmentStatePagerAdapter(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.Fragment getItem(int);
-    method public boolean isViewFromObject(android.view.View, java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public class FragmentTabHost extends android.widget.TabHost implements android.widget.TabHost.OnTabChangeListener {
-    ctor public FragmentTabHost(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public FragmentTabHost(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void addTab(android.widget.TabHost.TabSpec, java.lang.Class<?>, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onTabChanged(java.lang.String);
-    method public deprecated void setup();
-    method public void setup(android.content.Context, android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager);
-    method public void setup(android.content.Context, android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class FragmentTransaction {
-    ctor public FragmentTransaction();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction add(android.support.v4.app.Fragment, java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction add(int, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction add(int, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction addSharedElement(android.view.View, java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction addToBackStack(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction attach(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract int commit();
-    method public abstract int commitAllowingStateLoss();
-    method public abstract void commitNow();
-    method public abstract void commitNowAllowingStateLoss();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction detach(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction disallowAddToBackStack();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction hide(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract boolean isAddToBackStackAllowed();
-    method public abstract boolean isEmpty();
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction remove(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction replace(int, android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction replace(int, android.support.v4.app.Fragment, java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction runOnCommit(java.lang.Runnable);
-    method public abstract deprecated android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setAllowOptimization(boolean);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setBreadCrumbShortTitle(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setBreadCrumbShortTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setBreadCrumbTitle(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setBreadCrumbTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setCustomAnimations(int, int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setCustomAnimations(int, int, int, int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setPrimaryNavigationFragment(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setReorderingAllowed(boolean);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setTransition(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction setTransitionStyle(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction show(android.support.v4.app.Fragment);
-    field public static final int TRANSIT_ENTER_MASK = 4096; // 0x1000
-    field public static final int TRANSIT_EXIT_MASK = 8192; // 0x2000
-    field public static final int TRANSIT_FRAGMENT_CLOSE = 8194; // 0x2002
-    field public static final int TRANSIT_FRAGMENT_FADE = 4099; // 0x1003
-    field public static final int TRANSIT_FRAGMENT_OPEN = 4097; // 0x1001
-    field public static final int TRANSIT_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int TRANSIT_UNSET = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public class ListFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public ListFragment();
-    method public android.widget.ListAdapter getListAdapter();
-    method public android.widget.ListView getListView();
-    method public long getSelectedItemId();
-    method public int getSelectedItemPosition();
-    method public void onListItemClick(android.widget.ListView, android.view.View, int, long);
-    method public void setEmptyText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setListAdapter(android.widget.ListAdapter);
-    method public void setListShown(boolean);
-    method public void setListShownNoAnimation(boolean);
-    method public void setSelection(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class LoaderManager {
-    ctor public LoaderManager();
-    method public abstract void destroyLoader(int);
-    method public abstract void dump(java.lang.String, java.io.FileDescriptor, java.io.PrintWriter, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public static void enableDebugLogging(boolean);
-    method public abstract <D> android.support.v4.content.Loader<D> getLoader(int);
-    method public boolean hasRunningLoaders();
-    method public abstract <D> android.support.v4.content.Loader<D> initLoader(int, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v4.app.LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks<D>);
-    method public abstract <D> android.support.v4.content.Loader<D> restartLoader(int, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v4.app.LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks<D>);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks<D> {
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.content.Loader<D> onCreateLoader(int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void onLoadFinished(android.support.v4.content.Loader<D>, D);
-    method public abstract void onLoaderReset(android.support.v4.content.Loader<D>);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/graphics/drawable/animated/api/27.1.0.txt b/graphics/drawable/animated/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index ebdc90b..0000000
--- a/graphics/drawable/animated/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.graphics.drawable {
-
-  public abstract interface Animatable2Compat implements android.graphics.drawable.Animatable {
-    method public abstract void clearAnimationCallbacks();
-    method public abstract void registerAnimationCallback(android.support.graphics.drawable.Animatable2Compat.AnimationCallback);
-    method public abstract boolean unregisterAnimationCallback(android.support.graphics.drawable.Animatable2Compat.AnimationCallback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class Animatable2Compat.AnimationCallback {
-    ctor public Animatable2Compat.AnimationCallback();
-    method public void onAnimationEnd(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void onAnimationStart(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-  }
-
-  public class AnimatedVectorDrawableCompat extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable implements android.support.graphics.drawable.Animatable2Compat android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.TintAwareDrawable {
-    method public void clearAnimationCallbacks();
-    method public static void clearAnimationCallbacks(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public static android.support.graphics.drawable.AnimatedVectorDrawableCompat create(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public static android.support.graphics.drawable.AnimatedVectorDrawableCompat createFromXmlInner(android.content.Context, android.content.res.Resources, org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser, android.util.AttributeSet, android.content.res.Resources.Theme) throws java.io.IOException, org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException;
-    method public void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public int getOpacity();
-    method public boolean isRunning();
-    method public void registerAnimationCallback(android.support.graphics.drawable.Animatable2Compat.AnimationCallback);
-    method public static void registerAnimationCallback(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.support.graphics.drawable.Animatable2Compat.AnimationCallback);
-    method public void setAlpha(int);
-    method public void setColorFilter(android.graphics.ColorFilter);
-    method public void start();
-    method public void stop();
-    method public boolean unregisterAnimationCallback(android.support.graphics.drawable.Animatable2Compat.AnimationCallback);
-    method public static boolean unregisterAnimationCallback(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.support.graphics.drawable.Animatable2Compat.AnimationCallback);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/graphics/drawable/static/api/27.1.0.txt b/graphics/drawable/static/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 2fe60b8..0000000
--- a/graphics/drawable/static/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.graphics.drawable {
-
-  public class VectorDrawableCompat extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable implements android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.TintAwareDrawable {
-    method public static android.support.graphics.drawable.VectorDrawableCompat create(android.content.res.Resources, int, android.content.res.Resources.Theme);
-    method public static android.support.graphics.drawable.VectorDrawableCompat createFromXmlInner(android.content.res.Resources, org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser, android.util.AttributeSet, android.content.res.Resources.Theme) throws java.io.IOException, org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException;
-    method public void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public int getOpacity();
-    method public void setAlpha(int);
-    method public void setColorFilter(android.graphics.ColorFilter);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/leanback/api/27.1.0.txt b/leanback/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 3a5a22b..0000000
--- a/leanback/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3104 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v17.leanback.app {
-
-  public final class BackgroundManager {
-    method public void attach(android.view.Window);
-    method public void attachToView(android.view.View);
-    method public void clearDrawable();
-    method public int getColor();
-    method public deprecated android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDefaultDimLayer();
-    method public deprecated android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDimLayer();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawable();
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.app.BackgroundManager getInstance(android.app.Activity);
-    method public boolean isAttached();
-    method public boolean isAutoReleaseOnStop();
-    method public void release();
-    method public void setAutoReleaseOnStop(boolean);
-    method public void setBitmap(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public void setColor(int);
-    method public deprecated void setDimLayer(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setThemeDrawableResourceId(int);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class BaseFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrandedFragment {
-    method protected java.lang.Object createEntranceTransition();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.app.ProgressBarManager getProgressBarManager();
-    method protected void onEntranceTransitionEnd();
-    method protected void onEntranceTransitionPrepare();
-    method protected void onEntranceTransitionStart();
-    method public void prepareEntranceTransition();
-    method protected void runEntranceTransition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void startEntranceTransition();
-  }
-
-  public class BaseSupportFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrandedSupportFragment {
-    method protected java.lang.Object createEntranceTransition();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.app.ProgressBarManager getProgressBarManager();
-    method protected void onEntranceTransitionEnd();
-    method protected void onEntranceTransitionPrepare();
-    method protected void onEntranceTransitionStart();
-    method public void prepareEntranceTransition();
-    method protected void runEntranceTransition(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void startEntranceTransition();
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class BrandedFragment extends android.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public BrandedFragment();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBadgeDrawable();
-    method public int getSearchAffordanceColor();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors getSearchAffordanceColors();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public android.view.View getTitleView();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.TitleViewAdapter getTitleViewAdapter();
-    method public void installTitleView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public final boolean isShowingTitle();
-    method public android.view.View onInflateTitleView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void setBadgeDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setOnSearchClickedListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColor(int);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitleView(android.view.View);
-    method public void showTitle(boolean);
-    method public void showTitle(int);
-  }
-
-  public class BrandedSupportFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public BrandedSupportFragment();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBadgeDrawable();
-    method public int getSearchAffordanceColor();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors getSearchAffordanceColors();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public android.view.View getTitleView();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.TitleViewAdapter getTitleViewAdapter();
-    method public void installTitleView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public final boolean isShowingTitle();
-    method public android.view.View onInflateTitleView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void setBadgeDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setOnSearchClickedListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColor(int);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitleView(android.view.View);
-    method public void showTitle(boolean);
-    method public void showTitle(int);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class BrowseFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BaseFragment {
-    ctor public BrowseFragment();
-    method public static android.os.Bundle createArgs(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, int);
-    method public void enableMainFragmentScaling(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void enableRowScaling(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public int getBrandColor();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.HeadersFragment getHeadersFragment();
-    method public int getHeadersState();
-    method public android.app.Fragment getMainFragment();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapterRegistry getMainFragmentRegistry();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener getOnItemViewSelectedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsFragment getRowsFragment();
-    method public int getSelectedPosition();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder getSelectedRowViewHolder();
-    method public final boolean isHeadersTransitionOnBackEnabled();
-    method public boolean isInHeadersTransition();
-    method public boolean isShowingHeaders();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.HeadersFragment onCreateHeadersFragment();
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setBrandColor(int);
-    method public void setBrowseTransitionListener(android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.BrowseTransitionListener);
-    method public void setHeaderPresenterSelector(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    method public void setHeadersState(int);
-    method public final void setHeadersTransitionOnBackEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask);
-    method public void startHeadersTransition(boolean);
-    field public static final int HEADERS_DISABLED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int HEADERS_ENABLED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int HEADERS_HIDDEN = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static deprecated class BrowseFragment.BrowseTransitionListener {
-    ctor public BrowseFragment.BrowseTransitionListener();
-    method public void onHeadersTransitionStart(boolean);
-    method public void onHeadersTransitionStop(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated class BrowseFragment.FragmentFactory<T extends android.app.Fragment> {
-    ctor public BrowseFragment.FragmentFactory();
-    method public abstract T createFragment(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface BrowseFragment.FragmentHost {
-    method public abstract void notifyDataReady(android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapter);
-    method public abstract void notifyViewCreated(android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapter);
-    method public abstract void showTitleView(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static deprecated class BrowseFragment.ListRowFragmentFactory extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.FragmentFactory {
-    ctor public BrowseFragment.ListRowFragmentFactory();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsFragment createFragment(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public static deprecated class BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapter<T extends android.app.Fragment> {
-    ctor public BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapter(T);
-    method public final T getFragment();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.FragmentHost getFragmentHost();
-    method public boolean isScalingEnabled();
-    method public boolean isScrolling();
-    method public void onTransitionEnd();
-    method public boolean onTransitionPrepare();
-    method public void onTransitionStart();
-    method public void setAlignment(int);
-    method public void setEntranceTransitionState(boolean);
-    method public void setExpand(boolean);
-    method public void setScalingEnabled(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapterProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapter getMainFragmentAdapter();
-  }
-
-  public static final deprecated class BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapterRegistry {
-    ctor public BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapterRegistry();
-    method public android.app.Fragment createFragment(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void registerFragment(java.lang.Class, android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.FragmentFactory);
-  }
-
-  public static deprecated class BrowseFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter<T extends android.app.Fragment> {
-    ctor public BrowseFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter(T);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder findRowViewHolderByPosition(int);
-    method public final T getFragment();
-    method public int getSelectedPosition();
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface BrowseFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapterProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter getMainFragmentRowsAdapter();
-  }
-
-  public class BrowseSupportFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BaseSupportFragment {
-    ctor public BrowseSupportFragment();
-    method public static android.os.Bundle createArgs(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, int);
-    method public void enableMainFragmentScaling(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void enableRowScaling(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public int getBrandColor();
-    method public int getHeadersState();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.HeadersSupportFragment getHeadersSupportFragment();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.Fragment getMainFragment();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapterRegistry getMainFragmentRegistry();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener getOnItemViewSelectedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsSupportFragment getRowsSupportFragment();
-    method public int getSelectedPosition();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder getSelectedRowViewHolder();
-    method public final boolean isHeadersTransitionOnBackEnabled();
-    method public boolean isInHeadersTransition();
-    method public boolean isShowingHeaders();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.HeadersSupportFragment onCreateHeadersSupportFragment();
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setBrandColor(int);
-    method public void setBrowseTransitionListener(android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.BrowseTransitionListener);
-    method public void setHeaderPresenterSelector(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    method public void setHeadersState(int);
-    method public final void setHeadersTransitionOnBackEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask);
-    method public void startHeadersTransition(boolean);
-    field public static final int HEADERS_DISABLED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int HEADERS_ENABLED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int HEADERS_HIDDEN = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static class BrowseSupportFragment.BrowseTransitionListener {
-    ctor public BrowseSupportFragment.BrowseTransitionListener();
-    method public void onHeadersTransitionStart(boolean);
-    method public void onHeadersTransitionStop(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class BrowseSupportFragment.FragmentFactory<T extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment> {
-    ctor public BrowseSupportFragment.FragmentFactory();
-    method public abstract T createFragment(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BrowseSupportFragment.FragmentHost {
-    method public abstract void notifyDataReady(android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter);
-    method public abstract void notifyViewCreated(android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter);
-    method public abstract void showTitleView(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static class BrowseSupportFragment.ListRowFragmentFactory extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.FragmentFactory {
-    ctor public BrowseSupportFragment.ListRowFragmentFactory();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsSupportFragment createFragment(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public static class BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter<T extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment> {
-    ctor public BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter(T);
-    method public final T getFragment();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.FragmentHost getFragmentHost();
-    method public boolean isScalingEnabled();
-    method public boolean isScrolling();
-    method public void onTransitionEnd();
-    method public boolean onTransitionPrepare();
-    method public void onTransitionStart();
-    method public void setAlignment(int);
-    method public void setEntranceTransitionState(boolean);
-    method public void setExpand(boolean);
-    method public void setScalingEnabled(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapterProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter getMainFragmentAdapter();
-  }
-
-  public static final class BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapterRegistry {
-    ctor public BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapterRegistry();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.Fragment createFragment(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void registerFragment(java.lang.Class, android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.FragmentFactory);
-  }
-
-  public static class BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter<T extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment> {
-    ctor public BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter(T);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder findRowViewHolderByPosition(int);
-    method public final T getFragment();
-    method public int getSelectedPosition();
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapterProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter getMainFragmentRowsAdapter();
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class DetailsFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BaseFragment {
-    ctor public DetailsFragment();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsParallax getParallax();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsFragment getRowsFragment();
-    method protected deprecated android.view.View inflateTitle(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected void onSetDetailsOverviewRowStatus(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder, int, int, int);
-    method protected void onSetRowStatus(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, int, int, int);
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean);
-    method protected void setupDetailsOverviewRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter);
-    method protected void setupPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class DetailsFragmentBackgroundController {
-    ctor public DetailsFragmentBackgroundController(android.support.v17.leanback.app.DetailsFragment);
-    method public boolean canNavigateToVideoFragment();
-    method public void enableParallax();
-    method public void enableParallax(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxTarget.PropertyValuesHolderTarget);
-    method public final android.app.Fragment findOrCreateVideoFragment();
-    method public final android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBottomDrawable();
-    method public final android.graphics.Bitmap getCoverBitmap();
-    method public final android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getCoverDrawable();
-    method public final int getParallaxDrawableMaxOffset();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue getPlaybackGlue();
-    method public final int getSolidColor();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost onCreateGlueHost();
-    method public android.app.Fragment onCreateVideoFragment();
-    method public final void setCoverBitmap(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public final void setParallaxDrawableMaxOffset(int);
-    method public final void setSolidColor(int);
-    method public void setupVideoPlayback(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue);
-    method public final void switchToRows();
-    method public final void switchToVideo();
-  }
-
-  public class DetailsSupportFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BaseSupportFragment {
-    ctor public DetailsSupportFragment();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsParallax getParallax();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsSupportFragment getRowsSupportFragment();
-    method protected deprecated android.view.View inflateTitle(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected void onSetDetailsOverviewRowStatus(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder, int, int, int);
-    method protected void onSetRowStatus(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, int, int, int);
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean);
-    method protected void setupDetailsOverviewRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter);
-    method protected void setupPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-  }
-
-  public class DetailsSupportFragmentBackgroundController {
-    ctor public DetailsSupportFragmentBackgroundController(android.support.v17.leanback.app.DetailsSupportFragment);
-    method public boolean canNavigateToVideoSupportFragment();
-    method public void enableParallax();
-    method public void enableParallax(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxTarget.PropertyValuesHolderTarget);
-    method public final android.support.v4.app.Fragment findOrCreateVideoSupportFragment();
-    method public final android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBottomDrawable();
-    method public final android.graphics.Bitmap getCoverBitmap();
-    method public final android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getCoverDrawable();
-    method public final int getParallaxDrawableMaxOffset();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue getPlaybackGlue();
-    method public final int getSolidColor();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost onCreateGlueHost();
-    method public android.support.v4.app.Fragment onCreateVideoSupportFragment();
-    method public final void setCoverBitmap(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public final void setParallaxDrawableMaxOffset(int);
-    method public final void setSolidColor(int);
-    method public void setupVideoPlayback(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue);
-    method public final void switchToRows();
-    method public final void switchToVideo();
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class ErrorFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrandedFragment {
-    ctor public ErrorFragment();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBackgroundDrawable();
-    method public android.view.View.OnClickListener getButtonClickListener();
-    method public java.lang.String getButtonText();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getImageDrawable();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getMessage();
-    method public boolean isBackgroundTranslucent();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setButtonClickListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setButtonText(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setDefaultBackground(boolean);
-    method public void setImageDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setMessage(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public class ErrorSupportFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrandedSupportFragment {
-    ctor public ErrorSupportFragment();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBackgroundDrawable();
-    method public android.view.View.OnClickListener getButtonClickListener();
-    method public java.lang.String getButtonText();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getImageDrawable();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getMessage();
-    method public boolean isBackgroundTranslucent();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setButtonClickListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setButtonText(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setDefaultBackground(boolean);
-    method public void setImageDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setMessage(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class GuidedStepFragment extends android.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public GuidedStepFragment();
-    method public static int add(android.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepFragment);
-    method public static int add(android.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepFragment, int);
-    method public static int addAsRoot(android.app.Activity, android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepFragment, int);
-    method public void collapseAction(boolean);
-    method public void collapseSubActions();
-    method public void expandAction(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction, boolean);
-    method public void expandSubActions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction findActionById(long);
-    method public int findActionPositionById(long);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction findButtonActionById(long);
-    method public int findButtonActionPositionById(long);
-    method public void finishGuidedStepFragments();
-    method public android.view.View getActionItemView(int);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction> getActions();
-    method public android.view.View getButtonActionItemView(int);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction> getButtonActions();
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepFragment getCurrentGuidedStepFragment(android.app.FragmentManager);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidanceStylist getGuidanceStylist();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist getGuidedActionsStylist();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist getGuidedButtonActionsStylist();
-    method public int getSelectedActionPosition();
-    method public int getSelectedButtonActionPosition();
-    method public int getUiStyle();
-    method public boolean isExpanded();
-    method public boolean isFocusOutEndAllowed();
-    method public boolean isFocusOutStartAllowed();
-    method public boolean isSubActionsExpanded();
-    method public void notifyActionChanged(int);
-    method public void notifyButtonActionChanged(int);
-    method protected void onAddSharedElementTransition(android.app.FragmentTransaction, android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepFragment);
-    method public void onCreateActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist onCreateActionsStylist();
-    method public android.view.View onCreateBackgroundView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onCreateButtonActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist onCreateButtonActionsStylist();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidanceStylist.Guidance onCreateGuidance(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidanceStylist onCreateGuidanceStylist();
-    method public void onGuidedActionClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void onGuidedActionEditCanceled(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public deprecated void onGuidedActionEdited(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public long onGuidedActionEditedAndProceed(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void onGuidedActionFocused(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method protected void onProvideFragmentTransitions();
-    method public int onProvideTheme();
-    method public boolean onSubGuidedActionClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void openInEditMode(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void popBackStackToGuidedStepFragment(java.lang.Class, int);
-    method public void setActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>);
-    method public void setActionsDiffCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DiffCallback<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>);
-    method public void setButtonActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>);
-    method public void setSelectedActionPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedButtonActionPosition(int);
-    method public void setUiStyle(int);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_UI_STYLE = "uiStyle";
-    field public static final int UI_STYLE_ACTIVITY_ROOT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final deprecated int UI_STYLE_DEFAULT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int UI_STYLE_ENTRANCE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int UI_STYLE_REPLACE = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public class GuidedStepSupportFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public GuidedStepSupportFragment();
-    method public static int add(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepSupportFragment);
-    method public static int add(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager, android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepSupportFragment, int);
-    method public static int addAsRoot(android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity, android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepSupportFragment, int);
-    method public void collapseAction(boolean);
-    method public void collapseSubActions();
-    method public void expandAction(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction, boolean);
-    method public void expandSubActions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction findActionById(long);
-    method public int findActionPositionById(long);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction findButtonActionById(long);
-    method public int findButtonActionPositionById(long);
-    method public void finishGuidedStepSupportFragments();
-    method public android.view.View getActionItemView(int);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction> getActions();
-    method public android.view.View getButtonActionItemView(int);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction> getButtonActions();
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepSupportFragment getCurrentGuidedStepSupportFragment(android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidanceStylist getGuidanceStylist();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist getGuidedActionsStylist();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist getGuidedButtonActionsStylist();
-    method public int getSelectedActionPosition();
-    method public int getSelectedButtonActionPosition();
-    method public int getUiStyle();
-    method public boolean isExpanded();
-    method public boolean isFocusOutEndAllowed();
-    method public boolean isFocusOutStartAllowed();
-    method public boolean isSubActionsExpanded();
-    method public void notifyActionChanged(int);
-    method public void notifyButtonActionChanged(int);
-    method protected void onAddSharedElementTransition(android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction, android.support.v17.leanback.app.GuidedStepSupportFragment);
-    method public void onCreateActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist onCreateActionsStylist();
-    method public android.view.View onCreateBackgroundView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onCreateButtonActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist onCreateButtonActionsStylist();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidanceStylist.Guidance onCreateGuidance(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidanceStylist onCreateGuidanceStylist();
-    method public void onGuidedActionClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void onGuidedActionEditCanceled(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public deprecated void onGuidedActionEdited(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public long onGuidedActionEditedAndProceed(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void onGuidedActionFocused(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method protected void onProvideFragmentTransitions();
-    method public int onProvideTheme();
-    method public boolean onSubGuidedActionClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void openInEditMode(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void popBackStackToGuidedStepSupportFragment(java.lang.Class, int);
-    method public void setActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>);
-    method public void setActionsDiffCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DiffCallback<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>);
-    method public void setButtonActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>);
-    method public void setSelectedActionPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedButtonActionPosition(int);
-    method public void setUiStyle(int);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_UI_STYLE = "uiStyle";
-    field public static final int UI_STYLE_ACTIVITY_ROOT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final deprecated int UI_STYLE_DEFAULT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int UI_STYLE_ENTRANCE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int UI_STYLE_REPLACE = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class HeadersFragment extends android.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public HeadersFragment();
-    method public boolean isScrolling();
-    method public void onTransitionEnd();
-    method public void onTransitionStart();
-    method public void setOnHeaderClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.app.HeadersFragment.OnHeaderClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnHeaderViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.app.HeadersFragment.OnHeaderViewSelectedListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface HeadersFragment.OnHeaderClickedListener {
-    method public abstract void onHeaderClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface HeadersFragment.OnHeaderViewSelectedListener {
-    method public abstract void onHeaderSelected(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row);
-  }
-
-  public class HeadersSupportFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public HeadersSupportFragment();
-    method public boolean isScrolling();
-    method public void onTransitionEnd();
-    method public void onTransitionStart();
-    method public void setOnHeaderClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.app.HeadersSupportFragment.OnHeaderClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnHeaderViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.app.HeadersSupportFragment.OnHeaderViewSelectedListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface HeadersSupportFragment.OnHeaderClickedListener {
-    method public abstract void onHeaderClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface HeadersSupportFragment.OnHeaderViewSelectedListener {
-    method public abstract void onHeaderSelected(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row);
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated class OnboardingFragment extends android.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public OnboardingFragment();
-    method public final int getArrowBackgroundColor();
-    method public final int getArrowColor();
-    method protected final int getCurrentPageIndex();
-    method public final int getDescriptionViewTextColor();
-    method public final int getDotBackgroundColor();
-    method public final int getIconResourceId();
-    method public final int getLogoResourceId();
-    method protected abstract int getPageCount();
-    method protected abstract java.lang.CharSequence getPageDescription(int);
-    method protected abstract java.lang.CharSequence getPageTitle(int);
-    method public final java.lang.CharSequence getStartButtonText();
-    method public final int getTitleViewTextColor();
-    method protected final boolean isLogoAnimationFinished();
-    method protected void moveToNextPage();
-    method protected void moveToPreviousPage();
-    method protected abstract android.view.View onCreateBackgroundView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected abstract android.view.View onCreateContentView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected android.animation.Animator onCreateDescriptionAnimator();
-    method protected android.animation.Animator onCreateEnterAnimation();
-    method protected abstract android.view.View onCreateForegroundView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected android.animation.Animator onCreateLogoAnimation();
-    method protected android.animation.Animator onCreateTitleAnimator();
-    method protected void onFinishFragment();
-    method protected void onLogoAnimationFinished();
-    method protected void onPageChanged(int, int);
-    method public int onProvideTheme();
-    method public void setArrowBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setArrowColor(int);
-    method public void setDescriptionViewTextColor(int);
-    method public void setDotBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public final void setIconResouceId(int);
-    method public final void setLogoResourceId(int);
-    method public void setStartButtonText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitleViewTextColor(int);
-    method protected final void startEnterAnimation(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class OnboardingSupportFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public OnboardingSupportFragment();
-    method public final int getArrowBackgroundColor();
-    method public final int getArrowColor();
-    method protected final int getCurrentPageIndex();
-    method public final int getDescriptionViewTextColor();
-    method public final int getDotBackgroundColor();
-    method public final int getIconResourceId();
-    method public final int getLogoResourceId();
-    method protected abstract int getPageCount();
-    method protected abstract java.lang.CharSequence getPageDescription(int);
-    method protected abstract java.lang.CharSequence getPageTitle(int);
-    method public final java.lang.CharSequence getStartButtonText();
-    method public final int getTitleViewTextColor();
-    method protected final boolean isLogoAnimationFinished();
-    method protected void moveToNextPage();
-    method protected void moveToPreviousPage();
-    method protected abstract android.view.View onCreateBackgroundView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected abstract android.view.View onCreateContentView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected android.animation.Animator onCreateDescriptionAnimator();
-    method protected android.animation.Animator onCreateEnterAnimation();
-    method protected abstract android.view.View onCreateForegroundView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected android.animation.Animator onCreateLogoAnimation();
-    method protected android.animation.Animator onCreateTitleAnimator();
-    method protected void onFinishFragment();
-    method protected void onLogoAnimationFinished();
-    method protected void onPageChanged(int, int);
-    method public int onProvideTheme();
-    method public void setArrowBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setArrowColor(int);
-    method public void setDescriptionViewTextColor(int);
-    method public void setDotBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public final void setIconResouceId(int);
-    method public final void setLogoResourceId(int);
-    method public void setStartButtonText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitleViewTextColor(int);
-    method protected final void startEnterAnimation(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class PlaybackFragment extends android.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public PlaybackFragment();
-    method public deprecated void fadeOut();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public int getBackgroundType();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.ProgressBarManager getProgressBarManager();
-    method public void hideControlsOverlay(boolean);
-    method public boolean isControlsOverlayAutoHideEnabled();
-    method public boolean isControlsOverlayVisible();
-    method public deprecated boolean isFadingEnabled();
-    method public void notifyPlaybackRowChanged();
-    method protected void onBufferingStateChanged(boolean);
-    method protected void onError(int, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method protected void onVideoSizeChanged(int, int);
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setBackgroundType(int);
-    method public void setControlsOverlayAutoHideEnabled(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setFadingEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setHostCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost.HostCallback);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public final void setOnKeyInterceptListener(android.view.View.OnKeyListener);
-    method public void setOnPlaybackItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setPlaybackRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row);
-    method public void setPlaybackRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter);
-    method public void setPlaybackSeekUiClient(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi.Client);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean);
-    method public void showControlsOverlay(boolean);
-    method public void tickle();
-    field public static final int BG_DARK = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int BG_LIGHT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int BG_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class PlaybackFragmentGlueHost extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi {
-    ctor public PlaybackFragmentGlueHost(android.support.v17.leanback.app.PlaybackFragment);
-    method public void fadeOut();
-    method public void setPlaybackSeekUiClient(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi.Client);
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackSupportFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public PlaybackSupportFragment();
-    method public deprecated void fadeOut();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public int getBackgroundType();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.ProgressBarManager getProgressBarManager();
-    method public void hideControlsOverlay(boolean);
-    method public boolean isControlsOverlayAutoHideEnabled();
-    method public boolean isControlsOverlayVisible();
-    method public deprecated boolean isFadingEnabled();
-    method public void notifyPlaybackRowChanged();
-    method protected void onBufferingStateChanged(boolean);
-    method protected void onError(int, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method protected void onVideoSizeChanged(int, int);
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setBackgroundType(int);
-    method public void setControlsOverlayAutoHideEnabled(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setFadingEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setHostCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost.HostCallback);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public final void setOnKeyInterceptListener(android.view.View.OnKeyListener);
-    method public void setOnPlaybackItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setPlaybackRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row);
-    method public void setPlaybackRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter);
-    method public void setPlaybackSeekUiClient(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi.Client);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean);
-    method public void showControlsOverlay(boolean);
-    method public void tickle();
-    field public static final int BG_DARK = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int BG_LIGHT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int BG_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackSupportFragmentGlueHost extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi {
-    ctor public PlaybackSupportFragmentGlueHost(android.support.v17.leanback.app.PlaybackSupportFragment);
-    method public void fadeOut();
-    method public void setPlaybackSeekUiClient(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi.Client);
-  }
-
-  public final class ProgressBarManager {
-    ctor public ProgressBarManager();
-    method public void disableProgressBar();
-    method public void enableProgressBar();
-    method public long getInitialDelay();
-    method public void hide();
-    method public void setInitialDelay(long);
-    method public void setProgressBarView(android.view.View);
-    method public void setRootView(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public void show();
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class RowsFragment extends android.app.Fragment implements android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapterProvider android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapterProvider {
-    ctor public RowsFragment();
-    method public deprecated void enableRowScaling(boolean);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridView findGridViewFromRoot(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder findRowViewHolderByPosition(int);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapter getMainFragmentAdapter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter getMainFragmentRowsAdapter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener getOnItemViewSelectedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder getRowViewHolder(int);
-    method public boolean isScrolling();
-    method public void onTransitionEnd();
-    method public boolean onTransitionPrepare();
-    method public void setAlignment(int);
-    method public void setEntranceTransitionState(boolean);
-    method public void setExpand(boolean);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask);
-  }
-
-  public static class RowsFragment.MainFragmentAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentAdapter {
-    ctor public RowsFragment.MainFragmentAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsFragment);
-  }
-
-  public static deprecated class RowsFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter {
-    ctor public RowsFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsFragment);
-  }
-
-  public class RowsSupportFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment implements android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapterProvider android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapterProvider {
-    ctor public RowsSupportFragment();
-    method public deprecated void enableRowScaling(boolean);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridView findGridViewFromRoot(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder findRowViewHolderByPosition(int);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter getMainFragmentAdapter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter getMainFragmentRowsAdapter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener getOnItemViewSelectedListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder getRowViewHolder(int);
-    method public boolean isScrolling();
-    method public void onTransitionEnd();
-    method public boolean onTransitionPrepare();
-    method public void setAlignment(int);
-    method public void setEntranceTransitionState(boolean);
-    method public void setExpand(boolean);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, boolean, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask);
-  }
-
-  public static class RowsSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter {
-    ctor public RowsSupportFragment.MainFragmentAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsSupportFragment);
-  }
-
-  public static class RowsSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BrowseSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter {
-    ctor public RowsSupportFragment.MainFragmentRowsAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsSupportFragment);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class SearchFragment extends android.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public SearchFragment();
-    method public static android.os.Bundle createArgs(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.os.Bundle createArgs(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public void displayCompletions(java.util.List<java.lang.String>);
-    method public void displayCompletions(android.view.inputmethod.CompletionInfo[]);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBadgeDrawable();
-    method public android.content.Intent getRecognizerIntent();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsFragment getRowsFragment();
-    method public java.lang.String getTitle();
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.app.SearchFragment newInstance(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setBadgeDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColorsInListening(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setSearchQuery(java.lang.String, boolean);
-    method public void setSearchQuery(android.content.Intent, boolean);
-    method public void setSearchResultProvider(android.support.v17.leanback.app.SearchFragment.SearchResultProvider);
-    method public deprecated void setSpeechRecognitionCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SpeechRecognitionCallback);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.String);
-    method public void startRecognition();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SearchFragment.SearchResultProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getResultsAdapter();
-    method public abstract boolean onQueryTextChange(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract boolean onQueryTextSubmit(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public class SearchSupportFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public SearchSupportFragment();
-    method public static android.os.Bundle createArgs(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.os.Bundle createArgs(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public void displayCompletions(java.util.List<java.lang.String>);
-    method public void displayCompletions(android.view.inputmethod.CompletionInfo[]);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBadgeDrawable();
-    method public android.content.Intent getRecognizerIntent();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.app.RowsSupportFragment getRowsSupportFragment();
-    method public java.lang.String getTitle();
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.app.SearchSupportFragment newInstance(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setBadgeDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColorsInListening(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setSearchQuery(java.lang.String, boolean);
-    method public void setSearchQuery(android.content.Intent, boolean);
-    method public void setSearchResultProvider(android.support.v17.leanback.app.SearchSupportFragment.SearchResultProvider);
-    method public deprecated void setSpeechRecognitionCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SpeechRecognitionCallback);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.String);
-    method public void startRecognition();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SearchSupportFragment.SearchResultProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getResultsAdapter();
-    method public abstract boolean onQueryTextChange(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract boolean onQueryTextSubmit(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class VerticalGridFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BaseFragment {
-    ctor public VerticalGridFragment();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridPresenter getGridPresenter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setGridPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridPresenter);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-  }
-
-  public class VerticalGridSupportFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.BaseSupportFragment {
-    ctor public VerticalGridSupportFragment();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridPresenter getGridPresenter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setGridPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridPresenter);
-    method public void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class VideoFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.PlaybackFragment {
-    ctor public VideoFragment();
-    method public android.view.SurfaceView getSurfaceView();
-    method public void setSurfaceHolderCallback(android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class VideoFragmentGlueHost extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.PlaybackFragmentGlueHost implements android.support.v17.leanback.media.SurfaceHolderGlueHost {
-    ctor public VideoFragmentGlueHost(android.support.v17.leanback.app.VideoFragment);
-    method public void setSurfaceHolderCallback(android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback);
-  }
-
-  public class VideoSupportFragment extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.PlaybackSupportFragment {
-    ctor public VideoSupportFragment();
-    method public android.view.SurfaceView getSurfaceView();
-    method public void setSurfaceHolderCallback(android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback);
-  }
-
-  public class VideoSupportFragmentGlueHost extends android.support.v17.leanback.app.PlaybackSupportFragmentGlueHost implements android.support.v17.leanback.media.SurfaceHolderGlueHost {
-    ctor public VideoSupportFragmentGlueHost(android.support.v17.leanback.app.VideoSupportFragment);
-    method public void setSurfaceHolderCallback(android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v17.leanback.database {
-
-  public abstract class CursorMapper {
-    ctor public CursorMapper();
-    method protected abstract java.lang.Object bind(android.database.Cursor);
-    method protected abstract void bindColumns(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public java.lang.Object convert(android.database.Cursor);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v17.leanback.graphics {
-
-  public class BoundsRule {
-    ctor public BoundsRule();
-    ctor public BoundsRule(android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule);
-    method public void calculateBounds(android.graphics.Rect, android.graphics.Rect);
-    field public android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule.ValueRule bottom;
-    field public android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule.ValueRule left;
-    field public android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule.ValueRule right;
-    field public android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule.ValueRule top;
-  }
-
-  public static final class BoundsRule.ValueRule {
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule.ValueRule absoluteValue(int);
-    method public int getAbsoluteValue();
-    method public float getFraction();
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule.ValueRule inheritFromParent(float);
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule.ValueRule inheritFromParentWithOffset(float, int);
-    method public void setAbsoluteValue(int);
-    method public void setFraction(float);
-  }
-
-  public final class ColorFilterCache {
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.ColorFilterCache getColorFilterCache(int);
-    method public android.graphics.ColorFilter getFilterForLevel(float);
-  }
-
-  public final class ColorFilterDimmer {
-    method public void applyFilterToView(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.ColorFilterDimmer create(android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.ColorFilterCache, float, float);
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.ColorFilterDimmer createDefault(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.graphics.ColorFilter getColorFilter();
-    method public android.graphics.Paint getPaint();
-    method public void setActiveLevel(float);
-  }
-
-  public final class ColorOverlayDimmer {
-    method public int applyToColor(int);
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.ColorOverlayDimmer createColorOverlayDimmer(int, float, float);
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.ColorOverlayDimmer createDefault(android.content.Context);
-    method public void drawColorOverlay(android.graphics.Canvas, android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public int getAlpha();
-    method public float getAlphaFloat();
-    method public android.graphics.Paint getPaint();
-    method public boolean needsDraw();
-    method public void setActiveLevel(float);
-  }
-
-  public class CompositeDrawable extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable implements android.graphics.drawable.Drawable.Callback {
-    ctor public CompositeDrawable();
-    method public void addChildDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable getChildAt(int);
-    method public int getChildCount();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawable(int);
-    method public int getOpacity();
-    method public void invalidateDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void removeChild(int);
-    method public void removeDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void scheduleDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, java.lang.Runnable, long);
-    method public void setAlpha(int);
-    method public void setChildDrawableAt(int, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setColorFilter(android.graphics.ColorFilter);
-    method public void unscheduleDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, java.lang.Runnable);
-  }
-
-  public static final class CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable {
-    ctor public CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.BoundsRule getBoundsRule();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawable();
-    method public void recomputeBounds();
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable, java.lang.Integer> BOTTOM_ABSOLUTE;
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable, java.lang.Float> BOTTOM_FRACTION;
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable, java.lang.Integer> LEFT_ABSOLUTE;
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable, java.lang.Float> LEFT_FRACTION;
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable, java.lang.Integer> RIGHT_ABSOLUTE;
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable, java.lang.Float> RIGHT_FRACTION;
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable, java.lang.Integer> TOP_ABSOLUTE;
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.CompositeDrawable.ChildDrawable, java.lang.Float> TOP_FRACTION;
-  }
-
-  public class FitWidthBitmapDrawable extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable {
-    ctor public FitWidthBitmapDrawable();
-    method public void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public android.graphics.Bitmap getBitmap();
-    method public int getOpacity();
-    method public android.graphics.Rect getSource();
-    method public int getVerticalOffset();
-    method public void setAlpha(int);
-    method public void setBitmap(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public void setColorFilter(android.graphics.ColorFilter);
-    method public void setSource(android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public void setVerticalOffset(int);
-    field public static final android.util.Property<android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.FitWidthBitmapDrawable, java.lang.Integer> PROPERTY_VERTICAL_OFFSET;
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v17.leanback.media {
-
-  public class MediaControllerAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter {
-    ctor public MediaControllerAdapter(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getMediaArt(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat getMediaController();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getMediaSubtitle();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getMediaTitle();
-    method public void pause();
-    method public void play();
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated class MediaControllerGlue extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackControlGlue {
-    ctor public MediaControllerGlue(android.content.Context, int[], int[]);
-    method public void attachToMediaController(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat);
-    method public void detach();
-    method public int getCurrentPosition();
-    method public int getCurrentSpeedId();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getMediaArt();
-    method public final android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat getMediaController();
-    method public int getMediaDuration();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getMediaSubtitle();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getMediaTitle();
-    method public long getSupportedActions();
-    method public boolean hasValidMedia();
-    method public boolean isMediaPlaying();
-  }
-
-  public class MediaPlayerAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter {
-    ctor public MediaPlayerAdapter(android.content.Context);
-    method protected boolean onError(int, int);
-    method protected boolean onInfo(int, int);
-    method protected void onSeekComplete();
-    method public void pause();
-    method public void play();
-    method public void release();
-    method public void reset();
-    method public boolean setDataSource(android.net.Uri);
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackBannerControlGlue<T extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter> extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackBaseControlGlue {
-    ctor public PlaybackBannerControlGlue(android.content.Context, int[], T);
-    ctor public PlaybackBannerControlGlue(android.content.Context, int[], int[], T);
-    method public int[] getFastForwardSpeeds();
-    method public int[] getRewindSpeeds();
-    method public void onActionClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter onCreateRowPresenter();
-    method public boolean onKey(android.view.View, int, android.view.KeyEvent);
-    field public static final int ACTION_CUSTOM_LEFT_FIRST = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ACTION_CUSTOM_RIGHT_FIRST = 4096; // 0x1000
-    field public static final int ACTION_FAST_FORWARD = 128; // 0x80
-    field public static final int ACTION_PLAY_PAUSE = 64; // 0x40
-    field public static final int ACTION_REWIND = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int ACTION_SKIP_TO_NEXT = 256; // 0x100
-    field public static final int ACTION_SKIP_TO_PREVIOUS = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L0 = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L1 = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L2 = 12; // 0xc
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L3 = 13; // 0xd
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L4 = 14; // 0xe
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_INVALID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_NORMAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_PAUSED = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PlaybackBaseControlGlue<T extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter> extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener android.view.View.OnKeyListener {
-    ctor public PlaybackBaseControlGlue(android.content.Context, T);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getArt();
-    method public final long getBufferedPosition();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow getControlsRow();
-    method public long getCurrentPosition();
-    method public final long getDuration();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter getPlaybackRowPresenter();
-    method public final T getPlayerAdapter();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSubtitle();
-    method public long getSupportedActions();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public boolean isControlsOverlayAutoHideEnabled();
-    method public final boolean isPlaying();
-    method public final boolean isPrepared();
-    method protected static void notifyItemChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ArrayObjectAdapter, java.lang.Object);
-    method protected void onCreatePrimaryActions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ArrayObjectAdapter);
-    method protected abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter onCreateRowPresenter();
-    method protected void onCreateSecondaryActions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ArrayObjectAdapter);
-    method protected void onMetadataChanged();
-    method protected void onPlayCompleted();
-    method protected void onPlayStateChanged();
-    method protected void onPreparedStateChanged();
-    method protected void onUpdateBufferedProgress();
-    method protected void onUpdateDuration();
-    method protected void onUpdateProgress();
-    method public final void seekTo(long);
-    method public void setArt(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setControlsOverlayAutoHideEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setControlsRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow);
-    method public void setPlaybackRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter);
-    method public void setSubtitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    field public static final int ACTION_CUSTOM_LEFT_FIRST = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ACTION_CUSTOM_RIGHT_FIRST = 4096; // 0x1000
-    field public static final int ACTION_FAST_FORWARD = 128; // 0x80
-    field public static final int ACTION_PLAY_PAUSE = 64; // 0x40
-    field public static final int ACTION_REPEAT = 512; // 0x200
-    field public static final int ACTION_REWIND = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int ACTION_SHUFFLE = 1024; // 0x400
-    field public static final int ACTION_SKIP_TO_NEXT = 256; // 0x100
-    field public static final int ACTION_SKIP_TO_PREVIOUS = 16; // 0x10
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PlaybackControlGlue extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener android.view.View.OnKeyListener {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlGlue(android.content.Context, int[]);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlGlue(android.content.Context, int[], int[]);
-    method public void enableProgressUpdating(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow getControlsRow();
-    method public deprecated android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRowPresenter getControlsRowPresenter();
-    method public abstract int getCurrentPosition();
-    method public abstract int getCurrentSpeedId();
-    method public int[] getFastForwardSpeeds();
-    method public abstract android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getMediaArt();
-    method public abstract int getMediaDuration();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getMediaSubtitle();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getMediaTitle();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter getPlaybackRowPresenter();
-    method public int[] getRewindSpeeds();
-    method public abstract long getSupportedActions();
-    method public int getUpdatePeriod();
-    method public abstract boolean hasValidMedia();
-    method public boolean isFadingEnabled();
-    method public abstract boolean isMediaPlaying();
-    method public void onActionClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action);
-    method protected void onCreateControlsRowAndPresenter();
-    method protected void onCreatePrimaryActions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SparseArrayObjectAdapter);
-    method protected void onCreateSecondaryActions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ArrayObjectAdapter);
-    method public boolean onKey(android.view.View, int, android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method protected void onMetadataChanged();
-    method protected void onStateChanged();
-    method public void play(int);
-    method public final void play();
-    method public void setControlsRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow);
-    method public deprecated void setControlsRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRowPresenter);
-    method public void setFadingEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setPlaybackRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter);
-    method public void updateProgress();
-    field public static final int ACTION_CUSTOM_LEFT_FIRST = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ACTION_CUSTOM_RIGHT_FIRST = 4096; // 0x1000
-    field public static final int ACTION_FAST_FORWARD = 128; // 0x80
-    field public static final int ACTION_PLAY_PAUSE = 64; // 0x40
-    field public static final int ACTION_REWIND = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int ACTION_SKIP_TO_NEXT = 256; // 0x100
-    field public static final int ACTION_SKIP_TO_PREVIOUS = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L0 = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L1 = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L2 = 12; // 0xc
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L3 = 13; // 0xd
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_FAST_L4 = 14; // 0xe
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_INVALID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_NORMAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_SPEED_PAUSED = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PlaybackGlue {
-    ctor public PlaybackGlue(android.content.Context);
-    method public void addPlayerCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue.PlayerCallback);
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost getHost();
-    method protected java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue.PlayerCallback> getPlayerCallbacks();
-    method public boolean isPlaying();
-    method public boolean isPrepared();
-    method public void next();
-    method protected void onAttachedToHost(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost);
-    method protected void onDetachedFromHost();
-    method protected void onHostPause();
-    method protected void onHostResume();
-    method protected void onHostStart();
-    method protected void onHostStop();
-    method public void pause();
-    method public void play();
-    method public void playWhenPrepared();
-    method public void previous();
-    method public void removePlayerCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue.PlayerCallback);
-    method public final void setHost(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class PlaybackGlue.PlayerCallback {
-    ctor public PlaybackGlue.PlayerCallback();
-    method public void onPlayCompleted(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue);
-    method public void onPlayStateChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue);
-    method public void onPreparedStateChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlue);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PlaybackGlueHost {
-    ctor public PlaybackGlueHost();
-    method public deprecated void fadeOut();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost.PlayerCallback getPlayerCallback();
-    method public void hideControlsOverlay(boolean);
-    method public boolean isControlsOverlayAutoHideEnabled();
-    method public boolean isControlsOverlayVisible();
-    method public void notifyPlaybackRowChanged();
-    method public void setControlsOverlayAutoHideEnabled(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setFadingEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setHostCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost.HostCallback);
-    method public void setOnActionClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener);
-    method public void setOnKeyInterceptListener(android.view.View.OnKeyListener);
-    method public void setPlaybackRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row);
-    method public void setPlaybackRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter);
-    method public void showControlsOverlay(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class PlaybackGlueHost.HostCallback {
-    ctor public PlaybackGlueHost.HostCallback();
-    method public void onHostDestroy();
-    method public void onHostPause();
-    method public void onHostResume();
-    method public void onHostStart();
-    method public void onHostStop();
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackGlueHost.PlayerCallback {
-    ctor public PlaybackGlueHost.PlayerCallback();
-    method public void onBufferingStateChanged(boolean);
-    method public void onError(int, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void onVideoSizeChanged(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackTransportControlGlue<T extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter> extends android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackBaseControlGlue {
-    ctor public PlaybackTransportControlGlue(android.content.Context, T);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekDataProvider getSeekProvider();
-    method public final boolean isSeekEnabled();
-    method public void onActionClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter onCreateRowPresenter();
-    method public boolean onKey(android.view.View, int, android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public final void setSeekEnabled(boolean);
-    method public final void setSeekProvider(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekDataProvider);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PlayerAdapter {
-    ctor public PlayerAdapter();
-    method public void fastForward();
-    method public long getBufferedPosition();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter.Callback getCallback();
-    method public long getCurrentPosition();
-    method public long getDuration();
-    method public long getSupportedActions();
-    method public boolean isPlaying();
-    method public boolean isPrepared();
-    method public void next();
-    method public void onAttachedToHost(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlaybackGlueHost);
-    method public void onDetachedFromHost();
-    method public abstract void pause();
-    method public abstract void play();
-    method public void previous();
-    method public void rewind();
-    method public void seekTo(long);
-    method public final void setCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter.Callback);
-    method public void setProgressUpdatingEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setRepeatAction(int);
-    method public void setShuffleAction(int);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlayerAdapter.Callback {
-    ctor public PlayerAdapter.Callback();
-    method public void onBufferedPositionChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter);
-    method public void onBufferingStateChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter, boolean);
-    method public void onCurrentPositionChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter);
-    method public void onDurationChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter);
-    method public void onError(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter, int, java.lang.String);
-    method public void onMetadataChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter);
-    method public void onPlayCompleted(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter);
-    method public void onPlayStateChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter);
-    method public void onPreparedStateChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter);
-    method public void onVideoSizeChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.media.PlayerAdapter, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface SurfaceHolderGlueHost {
-    method public abstract void setSurfaceHolderCallback(android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v17.leanback.system {
-
-  public class Settings {
-    method public boolean getBoolean(java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.system.Settings getInstance(android.content.Context);
-    method public void setBoolean(java.lang.String, boolean);
-    field public static final java.lang.String OUTLINE_CLIPPING_DISABLED = "OUTLINE_CLIPPING_DISABLED";
-    field public static final java.lang.String PREFER_STATIC_SHADOWS = "PREFER_STATIC_SHADOWS";
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v17.leanback.widget {
-
-  public abstract class AbstractDetailsDescriptionPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter {
-    ctor public AbstractDetailsDescriptionPresenter();
-    method protected abstract void onBindDescription(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.AbstractDetailsDescriptionPresenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public final void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.AbstractDetailsDescriptionPresenter.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public void onUnbindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public static class AbstractDetailsDescriptionPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public AbstractDetailsDescriptionPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public android.widget.TextView getBody();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getSubtitle();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getTitle();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class AbstractMediaItemPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter {
-    ctor public AbstractMediaItemPresenter();
-    ctor public AbstractMediaItemPresenter(int);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder createRowViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getActionPresenter();
-    method protected int getMediaPlayState(java.lang.Object);
-    method public int getThemeId();
-    method public boolean hasMediaRowSeparator();
-    method protected abstract void onBindMediaDetails(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.AbstractMediaItemPresenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void onBindMediaPlayState(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.AbstractMediaItemPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void onBindRowActions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.AbstractMediaItemPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void onUnbindMediaDetails(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.AbstractMediaItemPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onUnbindMediaPlayState(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.AbstractMediaItemPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setActionPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    method public void setBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setHasMediaRowSeparator(boolean);
-    method public void setThemeId(int);
-    field public static final int PLAY_STATE_INITIAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int PLAY_STATE_PAUSED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PLAY_STATE_PLAYING = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static class AbstractMediaItemPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public AbstractMediaItemPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public android.view.ViewGroup getMediaItemActionsContainer();
-    method public android.view.View getMediaItemDetailsView();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getMediaItemDurationView();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getMediaItemNameView();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getMediaItemNumberView();
-    method public android.widget.ViewFlipper getMediaItemNumberViewFlipper();
-    method public android.view.View getMediaItemPausedView();
-    method public android.view.View getMediaItemPlayingView();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.MultiActionsProvider.MultiAction[] getMediaItemRowActions();
-    method public android.view.View getMediaItemRowSeparator();
-    method public android.view.View getSelectorView();
-    method public void notifyActionChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.MultiActionsProvider.MultiAction);
-    method public void notifyDetailsChanged();
-    method public void notifyPlayStateChanged();
-    method public void onBindRowActions();
-    method public void setSelectedMediaItemNumberView(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class AbstractMediaListHeaderPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter {
-    ctor public AbstractMediaListHeaderPresenter(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor public AbstractMediaListHeaderPresenter();
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder createRowViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected abstract void onBindMediaListHeaderViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.AbstractMediaListHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setBackgroundColor(int);
-  }
-
-  public static class AbstractMediaListHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public AbstractMediaListHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public android.widget.TextView getHeaderView();
-  }
-
-  public class Action {
-    ctor public Action(long);
-    ctor public Action(long, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    ctor public Action(long, java.lang.CharSequence, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    ctor public Action(long, java.lang.CharSequence, java.lang.CharSequence, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public final void addKeyCode(int);
-    method public final android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getIcon();
-    method public final long getId();
-    method public final java.lang.CharSequence getLabel1();
-    method public final java.lang.CharSequence getLabel2();
-    method public final void removeKeyCode(int);
-    method public final boolean respondsToKeyCode(int);
-    method public final void setIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public final void setId(long);
-    method public final void setLabel1(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public final void setLabel2(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    field public static final long NO_ID = -1L; // 0xffffffffffffffffL
-  }
-
-  public class ArrayObjectAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter {
-    ctor public ArrayObjectAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    ctor public ArrayObjectAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    ctor public ArrayObjectAdapter();
-    method public void add(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void add(int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void addAll(int, java.util.Collection);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public java.lang.Object get(int);
-    method public int indexOf(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void move(int, int);
-    method public void notifyArrayItemRangeChanged(int, int);
-    method public boolean remove(java.lang.Object);
-    method public int removeItems(int, int);
-    method public void replace(int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setItems(java.util.List, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DiffCallback);
-    method public int size();
-    method public <E> java.util.List<E> unmodifiableList();
-  }
-
-  public class BaseCardView extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public BaseCardView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public BaseCardView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public BaseCardView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseCardView.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseCardView.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseCardView.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getCardType();
-    method public deprecated int getExtraVisibility();
-    method public int getInfoVisibility();
-    method public boolean isSelectedAnimationDelayed();
-    method public void setCardType(int);
-    method public deprecated void setExtraVisibility(int);
-    method public void setInfoVisibility(int);
-    method public void setSelectedAnimationDelayed(boolean);
-    field public static final int CARD_REGION_VISIBLE_ACTIVATED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int CARD_REGION_VISIBLE_ALWAYS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int CARD_REGION_VISIBLE_SELECTED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_INFO_OVER = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_INFO_UNDER = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_INFO_UNDER_WITH_EXTRA = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_MAIN_ONLY = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static class BaseCardView.LayoutParams extends android.widget.FrameLayout.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public BaseCardView.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public BaseCardView.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public BaseCardView.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public BaseCardView.LayoutParams(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseCardView.LayoutParams);
-    field public static final int VIEW_TYPE_EXTRA = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int VIEW_TYPE_INFO = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int VIEW_TYPE_MAIN = 0; // 0x0
-    field public int viewType;
-  }
-
-  public abstract class BaseGridView extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView {
-    method public void addOnChildViewHolderSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnChildViewHolderSelectedListener);
-    method public void animateIn();
-    method public void animateOut();
-    method public int getChildDrawingOrder(int, int);
-    method public deprecated int getHorizontalMargin();
-    method public int getHorizontalSpacing();
-    method public int getInitialPrefetchItemCount();
-    method public int getItemAlignmentOffset();
-    method public float getItemAlignmentOffsetPercent();
-    method public int getItemAlignmentViewId();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseGridView.OnUnhandledKeyListener getOnUnhandledKeyListener();
-    method public final int getSaveChildrenLimitNumber();
-    method public final int getSaveChildrenPolicy();
-    method public int getSelectedPosition();
-    method public deprecated int getVerticalMargin();
-    method public int getVerticalSpacing();
-    method public void getViewSelectedOffsets(android.view.View, int[]);
-    method public int getWindowAlignment();
-    method public int getWindowAlignmentOffset();
-    method public float getWindowAlignmentOffsetPercent();
-    method public boolean hasPreviousViewInSameRow(int);
-    method public boolean isChildLayoutAnimated();
-    method public boolean isFocusDrawingOrderEnabled();
-    method public final boolean isFocusSearchDisabled();
-    method public boolean isItemAlignmentOffsetWithPadding();
-    method public boolean isScrollEnabled();
-    method public boolean isWindowAlignmentPreferKeyLineOverHighEdge();
-    method public boolean isWindowAlignmentPreferKeyLineOverLowEdge();
-    method public boolean onRequestFocusInDescendants(int, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public void removeOnChildViewHolderSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnChildViewHolderSelectedListener);
-    method public void setAnimateChildLayout(boolean);
-    method public void setChildrenVisibility(int);
-    method public void setFocusDrawingOrderEnabled(boolean);
-    method public final void setFocusSearchDisabled(boolean);
-    method public void setGravity(int);
-    method public void setHasOverlappingRendering(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setHorizontalMargin(int);
-    method public void setHorizontalSpacing(int);
-    method public void setInitialPrefetchItemCount(int);
-    method public void setItemAlignmentOffset(int);
-    method public void setItemAlignmentOffsetPercent(float);
-    method public void setItemAlignmentOffsetWithPadding(boolean);
-    method public void setItemAlignmentViewId(int);
-    method public deprecated void setItemMargin(int);
-    method public void setItemSpacing(int);
-    method public void setLayoutEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setOnChildLaidOutListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnChildLaidOutListener);
-    method public void setOnChildSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnChildSelectedListener);
-    method public void setOnChildViewHolderSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnChildViewHolderSelectedListener);
-    method public void setOnKeyInterceptListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseGridView.OnKeyInterceptListener);
-    method public void setOnMotionInterceptListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseGridView.OnMotionInterceptListener);
-    method public void setOnTouchInterceptListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseGridView.OnTouchInterceptListener);
-    method public void setOnUnhandledKeyListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseGridView.OnUnhandledKeyListener);
-    method public void setPruneChild(boolean);
-    method public final void setSaveChildrenLimitNumber(int);
-    method public final void setSaveChildrenPolicy(int);
-    method public void setScrollEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, int);
-    method public void setSelectedPosition(int, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ViewHolderTask);
-    method public void setSelectedPositionSmooth(int);
-    method public void setSelectedPositionSmooth(int, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ViewHolderTask);
-    method public deprecated void setVerticalMargin(int);
-    method public void setVerticalSpacing(int);
-    method public void setWindowAlignment(int);
-    method public void setWindowAlignmentOffset(int);
-    method public void setWindowAlignmentOffsetPercent(float);
-    method public void setWindowAlignmentPreferKeyLineOverHighEdge(boolean);
-    method public void setWindowAlignmentPreferKeyLineOverLowEdge(boolean);
-    field public static final float ITEM_ALIGN_OFFSET_PERCENT_DISABLED = -1.0f;
-    field public static final int SAVE_ALL_CHILD = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int SAVE_LIMITED_CHILD = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SAVE_NO_CHILD = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SAVE_ON_SCREEN_CHILD = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int WINDOW_ALIGN_BOTH_EDGE = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int WINDOW_ALIGN_HIGH_EDGE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int WINDOW_ALIGN_LOW_EDGE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int WINDOW_ALIGN_NO_EDGE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final float WINDOW_ALIGN_OFFSET_PERCENT_DISABLED = -1.0f;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BaseGridView.OnKeyInterceptListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onInterceptKeyEvent(android.view.KeyEvent);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BaseGridView.OnMotionInterceptListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onInterceptMotionEvent(android.view.MotionEvent);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BaseGridView.OnTouchInterceptListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(android.view.MotionEvent);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BaseGridView.OnUnhandledKeyListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onUnhandledKey(android.view.KeyEvent);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface BaseOnItemViewClickedListener<T> {
-    method public abstract void onItemClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, T);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener<T> {
-    method public abstract void onItemSelected(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, T);
-  }
-
-  public class BrowseFrameLayout extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public BrowseFrameLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public BrowseFrameLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public BrowseFrameLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BrowseFrameLayout.OnChildFocusListener getOnChildFocusListener();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BrowseFrameLayout.OnFocusSearchListener getOnFocusSearchListener();
-    method public void setOnChildFocusListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BrowseFrameLayout.OnChildFocusListener);
-    method public void setOnDispatchKeyListener(android.view.View.OnKeyListener);
-    method public void setOnFocusSearchListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BrowseFrameLayout.OnFocusSearchListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BrowseFrameLayout.OnChildFocusListener {
-    method public abstract void onRequestChildFocus(android.view.View, android.view.View);
-    method public abstract boolean onRequestFocusInDescendants(int, android.graphics.Rect);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface BrowseFrameLayout.OnFocusSearchListener {
-    method public abstract android.view.View onFocusSearch(android.view.View, int);
-  }
-
-  public final class ClassPresenterSelector extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector {
-    ctor public ClassPresenterSelector();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ClassPresenterSelector addClassPresenter(java.lang.Class<?>, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ClassPresenterSelector addClassPresenterSelector(java.lang.Class<?>, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getPresenter(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public class ControlButtonPresenterSelector extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector {
-    ctor public ControlButtonPresenterSelector();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getPresenter(java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getPrimaryPresenter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getSecondaryPresenter();
-  }
-
-  public class CursorObjectAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter {
-    ctor public CursorObjectAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    ctor public CursorObjectAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    ctor public CursorObjectAdapter();
-    method public void changeCursor(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public void close();
-    method public java.lang.Object get(int);
-    method public final android.database.Cursor getCursor();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.database.CursorMapper getMapper();
-    method protected final void invalidateCache(int);
-    method protected final void invalidateCache(int, int);
-    method public boolean isClosed();
-    method protected void onCursorChanged();
-    method protected void onMapperChanged();
-    method public final void setMapper(android.support.v17.leanback.database.CursorMapper);
-    method public int size();
-    method public android.database.Cursor swapCursor(android.database.Cursor);
-  }
-
-  public class DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter {
-    ctor public DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter();
-    method public boolean isBoundToImage(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewRow);
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.view.View onCreateView(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public void onUnbindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setContext(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter);
-  }
-
-  public static class DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter getParentPresenter();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder getParentViewHolder();
-    method public boolean isSizeFromDrawableIntrinsic();
-    method public void setSizeFromDrawableIntrinsic(boolean);
-    field protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter mParentPresenter;
-    field protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder mParentViewHolder;
-  }
-
-  public class DetailsOverviewRow extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row {
-    ctor public DetailsOverviewRow(java.lang.Object);
-    method public final deprecated void addAction(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action);
-    method public final deprecated void addAction(int, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action getActionForKeyCode(int);
-    method public final deprecated java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action> getActions();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getActionsAdapter();
-    method public final android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getImageDrawable();
-    method public final java.lang.Object getItem();
-    method public boolean isImageScaleUpAllowed();
-    method public final deprecated boolean removeAction(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action);
-    method public final void setActionsAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public final void setImageBitmap(android.content.Context, android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public final void setImageDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setImageScaleUpAllowed(boolean);
-    method public final void setItem(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public static class DetailsOverviewRow.Listener {
-    ctor public DetailsOverviewRow.Listener();
-    method public void onActionsAdapterChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewRow);
-    method public void onImageDrawableChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewRow);
-    method public void onItemChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewRow);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class DetailsOverviewRowPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter {
-    ctor public DetailsOverviewRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder createRowViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public int getBackgroundColor();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener getOnActionClickedListener();
-    method public boolean isStyleLarge();
-    method public final boolean isUsingDefaultSelectEffect();
-    method public void setBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setOnActionClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener);
-    method public final void setSharedElementEnterTransition(android.app.Activity, java.lang.String, long);
-    method public final void setSharedElementEnterTransition(android.app.Activity, java.lang.String);
-    method public void setStyleLarge(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public final class DetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public DetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    field public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder mDetailsDescriptionViewHolder;
-  }
-
-  public class DetailsParallax extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RecyclerViewParallax {
-    ctor public DetailsParallax();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.IntProperty getOverviewRowBottom();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.IntProperty getOverviewRowTop();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class DiffCallback<Value> {
-    ctor public DiffCallback();
-    method public abstract boolean areContentsTheSame(Value, Value);
-    method public abstract boolean areItemsTheSame(Value, Value);
-    method public java.lang.Object getChangePayload(Value, Value);
-  }
-
-  public class DividerPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter {
-    ctor public DividerPresenter();
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public void onUnbindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public class DividerRow extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row {
-    ctor public DividerRow();
-    method public final boolean isRenderedAsRowView();
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface FacetProvider {
-    method public abstract java.lang.Object getFacet(java.lang.Class<?>);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface FacetProviderAdapter {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FacetProvider getFacetProvider(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface FocusHighlight {
-    field public static final int ZOOM_FACTOR_LARGE = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int ZOOM_FACTOR_MEDIUM = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ZOOM_FACTOR_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ZOOM_FACTOR_SMALL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ZOOM_FACTOR_XSMALL = 4; // 0x4
-  }
-
-  public class FocusHighlightHelper {
-    ctor public FocusHighlightHelper();
-    method public static void setupBrowseItemFocusHighlight(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter, int, boolean);
-    method public static deprecated void setupHeaderItemFocusHighlight(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridView);
-    method public static deprecated void setupHeaderItemFocusHighlight(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridView, boolean);
-    method public static void setupHeaderItemFocusHighlight(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter);
-    method public static void setupHeaderItemFocusHighlight(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter, boolean);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface FragmentAnimationProvider {
-    method public abstract void onImeAppearing(java.util.List<android.animation.Animator>);
-    method public abstract void onImeDisappearing(java.util.List<android.animation.Animator>);
-  }
-
-  public class FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter {
-    ctor public FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    ctor public FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder createRowViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public final int getActionsBackgroundColor();
-    method public final int getAlignmentMode();
-    method public final int getBackgroundColor();
-    method public final int getInitialState();
-    method protected int getLayoutResourceId();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener getOnActionClickedListener();
-    method public final boolean isParticipatingEntranceTransition();
-    method public final boolean isUsingDefaultSelectEffect();
-    method public final void notifyOnBindLogo(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void onLayoutLogo(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder, int, boolean);
-    method protected void onLayoutOverviewFrame(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder, int, boolean);
-    method protected void onStateChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder, int);
-    method public final void setActionsBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public final void setAlignmentMode(int);
-    method public final void setBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public final void setInitialState(int);
-    method public final void setListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.Listener);
-    method public void setOnActionClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener);
-    method public final void setParticipatingEntranceTransition(boolean);
-    method public final void setState(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder, int);
-    field public static final int ALIGN_MODE_MIDDLE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ALIGN_MODE_START = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_FULL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int STATE_HALF = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_SMALL = 2; // 0x2
-    field protected int mInitialState;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.Listener {
-    ctor public FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.Listener();
-    method public void onBindLogo(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public class FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewRow.Listener createRowListener();
-    method public final android.view.ViewGroup getActionsRow();
-    method public final android.view.ViewGroup getDetailsDescriptionFrame();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder getDetailsDescriptionViewHolder();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewLogoPresenter.ViewHolder getLogoViewHolder();
-    method public final android.view.ViewGroup getOverviewView();
-    method public final int getState();
-    field protected final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewRow.Listener mRowListener;
-  }
-
-  public class FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder.DetailsOverviewRowListener extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DetailsOverviewRow.Listener {
-    ctor public FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.ViewHolder.DetailsOverviewRowListener();
-  }
-
-  public class FullWidthDetailsOverviewSharedElementHelper extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FullWidthDetailsOverviewRowPresenter.Listener {
-    ctor public FullWidthDetailsOverviewSharedElementHelper();
-    method public boolean getAutoStartSharedElementTransition();
-    method public void setAutoStartSharedElementTransition(boolean);
-    method public void setSharedElementEnterTransition(android.app.Activity, java.lang.String);
-    method public void setSharedElementEnterTransition(android.app.Activity, java.lang.String, long);
-    method public void startPostponedEnterTransition();
-  }
-
-  public class GuidanceStylist implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FragmentAnimationProvider {
-    ctor public GuidanceStylist();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getBreadcrumbView();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getDescriptionView();
-    method public android.widget.ImageView getIconView();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getTitleView();
-    method public android.view.View onCreateView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidanceStylist.Guidance);
-    method public void onDestroyView();
-    method public void onImeAppearing(java.util.List<android.animation.Animator>);
-    method public void onImeDisappearing(java.util.List<android.animation.Animator>);
-    method public int onProvideLayoutId();
-  }
-
-  public static class GuidanceStylist.Guidance {
-    ctor public GuidanceStylist.Guidance(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.String, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public java.lang.String getBreadcrumb();
-    method public java.lang.String getDescription();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getIconDrawable();
-    method public java.lang.String getTitle();
-  }
-
-  public class GuidedAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action {
-    ctor protected GuidedAction();
-    method public int getCheckSetId();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getDescription();
-    method public int getDescriptionEditInputType();
-    method public int getDescriptionInputType();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getEditDescription();
-    method public int getEditInputType();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getEditTitle();
-    method public int getInputType();
-    method public android.content.Intent getIntent();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction> getSubActions();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public boolean hasEditableActivatorView();
-    method public boolean hasMultilineDescription();
-    method public boolean hasNext();
-    method public boolean hasSubActions();
-    method public boolean hasTextEditable();
-    method public boolean infoOnly();
-    method public final boolean isAutoSaveRestoreEnabled();
-    method public boolean isChecked();
-    method public boolean isDescriptionEditable();
-    method public boolean isEditTitleUsed();
-    method public boolean isEditable();
-    method public boolean isEnabled();
-    method public boolean isFocusable();
-    method public void onRestoreInstanceState(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String);
-    method public void onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String);
-    method public void setChecked(boolean);
-    method public void setDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setEditDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setEditTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setFocusable(boolean);
-    method public void setIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public void setSubActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    field public static final long ACTION_ID_CANCEL = -5L; // 0xfffffffffffffffbL
-    field public static final long ACTION_ID_CONTINUE = -7L; // 0xfffffffffffffff9L
-    field public static final long ACTION_ID_CURRENT = -3L; // 0xfffffffffffffffdL
-    field public static final long ACTION_ID_FINISH = -6L; // 0xfffffffffffffffaL
-    field public static final long ACTION_ID_NEXT = -2L; // 0xfffffffffffffffeL
-    field public static final long ACTION_ID_NO = -9L; // 0xfffffffffffffff7L
-    field public static final long ACTION_ID_OK = -4L; // 0xfffffffffffffffcL
-    field public static final long ACTION_ID_YES = -8L; // 0xfffffffffffffff8L
-    field public static final int CHECKBOX_CHECK_SET_ID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_CHECK_SET_ID = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int NO_CHECK_SET = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static class GuidedAction.Builder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction.BuilderBase {
-    ctor public deprecated GuidedAction.Builder();
-    ctor public GuidedAction.Builder(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction build();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class GuidedAction.BuilderBase<B extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction.BuilderBase> {
-    ctor public GuidedAction.BuilderBase(android.content.Context);
-    method protected final void applyValues(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public B autoSaveRestoreEnabled(boolean);
-    method public B checkSetId(int);
-    method public B checked(boolean);
-    method public B clickAction(long);
-    method public B description(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public B description(int);
-    method public B descriptionEditInputType(int);
-    method public B descriptionEditable(boolean);
-    method public B descriptionInputType(int);
-    method public B editDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public B editDescription(int);
-    method public B editInputType(int);
-    method public B editTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public B editTitle(int);
-    method public B editable(boolean);
-    method public B enabled(boolean);
-    method public B focusable(boolean);
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public B hasEditableActivatorView(boolean);
-    method public B hasNext(boolean);
-    method public B icon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public B icon(int);
-    method public deprecated B iconResourceId(int, android.content.Context);
-    method public B id(long);
-    method public B infoOnly(boolean);
-    method public B inputType(int);
-    method public B intent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public B multilineDescription(boolean);
-    method public B subActions(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction>);
-    method public B title(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public B title(int);
-  }
-
-  public class GuidedActionDiffCallback extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.DiffCallback {
-    ctor public GuidedActionDiffCallback();
-    method public boolean areContentsTheSame(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public boolean areItemsTheSame(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public static android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionDiffCallback getInstance();
-  }
-
-  public class GuidedActionEditText extends android.widget.EditText implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ImeKeyMonitor {
-    ctor public GuidedActionEditText(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public GuidedActionEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public GuidedActionEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void setImeKeyListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ImeKeyMonitor.ImeKeyListener);
-  }
-
-  public class GuidedActionsStylist implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FragmentAnimationProvider {
-    ctor public GuidedActionsStylist();
-    method public void collapseAction(boolean);
-    method public void expandAction(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction, boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridView getActionsGridView();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction getExpandedAction();
-    method public int getItemViewType(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridView getSubActionsGridView();
-    method public final boolean isBackKeyToCollapseActivatorView();
-    method public final boolean isBackKeyToCollapseSubActions();
-    method public boolean isButtonActions();
-    method public boolean isExpandTransitionSupported();
-    method public boolean isExpanded();
-    method public boolean isInExpandTransition();
-    method public boolean isSubActionsExpanded();
-    method public void onAnimateItemChecked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public void onAnimateItemFocused(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public void onAnimateItemPressed(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public void onAnimateItemPressedCancelled(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onBindActivatorView(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void onBindCheckMarkView(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void onBindChevronView(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public android.view.View onCreateView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public void onDestroyView();
-    method protected deprecated void onEditingModeChange(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction, boolean);
-    method protected void onEditingModeChange(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, boolean, boolean);
-    method public void onImeAppearing(java.util.List<android.animation.Animator>);
-    method public void onImeDisappearing(java.util.List<android.animation.Animator>);
-    method public int onProvideItemLayoutId();
-    method public int onProvideItemLayoutId(int);
-    method public int onProvideLayoutId();
-    method public boolean onUpdateActivatorView(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void onUpdateExpandedViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder);
-    method public void openInEditMode(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public void setAsButtonActions();
-    method public final void setBackKeyToCollapseActivatorView(boolean);
-    method public final void setBackKeyToCollapseSubActions(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setEditingMode(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction, boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setExpandedViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void setupImeOptions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction);
-    method public deprecated void startExpandedTransition(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder);
-    field public static final int VIEW_TYPE_DATE_PICKER = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int VIEW_TYPE_DEFAULT = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static class GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FacetProvider {
-    ctor public GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    ctor public GuidedActionsStylist.ViewHolder(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction getAction();
-    method public android.widget.ImageView getCheckmarkView();
-    method public android.widget.ImageView getChevronView();
-    method public android.view.View getContentView();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getDescriptionView();
-    method public android.widget.EditText getEditableDescriptionView();
-    method public android.widget.EditText getEditableTitleView();
-    method public android.view.View getEditingView();
-    method public java.lang.Object getFacet(java.lang.Class<?>);
-    method public android.widget.ImageView getIconView();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getTitleView();
-    method public boolean isInEditing();
-    method public boolean isInEditingActivatorView();
-    method public boolean isInEditingDescription();
-    method public boolean isInEditingText();
-    method public boolean isInEditingTitle();
-    method public boolean isSubAction();
-  }
-
-  public class GuidedDatePickerAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction {
-    ctor public GuidedDatePickerAction();
-    method public long getDate();
-    method public java.lang.String getDatePickerFormat();
-    method public long getMaxDate();
-    method public long getMinDate();
-    method public void setDate(long);
-  }
-
-  public static final class GuidedDatePickerAction.Builder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedDatePickerAction.BuilderBase {
-    ctor public GuidedDatePickerAction.Builder(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedDatePickerAction build();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class GuidedDatePickerAction.BuilderBase<B extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedDatePickerAction.BuilderBase> extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedAction.BuilderBase {
-    ctor public GuidedDatePickerAction.BuilderBase(android.content.Context);
-    method protected final void applyDatePickerValues(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.GuidedDatePickerAction);
-    method public B date(long);
-    method public B datePickerFormat(java.lang.String);
-    method public B maxDate(long);
-    method public B minDate(long);
-  }
-
-  public class HeaderItem {
-    ctor public HeaderItem(long, java.lang.String);
-    ctor public HeaderItem(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getContentDescription();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getDescription();
-    method public final long getId();
-    method public final java.lang.String getName();
-    method public void setContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public class HorizontalGridView extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseGridView {
-    ctor public HorizontalGridView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public HorizontalGridView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public HorizontalGridView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public final boolean getFadingLeftEdge();
-    method public final int getFadingLeftEdgeLength();
-    method public final int getFadingLeftEdgeOffset();
-    method public final boolean getFadingRightEdge();
-    method public final int getFadingRightEdgeLength();
-    method public final int getFadingRightEdgeOffset();
-    method protected void initAttributes(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public final void setFadingLeftEdge(boolean);
-    method public final void setFadingLeftEdgeLength(int);
-    method public final void setFadingLeftEdgeOffset(int);
-    method public final void setFadingRightEdge(boolean);
-    method public final void setFadingRightEdgeLength(int);
-    method public final void setFadingRightEdgeOffset(int);
-    method public void setNumRows(int);
-    method public void setRowHeight(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class HorizontalHoverCardSwitcher extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSwitcher {
-    ctor public HorizontalHoverCardSwitcher();
-    method protected void insertView(android.view.View);
-    method public void select(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HorizontalGridView, android.view.View, java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public class ImageCardView extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseCardView {
-    ctor public deprecated ImageCardView(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor public ImageCardView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public ImageCardView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public ImageCardView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBadgeImage();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getContentText();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getInfoAreaBackground();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getMainImage();
-    method public final android.widget.ImageView getMainImageView();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitleText();
-    method public void setBadgeImage(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setContentText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setInfoAreaBackground(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setInfoAreaBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setMainImage(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setMainImage(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, boolean);
-    method public void setMainImageAdjustViewBounds(boolean);
-    method public void setMainImageDimensions(int, int);
-    method public void setMainImageScaleType(android.widget.ImageView.ScaleType);
-    method public void setTitleText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_FLAG_CONTENT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_FLAG_ICON_LEFT = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_FLAG_ICON_RIGHT = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_FLAG_IMAGE_ONLY = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int CARD_TYPE_FLAG_TITLE = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface ImeKeyMonitor {
-    method public abstract void setImeKeyListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ImeKeyMonitor.ImeKeyListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ImeKeyMonitor.ImeKeyListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onKeyPreIme(android.widget.EditText, int, android.view.KeyEvent);
-  }
-
-  public final class ItemAlignmentFacet {
-    ctor public ItemAlignmentFacet();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemAlignmentFacet.ItemAlignmentDef[] getAlignmentDefs();
-    method public boolean isMultiAlignment();
-    method public void setAlignmentDefs(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemAlignmentFacet.ItemAlignmentDef[]);
-    field public static final float ITEM_ALIGN_OFFSET_PERCENT_DISABLED = -1.0f;
-  }
-
-  public static class ItemAlignmentFacet.ItemAlignmentDef {
-    ctor public ItemAlignmentFacet.ItemAlignmentDef();
-    method public final int getItemAlignmentFocusViewId();
-    method public final int getItemAlignmentOffset();
-    method public final float getItemAlignmentOffsetPercent();
-    method public final int getItemAlignmentViewId();
-    method public boolean isAlignedToTextViewBaseLine();
-    method public final boolean isItemAlignmentOffsetWithPadding();
-    method public final void setAlignedToTextViewBaseline(boolean);
-    method public final void setItemAlignmentFocusViewId(int);
-    method public final void setItemAlignmentOffset(int);
-    method public final void setItemAlignmentOffsetPercent(float);
-    method public final void setItemAlignmentOffsetWithPadding(boolean);
-    method public final void setItemAlignmentViewId(int);
-  }
-
-  public class ItemBridgeAdapter extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FacetProviderAdapter {
-    ctor public ItemBridgeAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    ctor public ItemBridgeAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    ctor public ItemBridgeAdapter();
-    method public void clear();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FacetProvider getFacetProvider(int);
-    method public int getItemCount();
-    method public java.util.ArrayList<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter> getPresenterMapper();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.Wrapper getWrapper();
-    method protected void onAddPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter, int);
-    method protected void onAttachedToWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void onBind(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int);
-    method public final void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, java.util.List);
-    method protected void onCreate(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method protected void onDetachedFromWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void onUnbind(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void onViewAttachedToWindow(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void onViewDetachedFromWindow(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void onViewRecycled(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public void setAdapterListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.AdapterListener);
-    method public void setPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    method public void setPresenterMapper(java.util.ArrayList<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter>);
-    method public void setWrapper(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.Wrapper);
-  }
-
-  public static class ItemBridgeAdapter.AdapterListener {
-    ctor public ItemBridgeAdapter.AdapterListener();
-    method public void onAddPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter, int);
-    method public void onAttachedToWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onBind(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onBind(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder, java.util.List);
-    method public void onCreate(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onDetachedFromWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onUnbind(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public class ItemBridgeAdapter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FacetProvider {
-    method public final java.lang.Object getExtraObject();
-    method public java.lang.Object getFacet(java.lang.Class<?>);
-    method public final java.lang.Object getItem();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getPresenter();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder getViewHolder();
-    method public void setExtraObject(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ItemBridgeAdapter.Wrapper {
-    ctor public ItemBridgeAdapter.Wrapper();
-    method public abstract android.view.View createWrapper(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void wrap(android.view.View, android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public class ItemBridgeAdapterShadowOverlayWrapper extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter.Wrapper {
-    ctor public ItemBridgeAdapterShadowOverlayWrapper(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper);
-    method public android.view.View createWrapper(android.view.View);
-    method public void wrap(android.view.View, android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public class ListRow extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row {
-    ctor public ListRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HeaderItem, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    ctor public ListRow(long, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HeaderItem, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    ctor public ListRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getAdapter();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getContentDescription();
-    method public void setContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public final class ListRowHoverCardView extends android.widget.LinearLayout {
-    ctor public ListRowHoverCardView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public ListRowHoverCardView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public ListRowHoverCardView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getDescription();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public void setDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public class ListRowPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter {
-    ctor public ListRowPresenter();
-    ctor public ListRowPresenter(int);
-    ctor public ListRowPresenter(int, boolean);
-    method protected void applySelectLevelToChild(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ListRowPresenter.ViewHolder, android.view.View);
-    method public final boolean areChildRoundedCornersEnabled();
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder createRowViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Options createShadowOverlayOptions();
-    method public final void enableChildRoundedCorners(boolean);
-    method public int getExpandedRowHeight();
-    method public final int getFocusZoomFactor();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector getHoverCardPresenterSelector();
-    method public int getRecycledPoolSize(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    method public int getRowHeight();
-    method public final boolean getShadowEnabled();
-    method public final deprecated int getZoomFactor();
-    method public final boolean isFocusDimmerUsed();
-    method public final boolean isKeepChildForeground();
-    method public boolean isUsingDefaultListSelectEffect();
-    method public final boolean isUsingDefaultSelectEffect();
-    method public boolean isUsingDefaultShadow();
-    method public boolean isUsingOutlineClipping(android.content.Context);
-    method public boolean isUsingZOrder(android.content.Context);
-    method public void setExpandedRowHeight(int);
-    method public final void setHoverCardPresenterSelector(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    method public final void setKeepChildForeground(boolean);
-    method public void setNumRows(int);
-    method public void setRecycledPoolSize(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter, int);
-    method public void setRowHeight(int);
-    method public final void setShadowEnabled(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static class ListRowPresenter.SelectItemViewHolderTask extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask {
-    ctor public ListRowPresenter.SelectItemViewHolderTask(int);
-    method public int getItemPosition();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask getItemTask();
-    method public boolean isSmoothScroll();
-    method public void setItemPosition(int);
-    method public void setItemTask(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolderTask);
-    method public void setSmoothScroll(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static class ListRowPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public ListRowPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HorizontalGridView, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ListRowPresenter);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ItemBridgeAdapter getBridgeAdapter();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HorizontalGridView getGridView();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder getItemViewHolder(int);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ListRowPresenter getListRowPresenter();
-    method public int getSelectedPosition();
-  }
-
-  public final class ListRowView extends android.widget.LinearLayout {
-    ctor public ListRowView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public ListRowView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public ListRowView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HorizontalGridView getGridView();
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface MultiActionsProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.MultiActionsProvider.MultiAction[] getActions();
-  }
-
-  public static class MultiActionsProvider.MultiAction {
-    ctor public MultiActionsProvider.MultiAction(long);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getCurrentDrawable();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable[] getDrawables();
-    method public long getId();
-    method public int getIndex();
-    method public void incrementIndex();
-    method public void setDrawables(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable[]);
-    method public void setIndex(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class ObjectAdapter {
-    ctor public ObjectAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    ctor public ObjectAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    ctor public ObjectAdapter();
-    method public abstract java.lang.Object get(int);
-    method public long getId(int);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getPresenter(java.lang.Object);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector getPresenterSelector();
-    method public final boolean hasStableIds();
-    method public boolean isImmediateNotifySupported();
-    method protected final void notifyChanged();
-    method protected final void notifyItemMoved(int, int);
-    method public final void notifyItemRangeChanged(int, int);
-    method public final void notifyItemRangeChanged(int, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method protected final void notifyItemRangeInserted(int, int);
-    method protected final void notifyItemRangeRemoved(int, int);
-    method protected void onHasStableIdsChanged();
-    method protected void onPresenterSelectorChanged();
-    method public final void registerObserver(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter.DataObserver);
-    method public final void setHasStableIds(boolean);
-    method public final void setPresenterSelector(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    method public abstract int size();
-    method public final void unregisterAllObservers();
-    method public final void unregisterObserver(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter.DataObserver);
-    field public static final int NO_ID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ObjectAdapter.DataObserver {
-    ctor public ObjectAdapter.DataObserver();
-    method public void onChanged();
-    method public void onItemMoved(int, int);
-    method public void onItemRangeChanged(int, int);
-    method public void onItemRangeChanged(int, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void onItemRangeInserted(int, int);
-    method public void onItemRangeRemoved(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface OnActionClickedListener {
-    method public abstract void onActionClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface OnChildLaidOutListener {
-    method public abstract void onChildLaidOut(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View, int, long);
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated interface OnChildSelectedListener {
-    method public abstract void onChildSelected(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View, int, long);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class OnChildViewHolderSelectedListener {
-    ctor public OnChildViewHolderSelectedListener();
-    method public void onChildViewHolderSelected(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, int);
-    method public void onChildViewHolderSelectedAndPositioned(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface OnItemViewClickedListener implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener {
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface OnItemViewSelectedListener implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener {
-  }
-
-  public class PageRow extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row {
-    ctor public PageRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HeaderItem);
-    method public final boolean isRenderedAsRowView();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class Parallax<PropertyT extends android.util.Property> {
-    ctor public Parallax();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxEffect addEffect(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue...);
-    method public final PropertyT addProperty(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract PropertyT createProperty(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxEffect> getEffects();
-    method public abstract float getMaxValue();
-    method public final java.util.List<PropertyT> getProperties();
-    method public void removeAllEffects();
-    method public void removeEffect(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxEffect);
-    method public void updateValues();
-  }
-
-  public static class Parallax.FloatProperty extends android.util.Property {
-    ctor public Parallax.FloatProperty(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue at(float, float);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue atAbsolute(float);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue atFraction(float);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue atMax();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue atMin();
-    method public final java.lang.Float get(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax);
-    method public final int getIndex();
-    method public final float getValue(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax);
-    method public final void set(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax, java.lang.Float);
-    method public final void setValue(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax, float);
-    field public static final float UNKNOWN_AFTER = 3.4028235E38f;
-    field public static final float UNKNOWN_BEFORE = -3.4028235E38f;
-  }
-
-  public static class Parallax.IntProperty extends android.util.Property {
-    ctor public Parallax.IntProperty(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue at(int, float);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue atAbsolute(int);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue atFraction(float);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue atMax();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue atMin();
-    method public final java.lang.Integer get(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax);
-    method public final int getIndex();
-    method public final int getValue(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax);
-    method public final void set(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax, java.lang.Integer);
-    method public final void setValue(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax, int);
-    field public static final int UNKNOWN_AFTER = 2147483647; // 0x7fffffff
-    field public static final int UNKNOWN_BEFORE = -2147483648; // 0x80000000
-  }
-
-  public static class Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue<PropertyT> {
-    ctor public Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue(PropertyT);
-    method public PropertyT getProperty();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class ParallaxEffect {
-    method public final void addTarget(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxTarget);
-    method public final java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue> getPropertyRanges();
-    method public final java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxTarget> getTargets();
-    method public final void performMapping(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax);
-    method public final void removeTarget(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxTarget);
-    method public final void setPropertyRanges(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.PropertyMarkerValue...);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxEffect target(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxTarget);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxEffect target(java.lang.Object, android.animation.PropertyValuesHolder);
-    method public final <T, V extends java.lang.Number> android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxEffect target(T, android.util.Property<T, V>);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class ParallaxTarget {
-    ctor public ParallaxTarget();
-    method public void directUpdate(java.lang.Number);
-    method public boolean isDirectMapping();
-    method public void update(float);
-  }
-
-  public static final class ParallaxTarget.DirectPropertyTarget<T, V extends java.lang.Number> extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxTarget {
-    ctor public ParallaxTarget.DirectPropertyTarget(java.lang.Object, android.util.Property<T, V>);
-  }
-
-  public static final class ParallaxTarget.PropertyValuesHolderTarget extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ParallaxTarget {
-    ctor public ParallaxTarget.PropertyValuesHolderTarget(java.lang.Object, android.animation.PropertyValuesHolder);
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackControlsRow extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow(java.lang.Object);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action getActionForKeyCode(int);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action getActionForKeyCode(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter, int);
-    method public long getBufferedPosition();
-    method public deprecated int getBufferedProgress();
-    method public deprecated long getBufferedProgressLong();
-    method public long getCurrentPosition();
-    method public deprecated int getCurrentTime();
-    method public deprecated long getCurrentTimeLong();
-    method public long getDuration();
-    method public final android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getImageDrawable();
-    method public final java.lang.Object getItem();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getPrimaryActionsAdapter();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter getSecondaryActionsAdapter();
-    method public deprecated int getTotalTime();
-    method public deprecated long getTotalTimeLong();
-    method public void setBufferedPosition(long);
-    method public deprecated void setBufferedProgress(int);
-    method public deprecated void setBufferedProgressLong(long);
-    method public void setCurrentPosition(long);
-    method public deprecated void setCurrentTime(int);
-    method public deprecated void setCurrentTimeLong(long);
-    method public void setDuration(long);
-    method public final void setImageBitmap(android.content.Context, android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public final void setImageDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setOnPlaybackProgressChangedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.OnPlaybackProgressCallback);
-    method public final void setPrimaryActionsAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public final void setSecondaryActionsAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter);
-    method public deprecated void setTotalTime(int);
-    method public deprecated void setTotalTimeLong(long);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.ClosedCaptioningAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.ClosedCaptioningAction(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.ClosedCaptioningAction(android.content.Context, int);
-    field public static final int INDEX_OFF = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int INDEX_ON = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static deprecated int OFF;
-    field public static deprecated int ON;
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.FastForwardAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.FastForwardAction(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.FastForwardAction(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.HighQualityAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.HighQualityAction(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.HighQualityAction(android.content.Context, int);
-    field public static final int INDEX_OFF = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int INDEX_ON = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static deprecated int OFF;
-    field public static deprecated int ON;
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.MoreActions extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.MoreActions(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction(int);
-    method public int getActionCount();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawable(int);
-    method public int getIndex();
-    method public java.lang.String getLabel(int);
-    method public java.lang.String getSecondaryLabel(int);
-    method public void nextIndex();
-    method public void setDrawables(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable[]);
-    method public void setIndex(int);
-    method public void setLabels(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public void setSecondaryLabels(java.lang.String[]);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.OnPlaybackProgressCallback {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.OnPlaybackProgressCallback();
-    method public void onBufferedPositionChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow, long);
-    method public void onCurrentPositionChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow, long);
-    method public void onDurationChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow, long);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.PictureInPictureAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.PictureInPictureAction(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.PlayPauseAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.PlayPauseAction(android.content.Context);
-    field public static final int INDEX_PAUSE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int INDEX_PLAY = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static deprecated int PAUSE;
-    field public static deprecated int PLAY;
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.RepeatAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.RepeatAction(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.RepeatAction(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.RepeatAction(android.content.Context, int, int);
-    field public static deprecated int ALL;
-    field public static final int INDEX_ALL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int INDEX_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int INDEX_ONE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static deprecated int NONE;
-    field public static deprecated int ONE;
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.RewindAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.RewindAction(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.RewindAction(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.ShuffleAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.ShuffleAction(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.ShuffleAction(android.content.Context, int);
-    field public static final int INDEX_OFF = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int INDEX_ON = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static deprecated int OFF;
-    field public static deprecated int ON;
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.SkipNextAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.SkipNextAction(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.SkipPreviousAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Action {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.SkipPreviousAction(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class PlaybackControlsRow.ThumbsAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.MultiAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.ThumbsAction(int, android.content.Context, int, int);
-    field public static final int INDEX_OUTLINE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int INDEX_SOLID = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static deprecated int OUTLINE;
-    field public static deprecated int SOLID;
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.ThumbsDownAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.ThumbsAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.ThumbsDownAction(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackControlsRow.ThumbsUpAction extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRow.ThumbsAction {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRow.ThumbsUpAction(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackControlsRowPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter {
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRowPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    ctor public PlaybackControlsRowPresenter();
-    method public boolean areSecondaryActionsHidden();
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder createRowViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public int getBackgroundColor();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener getOnActionClickedListener();
-    method public int getProgressColor();
-    method public void setBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setOnActionClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener);
-    method public void setProgressColor(int);
-    method public void setSecondaryActionsHidden(boolean);
-    method public void showBottomSpace(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRowPresenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public void showPrimaryActions(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackControlsRowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackControlsRowPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter.ViewHolder {
-    field public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder mDescriptionViewHolder;
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PlaybackRowPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter {
-    ctor public PlaybackRowPresenter();
-    method public void onReappear(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackRowPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public PlaybackRowPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackSeekDataProvider {
-    ctor public PlaybackSeekDataProvider();
-    method public long[] getSeekPositions();
-    method public void getThumbnail(int, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekDataProvider.ResultCallback);
-    method public void reset();
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackSeekDataProvider.ResultCallback {
-    ctor public PlaybackSeekDataProvider.ResultCallback();
-    method public void onThumbnailLoaded(android.graphics.Bitmap, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface PlaybackSeekUi {
-    method public abstract void setPlaybackSeekUiClient(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi.Client);
-  }
-
-  public static class PlaybackSeekUi.Client {
-    ctor public PlaybackSeekUi.Client();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekDataProvider getPlaybackSeekDataProvider();
-    method public boolean isSeekEnabled();
-    method public void onSeekFinished(boolean);
-    method public void onSeekPositionChanged(long);
-    method public void onSeekStarted();
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackTransportRowPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter {
-    ctor public PlaybackTransportRowPresenter();
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder createRowViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public float getDefaultSeekIncrement();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener getOnActionClickedListener();
-    method public int getProgressColor();
-    method protected void onProgressBarClicked(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackTransportRowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setDefaultSeekIncrement(float);
-    method public void setDescriptionPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    method public void setOnActionClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnActionClickedListener);
-    method public void setProgressColor(int);
-  }
-
-  public class PlaybackTransportRowPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackRowPresenter.ViewHolder implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi {
-    ctor public PlaybackTransportRowPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    method public final android.widget.TextView getCurrentPositionView();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder getDescriptionViewHolder();
-    method public final android.widget.TextView getDurationView();
-    method protected void onSetCurrentPositionLabel(long);
-    method protected void onSetDurationLabel(long);
-    method public void setPlaybackSeekUiClient(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PlaybackSeekUi.Client);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class Presenter implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FacetProvider {
-    ctor public Presenter();
-    method protected static void cancelAnimationsRecursive(android.view.View);
-    method public final java.lang.Object getFacet(java.lang.Class<?>);
-    method public abstract void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object, java.util.List<java.lang.Object>);
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public abstract void onUnbindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onViewAttachedToWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onViewDetachedFromWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void setFacet(java.lang.Class<?>, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setOnClickListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-  }
-
-  public static class Presenter.ViewHolder implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.FacetProvider {
-    ctor public Presenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public final java.lang.Object getFacet(java.lang.Class<?>);
-    method public final void setFacet(java.lang.Class<?>, java.lang.Object);
-    field public final android.view.View view;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class Presenter.ViewHolderTask {
-    ctor public Presenter.ViewHolderTask();
-    method public void run(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PresenterSelector {
-    ctor public PresenterSelector();
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getPresenter(java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter[] getPresenters();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PresenterSwitcher {
-    ctor public PresenterSwitcher();
-    method public void clear();
-    method public final android.view.ViewGroup getParentViewGroup();
-    method public void init(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    method protected abstract void insertView(android.view.View);
-    method protected void onViewSelected(android.view.View);
-    method public void select(java.lang.Object);
-    method protected void showView(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public void unselect();
-  }
-
-  public class RecyclerViewParallax extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax {
-    ctor public RecyclerViewParallax();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RecyclerViewParallax.ChildPositionProperty createProperty(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public float getMaxValue();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView getRecyclerView();
-    method public void setRecyclerView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-  }
-
-  public static final class RecyclerViewParallax.ChildPositionProperty extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Parallax.IntProperty {
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RecyclerViewParallax.ChildPositionProperty adapterPosition(int);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RecyclerViewParallax.ChildPositionProperty fraction(float);
-    method public int getAdapterPosition();
-    method public float getFraction();
-    method public int getOffset();
-    method public int getViewId();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RecyclerViewParallax.ChildPositionProperty offset(int);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RecyclerViewParallax.ChildPositionProperty viewId(int);
-  }
-
-  public class Row {
-    ctor public Row(long, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HeaderItem);
-    ctor public Row(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HeaderItem);
-    ctor public Row();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HeaderItem getHeaderItem();
-    method public final long getId();
-    method public boolean isRenderedAsRowView();
-    method public final void setHeaderItem(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HeaderItem);
-    method public final void setId(long);
-  }
-
-  public class RowHeaderPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter {
-    ctor public RowHeaderPresenter();
-    method protected static float getFontDescent(android.widget.TextView, android.graphics.Paint);
-    method public int getSpaceUnderBaseline(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public boolean isNullItemVisibilityGone();
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected void onSelectLevelChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onUnbindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setNullItemVisibilityGone(boolean);
-    method public final void setSelectLevel(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder, float);
-  }
-
-  public static class RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public final float getSelectLevel();
-  }
-
-  public final class RowHeaderView extends android.widget.TextView {
-    ctor public RowHeaderView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public RowHeaderView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public RowHeaderView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class RowPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter {
-    ctor public RowPresenter();
-    method protected abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder createRowViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected void dispatchItemSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public void freeze(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter getHeaderPresenter();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder getRowViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final boolean getSelectEffectEnabled();
-    method public final float getSelectLevel(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final int getSyncActivatePolicy();
-    method protected void initializeRowViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected boolean isClippingChildren();
-    method public boolean isUsingDefaultSelectEffect();
-    method protected void onBindRowViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public final void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected void onRowViewAttachedToWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void onRowViewDetachedFromWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void onRowViewExpanded(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method protected void onRowViewSelected(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method protected void onSelectLevelChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method protected void onUnbindRowViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void onUnbindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void onViewAttachedToWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void onViewDetachedFromWindow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setEntranceTransitionState(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowPresenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public final void setHeaderPresenter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter);
-    method public final void setRowViewExpanded(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public final void setRowViewSelected(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public final void setSelectEffectEnabled(boolean);
-    method public final void setSelectLevel(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, float);
-    method public final void setSyncActivatePolicy(int);
-    field public static final int SYNC_ACTIVATED_CUSTOM = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SYNC_ACTIVATED_TO_EXPANDED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SYNC_ACTIVATED_TO_EXPANDED_AND_SELECTED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int SYNC_ACTIVATED_TO_SELECTED = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static class RowPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public RowPresenter.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.RowHeaderPresenter.ViewHolder getHeaderViewHolder();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener getOnItemViewSelectedListener();
-    method public android.view.View.OnKeyListener getOnKeyListener();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row getRow();
-    method public final java.lang.Object getRowObject();
-    method public final float getSelectLevel();
-    method public java.lang.Object getSelectedItem();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder getSelectedItemViewHolder();
-    method public final boolean isExpanded();
-    method public final boolean isSelected();
-    method public final void setActivated(boolean);
-    method public final void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public final void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseOnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public void setOnKeyListener(android.view.View.OnKeyListener);
-    method public final void syncActivatedStatus(android.view.View);
-    field protected final android.support.v17.leanback.graphics.ColorOverlayDimmer mColorDimmer;
-  }
-
-  public class SearchBar extends android.widget.RelativeLayout {
-    ctor public SearchBar(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SearchBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SearchBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void displayCompletions(java.util.List<java.lang.String>);
-    method public void displayCompletions(android.view.inputmethod.CompletionInfo[]);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBadgeDrawable();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getHint();
-    method public java.lang.String getTitle();
-    method public boolean isRecognizing();
-    method public void setBadgeDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setPermissionListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchBar.SearchBarPermissionListener);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColorsInListening(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setSearchBarListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchBar.SearchBarListener);
-    method public void setSearchQuery(java.lang.String);
-    method public deprecated void setSpeechRecognitionCallback(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SpeechRecognitionCallback);
-    method public void setSpeechRecognizer(android.speech.SpeechRecognizer);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.String);
-    method public void startRecognition();
-    method public void stopRecognition();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SearchBar.SearchBarListener {
-    method public abstract void onKeyboardDismiss(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract void onSearchQueryChange(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract void onSearchQuerySubmit(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SearchBar.SearchBarPermissionListener {
-    method public abstract void requestAudioPermission();
-  }
-
-  public class SearchEditText extends android.widget.EditText {
-    ctor public SearchEditText(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SearchEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SearchEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void setOnKeyboardDismissListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchEditText.OnKeyboardDismissListener);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SearchEditText.OnKeyboardDismissListener {
-    method public abstract void onKeyboardDismiss();
-  }
-
-  public class SearchOrbView extends android.widget.FrameLayout implements android.view.View.OnClickListener {
-    ctor public SearchOrbView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SearchOrbView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SearchOrbView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void enableOrbColorAnimation(boolean);
-    method public int getOrbColor();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors getOrbColors();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getOrbIcon();
-    method public void onClick(android.view.View);
-    method public void setOnOrbClickedListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setOrbColor(int);
-    method public deprecated void setOrbColor(int, int);
-    method public void setOrbColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setOrbIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-  }
-
-  public static class SearchOrbView.Colors {
-    ctor public SearchOrbView.Colors(int);
-    ctor public SearchOrbView.Colors(int, int);
-    ctor public SearchOrbView.Colors(int, int, int);
-    method public static int getBrightColor(int);
-    field public int brightColor;
-    field public int color;
-    field public int iconColor;
-  }
-
-  public class SectionRow extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Row {
-    ctor public SectionRow(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.HeaderItem);
-    ctor public SectionRow(long, java.lang.String);
-    ctor public SectionRow(java.lang.String);
-    method public final boolean isRenderedAsRowView();
-  }
-
-  public class ShadowOverlayContainer extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public ShadowOverlayContainer(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public ShadowOverlayContainer(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public ShadowOverlayContainer(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public int getShadowType();
-    method public android.view.View getWrappedView();
-    method public deprecated void initialize(boolean, boolean);
-    method public deprecated void initialize(boolean, boolean, boolean);
-    method public static void prepareParentForShadow(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public void setOverlayColor(int);
-    method public void setShadowFocusLevel(float);
-    method public static boolean supportsDynamicShadow();
-    method public static boolean supportsShadow();
-    method public void useDynamicShadow();
-    method public void useDynamicShadow(float, float);
-    method public void useStaticShadow();
-    method public void wrap(android.view.View);
-    field public static final int SHADOW_DYNAMIC = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int SHADOW_NONE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SHADOW_STATIC = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public final class ShadowOverlayHelper {
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayContainer createShadowOverlayContainer(android.content.Context);
-    method public int getShadowType();
-    method public boolean needsOverlay();
-    method public boolean needsRoundedCorner();
-    method public boolean needsWrapper();
-    method public void onViewCreated(android.view.View);
-    method public void prepareParentForShadow(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public static void setNoneWrapperOverlayColor(android.view.View, int);
-    method public static void setNoneWrapperShadowFocusLevel(android.view.View, float);
-    method public void setOverlayColor(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void setShadowFocusLevel(android.view.View, float);
-    method public static boolean supportsDynamicShadow();
-    method public static boolean supportsForeground();
-    method public static boolean supportsRoundedCorner();
-    method public static boolean supportsShadow();
-    field public static final int SHADOW_DYNAMIC = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int SHADOW_NONE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SHADOW_STATIC = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static final class ShadowOverlayHelper.Builder {
-    ctor public ShadowOverlayHelper.Builder();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper build(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Builder keepForegroundDrawable(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Builder needsOverlay(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Builder needsRoundedCorner(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Builder needsShadow(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Builder options(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Options);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Builder preferZOrder(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static final class ShadowOverlayHelper.Options {
-    ctor public ShadowOverlayHelper.Options();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Options dynamicShadowZ(float, float);
-    method public float getDynamicShadowFocusedZ();
-    method public float getDynamicShadowUnfocusedZ();
-    method public int getRoundedCornerRadius();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Options roundedCornerRadius(int);
-    field public static final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Options DEFAULT;
-  }
-
-  public final class SinglePresenterSelector extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector {
-    ctor public SinglePresenterSelector(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter getPresenter(java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public class SparseArrayObjectAdapter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ObjectAdapter {
-    ctor public SparseArrayObjectAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.PresenterSelector);
-    ctor public SparseArrayObjectAdapter(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter);
-    ctor public SparseArrayObjectAdapter();
-    method public void clear(int);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public java.lang.Object get(int);
-    method public int indexOf(java.lang.Object);
-    method public int indexOf(int);
-    method public java.lang.Object lookup(int);
-    method public void notifyArrayItemRangeChanged(int, int);
-    method public void set(int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public int size();
-  }
-
-  public class SpeechOrbView extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView {
-    ctor public SpeechOrbView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SpeechOrbView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SpeechOrbView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void setListeningOrbColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setNotListeningOrbColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setSoundLevel(int);
-    method public void showListening();
-    method public void showNotListening();
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated interface SpeechRecognitionCallback {
-    method public abstract void recognizeSpeech();
-  }
-
-  public class TitleHelper {
-    ctor public TitleHelper(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BrowseFrameLayout.OnFocusSearchListener getOnFocusSearchListener();
-    method public android.view.ViewGroup getSceneRoot();
-    method public android.view.View getTitleView();
-    method public void showTitle(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class TitleView extends android.widget.FrameLayout implements android.support.v17.leanback.widget.TitleViewAdapter.Provider {
-    ctor public TitleView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public TitleView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public TitleView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void enableAnimation(boolean);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBadgeDrawable();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors getSearchAffordanceColors();
-    method public android.view.View getSearchAffordanceView();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.TitleViewAdapter getTitleViewAdapter();
-    method public void setBadgeDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setOnSearchClickedListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void updateComponentsVisibility(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class TitleViewAdapter {
-    ctor public TitleViewAdapter();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBadgeDrawable();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors getSearchAffordanceColors();
-    method public abstract android.view.View getSearchAffordanceView();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public void setAnimationEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setBadgeDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setOnSearchClickedListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setSearchAffordanceColors(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.SearchOrbView.Colors);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void updateComponentsVisibility(int);
-    field public static final int BRANDING_VIEW_VISIBLE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int FULL_VIEW_VISIBLE = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int SEARCH_VIEW_VISIBLE = 4; // 0x4
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface TitleViewAdapter.Provider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v17.leanback.widget.TitleViewAdapter getTitleViewAdapter();
-  }
-
-  public class VerticalGridPresenter extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter {
-    ctor public VerticalGridPresenter();
-    ctor public VerticalGridPresenter(int);
-    ctor public VerticalGridPresenter(int, boolean);
-    method public final boolean areChildRoundedCornersEnabled();
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridPresenter.ViewHolder createGridViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method protected android.support.v17.leanback.widget.ShadowOverlayHelper.Options createShadowOverlayOptions();
-    method public final void enableChildRoundedCorners(boolean);
-    method public final int getFocusZoomFactor();
-    method public final boolean getKeepChildForeground();
-    method public int getNumberOfColumns();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener getOnItemViewClickedListener();
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener getOnItemViewSelectedListener();
-    method public final boolean getShadowEnabled();
-    method protected void initializeGridViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridPresenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public final boolean isFocusDimmerUsed();
-    method public boolean isUsingDefaultShadow();
-    method public boolean isUsingZOrder(android.content.Context);
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder, java.lang.Object);
-    method public final android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridPresenter.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public void onUnbindViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setEntranceTransitionState(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridPresenter.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public final void setKeepChildForeground(boolean);
-    method public void setNumberOfColumns(int);
-    method public final void setOnItemViewClickedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewClickedListener);
-    method public final void setOnItemViewSelectedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.OnItemViewSelectedListener);
-    method public final void setShadowEnabled(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static class VerticalGridPresenter.ViewHolder extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.Presenter.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public VerticalGridPresenter.ViewHolder(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridView);
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.VerticalGridView getGridView();
-  }
-
-  public class VerticalGridView extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.BaseGridView {
-    ctor public VerticalGridView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public VerticalGridView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public VerticalGridView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method protected void initAttributes(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void setColumnWidth(int);
-    method public void setNumColumns(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface ViewHolderTask {
-    method public abstract void run(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v17.leanback.widget.picker {
-
-  public class Picker extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public Picker(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void addOnValueChangedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.picker.Picker.PickerValueListener);
-    method public float getActivatedVisibleItemCount();
-    method public android.support.v17.leanback.widget.picker.PickerColumn getColumnAt(int);
-    method public int getColumnsCount();
-    method protected int getPickerItemHeightPixels();
-    method public final int getPickerItemLayoutId();
-    method public final int getPickerItemTextViewId();
-    method public int getSelectedColumn();
-    method public final deprecated java.lang.CharSequence getSeparator();
-    method public final java.util.List<java.lang.CharSequence> getSeparators();
-    method public float getVisibleItemCount();
-    method public void onColumnValueChanged(int, int);
-    method public void removeOnValueChangedListener(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.picker.Picker.PickerValueListener);
-    method public void setActivatedVisibleItemCount(float);
-    method public void setColumnAt(int, android.support.v17.leanback.widget.picker.PickerColumn);
-    method public void setColumnValue(int, int, boolean);
-    method public void setColumns(java.util.List<android.support.v17.leanback.widget.picker.PickerColumn>);
-    method public final void setPickerItemTextViewId(int);
-    method public void setSelectedColumn(int);
-    method public final void setSeparator(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public final void setSeparators(java.util.List<java.lang.CharSequence>);
-    method public void setVisibleItemCount(float);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Picker.PickerValueListener {
-    method public abstract void onValueChanged(android.support.v17.leanback.widget.picker.Picker, int);
-  }
-
-  public class PickerColumn {
-    ctor public PickerColumn();
-    method public int getCount();
-    method public int getCurrentValue();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getLabelFor(int);
-    method public java.lang.String getLabelFormat();
-    method public int getMaxValue();
-    method public int getMinValue();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence[] getStaticLabels();
-    method public void setCurrentValue(int);
-    method public void setLabelFormat(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setMaxValue(int);
-    method public void setMinValue(int);
-    method public void setStaticLabels(java.lang.CharSequence[]);
-  }
-
-  public class TimePicker extends android.support.v17.leanback.widget.picker.Picker {
-    ctor public TimePicker(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public TimePicker(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public int getHour();
-    method public int getMinute();
-    method public boolean is24Hour();
-    method public boolean isPm();
-    method public void setHour(int);
-    method public void setIs24Hour(boolean);
-    method public void setMinute(int);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/leanback/res/values-bn/strings.xml b/leanback/res/values-bn/strings.xml
index d0e08c4..899c564 100644
--- a/leanback/res/values-bn/strings.xml
+++ b/leanback/res/values-bn/strings.xml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
     <string name="orb_search_action" msgid="5651268540267663887">"অনুসন্ধান অ্যাকশন"</string>
     <string name="lb_search_bar_hint" msgid="8325490927970116252">"অনুসন্ধান"</string>
     <string name="lb_search_bar_hint_speech" msgid="5511270823320183816">"অনুসন্ধান করতে বলুন"</string>
-    <string name="lb_search_bar_hint_with_title" msgid="1627103380996590035">"<xliff:g id="SEARCH_CONTEXT">%1$s</xliff:g> খুঁজুন"</string>
+    <string name="lb_search_bar_hint_with_title" msgid="1627103380996590035">"<xliff:g id="SEARCH_CONTEXT">%1$s</xliff:g> অনুসন্ধান করুন"</string>
     <string name="lb_search_bar_hint_with_title_speech" msgid="2712734639766312034">"<xliff:g id="SEARCH_CONTEXT">%1$s</xliff:g> অনুসন্ধান করতে বলুন"</string>
     <string name="lb_control_display_fast_forward_multiplier" msgid="4541442045214207774">"%1$dX"</string>
     <string name="lb_control_display_rewind_multiplier" msgid="3097220783222910245">"%1$dX"</string>
@@ -33,11 +33,11 @@
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_rewind_multiplier" msgid="1640629531440849942">"পেছনের দিকে যান %1$dX"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_skip_next" msgid="2946499493161095772">"সরাসরি পরেরটিতে চলে যান"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_skip_previous" msgid="2326801832933178348">"সরাসরি আগেরটিতে চলে যান"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_more_actions" msgid="2330770008796987655">"আরও অ্যাকশন"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_more_actions" msgid="2330770008796987655">"আরো অ্যাকশন"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_thumb_up" msgid="6530420347129222601">"উপরের দিকে বুড়ো আঙ্গুল নির্দেশিত চিহ্ন নির্বাচন মুক্ত করুন"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_thumb_up_outline" msgid="1577637924003500946">"উপরের দিকে বুড়ো আঙ্গুল নির্দেশিত চিহ্ন নির্বাচিত করুন"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_thumb_down" msgid="4498041193172964797">"নীচের দিকে বুড়ো আঙ্গুল নির্দেশিত চিহ্ন নির্বাচন মুক্ত করুন"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_thumb_down_outline" msgid="2936020280629424365">"নীচের দিকে বুড়ো আঙ্গুল নির্দেশিত চিহ্ন বেছে নিন"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_thumb_down_outline" msgid="2936020280629424365">"নীচের দিকে বুড়ো আঙ্গুল নির্দেশিত চিহ্ন নির্বাচন করুন"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_repeat_none" msgid="87476947476529036">"একটিরও পুনরাবৃত্তি করবেন না"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_repeat_all" msgid="6730354406289599000">"সবগুলির পুনরাবৃত্তি করুন"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_repeat_one" msgid="3285202316452203619">"একটির পুনরাবৃত্তি করুন"</string>
diff --git a/leanback/res/values-hi/strings.xml b/leanback/res/values-hi/strings.xml
index 00ef8ab..6287f14 100644
--- a/leanback/res/values-hi/strings.xml
+++ b/leanback/res/values-hi/strings.xml
@@ -41,11 +41,11 @@
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_repeat_none" msgid="87476947476529036">"कुछ भी न दोहराएं"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_repeat_all" msgid="6730354406289599000">"सभी को दोहराएं"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_repeat_one" msgid="3285202316452203619">"एक दोहराएं"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_shuffle_enable" msgid="1099874107835264529">"शफ़ल करना चालू करें"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_shuffle_enable" msgid="1099874107835264529">"फेर-बदल सक्षम करें"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_shuffle_disable" msgid="8388150597335115226">"फेर-बदल अक्षम करें"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_high_quality_enable" msgid="202415780019335254">"अच्छी क्वालिटी में चलाएं"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_high_quality_enable" msgid="202415780019335254">"उच्च गुणवत्ता सक्षम करें"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_high_quality_disable" msgid="8637371582779057866">"उच्च गुणवत्ता अक्षम करें"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_closed_captioning_enable" msgid="2429655367176440226">"सबटाइटल चालू करें"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_closed_captioning_enable" msgid="2429655367176440226">"उपशीर्षक सक्षम करें"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_closed_captioning_disable" msgid="6133362019475930048">"उपशीर्षक अक्षम करें"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_picture_in_picture" msgid="3040035547765350690">"चित्र मोड में चित्र डालें"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_time_separator" msgid="3208380806582304911">"/"</string>
@@ -55,5 +55,5 @@
     <string name="lb_guidedaction_continue_title" msgid="8842094924543063706">"जारी रखें"</string>
     <string name="lb_media_player_error" msgid="3650250994187305396">"मीडिया प्लेयर गड़बड़ी कोड %1$d कुछ और %2$d"</string>
     <string name="lb_onboarding_get_started" msgid="6961440391306351139">"शुरू करें"</string>
-    <string name="lb_onboarding_accessibility_next" msgid="2918313444257732434">"आगे बढ़ें"</string>
+    <string name="lb_onboarding_accessibility_next" msgid="2918313444257732434">"अगला"</string>
 </resources>
diff --git a/leanback/res/values-pa/strings.xml b/leanback/res/values-pa/strings.xml
index 57956ee..4b3c515 100644
--- a/leanback/res/values-pa/strings.xml
+++ b/leanback/res/values-pa/strings.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 <resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     xmlns:xliff="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
     <string name="lb_navigation_menu_contentDescription" msgid="6215811486591629025">"ਦਿਸ਼ਾ-ਨਿਰਦੇਸ਼ ਮੀਨੂ"</string>
-    <string name="orb_search_action" msgid="5651268540267663887">"ਖੋਜ ਕਾਰਵਾਈ"</string>
+    <string name="orb_search_action" msgid="5651268540267663887">"ਖੋਜ ਕਿਰਿਆ"</string>
     <string name="lb_search_bar_hint" msgid="8325490927970116252">"ਖੋਜੋ"</string>
     <string name="lb_search_bar_hint_speech" msgid="5511270823320183816">"ਖੋਜਣ ਲਈ ਬੋਲੋ"</string>
     <string name="lb_search_bar_hint_with_title" msgid="1627103380996590035">"<xliff:g id="SEARCH_CONTEXT">%1$s</xliff:g> ਖੋਜੋ"</string>
@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@
     <string name="lb_control_display_rewind_multiplier" msgid="3097220783222910245">"%1$dX"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_play" msgid="731953341987346903">"ਪਲੇ ਕਰੋ"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_pause" msgid="6189521112079849518">"ਰੋਕੋ"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_fast_forward" msgid="8569951318244687220">"ਤੇਜ਼ੀ ਨਾਲ ਅੱਗੇ ਭੇਜੋ"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_fast_forward_multiplier" msgid="1058753672110224526">"%1$dX ਨੂੰ ਤੇਜ਼ੀ ਨਾਲ ਅੱਗੇ ਭੇਜੋ"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_fast_forward" msgid="8569951318244687220">"ਅੱਗੇ ਭੇਜੋ"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_fast_forward_multiplier" msgid="1058753672110224526">"%1$dX ਨੂੰ ਅੱਗੇ ਭੇਜੋ"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_rewind" msgid="2227196334132350684">"ਰੀਵਾਈਂਡ"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_rewind_multiplier" msgid="1640629531440849942">"%1$dX ਨੂੰ ਰੀਵਾਈਂਡ ਕਰੋ"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_skip_next" msgid="2946499493161095772">"ਅਗਲੇ ਨੂੰ ਛੱਡੋ"</string>
-    <string name="lb_playback_controls_skip_previous" msgid="2326801832933178348">"ਪਿਛਲੇ ਨੂੰ ਛੱਡੋ"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_skip_next" msgid="2946499493161095772">"ਅਗਲਾ ਨੂੰ ਛੱਡੋ"</string>
+    <string name="lb_playback_controls_skip_previous" msgid="2326801832933178348">"ਪਿਛਲਾ ਨੂੰ ਛੱਡੋ"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_more_actions" msgid="2330770008796987655">"ਹੋਰ ਕਿਰਿਆਵਾਂ"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_thumb_up" msgid="6530420347129222601">"ਥੰਬ ਅਪ ਨੂੰ ਅਚੋਣਵਾਂ ਕਰੋ"</string>
     <string name="lb_playback_controls_thumb_up_outline" msgid="1577637924003500946">"ਥੰਬ ਅਪ ਨੂੰ ਚੁਣੋ"</string>
diff --git a/leanback/src/android/support/v17/leanback/widget/GridLayoutManager.java b/leanback/src/android/support/v17/leanback/widget/GridLayoutManager.java
index ecea6ab..d360d15 100644
--- a/leanback/src/android/support/v17/leanback/widget/GridLayoutManager.java
+++ b/leanback/src/android/support/v17/leanback/widget/GridLayoutManager.java
@@ -196,23 +196,17 @@
      * Base class which scrolls to selected view in onStop().
      */
     abstract class GridLinearSmoothScroller extends LinearSmoothScroller {
-        boolean mSkipOnStopInternal;
-
         GridLinearSmoothScroller() {
             super(mBaseGridView.getContext());
         }
 
         @Override
         protected void onStop() {
-            super.onStop();
-            if (!mSkipOnStopInternal) {
+            mFlag |= PF_IN_ONSTOP_SMOOTHSCROLLER;
+            try {
                 onStopInternal();
-            }
-            if (mCurrentSmoothScroller == this) {
-                mCurrentSmoothScroller = null;
-            }
-            if (mPendingMoveSmoothScroller == this) {
-                mPendingMoveSmoothScroller = null;
+            } finally {
+                mFlag &= ~PF_IN_ONSTOP_SMOOTHSCROLLER;
             }
         }
 
@@ -225,6 +219,7 @@
                     // to the target position.
                     scrollToSelection(getTargetPosition(), 0, false, 0);
                 }
+                super.onStop();
                 return;
             }
             if (mFocusPosition != getTargetPosition()) {
@@ -238,6 +233,7 @@
             }
             dispatchChildSelected();
             dispatchChildSelectedAndPositioned();
+            super.onStop();
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -384,6 +380,7 @@
             super.onStopInternal();
             // if we hit wall,  need clear the remaining pending moves.
             mPendingMoves = 0;
+            mPendingMoveSmoothScroller = null;
             View v = findViewByPosition(getTargetPosition());
             if (v != null) scrollToView(v, true);
         }
@@ -546,6 +543,12 @@
 
     static final int PF_REVERSE_FLOW_MASK = PF_REVERSE_FLOW_PRIMARY | PF_REVERSE_FLOW_SECONDARY;
 
+    /**
+     * flag to prevent calling stop() in onStop() which will lead to stack overflow crash
+     * TODO: fix RecyclerView.SmoothScroller#stop() instead
+     */
+    static final int PF_IN_ONSTOP_SMOOTHSCROLLER = 1 << 20;
+
     int mFlag = PF_LAYOUT_ENABLED
             | PF_FOCUS_OUT_SIDE_START | PF_FOCUS_OUT_SIDE_END
             | PF_PRUNE_CHILD | PF_SCROLL_ENABLED;
@@ -570,13 +573,7 @@
     int mSubFocusPosition = 0;
 
     /**
-     * Current running SmoothScroller.
-     */
-    GridLinearSmoothScroller mCurrentSmoothScroller;
-
-    /**
-     * LinearSmoothScroller that consume pending DPAD movements. Can be same object as
-     * mCurrentSmoothScroller when mCurrentSmoothScroller is PendingMoveSmoothScroller.
+     * LinearSmoothScroller that consume pending DPAD movements.
      */
     PendingMoveSmoothScroller mPendingMoveSmoothScroller;
 
@@ -1254,7 +1251,7 @@
         int start = 0;
         // Iterate from left to right, which is a different index traversal
         // in RTL flow
-        if ((mFlag & PF_REVERSE_FLOW_SECONDARY) != 0) {
+        if ((mFlag & PF_REVERSE_FLOW_PRIMARY) != 0) {
             for (int i = mNumRows-1; i > rowIndex; i--) {
                 start += getRowSizeSecondary(i) + mSpacingSecondary;
             }
@@ -2667,7 +2664,8 @@
         // is still valid and no layout is requested, otherwise defer to next layout pass.
         // If it is still in smoothScrolling, we should either update smoothScroller or initiate
         // a layout.
-        final boolean notSmoothScrolling = !isSmoothScrolling();
+        final boolean notSmoothScrolling = !isSmoothScrolling()
+                || (mFlag & PF_IN_ONSTOP_SMOOTHSCROLLER) != 0;
         if (notSmoothScrolling && !mBaseGridView.isLayoutRequested()
                 && view != null && getAdapterPositionByView(view) == position) {
             mFlag |= PF_IN_SELECTION;
@@ -2680,7 +2678,7 @@
                 mFocusPositionOffset = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
                 return;
             }
-            if (smooth && !mBaseGridView.isLayoutRequested()) {
+            if (smooth) {
                 mFocusPosition = position;
                 mSubFocusPosition = subposition;
                 mFocusPositionOffset = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
@@ -2699,21 +2697,13 @@
                 // stopScroll might change mFocusPosition, so call it before assign value to
                 // mFocusPosition
                 if (!notSmoothScrolling) {
-                    skipSmoothScrollerOnStopInternal();
                     mBaseGridView.stopScroll();
                 }
-                if (!mBaseGridView.isLayoutRequested()
-                        && view != null && getAdapterPositionByView(view) == position) {
-                    mFlag |= PF_IN_SELECTION;
-                    scrollToView(view, smooth);
-                    mFlag &= ~PF_IN_SELECTION;
-                } else {
-                    mFocusPosition = position;
-                    mSubFocusPosition = subposition;
-                    mFocusPositionOffset = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
-                    mFlag |= PF_FORCE_FULL_LAYOUT;
-                    requestLayout();
-                }
+                mFocusPosition = position;
+                mSubFocusPosition = subposition;
+                mFocusPositionOffset = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
+                mFlag |= PF_FORCE_FULL_LAYOUT;
+                requestLayout();
             }
         }
         if (TRACE) TraceCompat.endSection();
@@ -2746,33 +2736,6 @@
         return linearSmoothScroller.getTargetPosition();
     }
 
-    /**
-     * when start a new SmoothScroller or scroll to a different location, dont need
-     * current SmoothScroller.onStopInternal() doing the scroll work.
-     */
-    void skipSmoothScrollerOnStopInternal() {
-        if (mCurrentSmoothScroller != null) {
-            mCurrentSmoothScroller.mSkipOnStopInternal = true;
-        }
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void startSmoothScroll(RecyclerView.SmoothScroller smoothScroller) {
-        skipSmoothScrollerOnStopInternal();
-        super.startSmoothScroll(smoothScroller);
-        if (smoothScroller.isRunning() && smoothScroller instanceof GridLinearSmoothScroller) {
-            mCurrentSmoothScroller = (GridLinearSmoothScroller) smoothScroller;
-            if (mCurrentSmoothScroller instanceof PendingMoveSmoothScroller) {
-                mPendingMoveSmoothScroller = (PendingMoveSmoothScroller) mCurrentSmoothScroller;
-            } else {
-                mPendingMoveSmoothScroller = null;
-            }
-        } else {
-            mCurrentSmoothScroller = null;
-            mPendingMoveSmoothScroller = null;
-        }
-    }
-
     private void processPendingMovement(boolean forward) {
         if (forward ? hasCreatedLastItem() : hasCreatedFirstItem()) {
             return;
@@ -2784,6 +2747,9 @@
                     forward ? 1 : -1, mNumRows > 1);
             mFocusPositionOffset = 0;
             startSmoothScroll(linearSmoothScroller);
+            if (linearSmoothScroller.isRunning()) {
+                mPendingMoveSmoothScroller = linearSmoothScroller;
+            }
         } else {
             if (forward) {
                 mPendingMoveSmoothScroller.increasePendingMoves();
@@ -3721,10 +3687,6 @@
     @Override
     public boolean performAccessibilityAction(Recycler recycler, State state, int action,
             Bundle args) {
-        if (!isScrollEnabled()) {
-            // eat action request so that talkback wont focus out of RV
-            return true;
-        }
         saveContext(recycler, state);
         int translatedAction = action;
         boolean reverseFlowPrimary = (mFlag & PF_REVERSE_FLOW_PRIMARY) != 0;
diff --git a/leanback/tests/java/android/support/v17/leanback/widget/GridWidgetTest.java b/leanback/tests/java/android/support/v17/leanback/widget/GridWidgetTest.java
index e82e858..0ca1562 100644
--- a/leanback/tests/java/android/support/v17/leanback/widget/GridWidgetTest.java
+++ b/leanback/tests/java/android/support/v17/leanback/widget/GridWidgetTest.java
@@ -1389,150 +1389,6 @@
         assertEquals(leftEdge, mGridView.getLayoutManager().findViewByPosition(0).getLeft());
     }
 
-    void testSetSelectedPosition(final boolean inSmoothScroll, final boolean layoutRequested,
-            final boolean viewVisible, final boolean smooth,
-            final boolean resultLayoutRequested, final boolean resultSmoothScroller,
-            final int resultScrollState) throws Throwable {
-        Intent intent = new Intent();
-        intent.putExtra(GridActivity.EXTRA_LAYOUT_RESOURCE_ID, R.layout.vertical_linear);
-        intent.putExtra(GridActivity.EXTRA_NUM_ITEMS, 1500);
-        intent.putExtra(GridActivity.EXTRA_STAGGERED, false);
-        mNumRows = 1;
-        initActivity(intent);
-        mOrientation = BaseGridView.VERTICAL;
-
-        if (inSmoothScroll) {
-            setSelectedPositionSmooth(500);
-        }
-        mActivityTestRule.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
-            @Override
-            public void run() {
-                if (layoutRequested) {
-                    mGridView.requestLayout();
-                }
-                final int position;
-                if (viewVisible) {
-                    position = mGridView.getChildAdapterPosition(mGridView.getChildAt(
-                            mGridView.getChildCount() - 1));
-                } else {
-                    position = 1000;
-                }
-                if (smooth) {
-                    mGridView.setSelectedPositionSmooth(position);
-                } else {
-                    mGridView.setSelectedPosition(position);
-                }
-                assertEquals("isLayoutRequested", resultLayoutRequested,
-                        mGridView.isLayoutRequested());
-                assertEquals("isSmoothScrolling", resultSmoothScroller,
-                        mGridView.getLayoutManager().isSmoothScrolling());
-                if (!resultSmoothScroller) {
-                    // getScrollState() only matters when is not running smoothScroller
-                    assertEquals("getScrollState", resultScrollState,
-                            mGridView.getScrollState());
-                }
-                assertEquals("isLayoutRequested", resultLayoutRequested,
-                        mGridView.isLayoutRequested());
-            }
-        });
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition01() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(false, false, false, false,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition02() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(false, false, false, true,
-                false, true, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition03() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(false, false, true, false,
-                false, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition04() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(false, false, true, true,
-                false, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_SETTLING);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition05() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(false, true, false, false,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition06() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(false, true, false, true,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition07() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(false, true, true, false,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition08() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(false, true, true, true,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition09() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(true, false, false, false,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition10() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(true, false, false, true,
-                false, true, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition11() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(true, false, true, false,
-                false, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition12() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(true, false, true, true,
-                false, true, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition13() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(true, true, false, false,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition14() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(true, true, false, true,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition15() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(true, true, true, false,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void testSelectedPosition16() throws Throwable {
-        testSetSelectedPosition(true, true, true, true,
-                true, false, RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE);
-    }
-
     @Test
     public void testScrollAndStuck() throws Throwable {
         // see b/67370222 fastRelayout() may be stuck.
@@ -4626,41 +4482,6 @@
         assertEquals(1, mGridView.getSelectedPosition());
     }
 
-    @Test
-    public void testAccessibilityWhenScrollDisabled() throws Throwable {
-        Intent intent = new Intent();
-        intent.putExtra(GridActivity.EXTRA_LAYOUT_RESOURCE_ID, R.layout.vertical_linear);
-        intent.putExtra(GridActivity.EXTRA_CHILD_LAYOUT_ID, R.layout.item_button_at_bottom);
-        intent.putExtra(GridActivity.EXTRA_NUM_ITEMS,  1000);
-        intent.putExtra(GridActivity.EXTRA_STAGGERED, false);
-        initActivity(intent);
-        mOrientation = BaseGridView.VERTICAL;
-        mNumRows = 1;
-
-        setSelectedPosition(0);
-
-        final RecyclerViewAccessibilityDelegate delegateCompat = mGridView
-                .getCompatAccessibilityDelegate();
-        final AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat info = AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.obtain();
-        mActivityTestRule.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
-            @Override
-            public void run() {
-                delegateCompat.onInitializeAccessibilityNodeInfo(mGridView, info);
-            }
-        });
-        mGridView.setScrollEnabled(false);
-        mActivityTestRule.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
-            @Override
-            public void run() {
-                for (int i  = 0; i < 100; i++) {
-                    assertTrue(delegateCompat.performAccessibilityAction(mGridView,
-                            AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.ACTION_SCROLL_FORWARD, null));
-                }
-            }
-        });
-        assertEquals(RecyclerView.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE, mGridView.getScrollState());
-    }
-
     private boolean hasAction(AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat info, Object action) {
         if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 21) {
             AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat.AccessibilityActionCompat convertedAction =
diff --git a/media-compat/api/27.1.0.txt b/media-compat/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index b53de68..0000000
--- a/media-compat/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,649 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v4.media {
-
-  public class AudioAttributesCompat {
-    method public int getContentType();
-    method public int getFlags();
-    method public int getLegacyStreamType();
-    method public int getUsage();
-    method public int getVolumeControlStream();
-    method public java.lang.Object unwrap();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.AudioAttributesCompat wrap(java.lang.Object);
-    field public static final int CONTENT_TYPE_MOVIE = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int CONTENT_TYPE_MUSIC = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CONTENT_TYPE_SONIFICATION = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int CONTENT_TYPE_SPEECH = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int CONTENT_TYPE_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int FLAG_AUDIBILITY_ENFORCED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int FLAG_HW_AV_SYNC = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int USAGE_ALARM = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int USAGE_ASSISTANCE_ACCESSIBILITY = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final int USAGE_ASSISTANCE_NAVIGATION_GUIDANCE = 12; // 0xc
-    field public static final int USAGE_ASSISTANCE_SONIFICATION = 13; // 0xd
-    field public static final int USAGE_ASSISTANT = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int USAGE_GAME = 14; // 0xe
-    field public static final int USAGE_MEDIA = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int USAGE_NOTIFICATION = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int USAGE_NOTIFICATION_COMMUNICATION_DELAYED = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final int USAGE_NOTIFICATION_COMMUNICATION_INSTANT = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int USAGE_NOTIFICATION_COMMUNICATION_REQUEST = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int USAGE_NOTIFICATION_EVENT = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final int USAGE_NOTIFICATION_RINGTONE = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int USAGE_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int USAGE_VOICE_COMMUNICATION = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int USAGE_VOICE_COMMUNICATION_SIGNALLING = 3; // 0x3
-  }
-
-  public static class AudioAttributesCompat.Builder {
-    ctor public AudioAttributesCompat.Builder();
-    ctor public AudioAttributesCompat.Builder(android.support.v4.media.AudioAttributesCompat);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.AudioAttributesCompat build();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.AudioAttributesCompat.Builder setContentType(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.AudioAttributesCompat.Builder setFlags(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.AudioAttributesCompat.Builder setLegacyStreamType(int);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.AudioAttributesCompat.Builder setUsage(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaBrowserCompat {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserCompat(android.content.Context, android.content.ComponentName, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.ConnectionCallback, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void connect();
-    method public void disconnect();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public void getItem(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.ItemCallback);
-    method public java.lang.String getRoot();
-    method public android.content.ComponentName getServiceComponent();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token getSessionToken();
-    method public boolean isConnected();
-    method public void search(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.SearchCallback);
-    method public void sendCustomAction(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.CustomActionCallback);
-    method public void subscribe(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.SubscriptionCallback);
-    method public void subscribe(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.SubscriptionCallback);
-    method public void unsubscribe(java.lang.String);
-    method public void unsubscribe(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.SubscriptionCallback);
-    field public static final java.lang.String CUSTOM_ACTION_DOWNLOAD = "android.support.v4.media.action.DOWNLOAD";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CUSTOM_ACTION_REMOVE_DOWNLOADED_FILE = "android.support.v4.media.action.REMOVE_DOWNLOADED_FILE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_DOWNLOAD_PROGRESS = "android.media.browse.extra.DOWNLOAD_PROGRESS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_MEDIA_ID = "android.media.browse.extra.MEDIA_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_PAGE = "android.media.browse.extra.PAGE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_PAGE_SIZE = "android.media.browse.extra.PAGE_SIZE";
-  }
-
-  public static class MediaBrowserCompat.ConnectionCallback {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserCompat.ConnectionCallback();
-    method public void onConnected();
-    method public void onConnectionFailed();
-    method public void onConnectionSuspended();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaBrowserCompat.CustomActionCallback {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserCompat.CustomActionCallback();
-    method public void onError(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onProgressUpdate(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onResult(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaBrowserCompat.ItemCallback {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserCompat.ItemCallback();
-    method public void onError(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onItemLoaded(android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem);
-  }
-
-  public static class MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem(android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat, int);
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem fromMediaItem(java.lang.Object);
-    method public static java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem> fromMediaItemList(java.util.List<?>);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat getDescription();
-    method public int getFlags();
-    method public java.lang.String getMediaId();
-    method public boolean isBrowsable();
-    method public boolean isPlayable();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem> CREATOR;
-    field public static final int FLAG_BROWSABLE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int FLAG_PLAYABLE = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaBrowserCompat.SearchCallback {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserCompat.SearchCallback();
-    method public void onError(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onSearchResult(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem>);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaBrowserCompat.SubscriptionCallback {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserCompat.SubscriptionCallback();
-    method public void onChildrenLoaded(java.lang.String, java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem>);
-    method public void onChildrenLoaded(java.lang.String, java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem>, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onError(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onError(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class MediaBrowserServiceCompat extends android.app.Service {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserServiceCompat();
-    method public void dump(java.io.FileDescriptor, java.io.PrintWriter, java.lang.String[]);
-    method public final android.os.Bundle getBrowserRootHints();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token getSessionToken();
-    method public void notifyChildrenChanged(java.lang.String);
-    method public void notifyChildrenChanged(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.os.IBinder onBind(android.content.Intent);
-    method public void onCustomAction(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserServiceCompat.Result<android.os.Bundle>);
-    method public abstract android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserServiceCompat.BrowserRoot onGetRoot(java.lang.String, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void onLoadChildren(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserServiceCompat.Result<java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem>>);
-    method public void onLoadChildren(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserServiceCompat.Result<java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem>>, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onLoadItem(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserServiceCompat.Result<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem>);
-    method public void onSearch(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserServiceCompat.Result<java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.MediaBrowserCompat.MediaItem>>);
-    method public void setSessionToken(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token);
-    field public static final java.lang.String SERVICE_INTERFACE = "android.media.browse.MediaBrowserService";
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaBrowserServiceCompat.BrowserRoot {
-    ctor public MediaBrowserServiceCompat.BrowserRoot(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public java.lang.String getRootId();
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_OFFLINE = "android.service.media.extra.OFFLINE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_RECENT = "android.service.media.extra.RECENT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SUGGESTED = "android.service.media.extra.SUGGESTED";
-    field public static final deprecated java.lang.String EXTRA_SUGGESTION_KEYWORDS = "android.service.media.extra.SUGGESTION_KEYWORDS";
-  }
-
-  public static class MediaBrowserServiceCompat.Result<T> {
-    method public void detach();
-    method public void sendError(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void sendProgressUpdate(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void sendResult(T);
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaDescriptionCompat implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat fromMediaDescription(java.lang.Object);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getDescription();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public android.graphics.Bitmap getIconBitmap();
-    method public android.net.Uri getIconUri();
-    method public java.lang.Object getMediaDescription();
-    method public java.lang.String getMediaId();
-    method public android.net.Uri getMediaUri();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSubtitle();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final long BT_FOLDER_TYPE_ALBUMS = 2L; // 0x2L
-    field public static final long BT_FOLDER_TYPE_ARTISTS = 3L; // 0x3L
-    field public static final long BT_FOLDER_TYPE_GENRES = 4L; // 0x4L
-    field public static final long BT_FOLDER_TYPE_MIXED = 0L; // 0x0L
-    field public static final long BT_FOLDER_TYPE_PLAYLISTS = 5L; // 0x5L
-    field public static final long BT_FOLDER_TYPE_TITLES = 1L; // 0x1L
-    field public static final long BT_FOLDER_TYPE_YEARS = 6L; // 0x6L
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat> CREATOR;
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_BT_FOLDER_TYPE = "android.media.extra.BT_FOLDER_TYPE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_DOWNLOAD_STATUS = "android.media.extra.DOWNLOAD_STATUS";
-    field public static final long STATUS_DOWNLOADED = 2L; // 0x2L
-    field public static final long STATUS_DOWNLOADING = 1L; // 0x1L
-    field public static final long STATUS_NOT_DOWNLOADED = 0L; // 0x0L
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder {
-    ctor public MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat build();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder setDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder setExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder setIconBitmap(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder setIconUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder setMediaId(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder setMediaUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder setSubtitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat.Builder setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaMetadataCompat implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    method public boolean containsKey(java.lang.String);
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat fromMediaMetadata(java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.graphics.Bitmap getBitmap(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.os.Bundle getBundle();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat getDescription();
-    method public long getLong(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.lang.Object getMediaMetadata();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat getRating(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.lang.String getString(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getText(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.util.Set<java.lang.String> keySet();
-    method public int size();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat> CREATOR;
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_ADVERTISEMENT = "android.media.metadata.ADVERTISEMENT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_ALBUM = "android.media.metadata.ALBUM";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_ALBUM_ART = "android.media.metadata.ALBUM_ART";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_ALBUM_ARTIST = "android.media.metadata.ALBUM_ARTIST";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_ALBUM_ART_URI = "android.media.metadata.ALBUM_ART_URI";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_ART = "android.media.metadata.ART";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_ARTIST = "android.media.metadata.ARTIST";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_ART_URI = "android.media.metadata.ART_URI";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_AUTHOR = "android.media.metadata.AUTHOR";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_BT_FOLDER_TYPE = "android.media.metadata.BT_FOLDER_TYPE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_COMPILATION = "android.media.metadata.COMPILATION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_COMPOSER = "android.media.metadata.COMPOSER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DATE = "android.media.metadata.DATE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DISC_NUMBER = "android.media.metadata.DISC_NUMBER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DISPLAY_DESCRIPTION = "android.media.metadata.DISPLAY_DESCRIPTION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DISPLAY_ICON = "android.media.metadata.DISPLAY_ICON";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DISPLAY_ICON_URI = "android.media.metadata.DISPLAY_ICON_URI";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DISPLAY_SUBTITLE = "android.media.metadata.DISPLAY_SUBTITLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DISPLAY_TITLE = "android.media.metadata.DISPLAY_TITLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DOWNLOAD_STATUS = "android.media.metadata.DOWNLOAD_STATUS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_DURATION = "android.media.metadata.DURATION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_GENRE = "android.media.metadata.GENRE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_MEDIA_ID = "android.media.metadata.MEDIA_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_MEDIA_URI = "android.media.metadata.MEDIA_URI";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_NUM_TRACKS = "android.media.metadata.NUM_TRACKS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_RATING = "android.media.metadata.RATING";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_TITLE = "android.media.metadata.TITLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_TRACK_NUMBER = "android.media.metadata.TRACK_NUMBER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_USER_RATING = "android.media.metadata.USER_RATING";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_WRITER = "android.media.metadata.WRITER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String METADATA_KEY_YEAR = "android.media.metadata.YEAR";
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaMetadataCompat.Builder {
-    ctor public MediaMetadataCompat.Builder();
-    ctor public MediaMetadataCompat.Builder(android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat build();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat.Builder putBitmap(java.lang.String, android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat.Builder putLong(java.lang.String, long);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat.Builder putRating(java.lang.String, android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat.Builder putString(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat.Builder putText(java.lang.String, java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public final class RatingCompat implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat fromRating(java.lang.Object);
-    method public float getPercentRating();
-    method public java.lang.Object getRating();
-    method public int getRatingStyle();
-    method public float getStarRating();
-    method public boolean hasHeart();
-    method public boolean isRated();
-    method public boolean isThumbUp();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat newHeartRating(boolean);
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat newPercentageRating(float);
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat newStarRating(int, float);
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat newThumbRating(boolean);
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat newUnratedRating(int);
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat> CREATOR;
-    field public static final int RATING_3_STARS = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int RATING_4_STARS = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int RATING_5_STARS = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int RATING_HEART = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int RATING_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int RATING_PERCENTAGE = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int RATING_THUMB_UP_DOWN = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public abstract class VolumeProviderCompat {
-    ctor public VolumeProviderCompat(int, int, int);
-    method public final int getCurrentVolume();
-    method public final int getMaxVolume();
-    method public final int getVolumeControl();
-    method public java.lang.Object getVolumeProvider();
-    method public void onAdjustVolume(int);
-    method public void onSetVolumeTo(int);
-    method public void setCallback(android.support.v4.media.VolumeProviderCompat.Callback);
-    method public final void setCurrentVolume(int);
-    field public static final int VOLUME_CONTROL_ABSOLUTE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int VOLUME_CONTROL_FIXED = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int VOLUME_CONTROL_RELATIVE = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class VolumeProviderCompat.Callback {
-    ctor public VolumeProviderCompat.Callback();
-    method public abstract void onVolumeChanged(android.support.v4.media.VolumeProviderCompat);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.media.app {
-
-  public class NotificationCompat {
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.DecoratedMediaCustomViewStyle extends android.support.v4.media.app.NotificationCompat.MediaStyle {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.DecoratedMediaCustomViewStyle();
-  }
-
-  public static class NotificationCompat.MediaStyle extends android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Style {
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.MediaStyle();
-    ctor public NotificationCompat.MediaStyle(android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat.Builder);
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token getMediaSession(android.app.Notification);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.app.NotificationCompat.MediaStyle setCancelButtonIntent(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.app.NotificationCompat.MediaStyle setMediaSession(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.app.NotificationCompat.MediaStyle setShowActionsInCompactView(int...);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.app.NotificationCompat.MediaStyle setShowCancelButton(boolean);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v4.media.session {
-
-  public class MediaButtonReceiver extends android.content.BroadcastReceiver {
-    ctor public MediaButtonReceiver();
-    method public static android.app.PendingIntent buildMediaButtonPendingIntent(android.content.Context, long);
-    method public static android.app.PendingIntent buildMediaButtonPendingIntent(android.content.Context, android.content.ComponentName, long);
-    method public static android.view.KeyEvent handleIntent(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat, android.content.Intent);
-    method public void onReceive(android.content.Context, android.content.Intent);
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaControllerCompat {
-    ctor public MediaControllerCompat(android.content.Context, android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat);
-    ctor public MediaControllerCompat(android.content.Context, android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token) throws android.os.RemoteException;
-    method public void addQueueItem(android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat);
-    method public void addQueueItem(android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat, int);
-    method public void adjustVolume(int, int);
-    method public boolean dispatchMediaButtonEvent(android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public long getFlags();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat getMediaController(android.app.Activity);
-    method public java.lang.Object getMediaController();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat getMetadata();
-    method public java.lang.String getPackageName();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat.PlaybackInfo getPlaybackInfo();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat getPlaybackState();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.QueueItem> getQueue();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getQueueTitle();
-    method public int getRatingType();
-    method public int getRepeatMode();
-    method public android.app.PendingIntent getSessionActivity();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token getSessionToken();
-    method public int getShuffleMode();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat.TransportControls getTransportControls();
-    method public boolean isCaptioningEnabled();
-    method public boolean isSessionReady();
-    method public void registerCallback(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat.Callback);
-    method public void registerCallback(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat.Callback, android.os.Handler);
-    method public void removeQueueItem(android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat);
-    method public deprecated void removeQueueItemAt(int);
-    method public void sendCommand(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.os.ResultReceiver);
-    method public static void setMediaController(android.app.Activity, android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat);
-    method public void setVolumeTo(int, int);
-    method public void unregisterCallback(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat.Callback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaControllerCompat.Callback implements android.os.IBinder.DeathRecipient {
-    ctor public MediaControllerCompat.Callback();
-    method public void binderDied();
-    method public void onAudioInfoChanged(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat.PlaybackInfo);
-    method public void onCaptioningEnabledChanged(boolean);
-    method public void onExtrasChanged(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onMetadataChanged(android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat);
-    method public void onPlaybackStateChanged(android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat);
-    method public void onQueueChanged(java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.QueueItem>);
-    method public void onQueueTitleChanged(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void onRepeatModeChanged(int);
-    method public void onSessionDestroyed();
-    method public void onSessionEvent(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onSessionReady();
-    method public void onShuffleModeChanged(int);
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaControllerCompat.PlaybackInfo {
-    method public int getAudioStream();
-    method public int getCurrentVolume();
-    method public int getMaxVolume();
-    method public int getPlaybackType();
-    method public int getVolumeControl();
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_TYPE_LOCAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_TYPE_REMOTE = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaControllerCompat.TransportControls {
-    method public abstract void fastForward();
-    method public abstract void pause();
-    method public abstract void play();
-    method public abstract void playFromMediaId(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void playFromSearch(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void playFromUri(android.net.Uri, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void prepare();
-    method public abstract void prepareFromMediaId(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void prepareFromSearch(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void prepareFromUri(android.net.Uri, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void rewind();
-    method public abstract void seekTo(long);
-    method public abstract void sendCustomAction(android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void sendCustomAction(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void setCaptioningEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract void setRating(android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat);
-    method public abstract void setRating(android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void setRepeatMode(int);
-    method public abstract void setShuffleMode(int);
-    method public abstract void skipToNext();
-    method public abstract void skipToPrevious();
-    method public abstract void skipToQueueItem(long);
-    method public abstract void stop();
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_LEGACY_STREAM_TYPE = "android.media.session.extra.LEGACY_STREAM_TYPE";
-  }
-
-  public class MediaSessionCompat {
-    ctor public MediaSessionCompat(android.content.Context, java.lang.String);
-    ctor public MediaSessionCompat(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, android.content.ComponentName, android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public void addOnActiveChangeListener(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.OnActiveChangeListener);
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat fromMediaSession(android.content.Context, java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaControllerCompat getController();
-    method public java.lang.Object getMediaSession();
-    method public java.lang.Object getRemoteControlClient();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token getSessionToken();
-    method public boolean isActive();
-    method public void release();
-    method public void removeOnActiveChangeListener(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.OnActiveChangeListener);
-    method public void sendSessionEvent(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void setActive(boolean);
-    method public void setCallback(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Callback);
-    method public void setCallback(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Callback, android.os.Handler);
-    method public void setCaptioningEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void setFlags(int);
-    method public void setMediaButtonReceiver(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public void setMetadata(android.support.v4.media.MediaMetadataCompat);
-    method public void setPlaybackState(android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat);
-    method public void setPlaybackToLocal(int);
-    method public void setPlaybackToRemote(android.support.v4.media.VolumeProviderCompat);
-    method public void setQueue(java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.QueueItem>);
-    method public void setQueueTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setRatingType(int);
-    method public void setRepeatMode(int);
-    method public void setSessionActivity(android.app.PendingIntent);
-    method public void setShuffleMode(int);
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_FLAG_AS_INAPPROPRIATE = "android.support.v4.media.session.action.FLAG_AS_INAPPROPRIATE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_FOLLOW = "android.support.v4.media.session.action.FOLLOW";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_SKIP_AD = "android.support.v4.media.session.action.SKIP_AD";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_UNFOLLOW = "android.support.v4.media.session.action.UNFOLLOW";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ARGUMENT_MEDIA_ATTRIBUTE = "android.support.v4.media.session.ARGUMENT_MEDIA_ATTRIBUTE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ARGUMENT_MEDIA_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE = "android.support.v4.media.session.ARGUMENT_MEDIA_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE";
-    field public static final int FLAG_HANDLES_MEDIA_BUTTONS = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int FLAG_HANDLES_QUEUE_COMMANDS = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int FLAG_HANDLES_TRANSPORT_CONTROLS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int MEDIA_ATTRIBUTE_ALBUM = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int MEDIA_ATTRIBUTE_ARTIST = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int MEDIA_ATTRIBUTE_PLAYLIST = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaSessionCompat.Callback {
-    ctor public MediaSessionCompat.Callback();
-    method public void onAddQueueItem(android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat);
-    method public void onAddQueueItem(android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat, int);
-    method public void onCommand(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.os.ResultReceiver);
-    method public void onCustomAction(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onFastForward();
-    method public boolean onMediaButtonEvent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public void onPause();
-    method public void onPlay();
-    method public void onPlayFromMediaId(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onPlayFromSearch(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onPlayFromUri(android.net.Uri, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onPrepare();
-    method public void onPrepareFromMediaId(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onPrepareFromSearch(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onPrepareFromUri(android.net.Uri, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onRemoveQueueItem(android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat);
-    method public deprecated void onRemoveQueueItemAt(int);
-    method public void onRewind();
-    method public void onSeekTo(long);
-    method public void onSetCaptioningEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void onSetRating(android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat);
-    method public void onSetRating(android.support.v4.media.RatingCompat, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onSetRepeatMode(int);
-    method public void onSetShuffleMode(int);
-    method public void onSkipToNext();
-    method public void onSkipToPrevious();
-    method public void onSkipToQueueItem(long);
-    method public void onStop();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface MediaSessionCompat.OnActiveChangeListener {
-    method public abstract void onActiveChanged();
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaSessionCompat.QueueItem implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    ctor public MediaSessionCompat.QueueItem(android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat, long);
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.QueueItem fromQueueItem(java.lang.Object);
-    method public static java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.QueueItem> fromQueueItemList(java.util.List<?>);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.MediaDescriptionCompat getDescription();
-    method public long getQueueId();
-    method public java.lang.Object getQueueItem();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.QueueItem> CREATOR;
-    field public static final int UNKNOWN_ID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaSessionCompat.Token implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token fromToken(java.lang.Object);
-    method public java.lang.Object getToken();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public class ParcelableVolumeInfo implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    ctor public ParcelableVolumeInfo(int, int, int, int, int);
-    ctor public ParcelableVolumeInfo(android.os.Parcel);
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.session.ParcelableVolumeInfo> CREATOR;
-    field public int audioStream;
-    field public int controlType;
-    field public int currentVolume;
-    field public int maxVolume;
-    field public int volumeType;
-  }
-
-  public final class PlaybackStateCompat implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat fromPlaybackState(java.lang.Object);
-    method public long getActions();
-    method public long getActiveQueueItemId();
-    method public long getBufferedPosition();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction> getCustomActions();
-    method public int getErrorCode();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getErrorMessage();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public long getLastPositionUpdateTime();
-    method public float getPlaybackSpeed();
-    method public java.lang.Object getPlaybackState();
-    method public long getPosition();
-    method public int getState();
-    method public static int toKeyCode(long);
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final long ACTION_FAST_FORWARD = 64L; // 0x40L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PAUSE = 2L; // 0x2L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PLAY = 4L; // 0x4L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PLAY_FROM_MEDIA_ID = 1024L; // 0x400L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PLAY_FROM_SEARCH = 2048L; // 0x800L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PLAY_FROM_URI = 8192L; // 0x2000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PLAY_PAUSE = 512L; // 0x200L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PREPARE = 16384L; // 0x4000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PREPARE_FROM_MEDIA_ID = 32768L; // 0x8000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PREPARE_FROM_SEARCH = 65536L; // 0x10000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_PREPARE_FROM_URI = 131072L; // 0x20000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_REWIND = 8L; // 0x8L
-    field public static final long ACTION_SEEK_TO = 256L; // 0x100L
-    field public static final long ACTION_SET_CAPTIONING_ENABLED = 1048576L; // 0x100000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_SET_RATING = 128L; // 0x80L
-    field public static final long ACTION_SET_REPEAT_MODE = 262144L; // 0x40000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_SET_SHUFFLE_MODE = 2097152L; // 0x200000L
-    field public static final deprecated long ACTION_SET_SHUFFLE_MODE_ENABLED = 524288L; // 0x80000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_SKIP_TO_NEXT = 32L; // 0x20L
-    field public static final long ACTION_SKIP_TO_PREVIOUS = 16L; // 0x10L
-    field public static final long ACTION_SKIP_TO_QUEUE_ITEM = 4096L; // 0x1000L
-    field public static final long ACTION_STOP = 1L; // 0x1L
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat> CREATOR;
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_ACTION_ABORTED = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_APP_ERROR = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_AUTHENTICATION_EXPIRED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_CONCURRENT_STREAM_LIMIT = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_CONTENT_ALREADY_PLAYING = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_END_OF_QUEUE = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_NOT_AVAILABLE_IN_REGION = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_NOT_SUPPORTED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_PARENTAL_CONTROL_RESTRICTED = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_PREMIUM_ACCOUNT_REQUIRED = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_SKIP_LIMIT_REACHED = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final int ERROR_CODE_UNKNOWN_ERROR = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final long PLAYBACK_POSITION_UNKNOWN = -1L; // 0xffffffffffffffffL
-    field public static final int REPEAT_MODE_ALL = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int REPEAT_MODE_GROUP = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int REPEAT_MODE_INVALID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int REPEAT_MODE_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int REPEAT_MODE_ONE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SHUFFLE_MODE_ALL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SHUFFLE_MODE_GROUP = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SHUFFLE_MODE_INVALID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int SHUFFLE_MODE_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_BUFFERING = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int STATE_CONNECTING = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int STATE_ERROR = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int STATE_FAST_FORWARDING = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int STATE_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_PAUSED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int STATE_PLAYING = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int STATE_REWINDING = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int STATE_SKIPPING_TO_NEXT = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final int STATE_SKIPPING_TO_PREVIOUS = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final int STATE_SKIPPING_TO_QUEUE_ITEM = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final int STATE_STOPPED = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static final class PlaybackStateCompat.Builder {
-    ctor public PlaybackStateCompat.Builder();
-    ctor public PlaybackStateCompat.Builder(android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder addCustomAction(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, int);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder addCustomAction(android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat build();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder setActions(long);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder setActiveQueueItemId(long);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder setBufferedPosition(long);
-    method public deprecated android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder setErrorMessage(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder setErrorMessage(int, java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder setExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder setState(int, long, float);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.Builder setState(int, long, float, long);
-  }
-
-  public static final class PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction implements android.os.Parcelable {
-    method public int describeContents();
-    method public static android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction fromCustomAction(java.lang.Object);
-    method public java.lang.String getAction();
-    method public java.lang.Object getCustomAction();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public int getIcon();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getName();
-    method public void writeToParcel(android.os.Parcel, int);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public static final class PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction.Builder {
-    ctor public PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction.Builder(java.lang.String, java.lang.CharSequence, int);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction build();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.PlaybackStateCompat.CustomAction.Builder setExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/percent/api/27.1.0.txt b/percent/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 088c0de..0000000
--- a/percent/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,70 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.percent {
-
-  public deprecated class PercentFrameLayout extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method protected android.support.percent.PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.percent.PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-  }
-
-  public static deprecated class PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams extends android.widget.FrameLayout.LayoutParams implements android.support.percent.PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutParams {
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams(int, int, int);
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams(android.widget.FrameLayout.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams(android.support.percent.PercentFrameLayout.LayoutParams);
-    method public android.support.percent.PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutInfo getPercentLayoutInfo();
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class PercentLayoutHelper {
-    ctor public PercentLayoutHelper(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public void adjustChildren(int, int);
-    method public static void fetchWidthAndHeight(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams, android.content.res.TypedArray, int, int);
-    method public static android.support.percent.PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutInfo getPercentLayoutInfo(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public boolean handleMeasuredStateTooSmall();
-    method public void restoreOriginalParams();
-  }
-
-  public static deprecated class PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutInfo {
-    ctor public PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutInfo();
-    method public void fillLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams, int, int);
-    method public deprecated void fillMarginLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams, int, int);
-    method public void fillMarginLayoutParams(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams, int, int);
-    method public void restoreLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public void restoreMarginLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    field public float aspectRatio;
-    field public float bottomMarginPercent;
-    field public float endMarginPercent;
-    field public float heightPercent;
-    field public float leftMarginPercent;
-    field public float rightMarginPercent;
-    field public float startMarginPercent;
-    field public float topMarginPercent;
-    field public float widthPercent;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutParams {
-    method public abstract android.support.percent.PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutInfo getPercentLayoutInfo();
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class PercentRelativeLayout extends android.widget.RelativeLayout {
-    ctor public PercentRelativeLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public PercentRelativeLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public PercentRelativeLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method protected android.support.percent.PercentRelativeLayout.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.percent.PercentRelativeLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-  }
-
-  public static deprecated class PercentRelativeLayout.LayoutParams extends android.widget.RelativeLayout.LayoutParams implements android.support.percent.PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutParams {
-    ctor public PercentRelativeLayout.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public PercentRelativeLayout.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public PercentRelativeLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public PercentRelativeLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    method public android.support.percent.PercentLayoutHelper.PercentLayoutInfo getPercentLayoutInfo();
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/preference-leanback/api/27.1.0.txt b/preference-leanback/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 4703ae3..0000000
--- a/preference-leanback/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,62 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v17.preference {
-
-  public abstract class BaseLeanbackPreferenceFragment extends android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceFragment {
-    ctor public BaseLeanbackPreferenceFragment();
-  }
-
-  public class LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment extends android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackPreferenceDialogFragment {
-    ctor public LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment();
-    method public static android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment newInstanceMulti(java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment newInstanceSingle(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter onCreateAdapter();
-  }
-
-  public class LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.AdapterMulti extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter implements android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder.OnItemClickListener {
-    ctor public LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.AdapterMulti(java.lang.CharSequence[], java.lang.CharSequence[], java.util.Set<java.lang.String>);
-    method public int getItemCount();
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder, int);
-    method public android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public void onItemClick(android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public class LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.AdapterSingle extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter implements android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder.OnItemClickListener {
-    ctor public LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.AdapterSingle(java.lang.CharSequence[], java.lang.CharSequence[], java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public int getItemCount();
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder, int);
-    method public android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public void onItemClick(android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public static class LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder implements android.view.View.OnClickListener {
-    ctor public LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder(android.view.View, android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder.OnItemClickListener);
-    method public android.view.ViewGroup getContainer();
-    method public android.widget.TextView getTitleView();
-    method public android.widget.Checkable getWidgetView();
-    method public void onClick(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder.OnItemClickListener {
-    method public abstract void onItemClick(android.support.v17.preference.LeanbackListPreferenceDialogFragment.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public class LeanbackPreferenceDialogFragment extends android.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public LeanbackPreferenceDialogFragment();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference getPreference();
-    field public static final java.lang.String ARG_KEY = "key";
-  }
-
-  public abstract class LeanbackPreferenceFragment extends android.support.v17.preference.BaseLeanbackPreferenceFragment {
-    ctor public LeanbackPreferenceFragment();
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class LeanbackSettingsFragment extends android.app.Fragment implements android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceFragment.OnPreferenceDisplayDialogCallback android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceFragment.OnPreferenceStartFragmentCallback android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceFragment.OnPreferenceStartScreenCallback {
-    ctor public LeanbackSettingsFragment();
-    method public boolean onPreferenceDisplayDialog(android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceFragment, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public abstract void onPreferenceStartInitialScreen();
-    method public void startImmersiveFragment(android.app.Fragment);
-    method public void startPreferenceFragment(android.app.Fragment);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/recommendation/api/27.1.0.txt b/recommendation/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index ce69b31..0000000
--- a/recommendation/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,132 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.app.recommendation {
-
-  public final class ContentRecommendation {
-    method public java.lang.String getBackgroundImageUri();
-    method public int getBadgeImageResourceId();
-    method public int getColor();
-    method public android.graphics.Bitmap getContentImage();
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.IntentData getContentIntent();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getContentTypes();
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.IntentData getDismissIntent();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getGenres();
-    method public java.lang.String getGroup();
-    method public java.lang.String getIdTag();
-    method public java.lang.String getMaturityRating();
-    method public android.app.Notification getNotificationObject(android.content.Context);
-    method public java.lang.String getPricingType();
-    method public java.lang.String getPricingValue();
-    method public java.lang.String getPrimaryContentType();
-    method public int getProgressMax();
-    method public int getProgressValue();
-    method public long getRunningTime();
-    method public java.lang.String getSortKey();
-    method public java.lang.String getSourceName();
-    method public int getStatus();
-    method public java.lang.String getText();
-    method public java.lang.String getTitle();
-    method public boolean hasProgressInfo();
-    method public boolean isAutoDismiss();
-    method public void setAutoDismiss(boolean);
-    method public void setGroup(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setProgress(int, int);
-    method public void setSortKey(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setStatus(int);
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_MATURITY_ALL = "android.contentMaturity.all";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_MATURITY_HIGH = "android.contentMaturity.high";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_MATURITY_LOW = "android.contentMaturity.low";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_MATURITY_MEDIUM = "android.contentMaturity.medium";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_PRICING_FREE = "android.contentPrice.free";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_PRICING_PREORDER = "android.contentPrice.preorder";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_PRICING_PURCHASE = "android.contentPrice.purchase";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_PRICING_RENTAL = "android.contentPrice.rental";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_PRICING_SUBSCRIPTION = "android.contentPrice.subscription";
-    field public static final int CONTENT_STATUS_AVAILABLE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CONTENT_STATUS_PENDING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int CONTENT_STATUS_READY = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int CONTENT_STATUS_UNAVAILABLE = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_APP = "android.contentType.app";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_BOOK = "android.contentType.book";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_COMIC = "android.contentType.comic";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_GAME = "android.contentType.game";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_MAGAZINE = "android.contentType.magazine";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_MOVIE = "android.contentType.movie";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_MUSIC = "android.contentType.music";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_NEWS = "android.contentType.news";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_PODCAST = "android.contentType.podcast";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_RADIO = "android.contentType.radio";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_SERIAL = "android.contentType.serial";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_SPORTS = "android.contentType.sports";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_TRAILER = "android.contentType.trailer";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_VIDEO = "android.contentType.video";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE_WEBSITE = "android.contentType.website";
-    field public static final int INTENT_TYPE_ACTIVITY = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int INTENT_TYPE_BROADCAST = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int INTENT_TYPE_SERVICE = 3; // 0x3
-  }
-
-  public static final class ContentRecommendation.Builder {
-    ctor public ContentRecommendation.Builder();
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation build();
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setAutoDismiss(boolean);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setBackgroundImageUri(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setBadgeIcon(int);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setColor(int);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setContentImage(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setContentIntentData(int, android.content.Intent, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setContentTypes(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setDismissIntentData(int, android.content.Intent, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setGenres(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setGroup(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setIdTag(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setMaturityRating(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setPricingInformation(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setProgress(int, int);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setRunningTime(long);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setSortKey(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setSourceName(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setStatus(int);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setText(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.ContentRecommendation.Builder setTitle(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ContentRecommendation.ContentMaturity implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ContentRecommendation.ContentPricing implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ContentRecommendation.ContentStatus implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ContentRecommendation.ContentType implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static class ContentRecommendation.IntentData {
-    ctor public ContentRecommendation.IntentData();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ContentRecommendation.IntentType implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public final class RecommendationExtender implements android.app.Notification.Extender {
-    ctor public RecommendationExtender();
-    ctor public RecommendationExtender(android.app.Notification);
-    method public android.app.Notification.Builder extend(android.app.Notification.Builder);
-    method public java.lang.String[] getContentTypes();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getGenres();
-    method public java.lang.String getMaturityRating();
-    method public java.lang.String getPricingType();
-    method public java.lang.String getPricingValue();
-    method public java.lang.String getPrimaryContentType();
-    method public long getRunningTime();
-    method public int getStatus();
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.RecommendationExtender setContentTypes(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.RecommendationExtender setGenres(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.RecommendationExtender setMaturityRating(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.RecommendationExtender setPricingInformation(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.RecommendationExtender setRunningTime(long);
-    method public android.support.app.recommendation.RecommendationExtender setStatus(int);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/transition/api/27.1.0.txt b/transition/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index b939299..0000000
--- a/transition/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,280 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.transition {
-
-  public class ArcMotion extends android.support.transition.PathMotion {
-    ctor public ArcMotion();
-    ctor public ArcMotion(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public float getMaximumAngle();
-    method public float getMinimumHorizontalAngle();
-    method public float getMinimumVerticalAngle();
-    method public android.graphics.Path getPath(float, float, float, float);
-    method public void setMaximumAngle(float);
-    method public void setMinimumHorizontalAngle(float);
-    method public void setMinimumVerticalAngle(float);
-  }
-
-  public class AutoTransition extends android.support.transition.TransitionSet {
-    ctor public AutoTransition();
-    ctor public AutoTransition(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-  }
-
-  public class ChangeBounds extends android.support.transition.Transition {
-    ctor public ChangeBounds();
-    ctor public ChangeBounds(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void captureEndValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void captureStartValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public boolean getResizeClip();
-    method public void setResizeClip(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class ChangeClipBounds extends android.support.transition.Transition {
-    ctor public ChangeClipBounds();
-    ctor public ChangeClipBounds(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void captureEndValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void captureStartValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-  }
-
-  public class ChangeImageTransform extends android.support.transition.Transition {
-    ctor public ChangeImageTransform();
-    ctor public ChangeImageTransform(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void captureEndValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void captureStartValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-  }
-
-  public class ChangeScroll extends android.support.transition.Transition {
-    ctor public ChangeScroll();
-    ctor public ChangeScroll(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void captureEndValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void captureStartValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-  }
-
-  public class ChangeTransform extends android.support.transition.Transition {
-    ctor public ChangeTransform();
-    ctor public ChangeTransform(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void captureEndValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void captureStartValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public boolean getReparent();
-    method public boolean getReparentWithOverlay();
-    method public void setReparent(boolean);
-    method public void setReparentWithOverlay(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class CircularPropagation extends android.support.transition.VisibilityPropagation {
-    ctor public CircularPropagation();
-    method public long getStartDelay(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.transition.Transition, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void setPropagationSpeed(float);
-  }
-
-  public class Explode extends android.support.transition.Visibility {
-    ctor public Explode();
-    ctor public Explode(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-  }
-
-  public class Fade extends android.support.transition.Visibility {
-    ctor public Fade(int);
-    ctor public Fade();
-    ctor public Fade(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    field public static final int IN = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int OUT = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PathMotion {
-    ctor public PathMotion();
-    ctor public PathMotion(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public abstract android.graphics.Path getPath(float, float, float, float);
-  }
-
-  public class PatternPathMotion extends android.support.transition.PathMotion {
-    ctor public PatternPathMotion();
-    ctor public PatternPathMotion(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public PatternPathMotion(android.graphics.Path);
-    method public android.graphics.Path getPath(float, float, float, float);
-    method public android.graphics.Path getPatternPath();
-    method public void setPatternPath(android.graphics.Path);
-  }
-
-  public class Scene {
-    ctor public Scene(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    ctor public Scene(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View);
-    method public void enter();
-    method public void exit();
-    method public static android.support.transition.Scene getSceneForLayout(android.view.ViewGroup, int, android.content.Context);
-    method public android.view.ViewGroup getSceneRoot();
-    method public void setEnterAction(java.lang.Runnable);
-    method public void setExitAction(java.lang.Runnable);
-  }
-
-  public class SidePropagation extends android.support.transition.VisibilityPropagation {
-    ctor public SidePropagation();
-    method public long getStartDelay(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.transition.Transition, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void setPropagationSpeed(float);
-    method public void setSide(int);
-  }
-
-  public class Slide extends android.support.transition.Visibility {
-    ctor public Slide();
-    ctor public Slide(int);
-    ctor public Slide(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public int getSlideEdge();
-    method public void setSlideEdge(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class Transition implements java.lang.Cloneable {
-    ctor public Transition();
-    ctor public Transition(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition addListener(android.support.transition.Transition.TransitionListener);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition addTarget(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition addTarget(int);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition addTarget(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition addTarget(java.lang.Class);
-    method public abstract void captureEndValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public abstract void captureStartValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition clone();
-    method public android.animation.Animator createAnimator(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition excludeChildren(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition excludeChildren(int, boolean);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition excludeChildren(java.lang.Class, boolean);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition excludeTarget(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition excludeTarget(int, boolean);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition excludeTarget(java.lang.String, boolean);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition excludeTarget(java.lang.Class, boolean);
-    method public long getDuration();
-    method public android.graphics.Rect getEpicenter();
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition.EpicenterCallback getEpicenterCallback();
-    method public android.animation.TimeInterpolator getInterpolator();
-    method public java.lang.String getName();
-    method public android.support.transition.PathMotion getPathMotion();
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionPropagation getPropagation();
-    method public long getStartDelay();
-    method public java.util.List<java.lang.Integer> getTargetIds();
-    method public java.util.List<java.lang.String> getTargetNames();
-    method public java.util.List<java.lang.Class> getTargetTypes();
-    method public java.util.List<android.view.View> getTargets();
-    method public java.lang.String[] getTransitionProperties();
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionValues getTransitionValues(android.view.View, boolean);
-    method public boolean isTransitionRequired(android.support.transition.TransitionValues, android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition removeListener(android.support.transition.Transition.TransitionListener);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition removeTarget(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition removeTarget(int);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition removeTarget(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition removeTarget(java.lang.Class);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition setDuration(long);
-    method public void setEpicenterCallback(android.support.transition.Transition.EpicenterCallback);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition setInterpolator(android.animation.TimeInterpolator);
-    method public void setMatchOrder(int...);
-    method public void setPathMotion(android.support.transition.PathMotion);
-    method public void setPropagation(android.support.transition.TransitionPropagation);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition setStartDelay(long);
-    field public static final int MATCH_ID = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int MATCH_INSTANCE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int MATCH_ITEM_ID = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int MATCH_NAME = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class Transition.EpicenterCallback {
-    ctor public Transition.EpicenterCallback();
-    method public abstract android.graphics.Rect onGetEpicenter(android.support.transition.Transition);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Transition.TransitionListener {
-    method public abstract void onTransitionCancel(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public abstract void onTransitionEnd(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public abstract void onTransitionPause(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public abstract void onTransitionResume(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public abstract void onTransitionStart(android.support.transition.Transition);
-  }
-
-  public class TransitionInflater {
-    method public static android.support.transition.TransitionInflater from(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition inflateTransition(int);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionManager inflateTransitionManager(int, android.view.ViewGroup);
-  }
-
-  public class TransitionListenerAdapter implements android.support.transition.Transition.TransitionListener {
-    ctor public TransitionListenerAdapter();
-    method public void onTransitionCancel(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public void onTransitionEnd(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public void onTransitionPause(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public void onTransitionResume(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public void onTransitionStart(android.support.transition.Transition);
-  }
-
-  public class TransitionManager {
-    ctor public TransitionManager();
-    method public static void beginDelayedTransition(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public static void beginDelayedTransition(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public static void endTransitions(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public static void go(android.support.transition.Scene);
-    method public static void go(android.support.transition.Scene, android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public void setTransition(android.support.transition.Scene, android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public void setTransition(android.support.transition.Scene, android.support.transition.Scene, android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public void transitionTo(android.support.transition.Scene);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class TransitionPropagation {
-    ctor public TransitionPropagation();
-    method public abstract void captureValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public abstract java.lang.String[] getPropagationProperties();
-    method public abstract long getStartDelay(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.transition.Transition, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-  }
-
-  public class TransitionSet extends android.support.transition.Transition {
-    ctor public TransitionSet();
-    ctor public TransitionSet(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet addListener(android.support.transition.Transition.TransitionListener);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet addTarget(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet addTarget(int);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet addTarget(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet addTarget(java.lang.Class);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet addTransition(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public void captureEndValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void captureStartValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public int getOrdering();
-    method public android.support.transition.Transition getTransitionAt(int);
-    method public int getTransitionCount();
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet removeListener(android.support.transition.Transition.TransitionListener);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet removeTarget(int);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet removeTarget(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet removeTarget(java.lang.Class);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet removeTarget(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet removeTransition(android.support.transition.Transition);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet setDuration(long);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet setInterpolator(android.animation.TimeInterpolator);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet setOrdering(int);
-    method public android.support.transition.TransitionSet setStartDelay(long);
-    field public static final int ORDERING_SEQUENTIAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ORDERING_TOGETHER = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public class TransitionValues {
-    ctor public TransitionValues();
-    field public final java.util.Map<java.lang.String, java.lang.Object> values;
-    field public android.view.View view;
-  }
-
-  public abstract class Visibility extends android.support.transition.Transition {
-    ctor public Visibility();
-    ctor public Visibility(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void captureEndValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void captureStartValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public int getMode();
-    method public boolean isVisible(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public android.animation.Animator onAppear(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, int, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, int);
-    method public android.animation.Animator onAppear(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public android.animation.Animator onDisappear(android.view.ViewGroup, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, int, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, int);
-    method public android.animation.Animator onDisappear(android.view.ViewGroup, android.view.View, android.support.transition.TransitionValues, android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public void setMode(int);
-    field public static final int MODE_IN = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int MODE_OUT = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public abstract class VisibilityPropagation extends android.support.transition.TransitionPropagation {
-    ctor public VisibilityPropagation();
-    method public void captureValues(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public java.lang.String[] getPropagationProperties();
-    method public int getViewVisibility(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public int getViewX(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-    method public int getViewY(android.support.transition.TransitionValues);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/tv-provider/api/27.1.0.txt b/tv-provider/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index c486190..0000000
--- a/tv-provider/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,545 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.media.tv {
-
-  public final class Channel {
-    method public static android.support.media.tv.Channel fromCursor(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public int getAppLinkColor();
-    method public android.net.Uri getAppLinkIconUri();
-    method public android.content.Intent getAppLinkIntent() throws java.net.URISyntaxException;
-    method public android.net.Uri getAppLinkIntentUri();
-    method public android.net.Uri getAppLinkPosterArtUri();
-    method public java.lang.String getAppLinkText();
-    method public int getConfigurationDisplayOrder();
-    method public java.lang.String getDescription();
-    method public java.lang.String getDisplayName();
-    method public java.lang.String getDisplayNumber();
-    method public long getId();
-    method public java.lang.String getInputId();
-    method public byte[] getInternalProviderDataByteArray();
-    method public java.lang.Long getInternalProviderFlag1();
-    method public java.lang.Long getInternalProviderFlag2();
-    method public java.lang.Long getInternalProviderFlag3();
-    method public java.lang.Long getInternalProviderFlag4();
-    method public java.lang.String getInternalProviderId();
-    method public java.lang.String getNetworkAffiliation();
-    method public int getOriginalNetworkId();
-    method public java.lang.String getPackageName();
-    method public int getServiceId();
-    method public java.lang.String getServiceType();
-    method public java.lang.String getSystemChannelKey();
-    method public int getTransportStreamId();
-    method public java.lang.String getType();
-    method public java.lang.String getVideoFormat();
-    method public boolean isBrowsable();
-    method public boolean isLocked();
-    method public boolean isSearchable();
-    method public boolean isTransient();
-    method public android.content.ContentValues toContentValues();
-  }
-
-  public static final class Channel.Builder {
-    ctor public Channel.Builder();
-    ctor public Channel.Builder(android.support.media.tv.Channel);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel build();
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setAppLinkColor(int);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setAppLinkIconUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setAppLinkIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setAppLinkIntentUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setAppLinkPosterArtUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setAppLinkText(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setConfigurationDisplayOrder(int);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setDescription(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setDisplayName(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setDisplayNumber(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setInputId(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setInternalProviderData(byte[]);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setInternalProviderData(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setInternalProviderFlag1(long);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setInternalProviderFlag2(long);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setInternalProviderFlag3(long);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setInternalProviderFlag4(long);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setInternalProviderId(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setNetworkAffiliation(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setOriginalNetworkId(int);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setSearchable(boolean);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setServiceId(int);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setServiceType(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setSystemChannelKey(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setTransient(boolean);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setTransportStreamId(int);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setType(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Channel.Builder setVideoFormat(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public class ChannelLogoUtils {
-    ctor public ChannelLogoUtils();
-    method public static android.graphics.Bitmap loadChannelLogo(android.content.Context, long);
-    method public static boolean storeChannelLogo(android.content.Context, long, android.net.Uri);
-    method public static boolean storeChannelLogo(android.content.Context, long, android.graphics.Bitmap);
-  }
-
-  public final class PreviewProgram {
-    method public static android.support.media.tv.PreviewProgram fromCursor(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public long getChannelId();
-    method public int getWeight();
-    method public android.content.ContentValues toContentValues();
-  }
-
-  public static final class PreviewProgram.Builder {
-    ctor public PreviewProgram.Builder();
-    ctor public PreviewProgram.Builder(android.support.media.tv.PreviewProgram);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.PreviewProgram build();
-    method public android.support.media.tv.PreviewProgram.Builder setChannelId(long);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.PreviewProgram.Builder setWeight(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class Program implements java.lang.Comparable {
-    method public int compareTo(android.support.media.tv.Program);
-    method public static android.support.media.tv.Program fromCursor(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public java.lang.String[] getBroadcastGenres();
-    method public long getChannelId();
-    method public long getEndTimeUtcMillis();
-    method public long getStartTimeUtcMillis();
-    method public boolean isRecordingProhibited();
-    method public android.content.ContentValues toContentValues();
-  }
-
-  public static class Program.Builder {
-    ctor public Program.Builder();
-    ctor public Program.Builder(android.support.media.tv.Program);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Program build();
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Program.Builder setBroadcastGenres(java.lang.String[]);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Program.Builder setChannelId(long);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Program.Builder setEndTimeUtcMillis(long);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Program.Builder setRecordingProhibited(boolean);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.Program.Builder setStartTimeUtcMillis(long);
-  }
-
-  public final class TvContractCompat {
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildChannelLogoUri(long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildChannelLogoUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildChannelUri(long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildChannelUriForPassthroughInput(java.lang.String);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildChannelsUriForInput(java.lang.String);
-    method public static java.lang.String buildInputId(android.content.ComponentName);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildPreviewProgramUri(long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildPreviewProgramsUriForChannel(long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildPreviewProgramsUriForChannel(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildProgramUri(long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildProgramsUriForChannel(long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildProgramsUriForChannel(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildProgramsUriForChannel(long, long, long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildProgramsUriForChannel(android.net.Uri, long, long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildRecordedProgramUri(long);
-    method public static android.net.Uri buildWatchNextProgramUri(long);
-    method public static boolean isChannelUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static boolean isChannelUriForPassthroughInput(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static boolean isChannelUriForTunerInput(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static boolean isProgramUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static boolean isRecordedProgramUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public static void requestChannelBrowsable(android.content.Context, long);
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_INITIALIZE_PROGRAMS = "android.media.tv.action.INITIALIZE_PROGRAMS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_PREVIEW_PROGRAM_ADDED_TO_WATCH_NEXT = "android.media.tv.action.PREVIEW_PROGRAM_ADDED_TO_WATCH_NEXT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_PREVIEW_PROGRAM_BROWSABLE_DISABLED = "android.media.tv.action.PREVIEW_PROGRAM_BROWSABLE_DISABLED";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_REQUEST_CHANNEL_BROWSABLE = "android.media.tv.action.REQUEST_CHANNEL_BROWSABLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_WATCH_NEXT_PROGRAM_BROWSABLE_DISABLED = "android.media.tv.action.WATCH_NEXT_PROGRAM_BROWSABLE_DISABLED";
-    field public static final java.lang.String AUTHORITY = "android.media.tv";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_CHANNEL_ID = "android.media.tv.extra.CHANNEL_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_PREVIEW_PROGRAM_ID = "android.media.tv.extra.PREVIEW_PROGRAM_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_WATCH_NEXT_PROGRAM_ID = "android.media.tv.extra.WATCH_NEXT_PROGRAM_ID";
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface TvContractCompat.BaseTvColumns implements android.provider.BaseColumns {
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_PACKAGE_NAME = "package_name";
-  }
-
-  public static final class TvContractCompat.Channels implements android.support.media.tv.TvContractCompat.BaseTvColumns {
-    method public static java.lang.String getVideoResolution(java.lang.String);
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_APP_LINK_COLOR = "app_link_color";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_APP_LINK_ICON_URI = "app_link_icon_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_APP_LINK_INTENT_URI = "app_link_intent_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_APP_LINK_POSTER_ART_URI = "app_link_poster_art_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_APP_LINK_TEXT = "app_link_text";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_BROWSABLE = "browsable";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CONFIGURATION_DISPLAY_ORDER = "configuration_display_order";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_DESCRIPTION = "description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_DISPLAY_NAME = "display_name";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "display_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INPUT_ID = "input_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_DATA = "internal_provider_data";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG1 = "internal_provider_flag1";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG2 = "internal_provider_flag2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG3 = "internal_provider_flag3";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG4 = "internal_provider_flag4";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_ID = "internal_provider_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LOCKED = "locked";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_NETWORK_AFFILIATION = "network_affiliation";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_ORIGINAL_NETWORK_ID = "original_network_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEARCHABLE = "searchable";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SERVICE_ID = "service_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SERVICE_TYPE = "service_type";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SYSTEM_CHANNEL_KEY = "system_channel_key";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TRANSIENT = "transient";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TRANSPORT_STREAM_ID = "transport_stream_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TYPE = "type";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VERSION_NUMBER = "version_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_FORMAT = "video_format";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.item/channel";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.dir/channel";
-    field public static final android.net.Uri CONTENT_URI;
-    field public static final java.lang.String SERVICE_TYPE_AUDIO = "SERVICE_TYPE_AUDIO";
-    field public static final java.lang.String SERVICE_TYPE_AUDIO_VIDEO = "SERVICE_TYPE_AUDIO_VIDEO";
-    field public static final java.lang.String SERVICE_TYPE_OTHER = "SERVICE_TYPE_OTHER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_1SEG = "TYPE_1SEG";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_ATSC_C = "TYPE_ATSC_C";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_ATSC_M_H = "TYPE_ATSC_M_H";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_ATSC_T = "TYPE_ATSC_T";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_CMMB = "TYPE_CMMB";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DTMB = "TYPE_DTMB";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DVB_C = "TYPE_DVB_C";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DVB_C2 = "TYPE_DVB_C2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DVB_H = "TYPE_DVB_H";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DVB_S = "TYPE_DVB_S";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DVB_S2 = "TYPE_DVB_S2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DVB_SH = "TYPE_DVB_SH";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DVB_T = "TYPE_DVB_T";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_DVB_T2 = "TYPE_DVB_T2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_ISDB_C = "TYPE_ISDB_C";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_ISDB_S = "TYPE_ISDB_S";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_ISDB_T = "TYPE_ISDB_T";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_ISDB_TB = "TYPE_ISDB_TB";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_NTSC = "TYPE_NTSC";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_OTHER = "TYPE_OTHER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_PAL = "TYPE_PAL";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_PREVIEW = "TYPE_PREVIEW";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_SECAM = "TYPE_SECAM";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_S_DMB = "TYPE_S_DMB";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TYPE_T_DMB = "TYPE_T_DMB";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_1080I = "VIDEO_FORMAT_1080I";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_1080P = "VIDEO_FORMAT_1080P";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_2160P = "VIDEO_FORMAT_2160P";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_240P = "VIDEO_FORMAT_240P";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_360P = "VIDEO_FORMAT_360P";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_4320P = "VIDEO_FORMAT_4320P";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_480I = "VIDEO_FORMAT_480I";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_480P = "VIDEO_FORMAT_480P";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_576I = "VIDEO_FORMAT_576I";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_576P = "VIDEO_FORMAT_576P";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_FORMAT_720P = "VIDEO_FORMAT_720P";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_RESOLUTION_ED = "VIDEO_RESOLUTION_ED";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_RESOLUTION_FHD = "VIDEO_RESOLUTION_FHD";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_RESOLUTION_HD = "VIDEO_RESOLUTION_HD";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_RESOLUTION_SD = "VIDEO_RESOLUTION_SD";
-    field public static final java.lang.String VIDEO_RESOLUTION_UHD = "VIDEO_RESOLUTION_UHD";
-  }
-
-  public static final class TvContractCompat.Channels.Logo {
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_DIRECTORY = "logo";
-  }
-
-  public static final class TvContractCompat.PreviewPrograms implements android.support.media.tv.TvContractCompat.BaseTvColumns {
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_16_9 = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_1_1 = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_2_3 = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_3_2 = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_4_3 = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_MOVIE_POSTER = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_AVAILABLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_FREE = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_FREE_WITH_SUBSCRIPTION = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_PAID_CONTENT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_PURCHASED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_AUDIO_LANGUAGE = "audio_language";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_AUTHOR = "author";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_AVAILABILITY = "availability";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_BROWSABLE = "browsable";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CANONICAL_GENRE = "canonical_genre";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CHANNEL_ID = "channel_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CONTENT_ID = "content_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CONTENT_RATING = "content_rating";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_DURATION_MILLIS = "duration_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_END_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "end_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "episode_display_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_TITLE = "episode_title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_GENRE = "genre";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTENT_URI = "intent_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERACTION_COUNT = "interaction_count";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERACTION_TYPE = "interaction_type";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_DATA = "internal_provider_data";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG1 = "internal_provider_flag1";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG2 = "internal_provider_flag2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG3 = "internal_provider_flag3";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG4 = "internal_provider_flag4";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_ID = "internal_provider_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_ITEM_COUNT = "item_count";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LAST_PLAYBACK_POSITION_MILLIS = "last_playback_position_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LIVE = "live";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LOGO_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION = "logo_content_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LOGO_URI = "logo_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LONG_DESCRIPTION = "long_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_OFFER_PRICE = "offer_price";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_POSTER_ART_ASPECT_RATIO = "poster_art_aspect_ratio";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_POSTER_ART_URI = "poster_art_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_PREVIEW_AUDIO_URI = "preview_audio_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_PREVIEW_VIDEO_URI = "preview_video_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_RELEASE_DATE = "release_date";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_REVIEW_RATING = "review_rating";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_REVIEW_RATING_STYLE = "review_rating_style";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEARCHABLE = "searchable";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "season_display_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_TITLE = "season_title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SHORT_DESCRIPTION = "short_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_STARTING_PRICE = "starting_price";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_START_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "start_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_THUMBNAIL_ASPECT_RATIO = "poster_thumbnail_aspect_ratio";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_THUMBNAIL_URI = "thumbnail_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TITLE = "title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TRANSIENT = "transient";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TYPE = "type";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VERSION_NUMBER = "version_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_HEIGHT = "video_height";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_WIDTH = "video_width";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_WEIGHT = "weight";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.item/preview_program";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.dir/preview_program";
-    field public static final android.net.Uri CONTENT_URI;
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_FANS = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_FOLLOWERS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_LIKES = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_LISTENS = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_THUMBS = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_VIEWERS = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_VIEWS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_PERCENTAGE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_STARS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_THUMBS_UP_DOWN = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int TYPE_ALBUM = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int TYPE_ARTIST = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final int TYPE_CHANNEL = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int TYPE_CLIP = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int TYPE_EVENT = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int TYPE_GAME = 12; // 0xc
-    field public static final int TYPE_MOVIE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int TYPE_PLAYLIST = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final int TYPE_STATION = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final int TYPE_TRACK = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int TYPE_TV_EPISODE = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int TYPE_TV_SEASON = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int TYPE_TV_SERIES = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static final class TvContractCompat.Programs implements android.support.media.tv.TvContractCompat.BaseTvColumns {
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_AUDIO_LANGUAGE = "audio_language";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_BROADCAST_GENRE = "broadcast_genre";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CANONICAL_GENRE = "canonical_genre";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CHANNEL_ID = "channel_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CONTENT_RATING = "content_rating";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_END_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "end_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "episode_display_number";
-    field public static final deprecated java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_NUMBER = "episode_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_TITLE = "episode_title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_DATA = "internal_provider_data";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG1 = "internal_provider_flag1";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG2 = "internal_provider_flag2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG3 = "internal_provider_flag3";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG4 = "internal_provider_flag4";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LONG_DESCRIPTION = "long_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_POSTER_ART_URI = "poster_art_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_RECORDING_PROHIBITED = "recording_prohibited";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_REVIEW_RATING = "review_rating";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_REVIEW_RATING_STYLE = "review_rating_style";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEARCHABLE = "searchable";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "season_display_number";
-    field public static final deprecated java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_NUMBER = "season_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_TITLE = "season_title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SHORT_DESCRIPTION = "short_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_START_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "start_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_THUMBNAIL_URI = "thumbnail_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TITLE = "title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VERSION_NUMBER = "version_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_HEIGHT = "video_height";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_WIDTH = "video_width";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.item/program";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.dir/program";
-    field public static final android.net.Uri CONTENT_URI;
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_PERCENTAGE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_STARS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_THUMBS_UP_DOWN = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static final class TvContractCompat.Programs.Genres {
-    method public static java.lang.String[] decode(java.lang.String);
-    method public static java.lang.String encode(java.lang.String...);
-    method public static boolean isCanonical(java.lang.String);
-    field public static final java.lang.String ANIMAL_WILDLIFE = "ANIMAL_WILDLIFE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ARTS = "ARTS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COMEDY = "COMEDY";
-    field public static final java.lang.String DRAMA = "DRAMA";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EDUCATION = "EDUCATION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ENTERTAINMENT = "ENTERTAINMENT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String FAMILY_KIDS = "FAMILY_KIDS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String GAMING = "GAMING";
-    field public static final java.lang.String LIFE_STYLE = "LIFE_STYLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String MOVIES = "MOVIES";
-    field public static final java.lang.String MUSIC = "MUSIC";
-    field public static final java.lang.String NEWS = "NEWS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String PREMIER = "PREMIER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String SHOPPING = "SHOPPING";
-    field public static final java.lang.String SPORTS = "SPORTS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TECH_SCIENCE = "TECH_SCIENCE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String TRAVEL = "TRAVEL";
-  }
-
-  public static final class TvContractCompat.RecordedPrograms implements android.support.media.tv.TvContractCompat.BaseTvColumns {
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_AUDIO_LANGUAGE = "audio_language";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_BROADCAST_GENRE = "broadcast_genre";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CANONICAL_GENRE = "canonical_genre";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CHANNEL_ID = "channel_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CONTENT_RATING = "content_rating";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_END_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "end_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "episode_display_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_TITLE = "episode_title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INPUT_ID = "input_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_DATA = "internal_provider_data";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG1 = "internal_provider_flag1";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG2 = "internal_provider_flag2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG3 = "internal_provider_flag3";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG4 = "internal_provider_flag4";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LONG_DESCRIPTION = "long_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_POSTER_ART_URI = "poster_art_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_RECORDING_DATA_BYTES = "recording_data_bytes";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_RECORDING_DATA_URI = "recording_data_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_RECORDING_DURATION_MILLIS = "recording_duration_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_RECORDING_EXPIRE_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "recording_expire_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_REVIEW_RATING = "review_rating";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_REVIEW_RATING_STYLE = "review_rating_style";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEARCHABLE = "searchable";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "season_display_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_TITLE = "season_title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SHORT_DESCRIPTION = "short_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_START_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "start_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_THUMBNAIL_URI = "thumbnail_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TITLE = "title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VERSION_NUMBER = "version_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_HEIGHT = "video_height";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_WIDTH = "video_width";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.item/recorded_program";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.dir/recorded_program";
-    field public static final android.net.Uri CONTENT_URI;
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_PERCENTAGE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_STARS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_THUMBS_UP_DOWN = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static final class TvContractCompat.WatchNextPrograms implements android.support.media.tv.TvContractCompat.BaseTvColumns {
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_16_9 = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_1_1 = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_2_3 = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_3_2 = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_4_3 = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ASPECT_RATIO_MOVIE_POSTER = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_AVAILABLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_FREE = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_FREE_WITH_SUBSCRIPTION = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_PAID_CONTENT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_PURCHASED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_AUDIO_LANGUAGE = "audio_language";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_AUTHOR = "author";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_AVAILABILITY = "availability";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_BROWSABLE = "browsable";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CANONICAL_GENRE = "canonical_genre";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CONTENT_ID = "content_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_CONTENT_RATING = "content_rating";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_DURATION_MILLIS = "duration_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_END_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "end_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "episode_display_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_EPISODE_TITLE = "episode_title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_GENRE = "genre";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTENT_URI = "intent_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERACTION_COUNT = "interaction_count";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERACTION_TYPE = "interaction_type";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_DATA = "internal_provider_data";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG1 = "internal_provider_flag1";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG2 = "internal_provider_flag2";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG3 = "internal_provider_flag3";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_FLAG4 = "internal_provider_flag4";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_INTERNAL_PROVIDER_ID = "internal_provider_id";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_ITEM_COUNT = "item_count";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LAST_ENGAGEMENT_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "last_engagement_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LAST_PLAYBACK_POSITION_MILLIS = "last_playback_position_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LIVE = "live";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LOGO_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION = "logo_content_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LOGO_URI = "logo_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_LONG_DESCRIPTION = "long_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_OFFER_PRICE = "offer_price";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_POSTER_ART_ASPECT_RATIO = "poster_art_aspect_ratio";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_POSTER_ART_URI = "poster_art_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_PREVIEW_AUDIO_URI = "preview_audio_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_PREVIEW_VIDEO_URI = "preview_video_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_RELEASE_DATE = "release_date";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_REVIEW_RATING = "review_rating";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_REVIEW_RATING_STYLE = "review_rating_style";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEARCHABLE = "searchable";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_DISPLAY_NUMBER = "season_display_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SEASON_TITLE = "season_title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_SHORT_DESCRIPTION = "short_description";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_STARTING_PRICE = "starting_price";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_START_TIME_UTC_MILLIS = "start_time_utc_millis";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_THUMBNAIL_ASPECT_RATIO = "poster_thumbnail_aspect_ratio";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_THUMBNAIL_URI = "thumbnail_uri";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TITLE = "title";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TRANSIENT = "transient";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_TYPE = "type";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VERSION_NUMBER = "version_number";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_HEIGHT = "video_height";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_VIDEO_WIDTH = "video_width";
-    field public static final java.lang.String COLUMN_WATCH_NEXT_TYPE = "watch_next_type";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.item/watch_next_program";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CONTENT_TYPE = "vnd.android.cursor.dir/watch_next_program";
-    field public static final android.net.Uri CONTENT_URI;
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_FANS = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_FOLLOWERS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_LIKES = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_LISTENS = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_THUMBS = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_VIEWERS = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int INTERACTION_TYPE_VIEWS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_PERCENTAGE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_STARS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int REVIEW_RATING_STYLE_THUMBS_UP_DOWN = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int TYPE_ALBUM = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int TYPE_ARTIST = 9; // 0x9
-    field public static final int TYPE_CHANNEL = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int TYPE_CLIP = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int TYPE_EVENT = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int TYPE_GAME = 12; // 0xc
-    field public static final int TYPE_MOVIE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int TYPE_PLAYLIST = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final int TYPE_STATION = 11; // 0xb
-    field public static final int TYPE_TRACK = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int TYPE_TV_EPISODE = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int TYPE_TV_SEASON = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int TYPE_TV_SERIES = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int WATCH_NEXT_TYPE_CONTINUE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int WATCH_NEXT_TYPE_NEW = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int WATCH_NEXT_TYPE_NEXT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int WATCH_NEXT_TYPE_WATCHLIST = 3; // 0x3
-  }
-
-  public final class WatchNextProgram {
-    method public static android.support.media.tv.WatchNextProgram fromCursor(android.database.Cursor);
-    method public long getLastEngagementTimeUtcMillis();
-    method public int getWatchNextType();
-    method public android.content.ContentValues toContentValues();
-    field public static final int WATCH_NEXT_TYPE_UNKNOWN = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static final class WatchNextProgram.Builder {
-    ctor public WatchNextProgram.Builder();
-    ctor public WatchNextProgram.Builder(android.support.media.tv.WatchNextProgram);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.WatchNextProgram build();
-    method public android.support.media.tv.WatchNextProgram.Builder setLastEngagementTimeUtcMillis(long);
-    method public android.support.media.tv.WatchNextProgram.Builder setWatchNextType(int);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v13/api/27.1.0.txt b/v13/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index fd72d5c..0000000
--- a/v13/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,74 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v13.app {
-
-  public deprecated class ActivityCompat extends android.support.v4.app.ActivityCompat {
-    ctor protected deprecated ActivityCompat();
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class FragmentCompat {
-    ctor public deprecated FragmentCompat();
-    method public static deprecated void requestPermissions(android.app.Fragment, java.lang.String[], int);
-    method public static deprecated void setMenuVisibility(android.app.Fragment, boolean);
-    method public static deprecated void setPermissionCompatDelegate(android.support.v13.app.FragmentCompat.PermissionCompatDelegate);
-    method public static deprecated void setUserVisibleHint(android.app.Fragment, boolean);
-    method public static deprecated boolean shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(android.app.Fragment, java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface FragmentCompat.OnRequestPermissionsResultCallback {
-    method public abstract deprecated void onRequestPermissionsResult(int, java.lang.String[], int[]);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface FragmentCompat.PermissionCompatDelegate {
-    method public abstract deprecated boolean requestPermissions(android.app.Fragment, java.lang.String[], int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated class FragmentPagerAdapter extends android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter {
-    ctor public deprecated FragmentPagerAdapter(android.app.FragmentManager);
-    method public deprecated void destroyItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated void finishUpdate(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public abstract deprecated android.app.Fragment getItem(int);
-    method public deprecated long getItemId(int);
-    method public deprecated java.lang.Object instantiateItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public deprecated boolean isViewFromObject(android.view.View, java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated void restoreState(android.os.Parcelable, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    method public deprecated android.os.Parcelable saveState();
-    method public deprecated void setPrimaryItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated void startUpdate(android.view.ViewGroup);
-  }
-
-  public abstract deprecated class FragmentStatePagerAdapter extends android.support.v4.view.PagerAdapter {
-    ctor public deprecated FragmentStatePagerAdapter(android.app.FragmentManager);
-    method public deprecated void destroyItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated void finishUpdate(android.view.ViewGroup);
-    method public abstract deprecated android.app.Fragment getItem(int);
-    method public deprecated java.lang.Object instantiateItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public deprecated boolean isViewFromObject(android.view.View, java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated void restoreState(android.os.Parcelable, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    method public deprecated android.os.Parcelable saveState();
-    method public deprecated void setPrimaryItem(android.view.ViewGroup, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public deprecated void startUpdate(android.view.ViewGroup);
-  }
-
-  public deprecated class FragmentTabHost extends android.widget.TabHost implements android.widget.TabHost.OnTabChangeListener {
-    ctor public deprecated FragmentTabHost(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public deprecated FragmentTabHost(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public deprecated void addTab(android.widget.TabHost.TabSpec, java.lang.Class<?>, android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected deprecated void onAttachedToWindow();
-    method protected deprecated void onDetachedFromWindow();
-    method protected deprecated void onRestoreInstanceState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    method protected deprecated android.os.Parcelable onSaveInstanceState();
-    method public deprecated void onTabChanged(java.lang.String);
-    method public deprecated void setOnTabChangedListener(android.widget.TabHost.OnTabChangeListener);
-    method public deprecated void setup();
-    method public deprecated void setup(android.content.Context, android.app.FragmentManager);
-    method public deprecated void setup(android.content.Context, android.app.FragmentManager, int);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v13.view {
-
-  public deprecated class ViewCompat extends android.support.v4.view.ViewCompat {
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v7/appcompat/api/27.1.0.txt b/v7/appcompat/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 5d4fa6e..0000000
--- a/v7/appcompat/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,945 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v7.app {
-
-  public abstract class ActionBar {
-    ctor public ActionBar();
-    method public abstract void addOnMenuVisibilityListener(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.OnMenuVisibilityListener);
-    method public abstract deprecated void addTab(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab);
-    method public abstract deprecated void addTab(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab, boolean);
-    method public abstract deprecated void addTab(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab, int);
-    method public abstract deprecated void addTab(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab, int, boolean);
-    method public abstract android.view.View getCustomView();
-    method public abstract int getDisplayOptions();
-    method public float getElevation();
-    method public abstract int getHeight();
-    method public int getHideOffset();
-    method public abstract deprecated int getNavigationItemCount();
-    method public abstract deprecated int getNavigationMode();
-    method public abstract deprecated int getSelectedNavigationIndex();
-    method public abstract deprecated android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab getSelectedTab();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getSubtitle();
-    method public abstract deprecated android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab getTabAt(int);
-    method public abstract deprecated int getTabCount();
-    method public android.content.Context getThemedContext();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public abstract void hide();
-    method public boolean isHideOnContentScrollEnabled();
-    method public abstract boolean isShowing();
-    method public abstract deprecated android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab newTab();
-    method public abstract deprecated void removeAllTabs();
-    method public abstract void removeOnMenuVisibilityListener(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.OnMenuVisibilityListener);
-    method public abstract deprecated void removeTab(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab);
-    method public abstract deprecated void removeTabAt(int);
-    method public abstract deprecated void selectTab(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab);
-    method public abstract void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public abstract void setCustomView(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void setCustomView(android.view.View, android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.LayoutParams);
-    method public abstract void setCustomView(int);
-    method public abstract void setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract void setDisplayOptions(int);
-    method public abstract void setDisplayOptions(int, int);
-    method public abstract void setDisplayShowCustomEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract void setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract void setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract void setDisplayUseLogoEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setElevation(float);
-    method public void setHideOffset(int);
-    method public void setHideOnContentScrollEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setHomeActionContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setHomeActionContentDescription(int);
-    method public void setHomeAsUpIndicator(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setHomeAsUpIndicator(int);
-    method public void setHomeButtonEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract void setIcon(int);
-    method public abstract void setIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public abstract deprecated void setListNavigationCallbacks(android.widget.SpinnerAdapter, android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.OnNavigationListener);
-    method public abstract void setLogo(int);
-    method public abstract void setLogo(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public abstract deprecated void setNavigationMode(int);
-    method public abstract deprecated void setSelectedNavigationItem(int);
-    method public void setSplitBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setStackedBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public abstract void setSubtitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract void setSubtitle(int);
-    method public abstract void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract void setTitle(int);
-    method public abstract void show();
-    field public static final int DISPLAY_HOME_AS_UP = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int DISPLAY_SHOW_HOME = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int DISPLAY_SHOW_TITLE = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int DISPLAY_USE_LOGO = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final deprecated int NAVIGATION_MODE_LIST = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final deprecated int NAVIGATION_MODE_STANDARD = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final deprecated int NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static class ActionBar.LayoutParams extends android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams {
-    ctor public ActionBar.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public ActionBar.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public ActionBar.LayoutParams(int, int, int);
-    ctor public ActionBar.LayoutParams(int);
-    ctor public ActionBar.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public ActionBar.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    field public int gravity;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ActionBar.OnMenuVisibilityListener {
-    method public abstract void onMenuVisibilityChanged(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface ActionBar.OnNavigationListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onNavigationItemSelected(int, long);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated class ActionBar.Tab {
-    ctor public ActionBar.Tab();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getContentDescription();
-    method public abstract android.view.View getCustomView();
-    method public abstract android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getIcon();
-    method public abstract int getPosition();
-    method public abstract java.lang.Object getTag();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getText();
-    method public abstract void select();
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setContentDescription(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setCustomView(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setCustomView(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setIcon(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setTabListener(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.TabListener);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setTag(java.lang.Object);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab setText(int);
-    field public static final int INVALID_POSITION = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static abstract deprecated interface ActionBar.TabListener {
-    method public abstract void onTabReselected(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab, android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction);
-    method public abstract void onTabSelected(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab, android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction);
-    method public abstract void onTabUnselected(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.Tab, android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction);
-  }
-
-  public class ActionBarDrawerToggle implements android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout.DrawerListener {
-    ctor public ActionBarDrawerToggle(android.app.Activity, android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout, int, int);
-    ctor public ActionBarDrawerToggle(android.app.Activity, android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout, android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar, int, int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.drawable.DrawerArrowDrawable getDrawerArrowDrawable();
-    method public android.view.View.OnClickListener getToolbarNavigationClickListener();
-    method public boolean isDrawerIndicatorEnabled();
-    method public boolean isDrawerSlideAnimationEnabled();
-    method public void onConfigurationChanged(android.content.res.Configuration);
-    method public void onDrawerClosed(android.view.View);
-    method public void onDrawerOpened(android.view.View);
-    method public void onDrawerSlide(android.view.View, float);
-    method public void onDrawerStateChanged(int);
-    method public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public void setDrawerArrowDrawable(android.support.v7.graphics.drawable.DrawerArrowDrawable);
-    method public void setDrawerIndicatorEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setDrawerSlideAnimationEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setHomeAsUpIndicator(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setHomeAsUpIndicator(int);
-    method public void setToolbarNavigationClickListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void syncState();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ActionBarDrawerToggle.Delegate {
-    method public abstract android.content.Context getActionBarThemedContext();
-    method public abstract android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getThemeUpIndicator();
-    method public abstract boolean isNavigationVisible();
-    method public abstract void setActionBarDescription(int);
-    method public abstract void setActionBarUpIndicator(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ActionBarDrawerToggle.DelegateProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle.Delegate getDrawerToggleDelegate();
-  }
-
-  public class AlertDialog extends android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDialog implements android.content.DialogInterface {
-    ctor protected AlertDialog(android.content.Context);
-    ctor protected AlertDialog(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor protected AlertDialog(android.content.Context, boolean, android.content.DialogInterface.OnCancelListener);
-    method public android.widget.Button getButton(int);
-    method public android.widget.ListView getListView();
-    method public void setButton(int, java.lang.CharSequence, android.os.Message);
-    method public void setButton(int, java.lang.CharSequence, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setButton(int, java.lang.CharSequence, android.graphics.drawable.Drawable, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setCustomTitle(android.view.View);
-    method public void setIcon(int);
-    method public void setIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setIconAttribute(int);
-    method public void setMessage(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setView(android.view.View);
-    method public void setView(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static class AlertDialog.Builder {
-    ctor public AlertDialog.Builder(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AlertDialog.Builder(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog create();
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setAdapter(android.widget.ListAdapter, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setCancelable(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setCursor(android.database.Cursor, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setCustomTitle(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setIcon(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setIconAttribute(int);
-    method public deprecated android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setInverseBackgroundForced(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setItems(int, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setItems(java.lang.CharSequence[], android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setMessage(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setMessage(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setMultiChoiceItems(int, boolean[], android.content.DialogInterface.OnMultiChoiceClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setMultiChoiceItems(java.lang.CharSequence[], boolean[], android.content.DialogInterface.OnMultiChoiceClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setMultiChoiceItems(android.database.Cursor, java.lang.String, java.lang.String, android.content.DialogInterface.OnMultiChoiceClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setNegativeButton(int, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setNegativeButton(java.lang.CharSequence, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setNegativeButtonIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setNeutralButton(int, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setNeutralButton(java.lang.CharSequence, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setNeutralButtonIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setOnCancelListener(android.content.DialogInterface.OnCancelListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setOnDismissListener(android.content.DialogInterface.OnDismissListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setOnItemSelectedListener(android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setOnKeyListener(android.content.DialogInterface.OnKeyListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setPositiveButton(int, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setPositiveButton(java.lang.CharSequence, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setPositiveButtonIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setSingleChoiceItems(int, int, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setSingleChoiceItems(android.database.Cursor, int, java.lang.String, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setSingleChoiceItems(java.lang.CharSequence[], int, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setSingleChoiceItems(android.widget.ListAdapter, int, android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setTitle(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setView(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder setView(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog show();
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatActivity extends android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity implements android.support.v7.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle.DelegateProvider android.support.v7.app.AppCompatCallback android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder.SupportParentable {
-    ctor public AppCompatActivity();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDelegate getDelegate();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle.Delegate getDrawerToggleDelegate();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.ActionBar getSupportActionBar();
-    method public android.content.Intent getSupportParentActivityIntent();
-    method public void onCreateSupportNavigateUpTaskStack(android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder);
-    method public final boolean onMenuItemSelected(int, android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public void onPrepareSupportNavigateUpTaskStack(android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder);
-    method public void onSupportActionModeFinished(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode);
-    method public void onSupportActionModeStarted(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode);
-    method public deprecated void onSupportContentChanged();
-    method public boolean onSupportNavigateUp();
-    method public android.support.v7.view.ActionMode onWindowStartingSupportActionMode(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode.Callback);
-    method public void setSupportActionBar(android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar);
-    method public deprecated void setSupportProgress(int);
-    method public deprecated void setSupportProgressBarIndeterminate(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setSupportProgressBarIndeterminateVisibility(boolean);
-    method public deprecated void setSupportProgressBarVisibility(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v7.view.ActionMode startSupportActionMode(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode.Callback);
-    method public void supportInvalidateOptionsMenu();
-    method public void supportNavigateUpTo(android.content.Intent);
-    method public boolean supportRequestWindowFeature(int);
-    method public boolean supportShouldUpRecreateTask(android.content.Intent);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface AppCompatCallback {
-    method public abstract void onSupportActionModeFinished(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode);
-    method public abstract void onSupportActionModeStarted(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.view.ActionMode onWindowStartingSupportActionMode(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode.Callback);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class AppCompatDelegate {
-    method public abstract void addContentView(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public abstract boolean applyDayNight();
-    method public static android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDelegate create(android.app.Activity, android.support.v7.app.AppCompatCallback);
-    method public static android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDelegate create(android.app.Dialog, android.support.v7.app.AppCompatCallback);
-    method public abstract android.view.View createView(android.view.View, java.lang.String, android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public abstract <T extends android.view.View> T findViewById(int);
-    method public static int getDefaultNightMode();
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle.Delegate getDrawerToggleDelegate();
-    method public abstract android.view.MenuInflater getMenuInflater();
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.app.ActionBar getSupportActionBar();
-    method public abstract boolean hasWindowFeature(int);
-    method public abstract void installViewFactory();
-    method public abstract void invalidateOptionsMenu();
-    method public static boolean isCompatVectorFromResourcesEnabled();
-    method public abstract boolean isHandleNativeActionModesEnabled();
-    method public abstract void onConfigurationChanged(android.content.res.Configuration);
-    method public abstract void onCreate(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void onDestroy();
-    method public abstract void onPostCreate(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void onPostResume();
-    method public abstract void onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public abstract void onStart();
-    method public abstract void onStop();
-    method public abstract boolean requestWindowFeature(int);
-    method public static void setCompatVectorFromResourcesEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract void setContentView(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void setContentView(int);
-    method public abstract void setContentView(android.view.View, android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public static void setDefaultNightMode(int);
-    method public abstract void setHandleNativeActionModesEnabled(boolean);
-    method public abstract void setLocalNightMode(int);
-    method public abstract void setSupportActionBar(android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar);
-    method public abstract void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.view.ActionMode startSupportActionMode(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode.Callback);
-    field public static final int FEATURE_ACTION_MODE_OVERLAY = 10; // 0xa
-    field public static final int FEATURE_SUPPORT_ACTION_BAR = 108; // 0x6c
-    field public static final int FEATURE_SUPPORT_ACTION_BAR_OVERLAY = 109; // 0x6d
-    field public static final int MODE_NIGHT_AUTO = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int MODE_NIGHT_FOLLOW_SYSTEM = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int MODE_NIGHT_NO = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int MODE_NIGHT_YES = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatDialog extends android.app.Dialog implements android.support.v7.app.AppCompatCallback {
-    ctor public AppCompatDialog(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatDialog(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor protected AppCompatDialog(android.content.Context, boolean, android.content.DialogInterface.OnCancelListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDelegate getDelegate();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.ActionBar getSupportActionBar();
-    method public void onSupportActionModeFinished(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode);
-    method public void onSupportActionModeStarted(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode);
-    method public android.support.v7.view.ActionMode onWindowStartingSupportActionMode(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode.Callback);
-    method public boolean supportRequestWindowFeature(int);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatDialogFragment extends android.support.v4.app.DialogFragment {
-    ctor public AppCompatDialogFragment();
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatViewInflater {
-    ctor public AppCompatViewInflater();
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatAutoCompleteTextView createAutoCompleteTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatButton createButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatCheckBox createCheckBox(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatCheckedTextView createCheckedTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatEditText createEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatImageButton createImageButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatImageView createImageView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatMultiAutoCompleteTextView createMultiAutoCompleteTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatRadioButton createRadioButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatRatingBar createRatingBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatSeekBar createSeekBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatSpinner createSpinner(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.AppCompatTextView createTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.view.View createView(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, android.util.AttributeSet);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.content.res {
-
-  public final class AppCompatResources {
-    method public static android.content.res.ColorStateList getColorStateList(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public static android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawable(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.graphics.drawable {
-
-  public class DrawerArrowDrawable extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable {
-    ctor public DrawerArrowDrawable(android.content.Context);
-    method public void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public float getArrowHeadLength();
-    method public float getArrowShaftLength();
-    method public float getBarLength();
-    method public float getBarThickness();
-    method public int getColor();
-    method public int getDirection();
-    method public float getGapSize();
-    method public int getOpacity();
-    method public final android.graphics.Paint getPaint();
-    method public float getProgress();
-    method public boolean isSpinEnabled();
-    method public void setAlpha(int);
-    method public void setArrowHeadLength(float);
-    method public void setArrowShaftLength(float);
-    method public void setBarLength(float);
-    method public void setBarThickness(float);
-    method public void setColor(int);
-    method public void setColorFilter(android.graphics.ColorFilter);
-    method public void setDirection(int);
-    method public void setGapSize(float);
-    method public void setProgress(float);
-    method public void setSpinEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setVerticalMirror(boolean);
-    field public static final int ARROW_DIRECTION_END = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int ARROW_DIRECTION_LEFT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ARROW_DIRECTION_RIGHT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ARROW_DIRECTION_START = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.view {
-
-  public abstract class ActionMode {
-    ctor public ActionMode();
-    method public abstract void finish();
-    method public abstract android.view.View getCustomView();
-    method public abstract android.view.Menu getMenu();
-    method public abstract android.view.MenuInflater getMenuInflater();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getSubtitle();
-    method public java.lang.Object getTag();
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public boolean getTitleOptionalHint();
-    method public abstract void invalidate();
-    method public boolean isTitleOptional();
-    method public abstract void setCustomView(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void setSubtitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract void setSubtitle(int);
-    method public void setTag(java.lang.Object);
-    method public abstract void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public abstract void setTitle(int);
-    method public void setTitleOptionalHint(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ActionMode.Callback {
-    method public abstract boolean onActionItemClicked(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode, android.view.MenuItem);
-    method public abstract boolean onCreateActionMode(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode, android.view.Menu);
-    method public abstract void onDestroyActionMode(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode);
-    method public abstract boolean onPrepareActionMode(android.support.v7.view.ActionMode, android.view.Menu);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface CollapsibleActionView {
-    method public abstract void onActionViewCollapsed();
-    method public abstract void onActionViewExpanded();
-  }
-
-  public class ContextThemeWrapper extends android.content.ContextWrapper {
-    ctor public ContextThemeWrapper();
-    ctor public ContextThemeWrapper(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor public ContextThemeWrapper(android.content.Context, android.content.res.Resources.Theme);
-    method public void applyOverrideConfiguration(android.content.res.Configuration);
-    method public int getThemeResId();
-    method protected void onApplyThemeResource(android.content.res.Resources.Theme, int, boolean);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.widget {
-
-  public class ActionMenuView extends android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutCompat {
-    ctor public ActionMenuView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public ActionMenuView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void dismissPopupMenus();
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.ActionMenuView.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.ActionMenuView.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.ActionMenuView.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public android.view.Menu getMenu();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getOverflowIcon();
-    method public int getPopupTheme();
-    method public boolean hideOverflowMenu();
-    method public boolean isOverflowMenuShowing();
-    method public void onConfigurationChanged(android.content.res.Configuration);
-    method public void onDetachedFromWindow();
-    method public void setOnMenuItemClickListener(android.support.v7.widget.ActionMenuView.OnMenuItemClickListener);
-    method public void setOverflowIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setPopupTheme(int);
-    method public boolean showOverflowMenu();
-  }
-
-  public static class ActionMenuView.LayoutParams extends android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public ActionMenuView.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public ActionMenuView.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public ActionMenuView.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.ActionMenuView.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public ActionMenuView.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    field public int cellsUsed;
-    field public boolean expandable;
-    field public int extraPixels;
-    field public boolean isOverflowButton;
-    field public boolean preventEdgeOffset;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ActionMenuView.OnMenuItemClickListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onMenuItemClick(android.view.MenuItem);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatAutoCompleteTextView extends android.widget.AutoCompleteTextView implements android.support.v4.view.TintableBackgroundView {
-    ctor public AppCompatAutoCompleteTextView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatAutoCompleteTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatAutoCompleteTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatButton extends android.widget.Button implements android.support.v4.widget.AutoSizeableTextView android.support.v4.view.TintableBackgroundView {
-    ctor public AppCompatButton(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public void setAutoSizeTextTypeUniformWithConfiguration(int, int, int, int) throws java.lang.IllegalArgumentException;
-    method public void setAutoSizeTextTypeUniformWithPresetSizes(int[], int) throws java.lang.IllegalArgumentException;
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setSupportAllCaps(boolean);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatCheckBox extends android.widget.CheckBox implements android.support.v4.widget.TintableCompoundButton {
-    ctor public AppCompatCheckBox(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatCheckBox(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatCheckBox(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportButtonTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportButtonTintMode();
-    method public void setSupportButtonTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportButtonTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatCheckedTextView extends android.widget.CheckedTextView {
-    ctor public AppCompatCheckedTextView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatCheckedTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatCheckedTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void setTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatEditText extends android.widget.EditText implements android.support.v4.view.TintableBackgroundView {
-    ctor public AppCompatEditText(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatEditText(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatImageButton extends android.widget.ImageButton implements android.support.v4.view.TintableBackgroundView android.support.v4.widget.TintableImageSourceView {
-    ctor public AppCompatImageButton(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatImageButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatImageButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportImageTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportImageTintMode();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setSupportImageTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportImageTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatImageView extends android.widget.ImageView implements android.support.v4.view.TintableBackgroundView android.support.v4.widget.TintableImageSourceView {
-    ctor public AppCompatImageView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatImageView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatImageView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportImageTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportImageTintMode();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setSupportImageTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportImageTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatMultiAutoCompleteTextView extends android.widget.MultiAutoCompleteTextView implements android.support.v4.view.TintableBackgroundView {
-    ctor public AppCompatMultiAutoCompleteTextView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatMultiAutoCompleteTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatMultiAutoCompleteTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatRadioButton extends android.widget.RadioButton implements android.support.v4.widget.TintableCompoundButton {
-    ctor public AppCompatRadioButton(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatRadioButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatRadioButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportButtonTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportButtonTintMode();
-    method public void setSupportButtonTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportButtonTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatRatingBar extends android.widget.RatingBar {
-    ctor public AppCompatRatingBar(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatRatingBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatRatingBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatSeekBar extends android.widget.SeekBar {
-    ctor public AppCompatSeekBar(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatSeekBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatSeekBar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatSpinner extends android.widget.Spinner implements android.support.v4.view.TintableBackgroundView {
-    ctor public AppCompatSpinner(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatSpinner(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor public AppCompatSpinner(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatSpinner(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public AppCompatSpinner(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public AppCompatSpinner(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int, android.content.res.Resources.Theme);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public class AppCompatTextView extends android.widget.TextView implements android.support.v4.widget.AutoSizeableTextView android.support.v4.view.TintableBackgroundView {
-    ctor public AppCompatTextView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public AppCompatTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public AppCompatTextView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getSupportBackgroundTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getSupportBackgroundTintMode();
-    method public void setAutoSizeTextTypeUniformWithConfiguration(int, int, int, int) throws java.lang.IllegalArgumentException;
-    method public void setAutoSizeTextTypeUniformWithPresetSizes(int[], int) throws java.lang.IllegalArgumentException;
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setSupportBackgroundTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-  }
-
-  public class LinearLayoutCompat extends android.view.ViewGroup {
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getBaselineAlignedChildIndex();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDividerDrawable();
-    method public int getDividerPadding();
-    method public int getGravity();
-    method public int getOrientation();
-    method public int getShowDividers();
-    method public float getWeightSum();
-    method public boolean isBaselineAligned();
-    method public boolean isMeasureWithLargestChildEnabled();
-    method public void setBaselineAligned(boolean);
-    method public void setBaselineAlignedChildIndex(int);
-    method public void setDividerDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setDividerPadding(int);
-    method public void setGravity(int);
-    method public void setHorizontalGravity(int);
-    method public void setMeasureWithLargestChildEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setOrientation(int);
-    method public void setShowDividers(int);
-    method public void setVerticalGravity(int);
-    method public void setWeightSum(float);
-    field public static final int HORIZONTAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SHOW_DIVIDER_BEGINNING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SHOW_DIVIDER_END = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int SHOW_DIVIDER_MIDDLE = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int SHOW_DIVIDER_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int VERTICAL = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static class LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams extends android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams {
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams(int, int, float);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutCompat.LayoutParams);
-    field public int gravity;
-    field public float weight;
-  }
-
-  public class ListPopupWindow {
-    ctor public ListPopupWindow(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public ListPopupWindow(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public ListPopupWindow(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public ListPopupWindow(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public void clearListSelection();
-    method public android.view.View.OnTouchListener createDragToOpenListener(android.view.View);
-    method public void dismiss();
-    method public android.view.View getAnchorView();
-    method public int getAnimationStyle();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getBackground();
-    method public int getHeight();
-    method public int getHorizontalOffset();
-    method public int getInputMethodMode();
-    method public android.widget.ListView getListView();
-    method public int getPromptPosition();
-    method public java.lang.Object getSelectedItem();
-    method public long getSelectedItemId();
-    method public int getSelectedItemPosition();
-    method public android.view.View getSelectedView();
-    method public int getSoftInputMode();
-    method public int getVerticalOffset();
-    method public int getWidth();
-    method public boolean isInputMethodNotNeeded();
-    method public boolean isModal();
-    method public boolean isShowing();
-    method public boolean onKeyDown(int, android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public boolean onKeyPreIme(int, android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public boolean onKeyUp(int, android.view.KeyEvent);
-    method public boolean performItemClick(int);
-    method public void postShow();
-    method public void setAdapter(android.widget.ListAdapter);
-    method public void setAnchorView(android.view.View);
-    method public void setAnimationStyle(int);
-    method public void setBackgroundDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setContentWidth(int);
-    method public void setDropDownGravity(int);
-    method public void setHeight(int);
-    method public void setHorizontalOffset(int);
-    method public void setInputMethodMode(int);
-    method public void setListSelector(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setModal(boolean);
-    method public void setOnDismissListener(android.widget.PopupWindow.OnDismissListener);
-    method public void setOnItemClickListener(android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemClickListener);
-    method public void setOnItemSelectedListener(android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener);
-    method public void setPromptPosition(int);
-    method public void setPromptView(android.view.View);
-    method public void setSelection(int);
-    method public void setSoftInputMode(int);
-    method public void setVerticalOffset(int);
-    method public void setWidth(int);
-    method public void setWindowLayoutType(int);
-    method public void show();
-    field public static final int INPUT_METHOD_FROM_FOCUSABLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int INPUT_METHOD_NEEDED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int INPUT_METHOD_NOT_NEEDED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int MATCH_PARENT = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int POSITION_PROMPT_ABOVE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int POSITION_PROMPT_BELOW = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int WRAP_CONTENT = -2; // 0xfffffffe
-  }
-
-  public class PopupMenu {
-    ctor public PopupMenu(android.content.Context, android.view.View);
-    ctor public PopupMenu(android.content.Context, android.view.View, int);
-    ctor public PopupMenu(android.content.Context, android.view.View, int, int, int);
-    method public void dismiss();
-    method public android.view.View.OnTouchListener getDragToOpenListener();
-    method public int getGravity();
-    method public android.view.Menu getMenu();
-    method public android.view.MenuInflater getMenuInflater();
-    method public void inflate(int);
-    method public void setGravity(int);
-    method public void setOnDismissListener(android.support.v7.widget.PopupMenu.OnDismissListener);
-    method public void setOnMenuItemClickListener(android.support.v7.widget.PopupMenu.OnMenuItemClickListener);
-    method public void show();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PopupMenu.OnDismissListener {
-    method public abstract void onDismiss(android.support.v7.widget.PopupMenu);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PopupMenu.OnMenuItemClickListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onMenuItemClick(android.view.MenuItem);
-  }
-
-  public class SearchView extends android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutCompat implements android.support.v7.view.CollapsibleActionView {
-    ctor public SearchView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SearchView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SearchView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public int getImeOptions();
-    method public int getInputType();
-    method public int getMaxWidth();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getQuery();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getQueryHint();
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.CursorAdapter getSuggestionsAdapter();
-    method public boolean isIconfiedByDefault();
-    method public boolean isIconified();
-    method public boolean isQueryRefinementEnabled();
-    method public boolean isSubmitButtonEnabled();
-    method public void onActionViewCollapsed();
-    method public void onActionViewExpanded();
-    method public void setIconified(boolean);
-    method public void setIconifiedByDefault(boolean);
-    method public void setImeOptions(int);
-    method public void setInputType(int);
-    method public void setMaxWidth(int);
-    method public void setOnCloseListener(android.support.v7.widget.SearchView.OnCloseListener);
-    method public void setOnQueryTextFocusChangeListener(android.view.View.OnFocusChangeListener);
-    method public void setOnQueryTextListener(android.support.v7.widget.SearchView.OnQueryTextListener);
-    method public void setOnSearchClickListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setOnSuggestionListener(android.support.v7.widget.SearchView.OnSuggestionListener);
-    method public void setQuery(java.lang.CharSequence, boolean);
-    method public void setQueryHint(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setQueryRefinementEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setSearchableInfo(android.app.SearchableInfo);
-    method public void setSubmitButtonEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setSuggestionsAdapter(android.support.v4.widget.CursorAdapter);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SearchView.OnCloseListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onClose();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SearchView.OnQueryTextListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onQueryTextChange(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract boolean onQueryTextSubmit(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface SearchView.OnSuggestionListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onSuggestionClick(int);
-    method public abstract boolean onSuggestionSelect(int);
-  }
-
-  public class ShareActionProvider extends android.support.v4.view.ActionProvider {
-    ctor public ShareActionProvider(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.view.View onCreateActionView();
-    method public void setOnShareTargetSelectedListener(android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider.OnShareTargetSelectedListener);
-    method public void setShareHistoryFileName(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setShareIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    field public static final java.lang.String DEFAULT_SHARE_HISTORY_FILE_NAME = "share_history.xml";
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ShareActionProvider.OnShareTargetSelectedListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onShareTargetSelected(android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider, android.content.Intent);
-  }
-
-  public class SwitchCompat extends android.widget.CompoundButton {
-    ctor public SwitchCompat(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SwitchCompat(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SwitchCompat(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public boolean getShowText();
-    method public boolean getSplitTrack();
-    method public int getSwitchMinWidth();
-    method public int getSwitchPadding();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTextOff();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTextOn();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getThumbDrawable();
-    method public int getThumbTextPadding();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getThumbTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getThumbTintMode();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getTrackDrawable();
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getTrackTintList();
-    method public android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode getTrackTintMode();
-    method public void onMeasure(int, int);
-    method public void setShowText(boolean);
-    method public void setSplitTrack(boolean);
-    method public void setSwitchMinWidth(int);
-    method public void setSwitchPadding(int);
-    method public void setSwitchTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public void setSwitchTypeface(android.graphics.Typeface, int);
-    method public void setSwitchTypeface(android.graphics.Typeface);
-    method public void setTextOff(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTextOn(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setThumbDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setThumbResource(int);
-    method public void setThumbTextPadding(int);
-    method public void setThumbTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setThumbTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-    method public void setTrackDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setTrackResource(int);
-    method public void setTrackTintList(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setTrackTintMode(android.graphics.PorterDuff.Mode);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface ThemedSpinnerAdapter implements android.widget.SpinnerAdapter {
-    method public abstract android.content.res.Resources.Theme getDropDownViewTheme();
-    method public abstract void setDropDownViewTheme(android.content.res.Resources.Theme);
-  }
-
-  public static final class ThemedSpinnerAdapter.Helper {
-    ctor public ThemedSpinnerAdapter.Helper(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.view.LayoutInflater getDropDownViewInflater();
-    method public android.content.res.Resources.Theme getDropDownViewTheme();
-    method public void setDropDownViewTheme(android.content.res.Resources.Theme);
-  }
-
-  public class Toolbar extends android.view.ViewGroup {
-    ctor public Toolbar(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public Toolbar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public Toolbar(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void collapseActionView();
-    method public void dismissPopupMenus();
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getContentInsetEnd();
-    method public int getContentInsetEndWithActions();
-    method public int getContentInsetLeft();
-    method public int getContentInsetRight();
-    method public int getContentInsetStart();
-    method public int getContentInsetStartWithNavigation();
-    method public int getCurrentContentInsetEnd();
-    method public int getCurrentContentInsetLeft();
-    method public int getCurrentContentInsetRight();
-    method public int getCurrentContentInsetStart();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getLogo();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getLogoDescription();
-    method public android.view.Menu getMenu();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getNavigationContentDescription();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getNavigationIcon();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getOverflowIcon();
-    method public int getPopupTheme();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSubtitle();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public int getTitleMarginBottom();
-    method public int getTitleMarginEnd();
-    method public int getTitleMarginStart();
-    method public int getTitleMarginTop();
-    method public boolean hasExpandedActionView();
-    method public boolean hideOverflowMenu();
-    method public void inflateMenu(int);
-    method public boolean isOverflowMenuShowing();
-    method public void setContentInsetEndWithActions(int);
-    method public void setContentInsetStartWithNavigation(int);
-    method public void setContentInsetsAbsolute(int, int);
-    method public void setContentInsetsRelative(int, int);
-    method public void setLogo(int);
-    method public void setLogo(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setLogoDescription(int);
-    method public void setLogoDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setNavigationContentDescription(int);
-    method public void setNavigationContentDescription(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setNavigationIcon(int);
-    method public void setNavigationIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setNavigationOnClickListener(android.view.View.OnClickListener);
-    method public void setOnMenuItemClickListener(android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar.OnMenuItemClickListener);
-    method public void setOverflowIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setPopupTheme(int);
-    method public void setSubtitle(int);
-    method public void setSubtitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setSubtitleTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public void setSubtitleTextColor(int);
-    method public void setTitle(int);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitleMargin(int, int, int, int);
-    method public void setTitleMarginBottom(int);
-    method public void setTitleMarginEnd(int);
-    method public void setTitleMarginStart(int);
-    method public void setTitleMarginTop(int);
-    method public void setTitleTextAppearance(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public void setTitleTextColor(int);
-    method public boolean showOverflowMenu();
-  }
-
-  public static class Toolbar.LayoutParams extends android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public Toolbar.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public Toolbar.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public Toolbar.LayoutParams(int, int, int);
-    ctor public Toolbar.LayoutParams(int);
-    ctor public Toolbar.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public Toolbar.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public Toolbar.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public Toolbar.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Toolbar.OnMenuItemClickListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onMenuItemClick(android.view.MenuItem);
-  }
-
-  public static class Toolbar.SavedState extends android.support.v4.view.AbsSavedState {
-    ctor public Toolbar.SavedState(android.os.Parcel);
-    ctor public Toolbar.SavedState(android.os.Parcel, java.lang.ClassLoader);
-    ctor public Toolbar.SavedState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar.SavedState> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public class TooltipCompat {
-    method public static void setTooltipText(android.view.View, java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v7/appcompat/res/values-bn/strings.xml b/v7/appcompat/res/values-bn/strings.xml
index 2ea7591..5959799 100644
--- a/v7/appcompat/res/values-bn/strings.xml
+++ b/v7/appcompat/res/values-bn/strings.xml
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@
     <string name="abc_action_mode_done" msgid="4076576682505996667">"সম্পন্ন হয়েছে"</string>
     <string name="abc_action_bar_home_description" msgid="4600421777120114993">"হোম এ নেভিগেট করুন"</string>
     <string name="abc_action_bar_up_description" msgid="1594238315039666878">"উপরের দিকে নেভিগেট করুন"</string>
-    <string name="abc_action_menu_overflow_description" msgid="3588849162933574182">"আরও বিকল্প"</string>
+    <string name="abc_action_menu_overflow_description" msgid="3588849162933574182">"আরো বিকল্প"</string>
     <string name="abc_toolbar_collapse_description" msgid="1603543279005712093">"সঙ্কুচিত করুন"</string>
-    <string name="abc_searchview_description_search" msgid="8264924765203268293">"খুঁজুন"</string>
+    <string name="abc_searchview_description_search" msgid="8264924765203268293">"অনুসন্ধান করুন"</string>
     <string name="abc_search_hint" msgid="7723749260725869598">"অনুসন্ধান..."</string>
-    <string name="abc_searchview_description_query" msgid="2550479030709304392">"ক্যোয়ারী খুঁজুন"</string>
+    <string name="abc_searchview_description_query" msgid="2550479030709304392">"ক্যোয়ারী অনুসন্ধান করুন"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_clear" msgid="3691816814315814921">"ক্যোয়ারী সাফ করুন"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_submit" msgid="8928215447528550784">"ক্যোয়ারী জমা দিন"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_voice" msgid="893419373245838918">"ভয়েস অনুসন্ধান"</string>
@@ -33,5 +33,5 @@
     <string name="abc_shareactionprovider_share_with" msgid="3421042268587513524">"এর সাথে শেয়ার করুন"</string>
     <string name="abc_capital_on" msgid="3405795526292276155">"চালু"</string>
     <string name="abc_capital_off" msgid="121134116657445385">"বন্ধ"</string>
-    <string name="search_menu_title" msgid="146198913615257606">"খুঁজুন"</string>
+    <string name="search_menu_title" msgid="146198913615257606">"অনুসন্ধান করুন"</string>
 </resources>
diff --git a/v7/appcompat/res/values-hi/strings.xml b/v7/appcompat/res/values-hi/strings.xml
index 3a393c7..0d90e55 100644
--- a/v7/appcompat/res/values-hi/strings.xml
+++ b/v7/appcompat/res/values-hi/strings.xml
@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@
 
 <resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     xmlns:xliff="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
-    <string name="abc_action_mode_done" msgid="4076576682505996667">"हो गया"</string>
+    <string name="abc_action_mode_done" msgid="4076576682505996667">"पूर्ण"</string>
     <string name="abc_action_bar_home_description" msgid="4600421777120114993">"होम पेज पर जाएं"</string>
     <string name="abc_action_bar_up_description" msgid="1594238315039666878">"ऊपर जाएं"</string>
     <string name="abc_action_menu_overflow_description" msgid="3588849162933574182">"ज़्यादा विकल्प"</string>
-    <string name="abc_toolbar_collapse_description" msgid="1603543279005712093">"छोटा करें"</string>
+    <string name="abc_toolbar_collapse_description" msgid="1603543279005712093">"संक्षिप्त करें"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_search" msgid="8264924765203268293">"सर्च करें"</string>
     <string name="abc_search_hint" msgid="7723749260725869598">"खोजा जा रहा है…"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_query" msgid="2550479030709304392">"सर्च क्वेरी"</string>
diff --git a/v7/appcompat/res/values-pa/strings.xml b/v7/appcompat/res/values-pa/strings.xml
index 7f28ac8..bc2e6ea 100644
--- a/v7/appcompat/res/values-pa/strings.xml
+++ b/v7/appcompat/res/values-pa/strings.xml
@@ -17,13 +17,13 @@
 <resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     xmlns:xliff="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
     <string name="abc_action_mode_done" msgid="4076576682505996667">"ਹੋ ਗਿਆ"</string>
-    <string name="abc_action_bar_home_description" msgid="4600421777120114993">"ਹੋਮ \'ਤੇ ਜਾਓ"</string>
-    <string name="abc_action_bar_up_description" msgid="1594238315039666878">"ਉੱਪਰ ਜਾਓ"</string>
+    <string name="abc_action_bar_home_description" msgid="4600421777120114993">"ਹੋਮ ਨੈਵੀਗੇਟ ਕਰੋ"</string>
+    <string name="abc_action_bar_up_description" msgid="1594238315039666878">"ਉੱਪਰ ਨੈਵੀਗੇਟ ਕਰੋ"</string>
     <string name="abc_action_menu_overflow_description" msgid="3588849162933574182">"ਹੋਰ ਚੋਣਾਂ"</string>
     <string name="abc_toolbar_collapse_description" msgid="1603543279005712093">"ਨਸ਼ਟ ਕਰੋ"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_search" msgid="8264924765203268293">"ਖੋਜੋ"</string>
     <string name="abc_search_hint" msgid="7723749260725869598">"ਖੋਜ…"</string>
-    <string name="abc_searchview_description_query" msgid="2550479030709304392">"ਖੋਜ ਪੁੱਛਗਿੱਛ"</string>
+    <string name="abc_searchview_description_query" msgid="2550479030709304392">"ਸਵਾਲ ਖੋਜੋ"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_clear" msgid="3691816814315814921">"ਸਵਾਲ ਹਟਾਓ"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_submit" msgid="8928215447528550784">"ਸਵਾਲ ਪ੍ਰਸਤੁਤ ਕਰੋ"</string>
     <string name="abc_searchview_description_voice" msgid="893419373245838918">"ਵੌਇਸ ਖੋਜ"</string>
@@ -33,5 +33,5 @@
     <string name="abc_shareactionprovider_share_with" msgid="3421042268587513524">"ਇਸ ਨਾਲ ਸਾਂਝਾ ਕਰੋ"</string>
     <string name="abc_capital_on" msgid="3405795526292276155">"ਤੇ"</string>
     <string name="abc_capital_off" msgid="121134116657445385">"ਬੰਦ"</string>
-    <string name="search_menu_title" msgid="146198913615257606">"ਖੋਜੋ"</string>
+    <string name="search_menu_title" msgid="146198913615257606">"ਖੋਜ"</string>
 </resources>
diff --git a/v7/appcompat/res/values-ta/strings.xml b/v7/appcompat/res/values-ta/strings.xml
index 4a2ad2f..7daeaaf 100644
--- a/v7/appcompat/res/values-ta/strings.xml
+++ b/v7/appcompat/res/values-ta/strings.xml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
     <string name="abc_activity_chooser_view_see_all" msgid="7468859129482906941">"எல்லாம் காட்டு"</string>
     <string name="abc_shareactionprovider_share_with_application" msgid="3300176832234831527">"<xliff:g id="APPLICATION_NAME">%s</xliff:g> மூலம் பகிர்"</string>
     <string name="abc_shareactionprovider_share_with" msgid="3421042268587513524">"இதனுடன் பகிர்"</string>
-    <string name="abc_capital_on" msgid="3405795526292276155">"ஆன்"</string>
-    <string name="abc_capital_off" msgid="121134116657445385">"ஆஃப்"</string>
+    <string name="abc_capital_on" msgid="3405795526292276155">"இயக்கு"</string>
+    <string name="abc_capital_off" msgid="121134116657445385">"முடக்கு"</string>
     <string name="search_menu_title" msgid="146198913615257606">"தேடு"</string>
 </resources>
diff --git a/v7/cardview/api/27.1.0.txt b/v7/cardview/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 6732501..0000000
--- a/v7/cardview/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v7.widget {
-
-  public class CardView extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public CardView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public CardView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public CardView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.content.res.ColorStateList getCardBackgroundColor();
-    method public float getCardElevation();
-    method public int getContentPaddingBottom();
-    method public int getContentPaddingLeft();
-    method public int getContentPaddingRight();
-    method public int getContentPaddingTop();
-    method public float getMaxCardElevation();
-    method public boolean getPreventCornerOverlap();
-    method public float getRadius();
-    method public boolean getUseCompatPadding();
-    method public void setCardBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setCardBackgroundColor(android.content.res.ColorStateList);
-    method public void setCardElevation(float);
-    method public void setContentPadding(int, int, int, int);
-    method public void setMaxCardElevation(float);
-    method public void setPreventCornerOverlap(boolean);
-    method public void setRadius(float);
-    method public void setUseCompatPadding(boolean);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v7/gridlayout/api/27.1.0.txt b/v7/gridlayout/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 9f12b89..0000000
--- a/v7/gridlayout/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,70 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v7.widget {
-
-  public class GridLayout extends android.view.ViewGroup {
-    ctor public GridLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public GridLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public GridLayout(android.content.Context);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getAlignmentMode();
-    method public int getColumnCount();
-    method public int getOrientation();
-    method public android.util.Printer getPrinter();
-    method public int getRowCount();
-    method public boolean getUseDefaultMargins();
-    method public boolean isColumnOrderPreserved();
-    method public boolean isRowOrderPreserved();
-    method public void setAlignmentMode(int);
-    method public void setColumnCount(int);
-    method public void setColumnOrderPreserved(boolean);
-    method public void setOrientation(int);
-    method public void setPrinter(android.util.Printer);
-    method public void setRowCount(int);
-    method public void setRowOrderPreserved(boolean);
-    method public void setUseDefaultMargins(boolean);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec spec(int, int, android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment, float);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec spec(int, android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment, float);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec spec(int, int, float);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec spec(int, float);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec spec(int, int, android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec spec(int, android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec spec(int, int);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec spec(int);
-    field public static final int ALIGN_BOUNDS = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ALIGN_MARGINS = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment BASELINE;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment BOTTOM;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment CENTER;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment END;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment FILL;
-    field public static final int HORIZONTAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment LEFT;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment RIGHT;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment START;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment TOP;
-    field public static final int UNDEFINED = -2147483648; // 0x80000000
-    field public static final int VERTICAL = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class GridLayout.Alignment {
-  }
-
-  public static class GridLayout.LayoutParams extends android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams {
-    ctor public GridLayout.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec, android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec);
-    ctor public GridLayout.LayoutParams();
-    ctor public GridLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public GridLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public GridLayout.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public GridLayout.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void setGravity(int);
-    field public android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec columnSpec;
-    field public android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Spec rowSpec;
-  }
-
-  public static class GridLayout.Spec {
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.Alignment getAbsoluteAlignment(boolean);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v7/mediarouter/api/27.1.0.txt b/v7/mediarouter/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 7670978..0000000
--- a/v7/mediarouter/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,476 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v7.app {
-
-  public class MediaRouteActionProvider extends android.support.v4.view.ActionProvider {
-    ctor public MediaRouteActionProvider(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteDialogFactory getDialogFactory();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteButton getMediaRouteButton();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector getRouteSelector();
-    method public android.view.View onCreateActionView();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteButton onCreateMediaRouteButton();
-    method public void setDialogFactory(android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteDialogFactory);
-    method public void setRouteSelector(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-  }
-
-  public class MediaRouteButton extends android.view.View {
-    ctor public MediaRouteButton(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public MediaRouteButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public MediaRouteButton(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteDialogFactory getDialogFactory();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector getRouteSelector();
-    method public void onAttachedToWindow();
-    method public void onDetachedFromWindow();
-    method public void setDialogFactory(android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteDialogFactory);
-    method public void setRemoteIndicatorDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setRouteSelector(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-    method public boolean showDialog();
-  }
-
-  public class MediaRouteChooserDialog extends android.support.v7.app.AppCompatDialog {
-    ctor public MediaRouteChooserDialog(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public MediaRouteChooserDialog(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector getRouteSelector();
-    method public boolean onFilterRoute(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void onFilterRoutes(java.util.List<android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo>);
-    method public void refreshRoutes();
-    method public void setRouteSelector(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-  }
-
-  public class MediaRouteChooserDialogFragment extends android.support.v4.app.DialogFragment {
-    ctor public MediaRouteChooserDialogFragment();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector getRouteSelector();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteChooserDialog onCreateChooserDialog(android.content.Context, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void setRouteSelector(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-  }
-
-  public class MediaRouteControllerDialog extends android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog {
-    ctor public MediaRouteControllerDialog(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public MediaRouteControllerDialog(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public android.view.View getMediaControlView();
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token getMediaSession();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo getRoute();
-    method public boolean isVolumeControlEnabled();
-    method public android.view.View onCreateMediaControlView(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void setVolumeControlEnabled(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class MediaRouteControllerDialogFragment extends android.support.v4.app.DialogFragment {
-    ctor public MediaRouteControllerDialogFragment();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteControllerDialog onCreateControllerDialog(android.content.Context, android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public class MediaRouteDialogFactory {
-    ctor public MediaRouteDialogFactory();
-    method public static android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteDialogFactory getDefault();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteChooserDialogFragment onCreateChooserDialogFragment();
-    method public android.support.v7.app.MediaRouteControllerDialogFragment onCreateControllerDialogFragment();
-  }
-
-  public class MediaRouteDiscoveryFragment extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public MediaRouteDiscoveryFragment();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter getMediaRouter();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector getRouteSelector();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.Callback onCreateCallback();
-    method public int onPrepareCallbackFlags();
-    method public void setRouteSelector(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.media {
-
-  public final class MediaControlIntent {
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_END_SESSION = "android.media.intent.action.END_SESSION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_ENQUEUE = "android.media.intent.action.ENQUEUE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_GET_SESSION_STATUS = "android.media.intent.action.GET_SESSION_STATUS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_GET_STATUS = "android.media.intent.action.GET_STATUS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_PAUSE = "android.media.intent.action.PAUSE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_PLAY = "android.media.intent.action.PLAY";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_REMOVE = "android.media.intent.action.REMOVE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_RESUME = "android.media.intent.action.RESUME";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_SEEK = "android.media.intent.action.SEEK";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_SEND_MESSAGE = "android.media.intent.action.SEND_MESSAGE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_START_SESSION = "android.media.intent.action.START_SESSION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String ACTION_STOP = "android.media.intent.action.STOP";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_LIVE_AUDIO = "android.media.intent.category.LIVE_AUDIO";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_LIVE_VIDEO = "android.media.intent.category.LIVE_VIDEO";
-    field public static final java.lang.String CATEGORY_REMOTE_PLAYBACK = "android.media.intent.category.REMOTE_PLAYBACK";
-    field public static final int ERROR_INVALID_ITEM_ID = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int ERROR_INVALID_SESSION_ID = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ERROR_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ERROR_UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ERROR_CODE = "android.media.intent.extra.ERROR_CODE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ITEM_CONTENT_POSITION = "android.media.intent.extra.ITEM_POSITION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ITEM_HTTP_HEADERS = "android.media.intent.extra.HTTP_HEADERS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ITEM_ID = "android.media.intent.extra.ITEM_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ITEM_METADATA = "android.media.intent.extra.ITEM_METADATA";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ITEM_STATUS = "android.media.intent.extra.ITEM_STATUS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_ITEM_STATUS_UPDATE_RECEIVER = "android.media.intent.extra.ITEM_STATUS_UPDATE_RECEIVER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "android.media.intent.extra.MESSAGE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_MESSAGE_RECEIVER = "android.media.intent.extra.MESSAGE_RECEIVER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SESSION_ID = "android.media.intent.extra.SESSION_ID";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SESSION_STATUS = "android.media.intent.extra.SESSION_STATUS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_SESSION_STATUS_UPDATE_RECEIVER = "android.media.intent.extra.SESSION_STATUS_UPDATE_RECEIVER";
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaItemMetadata {
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_ALBUM_ARTIST = "android.media.metadata.ALBUM_ARTIST";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_ALBUM_TITLE = "android.media.metadata.ALBUM_TITLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_ARTIST = "android.media.metadata.ARTIST";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_ARTWORK_URI = "android.media.metadata.ARTWORK_URI";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_AUTHOR = "android.media.metadata.AUTHOR";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_COMPOSER = "android.media.metadata.COMPOSER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_DISC_NUMBER = "android.media.metadata.DISC_NUMBER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_DURATION = "android.media.metadata.DURATION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_TITLE = "android.media.metadata.TITLE";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_TRACK_NUMBER = "android.media.metadata.TRACK_NUMBER";
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_YEAR = "android.media.metadata.YEAR";
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaItemStatus {
-    method public android.os.Bundle asBundle();
-    method public static android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus fromBundle(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public long getContentDuration();
-    method public long getContentPosition();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public int getPlaybackState();
-    method public long getTimestamp();
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_HTTP_RESPONSE_HEADERS = "android.media.status.extra.HTTP_RESPONSE_HEADERS";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_HTTP_STATUS_CODE = "android.media.status.extra.HTTP_STATUS_CODE";
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_STATE_BUFFERING = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_STATE_CANCELED = 5; // 0x5
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_STATE_ERROR = 7; // 0x7
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_STATE_FINISHED = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_STATE_INVALIDATED = 6; // 0x6
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_STATE_PAUSED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_STATE_PENDING = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_STATE_PLAYING = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaItemStatus.Builder {
-    ctor public MediaItemStatus.Builder(int);
-    ctor public MediaItemStatus.Builder(android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus build();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus.Builder setContentDuration(long);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus.Builder setContentPosition(long);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus.Builder setExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus.Builder setPlaybackState(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus.Builder setTimestamp(long);
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaRouteDescriptor {
-    method public android.os.Bundle asBundle();
-    method public boolean canDisconnectAndKeepPlaying();
-    method public static android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor fromBundle(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public int getConnectionState();
-    method public java.util.List<android.content.IntentFilter> getControlFilters();
-    method public java.lang.String getDescription();
-    method public int getDeviceType();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public android.net.Uri getIconUri();
-    method public java.lang.String getId();
-    method public java.lang.String getName();
-    method public int getPlaybackStream();
-    method public int getPlaybackType();
-    method public int getPresentationDisplayId();
-    method public android.content.IntentSender getSettingsActivity();
-    method public int getVolume();
-    method public int getVolumeHandling();
-    method public int getVolumeMax();
-    method public deprecated boolean isConnecting();
-    method public boolean isEnabled();
-    method public boolean isValid();
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder {
-    ctor public MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    ctor public MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder addControlFilter(android.content.IntentFilter);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder addControlFilters(java.util.Collection<android.content.IntentFilter>);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor build();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setCanDisconnect(boolean);
-    method public deprecated android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setConnecting(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setConnectionState(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setDescription(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setDeviceType(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setEnabled(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setIconUri(android.net.Uri);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setId(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setName(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setPlaybackStream(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setPlaybackType(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setPresentationDisplayId(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setSettingsActivity(android.content.IntentSender);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setVolume(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setVolumeHandling(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor.Builder setVolumeMax(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaRouteDiscoveryRequest {
-    ctor public MediaRouteDiscoveryRequest(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector, boolean);
-    method public android.os.Bundle asBundle();
-    method public static android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDiscoveryRequest fromBundle(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector getSelector();
-    method public boolean isActiveScan();
-    method public boolean isValid();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class MediaRouteProvider {
-    ctor public MediaRouteProvider(android.content.Context);
-    method public final android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public final android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProviderDescriptor getDescriptor();
-    method public final android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDiscoveryRequest getDiscoveryRequest();
-    method public final android.os.Handler getHandler();
-    method public final android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider.ProviderMetadata getMetadata();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider.RouteController onCreateRouteController(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onDiscoveryRequestChanged(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDiscoveryRequest);
-    method public final void setCallback(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider.Callback);
-    method public final void setDescriptor(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProviderDescriptor);
-    method public final void setDiscoveryRequest(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDiscoveryRequest);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaRouteProvider.Callback {
-    ctor public MediaRouteProvider.Callback();
-    method public void onDescriptorChanged(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProviderDescriptor);
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaRouteProvider.ProviderMetadata {
-    method public android.content.ComponentName getComponentName();
-    method public java.lang.String getPackageName();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaRouteProvider.RouteController {
-    ctor public MediaRouteProvider.RouteController();
-    method public boolean onControlRequest(android.content.Intent, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.ControlRequestCallback);
-    method public void onRelease();
-    method public void onSelect();
-    method public void onSetVolume(int);
-    method public void onUnselect();
-    method public void onUnselect(int);
-    method public void onUpdateVolume(int);
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaRouteProviderDescriptor {
-    method public android.os.Bundle asBundle();
-    method public static android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProviderDescriptor fromBundle(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor> getRoutes();
-    method public boolean isValid();
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaRouteProviderDescriptor.Builder {
-    ctor public MediaRouteProviderDescriptor.Builder();
-    ctor public MediaRouteProviderDescriptor.Builder(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProviderDescriptor);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProviderDescriptor.Builder addRoute(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProviderDescriptor.Builder addRoutes(java.util.Collection<android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteDescriptor>);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProviderDescriptor build();
-  }
-
-  public abstract class MediaRouteProviderService extends android.app.Service {
-    ctor public MediaRouteProviderService();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider getMediaRouteProvider();
-    method public android.os.IBinder onBind(android.content.Intent);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider onCreateMediaRouteProvider();
-    field public static final java.lang.String SERVICE_INTERFACE = "android.media.MediaRouteProviderService";
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaRouteSelector {
-    method public android.os.Bundle asBundle();
-    method public boolean contains(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-    method public static android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector fromBundle(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public java.util.List<java.lang.String> getControlCategories();
-    method public boolean hasControlCategory(java.lang.String);
-    method public boolean isEmpty();
-    method public boolean isValid();
-    method public boolean matchesControlFilters(java.util.List<android.content.IntentFilter>);
-    field public static final android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector EMPTY;
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaRouteSelector.Builder {
-    ctor public MediaRouteSelector.Builder();
-    ctor public MediaRouteSelector.Builder(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector.Builder addControlCategories(java.util.Collection<java.lang.String>);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector.Builder addControlCategory(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector.Builder addSelector(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector build();
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaRouter {
-    method public void addCallback(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.Callback);
-    method public void addCallback(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.Callback, int);
-    method public void addProvider(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider);
-    method public void addRemoteControlClient(java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo getBluetoothRoute();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo getDefaultRoute();
-    method public static android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter getInstance(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat.Token getMediaSessionToken();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.ProviderInfo> getProviders();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo> getRoutes();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo getSelectedRoute();
-    method public boolean isRouteAvailable(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector, int);
-    method public void removeCallback(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.Callback);
-    method public void removeProvider(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider);
-    method public void removeRemoteControlClient(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void selectRoute(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void setMediaSession(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setMediaSessionCompat(android.support.v4.media.session.MediaSessionCompat);
-    method public void unselect(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo updateSelectedRoute(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_FLAG_IGNORE_DEFAULT_ROUTE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int AVAILABILITY_FLAG_REQUIRE_MATCH = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CALLBACK_FLAG_FORCE_DISCOVERY = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int CALLBACK_FLAG_PERFORM_ACTIVE_SCAN = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int CALLBACK_FLAG_REQUEST_DISCOVERY = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int CALLBACK_FLAG_UNFILTERED_EVENTS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int UNSELECT_REASON_DISCONNECTED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int UNSELECT_REASON_ROUTE_CHANGED = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int UNSELECT_REASON_STOPPED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int UNSELECT_REASON_UNKNOWN = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaRouter.Callback {
-    ctor public MediaRouter.Callback();
-    method public void onProviderAdded(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.ProviderInfo);
-    method public void onProviderChanged(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.ProviderInfo);
-    method public void onProviderRemoved(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.ProviderInfo);
-    method public void onRouteAdded(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void onRouteChanged(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void onRoutePresentationDisplayChanged(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void onRouteRemoved(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void onRouteSelected(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void onRouteUnselected(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void onRouteUnselected(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo, int);
-    method public void onRouteVolumeChanged(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class MediaRouter.ControlRequestCallback {
-    ctor public MediaRouter.ControlRequestCallback();
-    method public void onError(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onResult(android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaRouter.ProviderInfo {
-    method public android.content.ComponentName getComponentName();
-    method public java.lang.String getPackageName();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteProvider getProviderInstance();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo> getRoutes();
-  }
-
-  public static class MediaRouter.RouteInfo {
-    method public boolean canDisconnect();
-    method public int getConnectionState();
-    method public java.util.List<android.content.IntentFilter> getControlFilters();
-    method public java.lang.String getDescription();
-    method public int getDeviceType();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public android.net.Uri getIconUri();
-    method public java.lang.String getId();
-    method public java.lang.String getName();
-    method public int getPlaybackStream();
-    method public int getPlaybackType();
-    method public android.view.Display getPresentationDisplay();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.ProviderInfo getProvider();
-    method public android.content.IntentSender getSettingsIntent();
-    method public int getVolume();
-    method public int getVolumeHandling();
-    method public int getVolumeMax();
-    method public boolean isBluetooth();
-    method public boolean isConnecting();
-    method public boolean isDefault();
-    method public boolean isDeviceSpeaker();
-    method public boolean isEnabled();
-    method public boolean isSelected();
-    method public boolean matchesSelector(android.support.v7.media.MediaRouteSelector);
-    method public void requestSetVolume(int);
-    method public void requestUpdateVolume(int);
-    method public void select();
-    method public void sendControlRequest(android.content.Intent, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.ControlRequestCallback);
-    method public boolean supportsControlAction(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public boolean supportsControlCategory(java.lang.String);
-    method public boolean supportsControlRequest(android.content.Intent);
-    field public static final int CONNECTION_STATE_CONNECTED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int CONNECTION_STATE_CONNECTING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int CONNECTION_STATE_DISCONNECTED = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int DEVICE_TYPE_SPEAKER = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int DEVICE_TYPE_TV = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_TYPE_LOCAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_TYPE_REMOTE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_VOLUME_FIXED = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int PLAYBACK_VOLUME_VARIABLE = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public final class MediaSessionStatus {
-    method public android.os.Bundle asBundle();
-    method public static android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus fromBundle(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public int getSessionState();
-    method public long getTimestamp();
-    method public boolean isQueuePaused();
-    field public static final int SESSION_STATE_ACTIVE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SESSION_STATE_ENDED = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SESSION_STATE_INVALIDATED = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public static final class MediaSessionStatus.Builder {
-    ctor public MediaSessionStatus.Builder(int);
-    ctor public MediaSessionStatus.Builder(android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus build();
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus.Builder setExtras(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus.Builder setQueuePaused(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus.Builder setSessionState(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus.Builder setTimestamp(long);
-  }
-
-  public class RemotePlaybackClient {
-    ctor public RemotePlaybackClient(android.content.Context, android.support.v7.media.MediaRouter.RouteInfo);
-    method public void endSession(android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback);
-    method public void enqueue(android.net.Uri, java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, long, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.ItemActionCallback);
-    method public java.lang.String getSessionId();
-    method public void getSessionStatus(android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback);
-    method public void getStatus(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.ItemActionCallback);
-    method public boolean hasSession();
-    method public boolean isMessagingSupported();
-    method public boolean isQueuingSupported();
-    method public boolean isRemotePlaybackSupported();
-    method public boolean isSessionManagementSupported();
-    method public void pause(android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback);
-    method public void play(android.net.Uri, java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, long, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.ItemActionCallback);
-    method public void release();
-    method public void remove(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.ItemActionCallback);
-    method public void resume(android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback);
-    method public void seek(java.lang.String, long, android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.ItemActionCallback);
-    method public void sendMessage(android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback);
-    method public void setOnMessageReceivedListener(android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.OnMessageReceivedListener);
-    method public void setSessionId(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setStatusCallback(android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.StatusCallback);
-    method public void startSession(android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback);
-    method public void stop(android.os.Bundle, android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RemotePlaybackClient.ActionCallback {
-    ctor public RemotePlaybackClient.ActionCallback();
-    method public void onError(java.lang.String, int, android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RemotePlaybackClient.ItemActionCallback extends android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.ActionCallback {
-    ctor public RemotePlaybackClient.ItemActionCallback();
-    method public void onResult(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus, java.lang.String, android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface RemotePlaybackClient.OnMessageReceivedListener {
-    method public abstract void onMessageReceived(java.lang.String, android.os.Bundle);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback extends android.support.v7.media.RemotePlaybackClient.ActionCallback {
-    ctor public RemotePlaybackClient.SessionActionCallback();
-    method public void onResult(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RemotePlaybackClient.StatusCallback {
-    ctor public RemotePlaybackClient.StatusCallback();
-    method public void onItemStatusChanged(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus, java.lang.String, android.support.v7.media.MediaItemStatus);
-    method public void onSessionChanged(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onSessionStatusChanged(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String, android.support.v7.media.MediaSessionStatus);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v7/mediarouter/res/values-hi/strings.xml b/v7/mediarouter/res/values-hi/strings.xml
index f9ac43b..adf3e88 100644
--- a/v7/mediarouter/res/values-hi/strings.xml
+++ b/v7/mediarouter/res/values-hi/strings.xml
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@
     <string name="mr_controller_play" msgid="683634565969987458">"चलाएं"</string>
     <string name="mr_controller_pause" msgid="5451884435510905406">"रोकें"</string>
     <string name="mr_controller_stop" msgid="735874641921425123">"बंद करें"</string>
-    <string name="mr_controller_expand_group" msgid="8062427022744266907">"विस्तार करें"</string>
-    <string name="mr_controller_collapse_group" msgid="7924809056904240926">"छोटा करें"</string>
+    <string name="mr_controller_expand_group" msgid="8062427022744266907">"विस्तृत करें"</string>
+    <string name="mr_controller_collapse_group" msgid="7924809056904240926">"संक्षिप्त करें"</string>
     <string name="mr_controller_album_art" msgid="6422801843540543585">"एल्बम आर्ट"</string>
     <string name="mr_controller_volume_slider" msgid="2361785992211841709">"वॉल्यूम स्लाइडर"</string>
     <string name="mr_controller_no_media_selected" msgid="6547130360349182381">"कोई मीडिया चयनित नहीं है"</string>
diff --git a/v7/mediarouter/res/values-ta/strings.xml b/v7/mediarouter/res/values-ta/strings.xml
index 99c6172..59dac88 100644
--- a/v7/mediarouter/res/values-ta/strings.xml
+++ b/v7/mediarouter/res/values-ta/strings.xml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 <resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     xmlns:xliff="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
-    <string name="mr_system_route_name" msgid="5441529851481176817">"சிஸ்டம்"</string>
+    <string name="mr_system_route_name" msgid="5441529851481176817">"அமைப்பு"</string>
     <string name="mr_user_route_category_name" msgid="7498112907524977311">"சாதனங்கள்"</string>
     <string name="mr_button_content_description" msgid="3698378085901466129">"திரையிடு பட்டன்"</string>
     <string name="mr_cast_button_disconnected" msgid="816305490427819240">"அனுப்புதல் பொத்தான். துண்டிக்கப்பட்டது"</string>
diff --git a/v7/palette/api/27.1.0.txt b/v7/palette/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 2ff5fd3..0000000
--- a/v7/palette/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,99 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v7.graphics {
-
-  public final class Palette {
-    method public static android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder from(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public static android.support.v7.graphics.Palette from(java.util.List<android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch>);
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v7.graphics.Palette generate(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    method public static deprecated android.support.v7.graphics.Palette generate(android.graphics.Bitmap, int);
-    method public static deprecated android.os.AsyncTask<android.graphics.Bitmap, java.lang.Void, android.support.v7.graphics.Palette> generateAsync(android.graphics.Bitmap, android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.PaletteAsyncListener);
-    method public static deprecated android.os.AsyncTask<android.graphics.Bitmap, java.lang.Void, android.support.v7.graphics.Palette> generateAsync(android.graphics.Bitmap, int, android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.PaletteAsyncListener);
-    method public int getColorForTarget(android.support.v7.graphics.Target, int);
-    method public int getDarkMutedColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch getDarkMutedSwatch();
-    method public int getDarkVibrantColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch getDarkVibrantSwatch();
-    method public int getDominantColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch getDominantSwatch();
-    method public int getLightMutedColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch getLightMutedSwatch();
-    method public int getLightVibrantColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch getLightVibrantSwatch();
-    method public int getMutedColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch getMutedSwatch();
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch getSwatchForTarget(android.support.v7.graphics.Target);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch> getSwatches();
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v7.graphics.Target> getTargets();
-    method public int getVibrantColor(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch getVibrantSwatch();
-  }
-
-  public static final class Palette.Builder {
-    ctor public Palette.Builder(android.graphics.Bitmap);
-    ctor public Palette.Builder(java.util.List<android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Swatch>);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder addFilter(android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Filter);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder addTarget(android.support.v7.graphics.Target);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder clearFilters();
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder clearRegion();
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder clearTargets();
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette generate();
-    method public android.os.AsyncTask<android.graphics.Bitmap, java.lang.Void, android.support.v7.graphics.Palette> generate(android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.PaletteAsyncListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder maximumColorCount(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder resizeBitmapArea(int);
-    method public deprecated android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder resizeBitmapSize(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Palette.Builder setRegion(int, int, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Palette.Filter {
-    method public abstract boolean isAllowed(int, float[]);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Palette.PaletteAsyncListener {
-    method public abstract void onGenerated(android.support.v7.graphics.Palette);
-  }
-
-  public static final class Palette.Swatch {
-    ctor public Palette.Swatch(int, int);
-    method public int getBodyTextColor();
-    method public float[] getHsl();
-    method public int getPopulation();
-    method public int getRgb();
-    method public int getTitleTextColor();
-  }
-
-  public final class Target {
-    method public float getLightnessWeight();
-    method public float getMaximumLightness();
-    method public float getMaximumSaturation();
-    method public float getMinimumLightness();
-    method public float getMinimumSaturation();
-    method public float getPopulationWeight();
-    method public float getSaturationWeight();
-    method public float getTargetLightness();
-    method public float getTargetSaturation();
-    method public boolean isExclusive();
-    field public static final android.support.v7.graphics.Target DARK_MUTED;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.graphics.Target DARK_VIBRANT;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.graphics.Target LIGHT_MUTED;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.graphics.Target LIGHT_VIBRANT;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.graphics.Target MUTED;
-    field public static final android.support.v7.graphics.Target VIBRANT;
-  }
-
-  public static final class Target.Builder {
-    ctor public Target.Builder();
-    ctor public Target.Builder(android.support.v7.graphics.Target);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target build();
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setExclusive(boolean);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setLightnessWeight(float);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setMaximumLightness(float);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setMaximumSaturation(float);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setMinimumLightness(float);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setMinimumSaturation(float);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setPopulationWeight(float);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setSaturationWeight(float);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setTargetLightness(float);
-    method public android.support.v7.graphics.Target.Builder setTargetSaturation(float);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v7/preference/api/27.1.0.txt b/v7/preference/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index ad64841..0000000
--- a/v7/preference/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,512 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v14.preference {
-
-  public class EditTextPreferenceDialogFragment extends android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceDialogFragment {
-    ctor public EditTextPreferenceDialogFragment();
-    method public static android.support.v14.preference.EditTextPreferenceDialogFragment newInstance(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onDialogClosed(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class ListPreferenceDialogFragment extends android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceDialogFragment {
-    ctor public ListPreferenceDialogFragment();
-    method public static android.support.v14.preference.ListPreferenceDialogFragment newInstance(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onDialogClosed(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class MultiSelectListPreference extends android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference {
-    ctor public MultiSelectListPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public MultiSelectListPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public MultiSelectListPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public MultiSelectListPreference(android.content.Context);
-    method public int findIndexOfValue(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence[] getEntries();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence[] getEntryValues();
-    method protected boolean[] getSelectedItems();
-    method public java.util.Set<java.lang.String> getValues();
-    method public void setEntries(java.lang.CharSequence[]);
-    method public void setEntries(int);
-    method public void setEntryValues(java.lang.CharSequence[]);
-    method public void setEntryValues(int);
-    method public void setValues(java.util.Set<java.lang.String>);
-  }
-
-  public class MultiSelectListPreferenceDialogFragment extends android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceDialogFragment {
-    ctor public MultiSelectListPreferenceDialogFragment();
-    method public static android.support.v14.preference.MultiSelectListPreferenceDialogFragment newInstance(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onDialogClosed(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PreferenceDialogFragment extends android.app.DialogFragment implements android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener {
-    ctor public PreferenceDialogFragment();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference getPreference();
-    method protected void onBindDialogView(android.view.View);
-    method public void onClick(android.content.DialogInterface, int);
-    method protected android.view.View onCreateDialogView(android.content.Context);
-    method public abstract void onDialogClosed(boolean);
-    method protected void onPrepareDialogBuilder(android.app.AlertDialog.Builder);
-    field protected static final java.lang.String ARG_KEY = "key";
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PreferenceFragment extends android.app.Fragment implements android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference.TargetFragment android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnDisplayPreferenceDialogListener android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnNavigateToScreenListener android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnPreferenceTreeClickListener {
-    ctor public PreferenceFragment();
-    method public void addPreferencesFromResource(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.Preference findPreference(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public final android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView getListView();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager getPreferenceManager();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen getPreferenceScreen();
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter onCreateAdapter(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager onCreateLayoutManager();
-    method public abstract void onCreatePreferences(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView onCreateRecyclerView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onDisplayPreferenceDialog(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public void onNavigateToScreen(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-    method public boolean onPreferenceTreeClick(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public void scrollToPreference(java.lang.String);
-    method public void scrollToPreference(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public void setDivider(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setDividerHeight(int);
-    method public void setPreferenceScreen(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-    method public void setPreferencesFromResource(int, java.lang.String);
-    field public static final java.lang.String ARG_PREFERENCE_ROOT = "android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat.PREFERENCE_ROOT";
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceFragment.OnPreferenceDisplayDialogCallback {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceDisplayDialog(android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceFragment, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceFragment.OnPreferenceStartFragmentCallback {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceStartFragment(android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceFragment, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceFragment.OnPreferenceStartScreenCallback {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceStartScreen(android.support.v14.preference.PreferenceFragment, android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-  }
-
-  public class SwitchPreference extends android.support.v7.preference.TwoStatePreference {
-    ctor public SwitchPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public SwitchPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public SwitchPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SwitchPreference(android.content.Context);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSwitchTextOff();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSwitchTextOn();
-    method public void setSwitchTextOff(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setSwitchTextOff(int);
-    method public void setSwitchTextOn(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setSwitchTextOn(int);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.preference {
-
-  public class CheckBoxPreference extends android.support.v7.preference.TwoStatePreference {
-    ctor public CheckBoxPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public CheckBoxPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public CheckBoxPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public CheckBoxPreference(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class DialogPreference extends android.support.v7.preference.Preference {
-    ctor public DialogPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public DialogPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public DialogPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public DialogPreference(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDialogIcon();
-    method public int getDialogLayoutResource();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getDialogMessage();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getDialogTitle();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getNegativeButtonText();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getPositiveButtonText();
-    method public void setDialogIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setDialogIcon(int);
-    method public void setDialogLayoutResource(int);
-    method public void setDialogMessage(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setDialogMessage(int);
-    method public void setDialogTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setDialogTitle(int);
-    method public void setNegativeButtonText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setNegativeButtonText(int);
-    method public void setPositiveButtonText(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setPositiveButtonText(int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface DialogPreference.TargetFragment {
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.preference.Preference findPreference(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public class DropDownPreference extends android.support.v7.preference.ListPreference {
-    ctor public DropDownPreference(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public DropDownPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public DropDownPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public DropDownPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method protected android.widget.ArrayAdapter createAdapter();
-  }
-
-  public class EditTextPreference extends android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference {
-    ctor public EditTextPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public EditTextPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public EditTextPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public EditTextPreference(android.content.Context);
-    method public java.lang.String getText();
-    method public void setText(java.lang.String);
-  }
-
-  public class EditTextPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat extends android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceDialogFragmentCompat {
-    ctor public EditTextPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat();
-    method public static android.support.v7.preference.EditTextPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat newInstance(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onDialogClosed(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class ListPreference extends android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference {
-    ctor public ListPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public ListPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public ListPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public ListPreference(android.content.Context);
-    method public int findIndexOfValue(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence[] getEntries();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getEntry();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence[] getEntryValues();
-    method public java.lang.String getValue();
-    method public void setEntries(java.lang.CharSequence[]);
-    method public void setEntries(int);
-    method public void setEntryValues(java.lang.CharSequence[]);
-    method public void setEntryValues(int);
-    method public void setValue(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setValueIndex(int);
-  }
-
-  public class ListPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat extends android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceDialogFragmentCompat {
-    ctor public ListPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat();
-    method public static android.support.v7.preference.ListPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat newInstance(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onDialogClosed(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class MultiSelectListPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat extends android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceDialogFragmentCompat {
-    ctor public MultiSelectListPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat();
-    method public static android.support.v7.preference.MultiSelectListPreferenceDialogFragmentCompat newInstance(java.lang.String);
-    method public void onDialogClosed(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class Preference implements java.lang.Comparable {
-    ctor public Preference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public Preference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public Preference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public Preference(android.content.Context);
-    method public boolean callChangeListener(java.lang.Object);
-    method public int compareTo(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method protected android.support.v7.preference.Preference findPreferenceInHierarchy(java.lang.String);
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public java.lang.String getDependency();
-    method public android.os.Bundle getExtras();
-    method public java.lang.String getFragment();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getIcon();
-    method public android.content.Intent getIntent();
-    method public java.lang.String getKey();
-    method public final int getLayoutResource();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.Preference.OnPreferenceChangeListener getOnPreferenceChangeListener();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.Preference.OnPreferenceClickListener getOnPreferenceClickListener();
-    method public int getOrder();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceGroup getParent();
-    method protected boolean getPersistedBoolean(boolean);
-    method protected float getPersistedFloat(float);
-    method protected int getPersistedInt(int);
-    method protected long getPersistedLong(long);
-    method protected java.lang.String getPersistedString(java.lang.String);
-    method public java.util.Set<java.lang.String> getPersistedStringSet(java.util.Set<java.lang.String>);
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceDataStore getPreferenceDataStore();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager getPreferenceManager();
-    method public android.content.SharedPreferences getSharedPreferences();
-    method public boolean getShouldDisableView();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSummary();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getTitle();
-    method public final int getWidgetLayoutResource();
-    method public boolean hasKey();
-    method public boolean isEnabled();
-    method public boolean isIconSpaceReserved();
-    method public boolean isPersistent();
-    method public boolean isSelectable();
-    method public boolean isSingleLineTitle();
-    method public final boolean isVisible();
-    method protected void notifyChanged();
-    method public void notifyDependencyChange(boolean);
-    method protected void notifyHierarchyChanged();
-    method public void onAttached();
-    method protected void onAttachedToHierarchy(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager);
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceViewHolder);
-    method protected void onClick();
-    method public void onDependencyChanged(android.support.v7.preference.Preference, boolean);
-    method public void onDetached();
-    method protected java.lang.Object onGetDefaultValue(android.content.res.TypedArray, int);
-    method public void onInitializeAccessibilityNodeInfo(android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat);
-    method public void onParentChanged(android.support.v7.preference.Preference, boolean);
-    method protected void onPrepareForRemoval();
-    method protected void onRestoreInstanceState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    method protected android.os.Parcelable onSaveInstanceState();
-    method protected void onSetInitialValue(boolean, java.lang.Object);
-    method public android.os.Bundle peekExtras();
-    method protected boolean persistBoolean(boolean);
-    method protected boolean persistFloat(float);
-    method protected boolean persistInt(int);
-    method protected boolean persistLong(long);
-    method protected boolean persistString(java.lang.String);
-    method public boolean persistStringSet(java.util.Set<java.lang.String>);
-    method public void restoreHierarchyState(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void saveHierarchyState(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void setDefaultValue(java.lang.Object);
-    method public void setDependency(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setFragment(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setIcon(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setIcon(int);
-    method public void setIconSpaceReserved(boolean);
-    method public void setIntent(android.content.Intent);
-    method public void setKey(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setLayoutResource(int);
-    method public void setOnPreferenceChangeListener(android.support.v7.preference.Preference.OnPreferenceChangeListener);
-    method public void setOnPreferenceClickListener(android.support.v7.preference.Preference.OnPreferenceClickListener);
-    method public void setOrder(int);
-    method public void setPersistent(boolean);
-    method public void setPreferenceDataStore(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceDataStore);
-    method public void setSelectable(boolean);
-    method public void setShouldDisableView(boolean);
-    method public void setSingleLineTitle(boolean);
-    method public void setSummary(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setSummary(int);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setTitle(int);
-    method public void setViewId(int);
-    method public final void setVisible(boolean);
-    method public void setWidgetLayoutResource(int);
-    method public boolean shouldDisableDependents();
-    method protected boolean shouldPersist();
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_ORDER = 2147483647; // 0x7fffffff
-  }
-
-  public static class Preference.BaseSavedState extends android.view.AbsSavedState {
-    ctor public Preference.BaseSavedState(android.os.Parcel);
-    ctor public Preference.BaseSavedState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    field public static final android.os.Parcelable.Creator<android.support.v7.preference.Preference.BaseSavedState> CREATOR;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Preference.OnPreferenceChangeListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceChange(android.support.v7.preference.Preference, java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface Preference.OnPreferenceClickListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceClick(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public class PreferenceCategory extends android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceGroup {
-    ctor public PreferenceCategory(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public PreferenceCategory(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public PreferenceCategory(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public PreferenceCategory(android.content.Context);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PreferenceDataStore {
-    ctor public PreferenceDataStore();
-    method public boolean getBoolean(java.lang.String, boolean);
-    method public float getFloat(java.lang.String, float);
-    method public int getInt(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public long getLong(java.lang.String, long);
-    method public java.lang.String getString(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public java.util.Set<java.lang.String> getStringSet(java.lang.String, java.util.Set<java.lang.String>);
-    method public void putBoolean(java.lang.String, boolean);
-    method public void putFloat(java.lang.String, float);
-    method public void putInt(java.lang.String, int);
-    method public void putLong(java.lang.String, long);
-    method public void putString(java.lang.String, java.lang.String);
-    method public void putStringSet(java.lang.String, java.util.Set<java.lang.String>);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PreferenceDialogFragmentCompat extends android.support.v4.app.DialogFragment implements android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener {
-    ctor public PreferenceDialogFragmentCompat();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference getPreference();
-    method protected void onBindDialogView(android.view.View);
-    method public void onClick(android.content.DialogInterface, int);
-    method protected android.view.View onCreateDialogView(android.content.Context);
-    method public abstract void onDialogClosed(boolean);
-    method protected void onPrepareDialogBuilder(android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder);
-    field protected static final java.lang.String ARG_KEY = "key";
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PreferenceFragmentCompat extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment implements android.support.v7.preference.DialogPreference.TargetFragment android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnDisplayPreferenceDialogListener android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnNavigateToScreenListener android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnPreferenceTreeClickListener {
-    ctor public PreferenceFragmentCompat();
-    method public void addPreferencesFromResource(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.Preference findPreference(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public final android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView getListView();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager getPreferenceManager();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen getPreferenceScreen();
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter onCreateAdapter(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager onCreateLayoutManager();
-    method public abstract void onCreatePreferences(android.os.Bundle, java.lang.String);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView onCreateRecyclerView(android.view.LayoutInflater, android.view.ViewGroup, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onDisplayPreferenceDialog(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public void onNavigateToScreen(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-    method public boolean onPreferenceTreeClick(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public void scrollToPreference(java.lang.String);
-    method public void scrollToPreference(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public void setDivider(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setDividerHeight(int);
-    method public void setPreferenceScreen(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-    method public void setPreferencesFromResource(int, java.lang.String);
-    field public static final java.lang.String ARG_PREFERENCE_ROOT = "android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat.PREFERENCE_ROOT";
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceFragmentCompat.OnPreferenceDisplayDialogCallback {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceDisplayDialog(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceFragmentCompat.OnPreferenceStartFragmentCallback {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceStartFragment(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceFragmentCompat.OnPreferenceStartScreenCallback {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceStartScreen(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat, android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class PreferenceGroup extends android.support.v7.preference.Preference {
-    ctor public PreferenceGroup(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public PreferenceGroup(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public PreferenceGroup(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public void addItemFromInflater(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public boolean addPreference(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method protected void dispatchRestoreInstanceState(android.os.Bundle);
-    method protected void dispatchSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.Preference findPreference(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public int getInitialExpandedChildrenCount();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.Preference getPreference(int);
-    method public int getPreferenceCount();
-    method protected boolean isOnSameScreenAsChildren();
-    method public boolean isOrderingAsAdded();
-    method protected boolean onPrepareAddPreference(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public void removeAll();
-    method public boolean removePreference(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public void setInitialExpandedChildrenCount(int);
-    method public void setOrderingAsAdded(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceGroup.PreferencePositionCallback {
-    method public abstract int getPreferenceAdapterPosition(java.lang.String);
-    method public abstract int getPreferenceAdapterPosition(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public class PreferenceManager {
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen createPreferenceScreen(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.Preference findPreference(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public android.content.Context getContext();
-    method public static android.content.SharedPreferences getDefaultSharedPreferences(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnDisplayPreferenceDialogListener getOnDisplayPreferenceDialogListener();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnNavigateToScreenListener getOnNavigateToScreenListener();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnPreferenceTreeClickListener getOnPreferenceTreeClickListener();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.PreferenceComparisonCallback getPreferenceComparisonCallback();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceDataStore getPreferenceDataStore();
-    method public android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen getPreferenceScreen();
-    method public android.content.SharedPreferences getSharedPreferences();
-    method public int getSharedPreferencesMode();
-    method public java.lang.String getSharedPreferencesName();
-    method public boolean isStorageDefault();
-    method public boolean isStorageDeviceProtected();
-    method public static void setDefaultValues(android.content.Context, int, boolean);
-    method public static void setDefaultValues(android.content.Context, java.lang.String, int, int, boolean);
-    method public void setOnDisplayPreferenceDialogListener(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnDisplayPreferenceDialogListener);
-    method public void setOnNavigateToScreenListener(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnNavigateToScreenListener);
-    method public void setOnPreferenceTreeClickListener(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.OnPreferenceTreeClickListener);
-    method public void setPreferenceComparisonCallback(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.PreferenceComparisonCallback);
-    method public void setPreferenceDataStore(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceDataStore);
-    method public boolean setPreferences(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-    method public void setSharedPreferencesMode(int);
-    method public void setSharedPreferencesName(java.lang.String);
-    method public void setStorageDefault();
-    method public void setStorageDeviceProtected();
-    method public void showDialog(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    field public static final java.lang.String KEY_HAS_SET_DEFAULT_VALUES = "_has_set_default_values";
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceManager.OnDisplayPreferenceDialogListener {
-    method public abstract void onDisplayPreferenceDialog(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceManager.OnNavigateToScreenListener {
-    method public abstract void onNavigateToScreen(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface PreferenceManager.OnPreferenceTreeClickListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onPreferenceTreeClick(android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class PreferenceManager.PreferenceComparisonCallback {
-    ctor public PreferenceManager.PreferenceComparisonCallback();
-    method public abstract boolean arePreferenceContentsTheSame(android.support.v7.preference.Preference, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public abstract boolean arePreferenceItemsTheSame(android.support.v7.preference.Preference, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public static class PreferenceManager.SimplePreferenceComparisonCallback extends android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceManager.PreferenceComparisonCallback {
-    ctor public PreferenceManager.SimplePreferenceComparisonCallback();
-    method public boolean arePreferenceContentsTheSame(android.support.v7.preference.Preference, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-    method public boolean arePreferenceItemsTheSame(android.support.v7.preference.Preference, android.support.v7.preference.Preference);
-  }
-
-  public final class PreferenceScreen extends android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceGroup {
-    method public void setShouldUseGeneratedIds(boolean);
-    method public boolean shouldUseGeneratedIds();
-  }
-
-  public class PreferenceViewHolder extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
-    method public android.view.View findViewById(int);
-    method public boolean isDividerAllowedAbove();
-    method public boolean isDividerAllowedBelow();
-    method public void setDividerAllowedAbove(boolean);
-    method public void setDividerAllowedBelow(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class SeekBarPreference extends android.support.v7.preference.Preference {
-    ctor public SeekBarPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public SeekBarPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public SeekBarPreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SeekBarPreference(android.content.Context);
-    method public int getMax();
-    method public int getMin();
-    method public final int getSeekBarIncrement();
-    method public int getValue();
-    method public boolean isAdjustable();
-    method public void setAdjustable(boolean);
-    method public final void setMax(int);
-    method public void setMin(int);
-    method public final void setSeekBarIncrement(int);
-    method public void setValue(int);
-  }
-
-  public class SwitchPreferenceCompat extends android.support.v7.preference.TwoStatePreference {
-    ctor public SwitchPreferenceCompat(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public SwitchPreferenceCompat(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public SwitchPreferenceCompat(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SwitchPreferenceCompat(android.content.Context);
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSwitchTextOff();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSwitchTextOn();
-    method public void setSwitchTextOff(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setSwitchTextOff(int);
-    method public void setSwitchTextOn(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setSwitchTextOn(int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class TwoStatePreference extends android.support.v7.preference.Preference {
-    ctor public TwoStatePreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public TwoStatePreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public TwoStatePreference(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public TwoStatePreference(android.content.Context);
-    method public boolean getDisableDependentsState();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSummaryOff();
-    method public java.lang.CharSequence getSummaryOn();
-    method public boolean isChecked();
-    method public void setChecked(boolean);
-    method public void setDisableDependentsState(boolean);
-    method public void setSummaryOff(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setSummaryOff(int);
-    method public void setSummaryOn(java.lang.CharSequence);
-    method public void setSummaryOn(int);
-    method protected void syncSummaryView(android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceViewHolder);
-    field protected boolean mChecked;
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v7/recyclerview/api/27.1.0.txt b/v7/recyclerview/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index cdff0f0..0000000
--- a/v7/recyclerview/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,1026 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.v7.recyclerview.extensions {
-
-  public final class AsyncDifferConfig<T> {
-    method public java.util.concurrent.Executor getBackgroundThreadExecutor();
-    method public android.support.v7.util.DiffUtil.ItemCallback<T> getDiffCallback();
-  }
-
-  public static final class AsyncDifferConfig.Builder<T> {
-    ctor public AsyncDifferConfig.Builder(android.support.v7.util.DiffUtil.ItemCallback<T>);
-    method public android.support.v7.recyclerview.extensions.AsyncDifferConfig<T> build();
-    method public android.support.v7.recyclerview.extensions.AsyncDifferConfig.Builder<T> setBackgroundThreadExecutor(java.util.concurrent.Executor);
-  }
-
-  public class AsyncListDiffer<T> {
-    ctor public AsyncListDiffer(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter, android.support.v7.util.DiffUtil.ItemCallback<T>);
-    ctor public AsyncListDiffer(android.support.v7.util.ListUpdateCallback, android.support.v7.recyclerview.extensions.AsyncDifferConfig<T>);
-    method public java.util.List<T> getCurrentList();
-    method public void submitList(java.util.List<T>);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class ListAdapter<T, VH extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder> extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter {
-    ctor protected ListAdapter(android.support.v7.util.DiffUtil.ItemCallback<T>);
-    ctor protected ListAdapter(android.support.v7.recyclerview.extensions.AsyncDifferConfig<T>);
-    method protected T getItem(int);
-    method public int getItemCount();
-    method public void submitList(java.util.List<T>);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.util {
-
-  public final class AdapterListUpdateCallback implements android.support.v7.util.ListUpdateCallback {
-    ctor public AdapterListUpdateCallback(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter);
-    method public void onChanged(int, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void onInserted(int, int);
-    method public void onMoved(int, int);
-    method public void onRemoved(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class AsyncListUtil<T> {
-    ctor public AsyncListUtil(java.lang.Class<T>, int, android.support.v7.util.AsyncListUtil.DataCallback<T>, android.support.v7.util.AsyncListUtil.ViewCallback);
-    method public T getItem(int);
-    method public int getItemCount();
-    method public void onRangeChanged();
-    method public void refresh();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class AsyncListUtil.DataCallback<T> {
-    ctor public AsyncListUtil.DataCallback();
-    method public abstract void fillData(T[], int, int);
-    method public int getMaxCachedTiles();
-    method public void recycleData(T[], int);
-    method public abstract int refreshData();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class AsyncListUtil.ViewCallback {
-    ctor public AsyncListUtil.ViewCallback();
-    method public void extendRangeInto(int[], int[], int);
-    method public abstract void getItemRangeInto(int[]);
-    method public abstract void onDataRefresh();
-    method public abstract void onItemLoaded(int);
-    field public static final int HINT_SCROLL_ASC = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int HINT_SCROLL_DESC = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int HINT_SCROLL_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public class BatchingListUpdateCallback implements android.support.v7.util.ListUpdateCallback {
-    ctor public BatchingListUpdateCallback(android.support.v7.util.ListUpdateCallback);
-    method public void dispatchLastEvent();
-    method public void onChanged(int, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void onInserted(int, int);
-    method public void onMoved(int, int);
-    method public void onRemoved(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class DiffUtil {
-    method public static android.support.v7.util.DiffUtil.DiffResult calculateDiff(android.support.v7.util.DiffUtil.Callback);
-    method public static android.support.v7.util.DiffUtil.DiffResult calculateDiff(android.support.v7.util.DiffUtil.Callback, boolean);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class DiffUtil.Callback {
-    ctor public DiffUtil.Callback();
-    method public abstract boolean areContentsTheSame(int, int);
-    method public abstract boolean areItemsTheSame(int, int);
-    method public java.lang.Object getChangePayload(int, int);
-    method public abstract int getNewListSize();
-    method public abstract int getOldListSize();
-  }
-
-  public static class DiffUtil.DiffResult {
-    method public void dispatchUpdatesTo(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter);
-    method public void dispatchUpdatesTo(android.support.v7.util.ListUpdateCallback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class DiffUtil.ItemCallback<T> {
-    ctor public DiffUtil.ItemCallback();
-    method public abstract boolean areContentsTheSame(T, T);
-    method public abstract boolean areItemsTheSame(T, T);
-    method public java.lang.Object getChangePayload(T, T);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface ListUpdateCallback {
-    method public abstract void onChanged(int, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public abstract void onInserted(int, int);
-    method public abstract void onMoved(int, int);
-    method public abstract void onRemoved(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class SortedList<T> {
-    ctor public SortedList(java.lang.Class<T>, android.support.v7.util.SortedList.Callback<T>);
-    ctor public SortedList(java.lang.Class<T>, android.support.v7.util.SortedList.Callback<T>, int);
-    method public int add(T);
-    method public void addAll(T[], boolean);
-    method public void addAll(T...);
-    method public void addAll(java.util.Collection<T>);
-    method public void beginBatchedUpdates();
-    method public void clear();
-    method public void endBatchedUpdates();
-    method public T get(int) throws java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException;
-    method public int indexOf(T);
-    method public void recalculatePositionOfItemAt(int);
-    method public boolean remove(T);
-    method public T removeItemAt(int);
-    method public void replaceAll(T[], boolean);
-    method public void replaceAll(T...);
-    method public void replaceAll(java.util.Collection<T>);
-    method public int size();
-    method public void updateItemAt(int, T);
-    field public static final int INVALID_POSITION = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static class SortedList.BatchedCallback<T2> extends android.support.v7.util.SortedList.Callback {
-    ctor public SortedList.BatchedCallback(android.support.v7.util.SortedList.Callback<T2>);
-    method public boolean areContentsTheSame(T2, T2);
-    method public boolean areItemsTheSame(T2, T2);
-    method public int compare(T2, T2);
-    method public void dispatchLastEvent();
-    method public void onChanged(int, int);
-    method public void onInserted(int, int);
-    method public void onMoved(int, int);
-    method public void onRemoved(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class SortedList.Callback<T2> implements java.util.Comparator android.support.v7.util.ListUpdateCallback {
-    ctor public SortedList.Callback();
-    method public abstract boolean areContentsTheSame(T2, T2);
-    method public abstract boolean areItemsTheSame(T2, T2);
-    method public abstract int compare(T2, T2);
-    method public java.lang.Object getChangePayload(T2, T2);
-    method public abstract void onChanged(int, int);
-    method public void onChanged(int, int, java.lang.Object);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.widget {
-
-  public class DefaultItemAnimator extends android.support.v7.widget.SimpleItemAnimator {
-    ctor public DefaultItemAnimator();
-    method public boolean animateAdd(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public boolean animateChange(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, int, int, int);
-    method public boolean animateMove(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, int, int, int);
-    method public boolean animateRemove(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void endAnimation(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void endAnimations();
-    method public boolean isRunning();
-    method public void runPendingAnimations();
-  }
-
-  public class DividerItemDecoration extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemDecoration {
-    ctor public DividerItemDecoration(android.content.Context, int);
-    method public void setDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setOrientation(int);
-    field public static final int HORIZONTAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int VERTICAL = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public class GridLayoutManager extends android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager {
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager(android.content.Context, int);
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager(android.content.Context, int, int, boolean);
-    method public int getSpanCount();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.GridLayoutManager.SpanSizeLookup getSpanSizeLookup();
-    method public void setSpanCount(int);
-    method public void setSpanSizeLookup(android.support.v7.widget.GridLayoutManager.SpanSizeLookup);
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_SPAN_COUNT = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static final class GridLayoutManager.DefaultSpanSizeLookup extends android.support.v7.widget.GridLayoutManager.SpanSizeLookup {
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager.DefaultSpanSizeLookup();
-    method public int getSpanSize(int);
-  }
-
-  public static class GridLayoutManager.LayoutParams extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getSpanIndex();
-    method public int getSpanSize();
-    field public static final int INVALID_SPAN_ID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class GridLayoutManager.SpanSizeLookup {
-    ctor public GridLayoutManager.SpanSizeLookup();
-    method public int getSpanGroupIndex(int, int);
-    method public int getSpanIndex(int, int);
-    method public abstract int getSpanSize(int);
-    method public void invalidateSpanIndexCache();
-    method public boolean isSpanIndexCacheEnabled();
-    method public void setSpanIndexCacheEnabled(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public class LinearLayoutManager extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager implements android.support.v7.widget.helper.ItemTouchHelper.ViewDropHandler android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.ScrollVectorProvider {
-    ctor public LinearLayoutManager(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutManager(android.content.Context, int, boolean);
-    ctor public LinearLayoutManager(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public android.graphics.PointF computeScrollVectorForPosition(int);
-    method public int findFirstCompletelyVisibleItemPosition();
-    method public int findFirstVisibleItemPosition();
-    method public int findLastCompletelyVisibleItemPosition();
-    method public int findLastVisibleItemPosition();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method protected int getExtraLayoutSpace(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int getInitialPrefetchItemCount();
-    method public int getOrientation();
-    method public boolean getRecycleChildrenOnDetach();
-    method public boolean getReverseLayout();
-    method public boolean getStackFromEnd();
-    method protected boolean isLayoutRTL();
-    method public boolean isSmoothScrollbarEnabled();
-    method public void prepareForDrop(android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public void scrollToPositionWithOffset(int, int);
-    method public void setInitialPrefetchItemCount(int);
-    method public void setOrientation(int);
-    method public void setRecycleChildrenOnDetach(boolean);
-    method public void setReverseLayout(boolean);
-    method public void setSmoothScrollbarEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setStackFromEnd(boolean);
-    field public static final int HORIZONTAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int INVALID_OFFSET = -2147483648; // 0x80000000
-    field public static final int VERTICAL = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  protected static class LinearLayoutManager.LayoutChunkResult {
-    ctor protected LinearLayoutManager.LayoutChunkResult();
-    field public int mConsumed;
-    field public boolean mFinished;
-    field public boolean mFocusable;
-    field public boolean mIgnoreConsumed;
-  }
-
-  public class LinearSmoothScroller extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller {
-    ctor public LinearSmoothScroller(android.content.Context);
-    method public int calculateDtToFit(int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public int calculateDxToMakeVisible(android.view.View, int);
-    method public int calculateDyToMakeVisible(android.view.View, int);
-    method protected float calculateSpeedPerPixel(android.util.DisplayMetrics);
-    method protected int calculateTimeForDeceleration(int);
-    method protected int calculateTimeForScrolling(int);
-    method public android.graphics.PointF computeScrollVectorForPosition(int);
-    method protected int getHorizontalSnapPreference();
-    method protected int getVerticalSnapPreference();
-    method protected void onSeekTargetStep(int, int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action);
-    method protected void onStart();
-    method protected void onStop();
-    method protected void onTargetFound(android.view.View, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action);
-    method protected void updateActionForInterimTarget(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action);
-    field public static final int SNAP_TO_ANY = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SNAP_TO_END = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SNAP_TO_START = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field protected final android.view.animation.DecelerateInterpolator mDecelerateInterpolator;
-    field protected int mInterimTargetDx;
-    field protected int mInterimTargetDy;
-    field protected final android.view.animation.LinearInterpolator mLinearInterpolator;
-    field protected android.graphics.PointF mTargetVector;
-  }
-
-  public class LinearSnapHelper extends android.support.v7.widget.SnapHelper {
-    ctor public LinearSnapHelper();
-    method public int[] calculateDistanceToFinalSnap(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager, android.view.View);
-    method public android.view.View findSnapView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method public int findTargetSnapPosition(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class OrientationHelper {
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.OrientationHelper createHorizontalHelper(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.OrientationHelper createOrientationHelper(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager, int);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.OrientationHelper createVerticalHelper(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method public abstract int getDecoratedEnd(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract int getDecoratedMeasurement(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract int getDecoratedMeasurementInOther(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract int getDecoratedStart(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract int getEnd();
-    method public abstract int getEndAfterPadding();
-    method public abstract int getEndPadding();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager getLayoutManager();
-    method public abstract int getMode();
-    method public abstract int getModeInOther();
-    method public abstract int getStartAfterPadding();
-    method public abstract int getTotalSpace();
-    method public int getTotalSpaceChange();
-    method public abstract int getTransformedEndWithDecoration(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract int getTransformedStartWithDecoration(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void offsetChild(android.view.View, int);
-    method public abstract void offsetChildren(int);
-    method public void onLayoutComplete();
-    field public static final int HORIZONTAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int VERTICAL = 1; // 0x1
-    field protected final android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager mLayoutManager;
-  }
-
-  public class PagerSnapHelper extends android.support.v7.widget.SnapHelper {
-    ctor public PagerSnapHelper();
-    method public int[] calculateDistanceToFinalSnap(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager, android.view.View);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.LinearSmoothScroller createSnapScroller(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method public android.view.View findSnapView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method public int findTargetSnapPosition(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class RecyclerView extends android.view.ViewGroup implements android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingChild2 android.support.v4.view.ScrollingView {
-    ctor public RecyclerView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public RecyclerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public RecyclerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public void addItemDecoration(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemDecoration, int);
-    method public void addItemDecoration(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemDecoration);
-    method public void addOnChildAttachStateChangeListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener);
-    method public void addOnItemTouchListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnItemTouchListener);
-    method public void addOnScrollListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnScrollListener);
-    method public void clearOnChildAttachStateChangeListeners();
-    method public void clearOnScrollListeners();
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollExtent();
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollOffset();
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollRange();
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollExtent();
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollOffset();
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollRange();
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedPreScroll(int, int, int[], int[], int);
-    method public boolean dispatchNestedScroll(int, int, int, int, int[], int);
-    method public boolean drawChild(android.graphics.Canvas, android.view.View, long);
-    method public android.view.View findChildViewUnder(float, float);
-    method public android.view.View findContainingItemView(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder findContainingViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder findViewHolderForAdapterPosition(int);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder findViewHolderForItemId(long);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder findViewHolderForLayoutPosition(int);
-    method public deprecated android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder findViewHolderForPosition(int);
-    method public boolean fling(int, int);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter getAdapter();
-    method public int getChildAdapterPosition(android.view.View);
-    method public long getChildItemId(android.view.View);
-    method public int getChildLayoutPosition(android.view.View);
-    method public deprecated int getChildPosition(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder getChildViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerViewAccessibilityDelegate getCompatAccessibilityDelegate();
-    method public void getDecoratedBoundsWithMargins(android.view.View, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.EdgeEffectFactory getEdgeEffectFactory();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator getItemAnimator();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemDecoration getItemDecorationAt(int);
-    method public int getItemDecorationCount();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager getLayoutManager();
-    method public int getMaxFlingVelocity();
-    method public int getMinFlingVelocity();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnFlingListener getOnFlingListener();
-    method public boolean getPreserveFocusAfterLayout();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.RecycledViewPool getRecycledViewPool();
-    method public int getScrollState();
-    method public boolean hasFixedSize();
-    method public boolean hasNestedScrollingParent(int);
-    method public boolean hasPendingAdapterUpdates();
-    method public void invalidateItemDecorations();
-    method public boolean isAnimating();
-    method public boolean isComputingLayout();
-    method public boolean isLayoutFrozen();
-    method public void offsetChildrenHorizontal(int);
-    method public void offsetChildrenVertical(int);
-    method public void onChildAttachedToWindow(android.view.View);
-    method public void onChildDetachedFromWindow(android.view.View);
-    method public void onDraw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public void onScrollStateChanged(int);
-    method public void onScrolled(int, int);
-    method public void removeItemDecoration(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemDecoration);
-    method public void removeItemDecorationAt(int);
-    method public void removeOnChildAttachStateChangeListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener);
-    method public void removeOnItemTouchListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnItemTouchListener);
-    method public void removeOnScrollListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnScrollListener);
-    method public void scrollToPosition(int);
-    method public void setAccessibilityDelegateCompat(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerViewAccessibilityDelegate);
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter);
-    method public void setChildDrawingOrderCallback(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ChildDrawingOrderCallback);
-    method public void setEdgeEffectFactory(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.EdgeEffectFactory);
-    method public void setHasFixedSize(boolean);
-    method public void setItemAnimator(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator);
-    method public void setItemViewCacheSize(int);
-    method public void setLayoutFrozen(boolean);
-    method public void setLayoutManager(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method public void setOnFlingListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnFlingListener);
-    method public deprecated void setOnScrollListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnScrollListener);
-    method public void setPreserveFocusAfterLayout(boolean);
-    method public void setRecycledViewPool(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.RecycledViewPool);
-    method public void setRecyclerListener(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.RecyclerListener);
-    method public void setScrollingTouchSlop(int);
-    method public void setViewCacheExtension(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewCacheExtension);
-    method public void smoothScrollBy(int, int);
-    method public void smoothScrollBy(int, int, android.view.animation.Interpolator);
-    method public void smoothScrollToPosition(int);
-    method public boolean startNestedScroll(int, int);
-    method public void stopNestedScroll(int);
-    method public void stopScroll();
-    method public void swapAdapter(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter, boolean);
-    field public static final int HORIZONTAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int INVALID_TYPE = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final long NO_ID = -1L; // 0xffffffffffffffffL
-    field public static final int NO_POSITION = -1; // 0xffffffff
-    field public static final int SCROLL_STATE_DRAGGING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SCROLL_STATE_IDLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int SCROLL_STATE_SETTLING = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int TOUCH_SLOP_DEFAULT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int TOUCH_SLOP_PAGING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int VERTICAL = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.Adapter<VH extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder> {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.Adapter();
-    method public final void bindViewHolder(VH, int);
-    method public final VH createViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public abstract int getItemCount();
-    method public long getItemId(int);
-    method public int getItemViewType(int);
-    method public final boolean hasObservers();
-    method public final boolean hasStableIds();
-    method public final void notifyDataSetChanged();
-    method public final void notifyItemChanged(int);
-    method public final void notifyItemChanged(int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public final void notifyItemInserted(int);
-    method public final void notifyItemMoved(int, int);
-    method public final void notifyItemRangeChanged(int, int);
-    method public final void notifyItemRangeChanged(int, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public final void notifyItemRangeInserted(int, int);
-    method public final void notifyItemRangeRemoved(int, int);
-    method public final void notifyItemRemoved(int);
-    method public void onAttachedToRecyclerView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public abstract void onBindViewHolder(VH, int);
-    method public void onBindViewHolder(VH, int, java.util.List<java.lang.Object>);
-    method public abstract VH onCreateViewHolder(android.view.ViewGroup, int);
-    method public void onDetachedFromRecyclerView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public boolean onFailedToRecycleView(VH);
-    method public void onViewAttachedToWindow(VH);
-    method public void onViewDetachedFromWindow(VH);
-    method public void onViewRecycled(VH);
-    method public void registerAdapterDataObserver(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.AdapterDataObserver);
-    method public void setHasStableIds(boolean);
-    method public void unregisterAdapterDataObserver(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.AdapterDataObserver);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.AdapterDataObserver {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.AdapterDataObserver();
-    method public void onChanged();
-    method public void onItemRangeChanged(int, int);
-    method public void onItemRangeChanged(int, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void onItemRangeInserted(int, int);
-    method public void onItemRangeMoved(int, int, int);
-    method public void onItemRangeRemoved(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface RecyclerView.ChildDrawingOrderCallback {
-    method public abstract int onGetChildDrawingOrder(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerView.EdgeEffectFactory {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.EdgeEffectFactory();
-    method protected android.widget.EdgeEffect createEdgeEffect(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int);
-    field public static final int DIRECTION_BOTTOM = 3; // 0x3
-    field public static final int DIRECTION_LEFT = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int DIRECTION_RIGHT = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int DIRECTION_TOP = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.EdgeEffectFactory.EdgeDirection implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.ItemAnimator {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.ItemAnimator();
-    method public abstract boolean animateAppearance(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo);
-    method public abstract boolean animateChange(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo);
-    method public abstract boolean animateDisappearance(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo);
-    method public abstract boolean animatePersistence(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo);
-    method public boolean canReuseUpdatedViewHolder(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public boolean canReuseUpdatedViewHolder(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, java.util.List<java.lang.Object>);
-    method public final void dispatchAnimationFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void dispatchAnimationStarted(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void dispatchAnimationsFinished();
-    method public abstract void endAnimation(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public abstract void endAnimations();
-    method public long getAddDuration();
-    method public long getChangeDuration();
-    method public long getMoveDuration();
-    method public long getRemoveDuration();
-    method public abstract boolean isRunning();
-    method public final boolean isRunning(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemAnimatorFinishedListener);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo obtainHolderInfo();
-    method public void onAnimationFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onAnimationStarted(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo recordPostLayoutInformation(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo recordPreLayoutInformation(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, java.util.List<java.lang.Object>);
-    method public abstract void runPendingAnimations();
-    method public void setAddDuration(long);
-    method public void setChangeDuration(long);
-    method public void setMoveDuration(long);
-    method public void setRemoveDuration(long);
-    field public static final int FLAG_APPEARED_IN_PRE_LAYOUT = 4096; // 0x1000
-    field public static final int FLAG_CHANGED = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int FLAG_INVALIDATED = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int FLAG_MOVED = 2048; // 0x800
-    field public static final int FLAG_REMOVED = 8; // 0x8
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.AdapterChanges implements java.lang.annotation.Annotation {
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemAnimatorFinishedListener {
-    method public abstract void onAnimationsFinished();
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo setFrom(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo setFrom(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int);
-    field public int bottom;
-    field public int changeFlags;
-    field public int left;
-    field public int right;
-    field public int top;
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.ItemDecoration {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.ItemDecoration();
-    method public deprecated void getItemOffsets(android.graphics.Rect, int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public void getItemOffsets(android.graphics.Rect, android.view.View, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public void onDraw(android.graphics.Canvas, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public deprecated void onDraw(android.graphics.Canvas, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public void onDrawOver(android.graphics.Canvas, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public deprecated void onDrawOver(android.graphics.Canvas, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.LayoutManager {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.LayoutManager();
-    method public void addDisappearingView(android.view.View);
-    method public void addDisappearingView(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void addView(android.view.View);
-    method public void addView(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void assertInLayoutOrScroll(java.lang.String);
-    method public void assertNotInLayoutOrScroll(java.lang.String);
-    method public void attachView(android.view.View, int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams);
-    method public void attachView(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void attachView(android.view.View);
-    method public void calculateItemDecorationsForChild(android.view.View, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public boolean canScrollHorizontally();
-    method public boolean canScrollVertically();
-    method public boolean checkLayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams);
-    method public static int chooseSize(int, int, int);
-    method public void collectAdjacentPrefetchPositions(int, int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager.LayoutPrefetchRegistry);
-    method public void collectInitialPrefetchPositions(int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager.LayoutPrefetchRegistry);
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollExtent(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollOffset(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int computeHorizontalScrollRange(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollExtent(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollOffset(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int computeVerticalScrollRange(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public void detachAndScrapAttachedViews(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler);
-    method public void detachAndScrapView(android.view.View, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler);
-    method public void detachAndScrapViewAt(int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler);
-    method public void detachView(android.view.View);
-    method public void detachViewAt(int);
-    method public void endAnimation(android.view.View);
-    method public android.view.View findContainingItemView(android.view.View);
-    method public android.view.View findViewByPosition(int);
-    method public abstract android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    method public int getBaseline();
-    method public int getBottomDecorationHeight(android.view.View);
-    method public android.view.View getChildAt(int);
-    method public int getChildCount();
-    method public static deprecated int getChildMeasureSpec(int, int, int, boolean);
-    method public static int getChildMeasureSpec(int, int, int, int, boolean);
-    method public boolean getClipToPadding();
-    method public int getColumnCountForAccessibility(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int getDecoratedBottom(android.view.View);
-    method public void getDecoratedBoundsWithMargins(android.view.View, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public int getDecoratedLeft(android.view.View);
-    method public int getDecoratedMeasuredHeight(android.view.View);
-    method public int getDecoratedMeasuredWidth(android.view.View);
-    method public int getDecoratedRight(android.view.View);
-    method public int getDecoratedTop(android.view.View);
-    method public android.view.View getFocusedChild();
-    method public int getHeight();
-    method public int getHeightMode();
-    method public int getItemCount();
-    method public int getItemViewType(android.view.View);
-    method public int getLayoutDirection();
-    method public int getLeftDecorationWidth(android.view.View);
-    method public int getMinimumHeight();
-    method public int getMinimumWidth();
-    method public int getPaddingBottom();
-    method public int getPaddingEnd();
-    method public int getPaddingLeft();
-    method public int getPaddingRight();
-    method public int getPaddingStart();
-    method public int getPaddingTop();
-    method public int getPosition(android.view.View);
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager.Properties getProperties(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public int getRightDecorationWidth(android.view.View);
-    method public int getRowCountForAccessibility(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int getSelectionModeForAccessibility(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public int getTopDecorationHeight(android.view.View);
-    method public void getTransformedBoundingBox(android.view.View, boolean, android.graphics.Rect);
-    method public int getWidth();
-    method public int getWidthMode();
-    method public boolean hasFocus();
-    method public void ignoreView(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean isAttachedToWindow();
-    method public boolean isAutoMeasureEnabled();
-    method public boolean isFocused();
-    method public final boolean isItemPrefetchEnabled();
-    method public boolean isLayoutHierarchical(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public boolean isMeasurementCacheEnabled();
-    method public boolean isSmoothScrolling();
-    method public boolean isViewPartiallyVisible(android.view.View, boolean, boolean);
-    method public void layoutDecorated(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void layoutDecoratedWithMargins(android.view.View, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void measureChild(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public void measureChildWithMargins(android.view.View, int, int);
-    method public void moveView(int, int);
-    method public void offsetChildrenHorizontal(int);
-    method public void offsetChildrenVertical(int);
-    method public void onAdapterChanged(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter);
-    method public boolean onAddFocusables(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, java.util.ArrayList<android.view.View>, int, int);
-    method public void onAttachedToWindow(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public deprecated void onDetachedFromWindow(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public void onDetachedFromWindow(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler);
-    method public android.view.View onFocusSearchFailed(android.view.View, int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public void onInitializeAccessibilityEvent(android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public void onInitializeAccessibilityEvent(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityEvent);
-    method public void onInitializeAccessibilityNodeInfo(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat);
-    method public void onInitializeAccessibilityNodeInfoForItem(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.view.View, android.support.v4.view.accessibility.AccessibilityNodeInfoCompat);
-    method public android.view.View onInterceptFocusSearch(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void onItemsAdded(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int, int);
-    method public void onItemsChanged(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public void onItemsMoved(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int, int, int);
-    method public void onItemsRemoved(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int, int);
-    method public void onItemsUpdated(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int, int);
-    method public void onItemsUpdated(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int, int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void onLayoutChildren(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public void onLayoutCompleted(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public void onMeasure(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, int, int);
-    method public deprecated boolean onRequestChildFocus(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.View, android.view.View);
-    method public boolean onRequestChildFocus(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.view.View, android.view.View);
-    method public void onRestoreInstanceState(android.os.Parcelable);
-    method public android.os.Parcelable onSaveInstanceState();
-    method public void onScrollStateChanged(int);
-    method public boolean performAccessibilityAction(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public boolean performAccessibilityActionForItem(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.view.View, int, android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void postOnAnimation(java.lang.Runnable);
-    method public void removeAllViews();
-    method public void removeAndRecycleAllViews(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler);
-    method public void removeAndRecycleView(android.view.View, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler);
-    method public void removeAndRecycleViewAt(int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler);
-    method public boolean removeCallbacks(java.lang.Runnable);
-    method public void removeDetachedView(android.view.View);
-    method public void removeView(android.view.View);
-    method public void removeViewAt(int);
-    method public boolean requestChildRectangleOnScreen(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.View, android.graphics.Rect, boolean);
-    method public boolean requestChildRectangleOnScreen(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.View, android.graphics.Rect, boolean, boolean);
-    method public void requestLayout();
-    method public void requestSimpleAnimationsInNextLayout();
-    method public int scrollHorizontallyBy(int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public void scrollToPosition(int);
-    method public int scrollVerticallyBy(int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State);
-    method public deprecated void setAutoMeasureEnabled(boolean);
-    method public final void setItemPrefetchEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setMeasuredDimension(android.graphics.Rect, int, int);
-    method public void setMeasuredDimension(int, int);
-    method public void setMeasurementCacheEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void smoothScrollToPosition(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, int);
-    method public void startSmoothScroll(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller);
-    method public void stopIgnoringView(android.view.View);
-    method public boolean supportsPredictiveItemAnimations();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface RecyclerView.LayoutManager.LayoutPrefetchRegistry {
-    method public abstract void addPosition(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerView.LayoutManager.Properties {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.LayoutManager.Properties();
-    field public int orientation;
-    field public boolean reverseLayout;
-    field public int spanCount;
-    field public boolean stackFromEnd;
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerView.LayoutParams extends android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public RecyclerView.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public RecyclerView.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public RecyclerView.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public RecyclerView.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams);
-    method public int getViewAdapterPosition();
-    method public int getViewLayoutPosition();
-    method public deprecated int getViewPosition();
-    method public boolean isItemChanged();
-    method public boolean isItemRemoved();
-    method public boolean isViewInvalid();
-    method public boolean viewNeedsUpdate();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener {
-    method public abstract void onChildViewAttachedToWindow(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onChildViewDetachedFromWindow(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.OnFlingListener {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.OnFlingListener();
-    method public abstract boolean onFling(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface RecyclerView.OnItemTouchListener {
-    method public abstract boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public abstract void onRequestDisallowInterceptTouchEvent(boolean);
-    method public abstract void onTouchEvent(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.MotionEvent);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.OnScrollListener {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.OnScrollListener();
-    method public void onScrollStateChanged(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int);
-    method public void onScrolled(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerView.RecycledViewPool {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.RecycledViewPool();
-    method public void clear();
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder getRecycledView(int);
-    method public int getRecycledViewCount(int);
-    method public void putRecycledView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setMaxRecycledViews(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public final class RecyclerView.Recycler {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.Recycler();
-    method public void bindViewToPosition(android.view.View, int);
-    method public void clear();
-    method public int convertPreLayoutPositionToPostLayout(int);
-    method public java.util.List<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder> getScrapList();
-    method public android.view.View getViewForPosition(int);
-    method public void recycleView(android.view.View);
-    method public void setViewCacheSize(int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface RecyclerView.RecyclerListener {
-    method public abstract void onViewRecycled(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerView.SimpleOnItemTouchListener implements android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnItemTouchListener {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.SimpleOnItemTouchListener();
-    method public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.MotionEvent);
-    method public void onRequestDisallowInterceptTouchEvent(boolean);
-    method public void onTouchEvent(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.MotionEvent);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.SmoothScroller {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.SmoothScroller();
-    method public android.view.View findViewByPosition(int);
-    method public int getChildCount();
-    method public int getChildPosition(android.view.View);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager getLayoutManager();
-    method public int getTargetPosition();
-    method public deprecated void instantScrollToPosition(int);
-    method public boolean isPendingInitialRun();
-    method public boolean isRunning();
-    method protected void normalize(android.graphics.PointF);
-    method protected void onChildAttachedToWindow(android.view.View);
-    method protected abstract void onSeekTargetStep(int, int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action);
-    method protected abstract void onStart();
-    method protected abstract void onStop();
-    method protected abstract void onTargetFound(android.view.View, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.State, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action);
-    method public void setTargetPosition(int);
-    method protected final void stop();
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action(int, int);
-    ctor public RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action(int, int, int);
-    ctor public RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.Action(int, int, int, android.view.animation.Interpolator);
-    method public int getDuration();
-    method public int getDx();
-    method public int getDy();
-    method public android.view.animation.Interpolator getInterpolator();
-    method public void jumpTo(int);
-    method public void setDuration(int);
-    method public void setDx(int);
-    method public void setDy(int);
-    method public void setInterpolator(android.view.animation.Interpolator);
-    method public void update(int, int, int, android.view.animation.Interpolator);
-    field public static final int UNDEFINED_DURATION = -2147483648; // 0x80000000
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.ScrollVectorProvider {
-    method public abstract android.graphics.PointF computeScrollVectorForPosition(int);
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerView.State {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.State();
-    method public boolean didStructureChange();
-    method public <T> T get(int);
-    method public int getItemCount();
-    method public int getRemainingScrollHorizontal();
-    method public int getRemainingScrollVertical();
-    method public int getTargetScrollPosition();
-    method public boolean hasTargetScrollPosition();
-    method public boolean isMeasuring();
-    method public boolean isPreLayout();
-    method public void put(int, java.lang.Object);
-    method public void remove(int);
-    method public boolean willRunPredictiveAnimations();
-    method public boolean willRunSimpleAnimations();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.ViewCacheExtension {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.ViewCacheExtension();
-    method public abstract android.view.View getViewForPositionAndType(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Recycler, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
-    ctor public RecyclerView.ViewHolder(android.view.View);
-    method public final int getAdapterPosition();
-    method public final long getItemId();
-    method public final int getItemViewType();
-    method public final int getLayoutPosition();
-    method public final int getOldPosition();
-    method public final deprecated int getPosition();
-    method public final boolean isRecyclable();
-    method public final void setIsRecyclable(boolean);
-    field public final android.view.View itemView;
-  }
-
-  public class RecyclerViewAccessibilityDelegate extends android.support.v4.view.AccessibilityDelegateCompat {
-    ctor public RecyclerViewAccessibilityDelegate(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public android.support.v4.view.AccessibilityDelegateCompat getItemDelegate();
-  }
-
-  public static class RecyclerViewAccessibilityDelegate.ItemDelegate extends android.support.v4.view.AccessibilityDelegateCompat {
-    ctor public RecyclerViewAccessibilityDelegate.ItemDelegate(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerViewAccessibilityDelegate);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class SimpleItemAnimator extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator {
-    ctor public SimpleItemAnimator();
-    method public abstract boolean animateAdd(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public boolean animateAppearance(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo);
-    method public boolean animateChange(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo);
-    method public abstract boolean animateChange(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, int, int, int);
-    method public boolean animateDisappearance(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo);
-    method public abstract boolean animateMove(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, int, int, int);
-    method public boolean animatePersistence(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemAnimator.ItemHolderInfo);
-    method public abstract boolean animateRemove(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void dispatchAddFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void dispatchAddStarting(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void dispatchChangeFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public final void dispatchChangeStarting(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public final void dispatchMoveFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void dispatchMoveStarting(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void dispatchRemoveFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public final void dispatchRemoveStarting(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public boolean getSupportsChangeAnimations();
-    method public void onAddFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onAddStarting(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onChangeFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public void onChangeStarting(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, boolean);
-    method public void onMoveFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onMoveStarting(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onRemoveFinished(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onRemoveStarting(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setSupportsChangeAnimations(boolean);
-  }
-
-  public abstract class SnapHelper extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnFlingListener {
-    ctor public SnapHelper();
-    method public void attachToRecyclerView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView) throws java.lang.IllegalStateException;
-    method public abstract int[] calculateDistanceToFinalSnap(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager, android.view.View);
-    method public int[] calculateScrollDistance(int, int);
-    method protected android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller createScroller(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method protected deprecated android.support.v7.widget.LinearSmoothScroller createSnapScroller(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method public abstract android.view.View findSnapView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager);
-    method public abstract int findTargetSnapPosition(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager, int, int);
-    method public boolean onFling(int, int);
-  }
-
-  public class StaggeredGridLayoutManager extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutManager implements android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.SmoothScroller.ScrollVectorProvider {
-    ctor public StaggeredGridLayoutManager(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    ctor public StaggeredGridLayoutManager(int, int);
-    method public android.graphics.PointF computeScrollVectorForPosition(int);
-    method public int[] findFirstCompletelyVisibleItemPositions(int[]);
-    method public int[] findFirstVisibleItemPositions(int[]);
-    method public int[] findLastCompletelyVisibleItemPositions(int[]);
-    method public int[] findLastVisibleItemPositions(int[]);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams generateDefaultLayoutParams();
-    method public int getGapStrategy();
-    method public int getOrientation();
-    method public boolean getReverseLayout();
-    method public int getSpanCount();
-    method public void invalidateSpanAssignments();
-    method public void scrollToPositionWithOffset(int, int);
-    method public void setGapStrategy(int);
-    method public void setOrientation(int);
-    method public void setReverseLayout(boolean);
-    method public void setSpanCount(int);
-    field public static final deprecated int GAP_HANDLING_LAZY = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int GAP_HANDLING_MOVE_ITEMS_BETWEEN_SPANS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int GAP_HANDLING_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int HORIZONTAL = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int VERTICAL = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static class StaggeredGridLayoutManager.LayoutParams extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public StaggeredGridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public StaggeredGridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public StaggeredGridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public StaggeredGridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public StaggeredGridLayoutManager.LayoutParams(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.LayoutParams);
-    method public final int getSpanIndex();
-    method public boolean isFullSpan();
-    method public void setFullSpan(boolean);
-    field public static final int INVALID_SPAN_ID = -1; // 0xffffffff
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.widget.helper {
-
-  public class ItemTouchHelper extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ItemDecoration implements android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.OnChildAttachStateChangeListener {
-    ctor public ItemTouchHelper(android.support.v7.widget.helper.ItemTouchHelper.Callback);
-    method public void attachToRecyclerView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-    method public void onChildViewAttachedToWindow(android.view.View);
-    method public void onChildViewDetachedFromWindow(android.view.View);
-    method public void startDrag(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void startSwipe(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    field public static final int ACTION_STATE_DRAG = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int ACTION_STATE_IDLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int ACTION_STATE_SWIPE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int ANIMATION_TYPE_DRAG = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int ANIMATION_TYPE_SWIPE_CANCEL = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int ANIMATION_TYPE_SWIPE_SUCCESS = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int DOWN = 2; // 0x2
-    field public static final int END = 32; // 0x20
-    field public static final int LEFT = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int RIGHT = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int START = 16; // 0x10
-    field public static final int UP = 1; // 0x1
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ItemTouchHelper.Callback {
-    ctor public ItemTouchHelper.Callback();
-    method public boolean canDropOver(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder chooseDropTarget(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, java.util.List<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder>, int, int);
-    method public void clearView(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public int convertToAbsoluteDirection(int, int);
-    method public static int convertToRelativeDirection(int, int);
-    method public long getAnimationDuration(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int, float, float);
-    method public int getBoundingBoxMargin();
-    method public static android.support.v7.widget.helper.ItemTouchUIUtil getDefaultUIUtil();
-    method public float getMoveThreshold(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public abstract int getMovementFlags(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public float getSwipeEscapeVelocity(float);
-    method public float getSwipeThreshold(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public float getSwipeVelocityThreshold(float);
-    method public int interpolateOutOfBoundsScroll(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, int, int, int, long);
-    method public boolean isItemViewSwipeEnabled();
-    method public boolean isLongPressDragEnabled();
-    method public static int makeFlag(int, int);
-    method public static int makeMovementFlags(int, int);
-    method public void onChildDraw(android.graphics.Canvas, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, float, float, int, boolean);
-    method public void onChildDrawOver(android.graphics.Canvas, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, float, float, int, boolean);
-    method public abstract boolean onMove(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void onMoved(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int, int, int);
-    method public void onSelectedChanged(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int);
-    method public abstract void onSwiped(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder, int);
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_DRAG_ANIMATION_DURATION = 200; // 0xc8
-    field public static final int DEFAULT_SWIPE_ANIMATION_DURATION = 250; // 0xfa
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class ItemTouchHelper.SimpleCallback extends android.support.v7.widget.helper.ItemTouchHelper.Callback {
-    ctor public ItemTouchHelper.SimpleCallback(int, int);
-    method public int getDragDirs(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public int getMovementFlags(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public int getSwipeDirs(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.ViewHolder);
-    method public void setDefaultDragDirs(int);
-    method public void setDefaultSwipeDirs(int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface ItemTouchHelper.ViewDropHandler {
-    method public abstract void prepareForDrop(android.view.View, android.view.View, int, int);
-  }
-
-  public abstract interface ItemTouchUIUtil {
-    method public abstract void clearView(android.view.View);
-    method public abstract void onDraw(android.graphics.Canvas, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.View, float, float, int, boolean);
-    method public abstract void onDrawOver(android.graphics.Canvas, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView, android.view.View, float, float, int, boolean);
-    method public abstract void onSelected(android.view.View);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.v7.widget.util {
-
-  public abstract class SortedListAdapterCallback<T2> extends android.support.v7.util.SortedList.Callback {
-    ctor public SortedListAdapterCallback(android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView.Adapter);
-    method public void onChanged(int, int);
-    method public void onInserted(int, int);
-    method public void onMoved(int, int);
-    method public void onRemoved(int, int);
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/v7/recyclerview/src/main/java/android/support/v7/recyclerview/extensions/AsyncListDiffer.java b/v7/recyclerview/src/main/java/android/support/v7/recyclerview/extensions/AsyncListDiffer.java
index 0542f21..7999393 100644
--- a/v7/recyclerview/src/main/java/android/support/v7/recyclerview/extensions/AsyncListDiffer.java
+++ b/v7/recyclerview/src/main/java/android/support/v7/recyclerview/extensions/AsyncListDiffer.java
@@ -198,23 +198,19 @@
         // incrementing generation means any currently-running diffs are discarded when they finish
         final int runGeneration = ++mMaxScheduledGeneration;
 
-        // fast simple remove all
         if (newList == null) {
             //noinspection ConstantConditions
-            int countRemoved = mList.size();
+            mUpdateCallback.onRemoved(0, mList.size());
             mList = null;
             mReadOnlyList = Collections.emptyList();
-            // notify last, after list is updated
-            mUpdateCallback.onRemoved(0, countRemoved);
             return;
         }
 
-        // fast simple first insert
         if (mList == null) {
+            // fast simple first insert
+            mUpdateCallback.onInserted(0, newList.size());
             mList = newList;
             mReadOnlyList = Collections.unmodifiableList(newList);
-            // notify last, after list is updated
-            mUpdateCallback.onInserted(0, newList.size());
             return;
         }
 
@@ -244,13 +240,6 @@
                         return mConfig.getDiffCallback().areContentsTheSame(
                                 oldList.get(oldItemPosition), newList.get(newItemPosition));
                     }
-
-                    @Nullable
-                    @Override
-                    public Object getChangePayload(int oldItemPosition, int newItemPosition) {
-                        return mConfig.getDiffCallback().getChangePayload(
-                                oldList.get(oldItemPosition), newList.get(newItemPosition));
-                    }
                 });
 
                 mConfig.getMainThreadExecutor().execute(new Runnable() {
@@ -266,9 +255,8 @@
     }
 
     private void latchList(@NonNull List<T> newList, @NonNull DiffUtil.DiffResult diffResult) {
-        mList = newList;
-        // notify last, after list is updated
-        mReadOnlyList = Collections.unmodifiableList(newList);
         diffResult.dispatchUpdatesTo(mUpdateCallback);
+        mList = newList;
+        mReadOnlyList = Collections.unmodifiableList(newList);
     }
 }
diff --git a/v7/recyclerview/src/main/java/android/support/v7/widget/RecyclerView.java b/v7/recyclerview/src/main/java/android/support/v7/widget/RecyclerView.java
index 8b59b0d..991abb9 100644
--- a/v7/recyclerview/src/main/java/android/support/v7/widget/RecyclerView.java
+++ b/v7/recyclerview/src/main/java/android/support/v7/widget/RecyclerView.java
@@ -11407,12 +11407,12 @@
             if (!mRunning) {
                 return;
             }
-            mRunning = false;
             onStop();
             mRecyclerView.mState.mTargetPosition = RecyclerView.NO_POSITION;
             mTargetView = null;
             mTargetPosition = RecyclerView.NO_POSITION;
             mPendingInitialRun = false;
+            mRunning = false;
             // trigger a cleanup
             mLayoutManager.onSmoothScrollerStopped(this);
             // clear references to avoid any potential leak by a custom smooth scroller
diff --git a/v7/recyclerview/tests/src/android/support/v7/recyclerview/extensions/AsyncListDifferTest.kt b/v7/recyclerview/tests/src/android/support/v7/recyclerview/extensions/AsyncListDifferTest.kt
index 5b0a639..d5a60db 100644
--- a/v7/recyclerview/tests/src/android/support/v7/recyclerview/extensions/AsyncListDifferTest.kt
+++ b/v7/recyclerview/tests/src/android/support/v7/recyclerview/extensions/AsyncListDifferTest.kt
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
 import org.junit.Assert.assertNotSame
 import org.junit.Assert.assertSame
-import org.junit.Assert.fail
 import org.junit.Test
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith
 import org.junit.runners.JUnit4
@@ -60,7 +59,7 @@
     private val mMainThread = TestExecutor()
     private val mBackgroundThread = TestExecutor()
 
-    private fun <T> createDiffer(listUpdateCallback: ListUpdateCallback,
+    private fun <T> createHelper(listUpdateCallback: ListUpdateCallback,
             diffCallback: DiffUtil.ItemCallback<T>): AsyncListDiffer<T> {
         return AsyncListDiffer(listUpdateCallback,
                 AsyncDifferConfig.Builder<T>(diffCallback)
@@ -72,71 +71,71 @@
     @Test
     fun initialState() {
         val callback = mock(ListUpdateCallback::class.java)
-        val differ = createDiffer(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-        assertEquals(0, differ.currentList.size)
+        val helper = createHelper(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        assertEquals(0, helper.currentList.size)
         verifyZeroInteractions(callback)
     }
 
     @Test(expected = IndexOutOfBoundsException::class)
     fun getEmpty() {
-        val differ = createDiffer(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-        differ.currentList[0]
+        val helper = createHelper(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        helper.currentList[0]
     }
 
     @Test(expected = IndexOutOfBoundsException::class)
     fun getNegative() {
-        val differ = createDiffer(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
-        differ.currentList[-1]
+        val helper = createHelper(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        helper.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
+        helper.currentList[-1]
     }
 
     @Test(expected = IndexOutOfBoundsException::class)
     fun getPastEnd() {
-        val differ = createDiffer(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
-        differ.currentList[2]
+        val helper = createHelper(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        helper.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
+        helper.currentList[2]
     }
 
     fun getCurrentList() {
-        val differ = createDiffer(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        val helper = createHelper(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
 
         // null is emptyList
-        assertSame(emptyList<String>(), differ.currentList)
+        assertSame(emptyList<String>(), helper.currentList)
 
         // other list is wrapped
         val list = listOf("a", "b")
-        differ.submitList(list)
-        assertEquals(list, differ.currentList)
-        assertNotSame(list, differ.currentList)
+        helper.submitList(list)
+        assertEquals(list, helper.currentList)
+        assertNotSame(list, helper.currentList)
 
         // null again, empty again
-        differ.submitList(null)
-        assertSame(emptyList<String>(), differ.currentList)
+        helper.submitList(null)
+        assertSame(emptyList<String>(), helper.currentList)
     }
 
     @Test(expected = UnsupportedOperationException::class)
     fun mutateCurrentListEmpty() {
-        val differ = createDiffer(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-        differ.currentList[0] = ""
+        val helper = createHelper(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        helper.currentList[0] = ""
     }
 
     @Test(expected = UnsupportedOperationException::class)
     fun mutateCurrentListNonEmpty() {
-        val differ = createDiffer(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a"))
-        differ.currentList[0] = ""
+        val helper = createHelper(IGNORE_CALLBACK, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        helper.submitList(listOf("a"))
+        helper.currentList[0] = ""
     }
 
     @Test
     fun submitListSimple() {
         val callback = mock(ListUpdateCallback::class.java)
-        val differ = createDiffer(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        val helper = createHelper(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
 
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
+        helper.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
 
-        assertEquals(2, differ.currentList.size)
-        assertEquals("a", differ.currentList[0])
-        assertEquals("b", differ.currentList[1])
+        assertEquals(2, helper.currentList.size)
+        assertEquals("a", helper.currentList[0])
+        assertEquals("b", helper.currentList[1])
 
         verify(callback).onInserted(0, 2)
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
@@ -147,115 +146,30 @@
     @Test
     fun submitListUpdate() {
         val callback = mock(ListUpdateCallback::class.java)
-        val differ = createDiffer(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
+        val helper = createHelper(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
 
         // initial list (immediate)
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
+        helper.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
         verify(callback).onInserted(0, 2)
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
         drain()
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
 
         // update (deferred)
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b", "c"))
+        helper.submitList(listOf("a", "b", "c"))
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
         drain()
         verify(callback).onInserted(2, 1)
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
 
         // clear (immediate)
-        differ.submitList(null)
+        helper.submitList(null)
         verify(callback).onRemoved(0, 3)
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
         drain()
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
     }
 
-    @Test
-    fun singleChangePayload() {
-        val callback = mock(ListUpdateCallback::class.java)
-        val differ = createDiffer(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
-        verify(callback).onInserted(0, 2)
-        verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
-        drain()
-        verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
-
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "beta"))
-        verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
-        drain()
-        verify(callback).onChanged(1, 1, "eta")
-        verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    fun multiChangePayload() {
-        val callback = mock(ListUpdateCallback::class.java)
-        val differ = createDiffer(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b"))
-        verify(callback).onInserted(0, 2)
-        verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
-        drain()
-        verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
-
-        differ.submitList(listOf("alpha", "beta"))
-        verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
-        drain()
-        verify(callback).onChanged(1, 1, "eta")
-        verify(callback).onChanged(0, 1, "lpha")
-        verifyNoMoreInteractions(callback)
-    }
-
-    fun listUpdatedBeforeListUpdateCallbacks() {
-        // verify that itemCount is updated in the differ before dispatching ListUpdateCallbacks
-
-        val expectedCount = intArrayOf(0)
-        // provides access to differ, which must be constructed after callback
-        val differAccessor = arrayOf<AsyncListDiffer<*>?>(null)
-
-        val callback = object : ListUpdateCallback {
-            override fun onInserted(position: Int, count: Int) {
-                assertEquals(expectedCount[0], differAccessor[0]!!.currentList.size)
-            }
-
-            override fun onRemoved(position: Int, count: Int) {
-                assertEquals(expectedCount[0], differAccessor[0]!!.currentList.size)
-            }
-
-            override fun onMoved(fromPosition: Int, toPosition: Int) {
-                fail("not expected")
-            }
-
-            override fun onChanged(position: Int, count: Int, payload: Any) {
-                fail("not expected")
-            }
-        }
-
-        val differ = createDiffer(callback, STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK)
-        differAccessor[0] = differ
-
-        // in the fast-add case...
-        expectedCount[0] = 3
-        assertEquals(0, differ.currentList.size)
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b", "c"))
-        assertEquals(3, differ.currentList.size)
-
-        // in the slow, diff on BG thread case...
-        expectedCount[0] = 6
-        assertEquals(3, differ.currentList.size)
-        differ.submitList(listOf("a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f"))
-        drain()
-        assertEquals(6, differ.currentList.size)
-
-        // and in the fast-remove case
-        expectedCount[0] = 0
-        assertEquals(6, differ.currentList.size)
-        differ.submitList(null)
-        assertEquals(0, differ.currentList.size)
-    }
-
     private fun drain() {
         var executed: Boolean
         do {
@@ -267,21 +181,12 @@
     companion object {
         private val STRING_DIFF_CALLBACK = object : DiffUtil.ItemCallback<String>() {
             override fun areItemsTheSame(oldItem: String, newItem: String): Boolean {
-                // items are the same if first char is the same
-                return oldItem[0] == newItem[0]
+                return oldItem == newItem
             }
 
             override fun areContentsTheSame(oldItem: String, newItem: String): Boolean {
                 return oldItem == newItem
             }
-
-            override fun getChangePayload(oldItem: String, newItem: String): Any? {
-                if (newItem.startsWith(oldItem)) {
-                    // new string is appended, return added portion on the end
-                    return newItem.subSequence(oldItem.length, newItem.length)
-                }
-                return null
-            }
         }
 
         private val IGNORE_CALLBACK = object : ListUpdateCallback {
diff --git a/v7/recyclerview/tests/src/android/support/v7/widget/RecyclerViewSmoothScrollerTest.java b/v7/recyclerview/tests/src/android/support/v7/widget/RecyclerViewSmoothScrollerTest.java
deleted file mode 100644
index f632f2f..0000000
--- a/v7/recyclerview/tests/src/android/support/v7/widget/RecyclerViewSmoothScrollerTest.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,87 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
- *
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-package android.support.v7.widget;
-
-import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
-import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
-
-import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
-import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
-import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
-import android.view.View;
-
-import org.junit.Test;
-import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
-
-@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
-@SmallTest
-public class RecyclerViewSmoothScrollerTest {
-
-    @Test
-    public void stop_whileRunning_isRunningIsFalseInOnStop() {
-        RecyclerView recyclerView = new RecyclerView(InstrumentationRegistry.getContext());
-        RecyclerView.LayoutManager layoutManager = mock(RecyclerView.LayoutManager.class);
-        recyclerView.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);
-        MockSmoothScroller mockSmoothScroller = spy(new MockSmoothScroller());
-        mockSmoothScroller.setTargetPosition(0);
-        mockSmoothScroller.start(recyclerView, layoutManager);
-
-        mockSmoothScroller.stop();
-
-        verify(mockSmoothScroller).onStop();
-        assertThat(mockSmoothScroller.mWasRunningInOnStop, is(false));
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void stop_whileNotRunning_doesNotCallOnStop() {
-        RecyclerView.SmoothScroller mockSmoothScroller = spy(new MockSmoothScroller());
-        mockSmoothScroller.stop();
-        verify(mockSmoothScroller, never()).onStop();
-    }
-
-    public static class MockSmoothScroller extends RecyclerView.SmoothScroller {
-
-        boolean mWasRunningInOnStop;
-
-        @Override
-        protected void onStart() {
-
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        protected void onStop() {
-            mWasRunningInOnStop = isRunning();
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        protected void onSeekTargetStep(int dx, int dy, RecyclerView.State state,
-                Action action) {
-
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        protected void onTargetFound(View targetView, RecyclerView.State state,
-                Action action) {
-
-        }
-    }
-
-}
diff --git a/viewpager2/build.gradle b/viewpager2/build.gradle
index a4eb3ad..2fee643 100644
--- a/viewpager2/build.gradle
+++ b/viewpager2/build.gradle
@@ -38,9 +38,8 @@
 
 supportLibrary {
     name = "AndroidX Widget ViewPager2"
-    publish = false
     mavenVersion = LibraryVersions.SUPPORT_LIBRARY
     mavenGroup = LibraryGroups.SUPPORT
     inceptionYear = "2017"
     description = "AndroidX Widget ViewPager2"
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/wear/api/27.1.0.txt b/wear/api/27.1.0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 9c5a543..0000000
--- a/wear/api/27.1.0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,283 +0,0 @@
-package android.support.wear.ambient {
-
-  public final deprecated class AmbientMode extends android.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public AmbientMode();
-    method public static <T extends android.app.Activity> android.support.wear.ambient.AmbientMode.AmbientController attachAmbientSupport(T);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_BURN_IN_PROTECTION = "com.google.android.wearable.compat.extra.BURN_IN_PROTECTION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_LOWBIT_AMBIENT = "com.google.android.wearable.compat.extra.LOWBIT_AMBIENT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String FRAGMENT_TAG = "android.support.wearable.ambient.AmbientMode";
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class AmbientMode.AmbientCallback {
-    ctor public AmbientMode.AmbientCallback();
-    method public void onEnterAmbient(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onExitAmbient();
-    method public void onUpdateAmbient();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface AmbientMode.AmbientCallbackProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.wear.ambient.AmbientMode.AmbientCallback getAmbientCallback();
-  }
-
-  public final class AmbientMode.AmbientController {
-    method public boolean isAmbient();
-  }
-
-  public final class AmbientModeSupport extends android.support.v4.app.Fragment {
-    ctor public AmbientModeSupport();
-    method public static <T extends android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity> android.support.wear.ambient.AmbientModeSupport.AmbientController attach(T);
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_BURN_IN_PROTECTION = "com.google.android.wearable.compat.extra.BURN_IN_PROTECTION";
-    field public static final java.lang.String EXTRA_LOWBIT_AMBIENT = "com.google.android.wearable.compat.extra.LOWBIT_AMBIENT";
-    field public static final java.lang.String FRAGMENT_TAG = "android.support.wearable.ambient.AmbientMode";
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class AmbientModeSupport.AmbientCallback {
-    ctor public AmbientModeSupport.AmbientCallback();
-    method public void onEnterAmbient(android.os.Bundle);
-    method public void onExitAmbient();
-    method public void onUpdateAmbient();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface AmbientModeSupport.AmbientCallbackProvider {
-    method public abstract android.support.wear.ambient.AmbientModeSupport.AmbientCallback getAmbientCallback();
-  }
-
-  public final class AmbientModeSupport.AmbientController {
-    method public boolean isAmbient();
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.wear.utils {
-
-  public class MetadataConstants {
-    method public static int getPreviewDrawableResourceId(android.content.Context, boolean);
-    method public static boolean isNotificationBridgingEnabled(android.content.Context);
-    method public static boolean isStandalone(android.content.Context);
-    field public static final java.lang.String NOTIFICATION_BRIDGE_MODE_BRIDGING = "BRIDGING";
-    field public static final java.lang.String NOTIFICATION_BRIDGE_MODE_METADATA_NAME = "com.google.android.wearable.notificationBridgeMode";
-    field public static final java.lang.String NOTIFICATION_BRIDGE_MODE_NO_BRIDGING = "NO_BRIDGING";
-    field public static final java.lang.String STANDALONE_METADATA_NAME = "com.google.android.wearable.standalone";
-    field public static final java.lang.String WATCH_FACE_PREVIEW_CIRCULAR_METADATA_NAME = "com.google.android.wearable.watchface.preview_circular";
-    field public static final java.lang.String WATCH_FACE_PREVIEW_METADATA_NAME = "com.google.android.wearable.watchface.preview";
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.wear.widget {
-
-  public class BoxInsetLayout extends android.view.ViewGroup {
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    method public android.support.wear.widget.BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams generateLayoutParams(android.util.AttributeSet);
-  }
-
-  public static class BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams extends android.widget.FrameLayout.LayoutParams {
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams(int, int);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams(int, int, int);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams(int, int, int, int);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams(android.view.ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams(android.widget.FrameLayout.LayoutParams);
-    ctor public BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams(android.support.wear.widget.BoxInsetLayout.LayoutParams);
-    field public static final int BOX_ALL = 15; // 0xf
-    field public static final int BOX_BOTTOM = 8; // 0x8
-    field public static final int BOX_LEFT = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int BOX_NONE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int BOX_RIGHT = 4; // 0x4
-    field public static final int BOX_TOP = 2; // 0x2
-    field public int boxedEdges;
-  }
-
-  public class CircularProgressLayout extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public CircularProgressLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public CircularProgressLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public CircularProgressLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public CircularProgressLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public int getBackgroundColor();
-    method public int[] getColorSchemeColors();
-    method public android.support.wear.widget.CircularProgressLayout.OnTimerFinishedListener getOnTimerFinishedListener();
-    method public android.support.v4.widget.CircularProgressDrawable getProgressDrawable();
-    method public float getStartingRotation();
-    method public float getStrokeWidth();
-    method public long getTotalTime();
-    method public boolean isIndeterminate();
-    method public boolean isTimerRunning();
-    method public void setColorSchemeColors(int...);
-    method public void setIndeterminate(boolean);
-    method public void setOnTimerFinishedListener(android.support.wear.widget.CircularProgressLayout.OnTimerFinishedListener);
-    method public void setStartingRotation(float);
-    method public void setStrokeWidth(float);
-    method public void setTotalTime(long);
-    method public void startTimer();
-    method public void stopTimer();
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface CircularProgressLayout.OnTimerFinishedListener {
-    method public abstract void onTimerFinished(android.support.wear.widget.CircularProgressLayout);
-  }
-
-  public class CurvingLayoutCallback extends android.support.wear.widget.WearableLinearLayoutManager.LayoutCallback {
-    ctor public CurvingLayoutCallback(android.content.Context);
-    method public void adjustAnchorOffsetXY(android.view.View, float[]);
-    method public void onLayoutFinished(android.view.View, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-  }
-
-  public class RoundedDrawable extends android.graphics.drawable.Drawable {
-    ctor public RoundedDrawable();
-    method public void draw(android.graphics.Canvas);
-    method public int getBackgroundColor();
-    method public android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getDrawable();
-    method public int getOpacity();
-    method public int getRadius();
-    method public boolean isClipEnabled();
-    method public void setAlpha(int);
-    method public void setBackgroundColor(int);
-    method public void setClipEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setColorFilter(android.graphics.ColorFilter);
-    method public void setDrawable(android.graphics.drawable.Drawable);
-    method public void setRadius(int);
-  }
-
-  public class SwipeDismissFrameLayout extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public SwipeDismissFrameLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public SwipeDismissFrameLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public SwipeDismissFrameLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public SwipeDismissFrameLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public void addCallback(android.support.wear.widget.SwipeDismissFrameLayout.Callback);
-    method public void removeCallback(android.support.wear.widget.SwipeDismissFrameLayout.Callback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class SwipeDismissFrameLayout.Callback {
-    ctor public SwipeDismissFrameLayout.Callback();
-    method public void onDismissed(android.support.wear.widget.SwipeDismissFrameLayout);
-    method public void onSwipeCanceled(android.support.wear.widget.SwipeDismissFrameLayout);
-    method public void onSwipeStarted(android.support.wear.widget.SwipeDismissFrameLayout);
-  }
-
-  public class WearableLinearLayoutManager extends android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager {
-    ctor public WearableLinearLayoutManager(android.content.Context, android.support.wear.widget.WearableLinearLayoutManager.LayoutCallback);
-    ctor public WearableLinearLayoutManager(android.content.Context);
-    method public android.support.wear.widget.WearableLinearLayoutManager.LayoutCallback getLayoutCallback();
-    method public void setLayoutCallback(android.support.wear.widget.WearableLinearLayoutManager.LayoutCallback);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class WearableLinearLayoutManager.LayoutCallback {
-    ctor public WearableLinearLayoutManager.LayoutCallback();
-    method public abstract void onLayoutFinished(android.view.View, android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView);
-  }
-
-  public class WearableRecyclerView extends android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView {
-    ctor public WearableRecyclerView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public WearableRecyclerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public WearableRecyclerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public WearableRecyclerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public float getBezelFraction();
-    method public float getScrollDegreesPerScreen();
-    method public boolean isCircularScrollingGestureEnabled();
-    method public boolean isEdgeItemsCenteringEnabled();
-    method public void setBezelFraction(float);
-    method public void setCircularScrollingGestureEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setEdgeItemsCenteringEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setScrollDegreesPerScreen(float);
-  }
-
-}
-
-package android.support.wear.widget.drawer {
-
-  public class WearableActionDrawerView extends android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerView {
-    ctor public WearableActionDrawerView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public WearableActionDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public WearableActionDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public WearableActionDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public android.view.Menu getMenu();
-    method public void setOnMenuItemClickListener(android.view.MenuItem.OnMenuItemClickListener);
-    method public void setTitle(java.lang.CharSequence);
-  }
-
-  public class WearableDrawerController {
-    method public void closeDrawer();
-    method public void openDrawer();
-    method public void peekDrawer();
-  }
-
-  public class WearableDrawerLayout extends android.widget.FrameLayout implements android.support.v4.view.NestedScrollingParent android.view.View.OnLayoutChangeListener {
-    ctor public WearableDrawerLayout(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public WearableDrawerLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public WearableDrawerLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public WearableDrawerLayout(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public void onFlingComplete(android.view.View);
-    method public void onLayoutChange(android.view.View, int, int, int, int, int, int, int, int);
-    method public void setDrawerStateCallback(android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerLayout.DrawerStateCallback);
-  }
-
-  public static class WearableDrawerLayout.DrawerStateCallback {
-    ctor public WearableDrawerLayout.DrawerStateCallback();
-    method public void onDrawerClosed(android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerLayout, android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerView);
-    method public void onDrawerOpened(android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerLayout, android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerView);
-    method public void onDrawerStateChanged(android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerLayout, int);
-  }
-
-  public class WearableDrawerView extends android.widget.FrameLayout {
-    ctor public WearableDrawerView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public WearableDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public WearableDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public WearableDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerController getController();
-    method public android.view.View getDrawerContent();
-    method public int getDrawerState();
-    method public boolean isAutoPeekEnabled();
-    method public boolean isClosed();
-    method public boolean isLocked();
-    method public boolean isLockedWhenClosed();
-    method public boolean isOpenOnlyAtTopEnabled();
-    method public boolean isOpened();
-    method public boolean isPeekOnScrollDownEnabled();
-    method public boolean isPeeking();
-    method public void onDrawerClosed();
-    method public void onDrawerOpened();
-    method public void onDrawerStateChanged(int);
-    method public void onPeekContainerClicked(android.view.View);
-    method public void setDrawerContent(android.view.View);
-    method public void setIsAutoPeekEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setIsLocked(boolean);
-    method public void setLockedWhenClosed(boolean);
-    method public void setOpenOnlyAtTopEnabled(boolean);
-    method public void setPeekContent(android.view.View);
-    method public void setPeekOnScrollDownEnabled(boolean);
-    field public static final int STATE_DRAGGING = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int STATE_IDLE = 0; // 0x0
-    field public static final int STATE_SETTLING = 2; // 0x2
-  }
-
-  public class WearableNavigationDrawerView extends android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableDrawerView {
-    ctor public WearableNavigationDrawerView(android.content.Context);
-    ctor public WearableNavigationDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet);
-    ctor public WearableNavigationDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int);
-    ctor public WearableNavigationDrawerView(android.content.Context, android.util.AttributeSet, int, int);
-    method public void addOnItemSelectedListener(android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableNavigationDrawerView.OnItemSelectedListener);
-    method public int getNavigationStyle();
-    method public void removeOnItemSelectedListener(android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableNavigationDrawerView.OnItemSelectedListener);
-    method public void setAdapter(android.support.wear.widget.drawer.WearableNavigationDrawerView.WearableNavigationDrawerAdapter);
-    method public void setCurrentItem(int, boolean);
-    field public static final int MULTI_PAGE = 1; // 0x1
-    field public static final int SINGLE_PAGE = 0; // 0x0
-  }
-
-  public static abstract interface WearableNavigationDrawerView.OnItemSelectedListener {
-    method public abstract void onItemSelected(int);
-  }
-
-  public static abstract class WearableNavigationDrawerView.WearableNavigationDrawerAdapter {
-    ctor public WearableNavigationDrawerView.WearableNavigationDrawerAdapter();
-    method public abstract int getCount();
-    method public abstract android.graphics.drawable.Drawable getItemDrawable(int);
-    method public abstract java.lang.CharSequence getItemText(int);
-    method public void notifyDataSetChanged();
-  }
-
-}
-
diff --git a/webkit/build.gradle b/webkit/build.gradle
index 9acadf7..e4fff11 100644
--- a/webkit/build.gradle
+++ b/webkit/build.gradle
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
 
 supportLibrary {
     name = "WebView Support Library"
-    publish = false
     inceptionYear = "2017"
     description = "The WebView Support Library is a static library you can add to your Android application in order to use android.webkit APIs that are not available for older platform versions."
 }
diff --git a/work/OWNERS b/work/OWNERS
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd35678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/OWNERS
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+sumir@google.com
+rahulrav@google.com
+ilake@google.com
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/.gitignore b/work/integration-tests/testapp/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..796b96d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/build
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/build.gradle b/work/integration-tests/testapp/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab5b162
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2016 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import static android.support.dependencies.DependenciesKt.*
+
+plugins {
+    id("SupportAndroidTestAppPlugin")
+}
+
+project.ext.noDocs = true
+
+android {
+    buildTypes {
+        getByName("release") {
+            minifyEnabled = true
+            proguardFiles("proguard-rules.pro")
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+dependencies {
+    implementation 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.2'
+    compile project(':arch:runtime')
+    compile project(':arch:common')
+    compile project(':work:work-runtime')
+    compile project(':work:work-firebase')
+    compile project(':lifecycle:extensions')
+    compile project(':lifecycle:runtime')
+    compile project(':lifecycle:common')
+    compile project(':room:runtime')
+    annotationProcessor project(":room:compiler")
+    compile(MULTIDEX)
+    compile(SUPPORT_RECYCLERVIEW, libs.support_exclude_config)
+    compile(SUPPORT_APPCOMPAT, libs.support_exclude_config)
+    compile(SUPPORT_DESIGN, libs.support_exclude_config)
+}
+
+tasks['check'].dependsOn(tasks['connectedCheck'])
+
+uploadArchives.enabled = false
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/proguard-rules.pro b/work/integration-tests/testapp/proguard-rules.pro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7210d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/proguard-rules.pro
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Add project specific ProGuard rules here.
+# By default, the flags in this file are appended to flags specified
+# in /Users/yboyar/android/sdk/tools/proguard/proguard-android.txt
+# You can edit the include path and order by changing the proguardFiles
+# directive in build.gradle.
+#
+# For more details, see
+#   http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/proguard.html
+
+# Add any project specific keep options here:
+
+# If your project uses WebView with JS, uncomment the following
+# and specify the fully qualified class name to the JavaScript interface
+# class:
+#-keepclassmembers class fqcn.of.javascript.interface.for.webview {
+#   public *;
+#}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d04864
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+-->
+<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+    package="androidx.work.integration.testapp">
+
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
+
+    <application
+        android:allowBackup="true"
+        android:supportsRtl="true"
+        android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat">
+        <activity android:name="androidx.work.integration.testapp.sherlockholmes.AnalyzeSherlockHolmesActivity"></activity>
+        <activity android:name="androidx.work.integration.testapp.MainActivity">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
+
+                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
+            </intent-filter>
+        </activity>
+        <activity android:name="androidx.work.integration.testapp.imageprocessing.ImageProcessingActivity"></activity>
+    </application>
+
+</manifest>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/assets/advs.txt b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/assets/advs.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c70f06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/assets/advs.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,12195 @@
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+
+                               Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+                                Table of contents
+
+               A Scandal in Bohemia
+               The Red-Headed League
+               A Case of Identity
+               The Boscombe Valley Mystery
+               The Five Orange Pips
+               The Man with the Twisted Lip
+               The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
+               The Adventure of the Speckled Band
+               The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
+               The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
+               The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
+               The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
+
+
+
+
+
+                                Table of contents
+                                     Chapter 1
+                                     Chapter 2
+                                     Chapter 3
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+          CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+     To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him
+     mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and
+     predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any
+     emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one
+     particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably
+     balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and
+     observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would
+     have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer
+     passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things
+     for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives
+     and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions
+     into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to
+     introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his
+     mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of
+     his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong
+     emotion in a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to
+     him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and
+     questionable memory.
+
+     I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us away
+     from each other. My own complete happiness, and the home-centred
+     interests which rise up around the man who first finds himself master
+     of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention,
+     while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole
+     Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among
+     his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and
+     ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his
+     own keen nature. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study
+     of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers
+     of observation in following out those clues, and clearing up those
+     mysteries which had been abandoned as hopeless by the official
+     police. From time to time I heard some vague account of his doings:
+     of his summons to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his
+     clearing up of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at
+     Trincomalee, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so
+     delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland.
+     Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely shared
+     with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of my former
+     friend and companion.
+
+     One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was returning
+     from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil
+     practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the
+     well-remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with
+     my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Study in Scarlet, I was
+     seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and to know how he was
+     employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were brilliantly lit,
+     and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in
+     a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly,
+     eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped
+     behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude
+     and manner told their own story. He was at work again. He had risen
+     out of his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new
+     problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which had
+     formerly been in part my own.
+
+     His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I think,
+     to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved
+     me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a
+     spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he stood before the
+     fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion.
+
+     "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have put
+     on seven and a half pounds since I saw you."
+
+     "Seven!" I answered.
+
+     "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, I
+     fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not tell me
+     that you intended to go into harness."
+
+     "Then, how do you know?"
+
+     "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting
+     yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and
+     careless servant girl?"
+
+     "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly have
+     been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true that I had
+     a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mess, but as I
+     have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you deduce it. As to Mary
+     Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has given her notice, but
+     there, again, I fail to see how you work it out."
+
+     He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands together.
+
+     "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the
+     inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the
+     leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have
+     been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the
+     edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you
+     see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and
+     that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the
+     London slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my
+     rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver
+     upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his
+     top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be
+     dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the
+     medical profession."
+
+     I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his
+     process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I
+     remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously
+     simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive
+     instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your
+     process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours."
+
+     "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself
+     down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. The
+     distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps
+     which lead up from the hall to this room."
+
+     "Frequently."
+
+     "How often?"
+
+     "Well, some hundreds of times."
+
+     "Then how many are there?"
+
+     "How many? I don't know."
+
+     "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just
+     my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have
+     both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are interested in these
+     little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or
+     two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this." He
+     threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted note-paper which had been
+     lying open upon the table. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read
+     it aloud."
+
+     The note was undated, and without either signature or address.
+
+     "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o'clock,"
+     it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of the
+     very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the royal houses
+     of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be trusted with
+     matters which are of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated.
+     This account of you we have from all quarters received. Be in your
+     chamber then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if your visitor
+     wear a mask."
+
+     "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that it
+     means?"
+
+     "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one
+     has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories,
+     instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. What do you
+     deduce from it?"
+
+     I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was
+     written.
+
+     "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked,
+     endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper could
+     not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong
+     and stiff."
+
+     "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an English
+     paper at all. Hold it up to the light."
+
+     I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a large
+     "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper.
+
+     "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather."
+
+     "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for 'Gesellschaft,'
+     which is the German for 'Company.' It is a customary contraction like
+     our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let
+     us glance at our Continental Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown
+     volume from his shelves. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is
+     in a German-speaking country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad.
+     'Remarkable as being the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for
+     its numerous glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what
+     do you make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue
+     triumphant cloud from his cigarette.
+
+     "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said.
+
+     "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note
+     the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of you we
+     have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian could not
+     have written that. It is the German who is so uncourteous to his
+     verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover what is wanted by this
+     German who writes upon Bohemian paper and prefers wearing a mask to
+     showing his face. And here he comes, if I am not mistaken, to resolve
+     all our doubts."
+
+     As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and grating
+     wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the bell. Holmes
+     whistled.
+
+     "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing out of
+     the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of beauties. A hundred
+     and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in this case, Watson, if
+     there is nothing else."
+
+     "I think that I had better go, Holmes."
+
+     "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell.
+     And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it."
+
+     "But your client--"
+
+     "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he comes.
+     Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best attention."
+
+     A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in
+     the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was a
+     loud and authoritative tap.
+
+     "Come in!" said Holmes.
+
+     A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six
+     inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His dress
+     was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked upon as
+     akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed across the
+     sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the deep blue
+     cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined with
+     flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch which
+     consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended halfway up
+     his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with rich brown fur,
+     completed the impression of barbaric opulence which was suggested by
+     his whole appearance. He carried a broad-brimmed hat in his hand,
+     while he wore across the upper part of his face, extending down past
+     the cheekbones, a black vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted
+     that very moment, for his hand was still raised to it as he entered.
+     From the lower part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong
+     character, with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin
+     suggestive of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy.
+
+     "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a strongly
+     marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He looked from
+     one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to address.
+
+     "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and colleague,
+     Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me in my cases.
+     Whom have I the honour to address?"
+
+     "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. I
+     understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour and
+     discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most extreme
+     importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate with you
+     alone."
+
+     I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me back
+     into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say before
+     this gentleman anything which you may say to me."
+
+     The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said he,
+     "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the end of
+     that time the matter will be of no importance. At present it is not
+     too much to say that it is of such weight it may have an influence
+     upon European history."
+
+     "I promise," said Holmes.
+
+     "And I."
+
+     "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The
+     august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to you,
+     and I may confess at once that the title by which I have just called
+     myself is not exactly my own."
+
+     "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly.
+
+     "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution has to
+     be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense scandal and
+     seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Europe. To speak
+     plainly, the matter implicates the great House of Ormstein,
+     hereditary kings of Bohemia."
+
+     "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself down in
+     his armchair and closing his eyes.
+
+     Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid,
+     lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him as
+     the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Holmes
+     slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his gigantic
+     client.
+
+     "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he remarked,
+     "I should be better able to advise you."
+
+     The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in
+     uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he
+     tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You are
+     right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal
+     it?"
+
+     "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken before I
+     was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von
+     Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hereditary King of
+     Bohemia."
+
+     "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down once
+     more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you can
+     understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in my own
+     person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not confide it to
+     an agent without putting myself in his power. I have come incognito
+     from Prague for the purpose of consulting you."
+
+     "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.
+
+     "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lengthy
+     visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known
+     adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you."
+
+     "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without
+     opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of docketing
+     all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it was difficult to
+     name a subject or a person on which he could not at once furnish
+     information. In this case I found her biography sandwiched in between
+     that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a staff-commander who had written
+     a monograph upon the deep-sea fishes.
+
+     "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year 1858.
+     Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of
+     Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in London--quite
+     so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled with this young
+     person, wrote her some compromising letters, and is now desirous of
+     getting those letters back."
+
+     "Precisely so. But how--"
+
+     "Was there a secret marriage?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "No legal papers or certificates?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should
+     produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is she to
+     prove their authenticity?"
+
+     "There is the writing."
+
+     "Pooh, pooh! Forgery."
+
+     "My private note-paper."
+
+     "Stolen."
+
+     "My own seal."
+
+     "Imitated."
+
+     "My photograph."
+
+     "Bought."
+
+     "We were both in the photograph."
+
+     "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an
+     indiscretion."
+
+     "I was mad--insane."
+
+     "You have compromised yourself seriously."
+
+     "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now."
+
+     "It must be recovered."
+
+     "We have tried and failed."
+
+     "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought."
+
+     "She will not sell."
+
+     "Stolen, then."
+
+     "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her
+     house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice she has
+     been waylaid. There has been no result."
+
+     "No sign of it?"
+
+     "Absolutely none."
+
+     Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he.
+
+     "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully.
+
+     "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the photograph?"
+
+     "To ruin me."
+
+     "But how?"
+
+     "I am about to be married."
+
+     "So I have heard."
+
+     "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the King
+     of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her family. She
+     is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a doubt as to my
+     conduct would bring the matter to an end."
+
+     "And Irene Adler?"
+
+     "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I know
+     that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul of
+     steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind
+     of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry another
+     woman, there are no lengths to which she would not go--none."
+
+     "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?"
+
+     "I am sure."
+
+     "And why?"
+
+     "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the
+     betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday."
+
+     "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That is
+     very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to look
+     into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in London
+     for the present?"
+
+     "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the
+     Count Von Kramm."
+
+     "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress."
+
+     "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety."
+
+     "Then, as to money?"
+
+     "You have carte blanche."
+
+     "Absolutely?"
+
+     "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to
+     have that photograph."
+
+     "And for present expenses?"
+
+     The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and
+     laid it on the table.
+
+     "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in notes,"
+     he said.
+
+     Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and handed
+     it to him.
+
+     "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked.
+
+     "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood."
+
+     Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the
+     photograph a cabinet?"
+
+     "It was."
+
+     "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have
+     some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, as the
+     wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If you will be
+     good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three o'clock I should
+     like to chat this little matter over with you."
+
+
+
+
+
+          CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+     At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not
+     yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the house
+     shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down beside the
+     fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, however long he
+     might be. I was already deeply interested in his inquiry, for, though
+     it was surrounded by none of the grim and strange features which were
+     associated with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still,
+     the nature of the case and the exalted station of his client gave it
+     a character of its own. Indeed, apart from the nature of the
+     investigation which my friend had on hand, there was something in his
+     masterly grasp of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning,
+     which made it a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to
+     follow the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most
+     inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable success
+     that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to enter into my
+     head.
+
+     It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking
+     groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and
+     disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as I was to my
+     friend's amazing powers in the use of disguises, I had to look three
+     times before I was certain that it was indeed he. With a nod he
+     vanished into the bedroom, whence he emerged in five minutes
+     tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Putting his hands into his
+     pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire and laughed
+     heartily for some minutes.
+
+     "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again until
+     he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair.
+
+     "What is it?"
+
+     "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I employed
+     my morning, or what I ended by doing."
+
+     "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the habits,
+     and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler."
+
+     "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you,
+     however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this morning
+     in the character of a groom out of work. There is a wonderful
+     sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of them, and you
+     will know all that there is to know. I soon found Briony Lodge. It is
+     a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but built out in front
+     right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock to the door. Large
+     sitting-room on the right side, well furnished, with long windows
+     almost to the floor, and those preposterous English window fasteners
+     which a child could open. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save
+     that the passage window could be reached from the top of the
+     coach-house. I walked round it and examined it closely from every
+     point of view, but without noting anything else of interest.
+
+     "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that there
+     was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the garden. I
+     lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and received in
+     exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two fills of shag
+     tobacco, and as much information as I could desire about Miss Adler,
+     to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the neighbourhood in
+     whom I was not in the least interested, but whose biographies I was
+     compelled to listen to."
+
+     "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.
+
+     "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is the
+     daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the
+     Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts,
+     drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner.
+     Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Has only one
+     male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, handsome, and
+     dashing, never calls less than once a day, and often twice. He is a
+     Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the advantages of a
+     cabman as a confidant. They had driven him home a dozen times from
+     Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. When I had listened to all
+     they had to tell, I began to walk up and down near Briony Lodge once
+     more, and to think over my plan of campaign.
+
+     "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the matter.
+     He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the relation between
+     them, and what the object of his repeated visits? Was she his client,
+     his friend, or his mistress? If the former, she had probably
+     transferred the photograph to his keeping. If the latter, it was less
+     likely. On the issue of this question depended whether I should
+     continue my work at Briony Lodge, or turn my attention to the
+     gentleman's chambers in the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it
+     widened the field of my inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these
+     details, but I have to let you see my little difficulties, if you are
+     to understand the situation."
+
+     "I am following you closely," I answered.
+
+     "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab drove
+     up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a remarkably
+     handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the man of
+     whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a great hurry, shouted to the
+     cabman to wait, and brushed past the maid who opened the door with
+     the air of a man who was thoroughly at home.
+
+     "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch glimpses
+     of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and down,
+     talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see nothing.
+     Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than before. As he
+     stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his pocket and
+     looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he shouted, 'first to
+     Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the Church of St.
+     Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if you do it in twenty
+     minutes!'
+
+     "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do
+     well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the
+     coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under his ear,
+     while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the buckles.
+     It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall door and into it.
+     I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but she was a lovely
+     woman, with a face that a man might die for.
+
+     "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a sovereign
+     if you reach it in twenty minutes.'
+
+     "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing
+     whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her
+     landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked twice at
+     such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could object. 'The
+     Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign if you reach it
+     in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to twelve, and of
+     course it was clear enough what was in the wind.
+
+     "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the
+     others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their
+     steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid the
+     man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there save the
+     two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who seemed to be
+     expostulating with them. They were all three standing in a knot in
+     front of the altar. I lounged up the side aisle like any other idler
+     who has dropped into a church. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at
+     the altar faced round to me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard
+     as he could towards me.
+
+     "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!'
+
+     "'What then?' I asked.
+
+     "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.'
+
+     "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I
+     found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and
+     vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting
+     in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton,
+     bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and there was the gentleman
+     thanking me on the one side and the lady on the other, while the
+     clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the most preposterous
+     position in which I ever found myself in my life, and it was the
+     thought of it that started me laughing just now. It seems that there
+     had been some informality about their license, that the clergyman
+     absolutely refused to marry them without a witness of some sort, and
+     that my lucky appearance saved the bridegroom from having to sally
+     out into the streets in search of a best man. The bride gave me a
+     sovereign, and I mean to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the
+     occasion."
+
+     "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what then?"
+
+     "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if the
+     pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate very
+     prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church door,
+     however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and she to
+     her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as usual,' she
+     said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove away in different
+     directions, and I went off to make my own arrangements."
+
+     "Which are?"
+
+     "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the bell.
+     "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to be busier
+     still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want your
+     co-operation."
+
+     "I shall be delighted."
+
+     "You don't mind breaking the law?"
+
+     "Not in the least."
+
+     "Nor running a chance of arrest?"
+
+     "Not in a good cause."
+
+     "Oh, the cause is excellent!"
+
+     "Then I am your man."
+
+     "I was sure that I might rely on you."
+
+     "But what is it you wish?"
+
+     "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to
+     you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that our
+     landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I have not
+     much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must be on the
+     scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns from her
+     drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her."
+
+     "And what then?"
+
+     "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to occur.
+     There is only one point on which I must insist. You must not
+     interfere, come what may. You understand?"
+
+     "I am to be neutral?"
+
+     "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small
+     unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being conveyed
+     into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the sitting-room
+     window will open. You are to station yourself close to that open
+     window."
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you."
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what I
+     give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of fire.
+     You quite follow me?"
+
+     "Entirely."
+
+     "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped
+     roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket,
+     fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Your task
+     is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, it will be
+     taken up by quite a number of people. You may then walk to the end of
+     the street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. I hope that I have
+     made myself clear?"
+
+     "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, and at
+     the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry of fire,
+     and to wait you at the corner of the street."
+
+     "Precisely."
+
+     "Then you may entirely rely on me."
+
+     "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I
+     prepare for the new role I have to play."
+
+     He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the
+     character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist clergyman.
+     His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white tie, his
+     sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and benevolent
+     curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have equalled. It
+     was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his
+     manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part that he
+     assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute
+     reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime.
+
+     It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still
+     wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Serpentine
+     Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just being lighted as
+     we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, waiting for the coming
+     of its occupant. The house was just such as I had pictured it from
+     Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, but the locality appeared to
+     be less private than I expected. On the contrary, for a small street
+     in a quiet neighbourhood, it was remarkably animated. There was a
+     group of shabbily dressed men smoking and laughing in a corner, a
+     scissors-grinder with his wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with
+     a nurse-girl, and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up
+     and down with cigars in their mouths.
+
+     "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the
+     house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph
+     becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that she would be
+     as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Norton, as our client is
+     to its coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question is--Where
+     are we to find the photograph?"
+
+     "Where, indeed?"
+
+     "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is
+     cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's dress.
+     She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid and
+     searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We may
+     take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her."
+
+     "Where, then?"
+
+     "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But I am
+     inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and they
+     like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it over to anyone
+     else? She could trust her own guardianship, but she could not tell
+     what indirect or political influence might be brought to bear upon a
+     business man. Besides, remember that she had resolved to use it
+     within a few days. It must be where she can lay her hands upon it. It
+     must be in her own house."
+
+     "But it has twice been burgled."
+
+     "Pshaw! They did not know how to look."
+
+     "But how will you look?"
+
+     "I will not look."
+
+     "What then?"
+
+     "I will get her to show me."
+
+     "But she will refuse."
+
+     "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is her
+     carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter."
+
+     As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round the
+     curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which rattled up to
+     the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the loafing men at
+     the corner dashed forward to open the door in the hope of earning a
+     copper, but was elbowed away by another loafer, who had rushed up
+     with the same intention. A fierce quarrel broke out, which was
+     increased by the two guardsmen, who took sides with one of the
+     loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, who was equally hot upon the
+     other side. A blow was struck, and in an instant the lady, who had
+     stepped from her carriage, was the centre of a little knot of flushed
+     and struggling men, who struck savagely at each other with their
+     fists and sticks. Holmes dashed into the crowd to protect the lady;
+     but just as he reached her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground,
+     with the blood running freely down his face. At his fall the
+     guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the loungers in
+     the other, while a number of better-dressed people, who had watched
+     the scuffle without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady
+     and to attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call
+     her, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her
+     superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking back
+     into the street.
+
+     "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked.
+
+     "He is dead," cried several voices.
+
+     "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be gone
+     before you can get him to hospital."
+
+     "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the lady's
+     purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a gang, and a
+     rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now."
+
+     "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?"
+
+     "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable
+     sofa. This way, please!"
+
+     Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out in
+     the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings from my
+     post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the blinds had not
+     been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I do
+     not know whether he was seized with compunction at that moment for
+     the part he was playing, but I know that I never felt more heartily
+     ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful creature
+     against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which
+     she waited upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest
+     treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had
+     intrusted to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from
+     under my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We
+     are but preventing her from injuring another.
+
+     Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man who
+     is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the window. At
+     the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the signal I tossed
+     my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The word was no sooner
+     out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and
+     ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and servant-maids--joined in a general
+     shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and
+     out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a
+     moment later the voice of Holmes from within assuring them that it
+     was a false alarm. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way
+     to the corner of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find
+     my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He
+     walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we had
+     turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Edgeware
+     Road.
+
+     "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could have
+     been better. It is all right."
+
+     "You have the photograph?"
+
+     "I know where it is."
+
+     "And how did you find out?"
+
+     "She showed me, as I told you she would."
+
+     "I am still in the dark."
+
+     "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter was
+     perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the street was
+     an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening."
+
+     "I guessed as much."
+
+     "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the
+     palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand to my
+     face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick."
+
+     "That also I could fathom."
+
+     "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else
+     could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room
+     which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was
+     determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air,
+     they were compelled to open the window, and you had your chance."
+
+     "How did that help you?"
+
+     "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fire,
+     her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most.
+     It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than once
+     taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington substitution
+     scandal it was of use to me, and also in the Arnsworth Castle
+     business. A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches
+     for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day had
+     nothing in the house more precious to her than what we are in quest
+     of. She would rush to secure it. The alarm of fire was admirably
+     done. The smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel.
+     She responded beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a
+     sliding panel just above the right bell-pull. She was there in an
+     instant, and I caught a glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I
+     cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the
+     rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose,
+     and, making my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether
+     to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had
+     come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to wait.
+     A little over-precipitance may ruin all."
+
+     "And now?" I asked.
+
+     "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King
+     to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be
+     shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is probable
+     that when she comes she may find neither us nor the photograph. It
+     might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain it with his own
+     hands."
+
+     "And when will you call?"
+
+     "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall have a
+     clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage may mean a
+     complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the King
+     without delay."
+
+     We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was
+     searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said:
+
+     "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes."
+
+     There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the
+     greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had
+     hurried by.
+
+     "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the dimly
+     lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have been."
+
+
+
+
+
+          CHAPTER III
+
+
+
+     I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our
+     toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed into
+     the room.
+
+     "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by
+     either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face.
+
+     "Not yet."
+
+     "But you have hopes?"
+
+     "I have hopes."
+
+     "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone."
+
+     "We must have a cab."
+
+     "No, my brougham is waiting."
+
+     "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off once
+     more for Briony Lodge.
+
+     "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes.
+
+     "Married! When?"
+
+     "Yesterday."
+
+     "But to whom?"
+
+     "To an English lawyer named Norton."
+
+     "But she could not love him."
+
+     "I am in hopes that she does."
+
+     "And why in hopes?"
+
+     "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future annoyance. If
+     the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Majesty. If she
+     does not love your Majesty, there is no reason why she should
+     interfere with your Majesty's plan."
+
+     "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own station!
+     What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a moody silence,
+     which was not broken until we drew up in Serpentine Avenue.
+
+     The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood upon
+     the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped from the
+     brougham.
+
+     "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she.
+
+     "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a
+     questioning and rather startled gaze.
+
+     "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She left
+     this morning with her husband by the 5.15 train from Charing Cross
+     for the Continent."
+
+     "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and
+     surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?"
+
+     "Never to return."
+
+     "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost."
+
+     "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the
+     drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was
+     scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and open
+     drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her
+     flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small sliding
+     shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a photograph and a
+     letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress,
+     the letter was superscribed to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till
+     called for." My friend tore it open and we all three read it
+     together. It was dated at midnight of the preceding night and ran in
+     this way:
+
+     "My dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes:
+     "You really did it very well. You took me in completely. Until after
+     the alarm of fire, I had not a suspicion. But then, when I found how
+     I had betrayed myself, I began to think. I had been warned against
+     you months ago. I had been told that if the King employed an agent it
+     would certainly be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with
+     all this, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I
+     became suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind
+     old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress
+     myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of
+     the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch you,
+     ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call them, and came
+     down just as you departed.
+     "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was
+     really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
+     Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and started for
+     the Temple to see my husband.
+     "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by so
+     formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when you
+     call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in peace.
+     I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may do what he
+     will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wronged. I keep
+     it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will
+     always secure me from any steps which he might take in the future. I
+     leave a photograph which he might care to possess; and I remain, dear
+     Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
+     "Very truly yours,
+     "Irene Norton, née Adler."
+
+     "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when we
+     had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and
+     resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it
+     not a pity that she was not on my level?" 
+
+     "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a very
+     different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am sorry
+     that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business to a more
+     successful conclusion."
+
+     "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be
+     more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The photograph is
+     now as safe as if it were in the fire."
+
+     "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so."
+
+     "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can
+     reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from his
+     finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand.
+
+     "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more highly,"
+     said Holmes.
+
+     "You have but to name it."
+
+     "This photograph!"
+
+     The King stared at him in amazement.
+
+     "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it."
+
+     "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the
+     matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He bowed,
+     and, turning away without observing the hand which the King had
+     stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his chambers.
+
+     And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom of
+     Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by
+     a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the cleverness of women,
+     but I have not heard him do it of late. And when he speaks of Irene
+     Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the
+     honourable title of the woman.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
+
+     I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the
+     autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very
+     stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. With an
+     apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled
+     me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
+
+     "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson,"
+     he said cordially.
+
+     "I was afraid that you were engaged."
+
+     "So I am. Very much so."
+
+     "Then I can wait in the next room."
+
+     "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and
+     helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt that
+     he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also."
+
+     The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of
+     greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small
+     fat-encircled eyes.
+
+     "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and
+     putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in judicial
+     moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is
+     bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday
+     life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has
+     prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so,
+     somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures."
+
+     "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I
+     observed.
+
+     "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we went
+     into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland, that
+     for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life
+     itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the
+     imagination."
+
+     "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting."
+
+     "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view,
+     for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your
+     reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right. Now,
+     Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me this
+     morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the
+     most singular which I have listened to for some time. You have heard
+     me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very often
+     connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes, and
+     occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any
+     positive crime has been committed. As far as I have heard it is
+     impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of
+     crime or not, but the course of events is certainly among the most
+     singular that I have ever listened to. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would
+     have the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask you not
+     merely because my friend Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part
+     but also because the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to
+     have every possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have
+     heard some slight indication of the course of events, I am able to
+     guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to
+     my memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the
+     facts are, to the best of my belief, unique."
+
+     The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some
+     little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the
+     inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the advertisement
+     column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon
+     his knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavoured, after the
+     fashion of my companion, to read the indications which might be
+     presented by his dress or appearance.
+
+     I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore
+     every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese,
+     pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey shepherd's check
+     trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front,
+     and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square
+     pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat
+     and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a
+     chair beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing
+     remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the
+     expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his
+     head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Beyond the
+     obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he
+     takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and
+     that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can
+     deduce nothing else."
+
+     Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon
+     the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
+
+     "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr.
+     Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did manual
+     labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's carpenter."
+
+     "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger than
+     your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more
+     developed."
+
+     "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?"
+
+     "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that,
+     especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you use
+     an arc-and-compass breastpin."
+
+     "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?"
+
+     "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for five
+     inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where
+     you rest it upon the desk?"
+
+     "Well, but China?"
+
+     "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist
+     could only have been done in China. I have made a small study of
+     tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the
+     subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a delicate pink
+     is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I see a Chinese coin
+     hanging from your watch-chain, the matter becomes even more simple."
+
+     Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I
+     thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that
+     there was nothing in it, after all."
+
+     "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake in
+     explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my poor
+     little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so
+     candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?"
+
+     "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger
+     planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began it
+     all. You just read it for yourself, sir."
+
+     I took the paper from him and read as follows:
+
+     "To the Red-headed League: On account of the bequest of the late
+     Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now
+     another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a
+     salary of £4 a week for purely nominal services. All red-headed men
+     who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one years,
+     are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at eleven o'clock, to Duncan
+     Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Pope's Court, Fleet Street."
+
+     "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice read
+     over the extraordinary announcement.
+
+     Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in
+     high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" said
+     he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us all about
+     yourself, your household, and the effect which this advertisement had
+     upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Doctor, of the paper
+     and the date."
+
+     "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months ago."
+
+     "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?"
+
+     "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,"
+     said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small pawnbroker's
+     business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a very large
+     affair, and of late years it has not done more than just give me a
+     living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, but now I only keep
+     one; and I would have a job to pay him but that he is willing to come
+     for half wages so as to learn the business."
+
+     "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
+
+     "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, either.
+     It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr.
+     Holmes; and I know very well that he could better himself and earn
+     twice what I am able to give him. But, after all, if he is satisfied,
+     why should I put ideas in his head?"
+
+     "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employee who comes
+     under the full market price. It is not a common experience among
+     employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is not as
+     remarkable as your advertisement."
+
+     "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a
+     fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to
+     be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar like a
+     rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his main fault,
+     but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice in him."
+
+     "He is still with you, I presume?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple
+     cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the house,
+     for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very quietly,
+     sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads and pay our
+     debts, if we do nothing more.
+
+     "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding,
+     he came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this
+     very paper in his hand, and he says:
+
+     "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.'
+
+     "'Why that?' I asks.
+
+     "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the
+     Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets
+     it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are
+     men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to do with the
+     money. If my hair would only change colour, here's a nice little crib
+     all ready for me to step into.'
+
+     "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very
+     stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of my having
+     to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting my foot over
+     the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what was going on
+     outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.
+
+     "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he asked
+     with his eyes open.
+
+     "'Never.'
+
+     "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the
+     vacancies.'
+
+     "'And what are they worth?' I asked.
+
+     "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and
+     it need not interfere very much with one's other occupations.'
+
+     "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, for
+     the business has not been over-good for some years, and an extra
+     couple of hundred would have been very handy.
+
+     "'Tell me all about it,' said I.
+
+     "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for
+     yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address
+     where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the
+     League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who
+     was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, and he had
+     a great sympathy for all red-headed men; so when he died it was found
+     that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees, with
+     instructions to apply the interest to the providing of easy berths to
+     men whose hair is of that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay
+     and very little to do.'
+
+     "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who would
+     apply.'
+
+     "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is really
+     confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had started
+     from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the old town a
+     good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your applying if
+     your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but real bright,
+     blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Wilson, you would
+     just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be worth your while to put
+     yourself out of the way for the sake of a few hundred pounds.'
+
+     "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that my
+     hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to me that if
+     there was to be any competition in the matter I stood as good a
+     chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Spaulding seemed to
+     know so much about it that I thought he might prove useful, so I just
+     ordered him to put up the shutters for the day and to come right away
+     with me. He was very willing to have a holiday, so we shut the
+     business up and started off for the address that was given us in the
+     advertisement.
+
+     "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From
+     north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his
+     hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Fleet
+     Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court looked like
+     a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought there were so
+     many in the whole country as were brought together by that single
+     advertisement. Every shade of colour they were--straw, lemon, orange,
+     brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said, there were
+     not many who had the real vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how
+     many were waiting, I would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding
+     would not hear of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he
+     pushed and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and
+     right up to the steps which led to the office. There was a double
+     stream upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back
+     dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found
+     ourselves in the office."
+
+     "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Holmes
+     as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch of
+     snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement."
+
+     "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a
+     deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that was even
+     redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he came
+     up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them which would
+     disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such a very
+     easy matter, after all. However, when our turn came the little man
+     was much more favourable to me than to any of the others, and he
+     closed the door as we entered, so that he might have a private word
+     with us.
+
+     "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is willing to
+     fill a vacancy in the League.'
+
+     "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has
+     every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so
+     fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and
+     gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he plunged
+     forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success.
+
+     "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, however, I
+     am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' With that he
+     seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled with the
+     pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as he released me. 'I
+     perceive that all is as it should be. But we have to be careful, for
+     we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint. I could tell
+     you tales of cobbler's wax which would disgust you with human
+     nature.' He stepped over to the window and shouted through it at the
+     top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. A groan of
+     disappointment came up from below, and the folk all trooped away in
+     different directions until there was not a red-head to be seen except
+     my own and that of the manager.
+
+     "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the
+     pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are you a
+     married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?'
+
+     "I answered that I had not.
+
+     "His face fell immediately.
+
+     "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am sorry
+     to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the propagation
+     and spread of the red-heads as well as for their maintenance. It is
+     exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a bachelor.'
+
+     "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was not
+     to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for a few
+     minutes he said that it would be all right.
+
+     "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be fatal,
+     but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a head of
+     hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new duties?'
+
+     "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' said
+     I.
+
+     "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 'I
+     should be able to look after that for you.'
+
+     "'What would be the hours?' I asked.
+
+     "'Ten to two.'
+
+     "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.
+     Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before
+     pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the
+     mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and that
+     he would see to anything that turned up.
+
+     "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'
+
+     "'Is £4 a week.'
+
+     "'And the work?'
+
+     "'Is purely nominal.'
+
+     "'What do you call purely nominal?'
+
+     "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building,
+     the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole position
+     forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You don't comply
+     with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.'
+
+     "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,'
+     said I.
+
+     "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness nor
+     business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your
+     billet.'
+
+     "'And the work?'
+
+     "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first
+     volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and
+     blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be
+     ready to-morrow?'
+
+     "'Certainly,' I answered.
+
+     "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you once
+     more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough
+     to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with my
+     assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my
+     own good fortune.
+
+     "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in low
+     spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole affair
+     must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object might be I
+     could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief that anyone could
+     make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing
+     anything so simple as copying out the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.'
+     Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I
+     had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in the morning I
+     determined to have a look at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of
+     ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I
+     started off for Pope's Court.
+
+     "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as
+     possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross was
+     there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off upon the
+     letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from time to time
+     to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he bade me
+     good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had written, and
+     locked the door of the office after me.
+
+     "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the manager
+     came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my week's work.
+     It was the same next week, and the same the week after. Every morning
+     I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left at two. By degrees Mr.
+     Duncan Ross took to coming in only once of a morning, and then, after
+     a time, he did not come in at all. Still, of course, I never dared to
+     leave the room for an instant, for I was not sure when he might come,
+     and the billet was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I
+     would not risk the loss of it.
+
+     "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots
+     and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with
+     diligence that I might get on to the B's before very long. It cost me
+     something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my
+     writings. And then suddenly the whole business came to an end."
+
+     "To an end?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as usual
+     at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little
+     square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the panel with a
+     tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself."
+
+     He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet of
+     note-paper. It read in this fashion:
+
+                              The Red-headed League
+                                       is
+                                    Dissolved
+                                October 9, 1890.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful
+     face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely
+     overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a
+     roar of laughter.
+
+     "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our client,
+     flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can do nothing
+     better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere."
+
+     "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from which he
+     had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the world. It
+     is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you will excuse my
+     saying so, something just a little funny about it. Pray what steps
+     did you take when you found the card upon the door?"
+
+     "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called at
+     the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything about it.
+     Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant living on the
+     ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me what had become of
+     the Red-headed League. He said that he had never heard of any such
+     body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Ross was. He answered that the
+     name was new to him.
+
+     "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.'
+
+     "'What, the red-headed man?'
+
+     "'Yes.'
+
+     "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and
+     was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new premises
+     were ready. He moved out yesterday.'
+
+     "'Where could I find him?'
+
+     "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 King
+     Edward Street, near St. Paul's.'
+
+     "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was a
+     manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever heard
+     of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross."
+
+     "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my
+     assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say
+     that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite good
+     enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place without a
+     struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough to give advice
+     to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right away to you."
+
+     "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an exceedingly
+     remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. From what you
+     have told me I think that it is possible that graver issues hang from
+     it than might at first sight appear."
+
+     "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four pound a
+     week."
+
+     "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do not
+     see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary league. On
+     the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some £30, to say
+     nothing of the minute knowledge which you have gained on every
+     subject which comes under the letter A. You have lost nothing by
+     them."
+
+     "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and
+     what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a prank--upon
+     me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost them two and
+     thirty pounds."
+
+     "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, one
+     or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who first
+     called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he been with
+     you?"
+
+     "About a month then."
+
+     "How did he come?"
+
+     "In answer to an advertisement."
+
+     "Was he the only applicant?"
+
+     "No, I had a dozen."
+
+     "Why did you pick him?"
+
+     "Because he was handy and would come cheap."
+
+     "At half-wages, in fact."
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?"
+
+     "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face,
+     though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon his
+     forehead."
+
+     Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought as
+     much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are pierced for
+     earrings?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he was a
+     lad."
+
+     "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still with
+     you?"
+
+     "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him."
+
+     "And has your business been attended to in your absence?"
+
+     "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a
+     morning."
+
+     "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an opinion
+     upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Saturday,
+     and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion."
+
+     "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what do
+     you make of it all?"
+
+     "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most mysterious
+     business."
+
+     "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less
+     mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless
+     crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the
+     most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter."
+
+     "What are you going to do, then?" I asked.
+
+     "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg
+     that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled himself up
+     in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk-like nose, and
+     there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting
+     out like the bill of some strange bird. I had come to the conclusion
+     that he had dropped asleep, and indeed was nodding myself, when he
+     suddenly sprang out of his chair with the gesture of a man who has
+     made up his mind and put his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
+
+     "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he remarked.
+     "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you for a few
+     hours?"
+
+     "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very absorbing."
+
+     "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City first,
+     and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is a good
+     deal of German music on the programme, which is rather more to my
+     taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want to
+     introspect. Come along!"
+
+     We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short
+     walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story
+     which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, little,
+     shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy two-storied brick
+     houses looked out into a small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of
+     weedy grass and a few clumps of faded laurel-bushes made a hard fight
+     against a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls
+     and a brown board with "Jabez Wilson" in white letters, upon a corner
+     house, announced the place where our red-headed client carried on his
+     business. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one
+     side and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between
+     puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down
+     again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally he
+     returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously upon the
+     pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up to the door
+     and knocked. It was instantly opened by a bright-looking,
+     clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step in.
+
+     "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would go
+     from here to the Strand."
+
+     "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, closing
+     the door.
+
+     "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, in
+     my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring I am
+     not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known something
+     of him before."
+
+     "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good deal
+     in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you inquired
+     your way merely in order that you might see him."
+
+     "Not him."
+
+     "What then?"
+
+     "The knees of his trousers."
+
+     "And what did you see?"
+
+     "What I expected to see."
+
+     "Why did you beat the pavement?"
+
+     "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We are
+     spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Square.
+     Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it."
+
+     The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the corner
+     from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a contrast to
+     it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one of the main
+     arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City to the north and
+     west. The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of commerce
+     flowing in a double tide inward and outward, while the footpaths were
+     black with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians. It was difficult to
+     realise as we looked at the line of fine shops and stately business
+     premises that they really abutted on the other side upon the faded
+     and stagnant square which we had just quitted.
+
+     "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing along
+     the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the houses
+     here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London.
+     There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, the
+     Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian
+     Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building depot. That carries us
+     right on to the other block. And now, Doctor, we've done our work, so
+     it's time we had some play. A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then
+     off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony,
+     and there are no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums."
+
+     My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very
+     capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the
+     afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect happiness,
+     gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the music, while his
+     gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes were as unlike those
+     of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the relentless, keen-witted,
+     ready-handed criminal agent, as it was possible to conceive. In his
+     singular character the dual nature alternately asserted itself, and
+     his extreme exactness and astuteness represented, as I have often
+     thought, the reaction against the poetic and contemplative mood which
+     occasionally predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him
+     from extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was
+     never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been
+     lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his black-letter
+     editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase would suddenly come
+     upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning power would rise to the
+     level of intuition, until those who were unacquainted with his
+     methods would look askance at him as on a man whose knowledge was not
+     that of other mortals. When I saw him that afternoon so enwrapped in
+     the music at St. James's Hall I felt that an evil time might be
+     coming upon those whom he had set himself to hunt down.
+
+     "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we emerged.
+
+     "Yes, it would be as well."
+
+     "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This
+     business at Coburg Square is serious."
+
+     "Why serious?"
+
+     "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to
+     believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being
+     Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help
+     to-night."
+
+     "At what time?"
+
+     "Ten will be early enough."
+
+     "I shall be at Baker Street at ten."
+
+     "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, so
+     kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his hand,
+     turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the crowd.
+
+     I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was always
+     oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with
+     Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what
+     he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw
+     clearly not only what had happened but what was about to happen,
+     while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque. As I
+     drove home to my house in Kensington I thought over it all, from the
+     extraordinary story of the red-headed copier of the "Encyclopaedia"
+     down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Square, and the ominous words with
+     which he had parted from me. What was this nocturnal expedition, and
+     why should I go armed?  Where were we going, and what were we to do?
+     I had the hint from Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's
+     assistant was a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I
+     tried to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter
+     aside until night should bring an explanation.
+
+     It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my way
+     across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street. Two
+     hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered the passage I
+     heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his room I found
+     Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I
+     recognised as Peter Jones, the official police agent, while the other
+     was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat and
+     oppressively respectable frock-coat.
+
+     "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his pea-jacket
+     and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Watson, I think you
+     know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me introduce you to Mr.
+     Merryweather, who is to be our companion in to-night's adventure."
+
+     "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in his
+     consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for starting a
+     chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the running
+     down."
+
+     "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase,"
+     observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily.
+
+     "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the
+     police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which are, if
+     he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and
+     fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It is not
+     too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the Sholto
+     murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly correct than
+     the official force."
+
+     "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the stranger
+     with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the
+     first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had
+     my rubber."
+
+     "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will play
+     for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that the
+     play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the stake will
+     be some £30,000; and for you, Jones, it will be the man upon whom you
+     wish to lay your hands."
+
+     "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a young
+     man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession, and I
+     would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in London.
+     He's a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather was a
+     royal duke, and he himself has been to Eton and Oxford. His brain is
+     as cunning as his fingers, and though we meet signs of him at every
+     turn, we never know where to find the man himself. He'll crack a crib
+     in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in
+     Cornwall the next. I've been on his track for years and have never
+     set eyes on him yet."
+
+     "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night.
+     I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I agree
+     with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is past ten,
+     however, and quite time that we started. If you two will take the
+     first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the second."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive and
+     lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the
+     afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit streets
+     until we emerged into Farrington Street.
+
+     "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow
+     Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the
+     matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is not a
+     bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. He has one
+     positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as tenacious as a
+     lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we are, and they are
+     waiting for us."
+
+     We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had found
+     ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, following the
+     guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a narrow passage and
+     through a side door, which he opened for us. Within there was a small
+     corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate. This also was
+     opened, and led down a flight of winding stone steps, which
+     terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Merryweather stopped to
+     light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling
+     passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or
+     cellar, which was piled all round with crates and massive boxes.
+
+     "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he held
+     up the lantern and gazed about him.
+
+     "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the
+     flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite hollow!"
+     he remarked, looking up in surprise.
+
+     "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes
+     severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our
+     expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit down
+     upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?"
+
+     The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a very
+     injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his knees
+     upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, began to
+     examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few seconds
+     sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again and put his
+     glass in his pocket.
+
+     "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can
+     hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed.
+     Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their work
+     the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at present,
+     Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of the City
+     branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Merryweather is the
+     chairman of directors, and he will explain to you that there are
+     reasons why the more daring criminals of London should take a
+     considerable interest in this cellar at present."
+
+     "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had several
+     warnings that an attempt might be made upon it."
+
+     "Your French gold?"
+
+     "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and
+     borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of France.
+     It has become known that we have never had occasion to unpack the
+     money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The crate upon which
+     I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between layers of lead foil.
+     Our reserve of bullion is much larger at present than is usually kept
+     in a single branch office, and the directors have had misgivings upon
+     the subject."
+
+     "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is
+     time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an hour
+     matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Merryweather, we
+     must put the screen over that dark lantern."
+
+     "And sit in the dark?"
+
+     "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I
+     thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your rubber
+     after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have gone so far
+     that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, first of all, we
+     must choose our positions. These are daring men, and though we shall
+     take them at a disadvantage, they may do us some harm unless we are
+     careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and do you conceal
+     yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a light upon them, close
+     in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no compunction about shooting
+     them down."
+
+     I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case behind
+     which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of his
+     lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute darkness as I
+     have never before experienced. The smell of hot metal remained to
+     assure us that the light was still there, ready to flash out at a
+     moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked up to a pitch of
+     expectancy, there was something depressing and subduing in the sudden
+     gloom, and in the cold dank air of the vault.
+
+     "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back through
+     the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have done what I
+     asked you, Jones?"
+
+     "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door."
+
+     "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and
+     wait."
+
+     What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but an
+     hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must have
+     almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs were weary
+     and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my nerves were
+     worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hearing was so
+     acute that I could not only hear the gentle breathing of my
+     companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, heavier in-breath of
+     the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note of the bank director.
+     From my position I could look over the case in the direction of the
+     floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light.
+
+     At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then it
+     lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, without any
+     warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand appeared, a white,
+     almost womanly hand, which felt about in the centre of the little
+     area of light. For a minute or more the hand, with its writhing
+     fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then it was withdrawn as
+     suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark again save the single lurid
+     spark which marked a chink between the stones.
+
+     Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending,
+     tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon its
+     side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the light
+     of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, boyish face,
+     which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on either side of
+     the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and waist-high, until one
+     knee rested upon the edge. In another instant he stood at the side of
+     the hole and was hauling after him a companion, lithe and small like
+     himself, with a pale face and a shock of very red hair.
+
+     "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the bags?
+     Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar.
+     The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth
+     as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel of
+     a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came down on the man's wrist,
+     and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor.
+
+     "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no chance at
+     all."
+
+     "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy
+     that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails."
+
+     "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes.
+
+     "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I must
+     compliment you."
+
+     "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new and
+     effective."
+
+     "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker at
+     climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the
+     derbies."
+
+     "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," remarked
+     our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "You may not
+     be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the goodness,
+     also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and 'please.'"
+
+     "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would you
+     please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry your
+     Highness to the police-station?"
+
+     "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow to
+     the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the
+     detective.
+
+     "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them from
+     the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay you.
+     There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in the most
+     complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank robbery
+     that have ever come within my experience."
+
+     "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr.
+     John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over this
+     matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond that I am
+     amply repaid by having had an experience which is in many ways
+     unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the
+     Red-headed League."
+
+     "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning as
+     we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it was
+     perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of
+     this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League,
+     and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get this not
+     over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every
+     day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, really, it would be
+     difficult to suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested to
+     Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his accomplice's hair. The £4
+     a week was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to them, who
+     were playing for thousands? They put in the advertisement, one rogue
+     has the temporary office, the other rogue incites the man to apply
+     for it, and together they manage to secure his absence every morning
+     in the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come
+     for half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive
+     for securing the situation."
+
+     "But how could you guess what the motive was?"
+
+     "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a mere
+     vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The man's
+     business was a small one, and there was nothing in his house which
+     could account for such elaborate preparations, and such an
+     expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something out of the
+     house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's fondness for
+     photography, and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar!
+     There was the end of this tangled clue. Then I made inquiries as to
+     this mysterious assistant and found that I had to deal with one of
+     the coolest and most daring criminals in London. He was doing
+     something in the cellar--something which took many hours a day for
+     months on end. What could it be, once more? I could think of nothing
+     save that he was running a tunnel to some other building.
+
+     "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I
+     surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was
+     ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. It
+     was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the
+     assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had never
+     set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his face. His
+     knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have remarked how
+     worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of those hours of
+     burrowing. The only remaining point was what they were burrowing for.
+     I walked round the corner, saw the City and Suburban Bank abutted on
+     our friend's premises, and felt that I had solved my problem. When
+     you drove home after the concert I called upon Scotland Yard and upon
+     the chairman of the bank directors, with the result that you have
+     seen."
+
+     "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt to-night?"
+     I asked.
+
+     "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that
+     they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other
+     words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential
+     that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the
+     bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than any
+     other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. For all
+     these reasons I expected them to come to-night."
+
+     "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned
+     admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true."
+
+     "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already feel
+     it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to escape
+     from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to
+     do so."
+
+     "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I.
+
+     He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of some
+     little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre c'est tout,'
+     as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               A CASE OF IDENTITY
+
+     "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of
+     the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely
+     stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would
+     not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of
+     existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover
+     over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the
+     queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the
+     plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events,
+     working through generations, and leading to the most outré results,
+     it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen
+     conclusions most stale and unprofitable."
+
+     "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which come
+     to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vulgar
+     enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its extreme
+     limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, neither
+     fascinating nor artistic."
+
+     "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a
+     realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the police
+     report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the platitudes of
+     the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain
+     the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend upon it, there is
+     nothing so unnatural as the commonplace."
+
+     I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking
+     so." I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser and
+     helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout three
+     continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange and
+     bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper from the
+     ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the first heading
+     upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his wife.' There is half a
+     column of print, but I know without reading it that it is all
+     perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course, the other woman, the
+     drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic sister or
+     landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing more crude."
+
+     "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," said
+     Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This is the
+     Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in clearing
+     up some small points in connection with it. The husband was a
+     teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct complained of
+     was that he had drifted into the habit of winding up every meal by
+     taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which, you
+     will allow, is not an action likely to occur to the imagination of
+     the average story-teller. Take a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and
+     acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example."
+
+     He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the
+     centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his homely
+     ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon it.
+
+     "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. It
+     is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my
+     assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers."
+
+     "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which
+     sparkled upon his finger.
+
+     "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in
+     which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it
+     even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of my
+     little problems."
+
+     "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest.
+
+     "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interest.
+     They are important, you understand, without being interesting.
+     Indeed, I have found that it is usually in unimportant matters that
+     there is a field for the observation, and for the quick analysis of
+     cause and effect which gives the charm to an investigation. The
+     larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime the
+     more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. In these cases, save for one
+     rather intricate matter which has been referred to me from
+     Marseilles, there is nothing which presents any features of interest.
+     It is possible, however, that I may have something better before very
+     many minutes are over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much
+     mistaken."
+
+     He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted
+     blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street.
+     Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite there
+     stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and a large
+     curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a
+     coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear. From under
+     this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at
+     our windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her
+     fingers fidgeted with her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as
+     of the swimmer who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road, and
+     we heard the sharp clang of the bell.
+
+     "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his
+     cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always means
+     an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure that the
+     matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet even here we
+     may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously wronged by a man
+     she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is a broken bell
+     wire. Here we may take it that there is a love matter, but that the
+     maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or grieved. But here she
+     comes in person to resolve our doubts."
+
+     As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons
+     entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself
+     loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed merchant-man
+     behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with the easy
+     courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, having closed the door and
+     bowed her into an armchair, he looked her over in the minute and yet
+     abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him.
+
+     "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a
+     little trying to do so much typewriting?"
+
+     "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters are
+     without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport of his
+     words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and
+     astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've heard about
+     me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know all that?"
+
+     "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know
+     things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. If
+     not, why should you come to consult me?"
+
+     "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, whose
+     husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had given him
+     up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as much for me. I'm
+     not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my own right, besides
+     the little that I make by the machine, and I would give it all to
+     know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+     "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked Sherlock
+     Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the ceiling.
+
+     Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss
+     Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "for
+     it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Windibank--that is,
+     my father--took it all. He would not go to the police, and he would
+     not go to you, and so at last, as he would do nothing and kept on
+     saying that there was no harm done, it made me mad, and I just on
+     with my things and came right away to you."
+
+     "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the name
+     is different."
+
+     "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, too,
+     for he is only five years and two months older than myself."
+
+     "And your mother is alive?"
+
+     "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr.
+     Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and a
+     man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father was a
+     plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy business
+     behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the foreman; but
+     when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the business, for he was
+     very superior, being a traveller in wines. They got £4700 for the
+     goodwill and interest, which wasn't near as much as father could have
+     got if he had been alive."
+
+     I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this rambling
+     and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had listened
+     with the greatest concentration of attention.
+
+     "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the
+     business?"
+
+     "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Ned in
+     Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4½ per cent. Two
+     thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can only touch the
+     interest."
+
+     "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so
+     large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the bargain,
+     you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in every way. I
+     believe that a single lady can get on very nicely upon an income of
+     about £60."
+
+     "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you understand
+     that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a burden to them,
+     and so they have the use of the money just while I am staying with
+     them. Of course, that is only just for the time. Mr. Windibank draws
+     my interest every quarter and pays it over to mother, and I find that
+     I can do pretty well with what I earn at typewriting. It brings me
+     twopence a sheet, and I can often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in
+     a day."
+
+     "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "This is
+     my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before
+     myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection with Mr. Hosmer
+     Angel."
+
+     A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked nervously
+     at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the gasfitters'
+     ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets when he was alive,
+     and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them to mother. Mr.
+     Windibank did not wish us to go. He never did wish us to go anywhere.
+     He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school
+     treat. But this time I was set on going, and I would go; for what
+     right had he to prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to
+     know, when all father's friends were to be there. And he said that I
+     had nothing fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never
+     so much as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would
+     do, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went,
+     mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it was
+     there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+     "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from
+     France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball."
+
+     "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and
+     shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying anything to
+     a woman, for she would have her way."
+
+     "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a
+     gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+     "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if we
+     had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to say, Mr.
+     Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father came back
+     again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house any more."
+
+     "No?"
+
+     "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He wouldn't
+     have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to say that a
+     woman should be happy in her own family circle. But then, as I used
+     to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to begin with, and I
+     had not got mine yet."
+
+     "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see you?"
+
+     "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer
+     wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each
+     other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he used
+     to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so there
+     was no need for father to know."
+
+     "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?"
+
+     "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that we
+     took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Leadenhall
+     Street--and--"
+
+     "What office?"
+
+     "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know."
+
+     "Where did he live, then?"
+
+     "He slept on the premises."
+
+     "And you don't know his address?"
+
+     "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street."
+
+     "Where did you address your letters, then?"
+
+     "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called for. He
+     said that if they were sent to the office he would be chaffed by all
+     the other clerks about having letters from a lady, so I offered to
+     typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have that, for he
+     said that when I wrote them they seemed to come from me, but when
+     they were typewritten he always felt that the machine had come
+     between us. That will just show you how fond he was of me, Mr.
+     Holmes, and the little things that he would think of."
+
+     "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom of
+     mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.  Can
+     you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
+
+     "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me in
+     the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to be
+     conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his voice was
+     gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was young, he
+     told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, and a hesitating,
+     whispering fashion of speech. He was always well dressed, very neat
+     and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as mine are, and he wore
+     tinted glasses against the glare."
+
+     "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather,
+     returned to France?"
+
+     "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we should
+     marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and made me
+     swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever happened I would
+     always be true to him. Mother said he was quite right to make me
+     swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Mother was all in his
+     favour from the first and was even fonder of him than I was. Then,
+     when they talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask about
+     father; but they both said never to mind about father, but just to
+     tell him afterwards, and mother said she would make it all right with
+     him. I didn't quite like that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I
+     should ask his leave, as he was only a few years older than me; but I
+     didn't want to do anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at
+     Bordeaux, where the company has its French offices, but the letter
+     came back to me on the very morning of the wedding."
+
+     "It missed him, then?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived."
+
+     "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the
+     Friday. Was it to be in church?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near
+     King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St.
+     Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were two
+     of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a four-wheeler,
+     which happened to be the only other cab in the street. We got to the
+     church first, and when the four-wheeler drove up we waited for him to
+     step out, but he never did, and when the cabman got down from the box
+     and looked there was no one there! The cabman said that he could not
+     imagine what had become of him, for he had seen him get in with his
+     own eyes. That was last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or
+     heard anything since then to throw any light upon what became of
+     him."
+
+     "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said
+     Holmes.
+
+     "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the
+     morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to be
+     true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to
+     separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, and
+     that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed strange
+     talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since gives a
+     meaning to it."
+
+     "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some
+     unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he would
+     not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw happened."
+
+     "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?"
+
+     "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter
+     again."
+
+     "And your father? Did you tell him?"
+
+     "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had happened,
+     and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, what interest
+     could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the church, and then
+     leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my money, or if he had married me
+     and got my money settled on him, there might be some reason, but
+     Hosmer was very independent about money and never would look at a
+     shilling of mine. And yet, what could have happened? And why could he
+     not write? Oh, it drives me half-mad to think of it, and I can't
+     sleep a wink at night." She pulled a little handkerchief out of her
+     muff and began to sob heavily into it.
+
+     "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and I
+     have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the
+     weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind dwell
+     upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel vanish from
+     your memory, as he has done from your life."
+
+     "Then you don't think I'll see him again?"
+
+     "I fear not."
+
+     "Then what has happened to him?"
+
+     "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an accurate
+     description of him and any letters of his which you can spare."
+
+     "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Here
+     is the slip and here are four letters from him."
+
+     "Thank you. And your address?"
+
+     "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell."
+
+     "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your
+     father's place of business?"
+
+     "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers of
+     Fenchurch Street."
+
+     "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will leave
+     the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given you. Let
+     the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it to affect
+     your life."
+
+     "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be true
+     to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back."
+
+     For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was
+     something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which compelled
+     our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the table and
+     went her way, with a promise to come again whenever she might be
+     summoned.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips
+     still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, and
+     his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down from the
+     rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a counsellor,
+     and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the thick blue
+     cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of infinite languor in
+     his face.
+
+     "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found her
+     more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, is
+     rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you consult my
+     index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the sort at The
+     Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, there were one or two
+     details which were new to me. But the maiden herself was most
+     instructive."
+
+     "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite invisible
+     to me," I remarked.
+
+     "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to look,
+     and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring you to
+     realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb-nails,
+     or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Now, what did you
+     gather from that woman's appearance? Describe it."
+
+     "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a
+     feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads
+     sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her dress
+     was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little purple
+     plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and were worn
+     through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't observe. She had
+     small round, hanging gold earrings, and a general air of being fairly
+     well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, easy-going way."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled.
+
+     "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have
+     really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed
+     everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and you
+     have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general impressions, my
+     boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My first glance is always
+     at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is perhaps better first to take the
+     knee of the trouser. As you observe, this woman had plush upon her
+     sleeves, which is a most useful material for showing traces. The
+     double line a little above the wrist, where the typewritist presses
+     against the table, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of
+     the hand type, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and
+     on the side of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right
+     across the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face,
+     and, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I
+     ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed to
+     surprise her."
+
+     "It surprised me."
+
+     "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and
+     interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots which
+     she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were really odd
+     ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and the other a
+     plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower buttons out of
+     five, and the other at the first, third, and fifth. Now, when you see
+     that a young lady, otherwise neatly dressed, has come away from home
+     with odd boots, half-buttoned, it is no great deduction to say that
+     she came away in a hurry."
+
+     "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by my
+     friend's incisive reasoning.
+
+     "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving home
+     but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right glove was
+     torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see that both
+     glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had written in a
+     hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been this morning, or
+     the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. All this is amusing,
+     though rather elementary, but I must go back to business, Watson.
+     Would you mind reading me the advertised description of Mr. Hosmer
+     Angel?"
+
+     I held the little printed slip to the light.
+
+     "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman
+     named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; strongly
+     built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the centre,
+     bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted glasses, slight
+     infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, in black frock-coat
+     faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain, and grey Harris
+     tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over elastic-sided boots. Known to
+     have been employed in an office in Leadenhall Street. Anybody
+     bringing--"
+
+     "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued,
+     glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no clue in
+     them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There is one
+     remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike you."
+
+     "They are typewritten," I remarked.
+
+     "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the neat
+     little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you see, but no
+     superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is rather vague. The
+     point about the signature is very suggestive--in fact, we may call it
+     conclusive."
+
+     "Of what?"
+
+     "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it bears
+     upon the case?"
+
+     "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able to
+     deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were
+     instituted."
+
+     "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters,
+     which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the
+     other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking him
+     whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow evening. It is
+     just as well that we should do business with the male relatives. And
+     now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the answers to those letters
+     come, so we may put our little problem upon the shelf for the
+     interim."
+
+     I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers of
+     reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that he must
+     have some solid grounds for the assured and easy demeanour with which
+     he treated the singular mystery which he had been called upon to
+     fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the case of the King of
+     Bohemia and of the Irene Adler photograph; but when I looked back to
+     the weird business of the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary
+     circumstances connected with the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it
+     would be a strange tangle indeed which he could not unravel.
+
+     I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the
+     conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would find
+     that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up to the
+     identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Sutherland.
+
+     A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own attention at
+     the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the bedside of the
+     sufferer. It was not until close upon six o'clock that I found myself
+     free and was able to spring into a hansom and drive to Baker Street,
+     half afraid that I might be too late to assist at the dénouement of
+     the little mystery. I found Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half
+     asleep, with his long, thin form curled up in the recesses of his
+     armchair. A formidable array of bottles and test-tubes, with the
+     pungent cleanly smell of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent
+     his day in the chemical work which was so dear to him.
+
+     "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered.
+
+     "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta."
+
+     "No, no, the mystery!" I cried.
+
+     "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. There
+     was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said yesterday,
+     some of the details are of interest. The only drawback is that there
+     is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel."
+
+     "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss
+     Sutherland?"
+
+     The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet
+     opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the
+     passage and a tap at the door.
+
+     "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes.
+     "He has written to me to say that he would be here at six. Come in!"
+
+     The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some thirty
+     years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a bland,
+     insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and penetrating
+     grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of us, placed his
+     shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a slight bow sidled down
+     into the nearest chair.
+
+     "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that this
+     typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an appointment with
+     me for six o'clock?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not quite my
+     own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland has troubled
+     you about this little matter, for I think it is far better not to
+     wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite against my wishes that
+     she came, but she is a very excitable, impulsive girl, as you may
+     have noticed, and she is not easily controlled when she has made up
+     her mind on a point. Of course, I did not mind you so much, as you
+     are not connected with the official police, but it is not pleasant to
+     have a family misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a
+     useless expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?"
+
+     "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to
+     believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel."
+
+     Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am
+     delighted to hear it," he said.
+
+     "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has
+     really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless
+     they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some letters
+     get more worn than others, and some wear only on one side. Now, you
+     remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that in every case there
+     is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and a slight defect in the
+     tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other characteristics, but those
+     are the more obvious."
+
+     "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and no
+     doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing keenly at
+     Holmes with his bright little eyes.
+
+     "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Mr.
+     Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another little
+     monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its relation to
+     crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some little attention.
+     I have here four letters which purport to come from the missing man.
+     They are all typewritten. In each case, not only are the 'e's'
+     slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will observe, if you care to
+     use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen other characteristics to
+     which I have alluded are there as well."
+
+     Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I
+     cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," he
+     said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know when you
+     have done it."
+
+     "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the
+     door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!"
+
+     "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips and
+     glancing about him like a rat in a trap.
+
+     "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There is no
+     possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too
+     transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it
+     was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's right!
+     Sit down and let us talk it over."
+
+     Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a glitter
+     of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he stammered.
+
+     "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves,
+     Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a
+     petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the
+     course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong."
+
+     The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his
+     breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up on
+     the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands in his
+     pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, than to us.
+
+     "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money,"
+     said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the daughter as long
+     as she lived with them. It was a considerable sum, for people in
+     their position, and the loss of it would have made a serious
+     difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. The daughter was
+     of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and warm-hearted in
+     her ways, so that it was evident that with her fair personal
+     advantages, and her little income, she would not be allowed to remain
+     single long. Now her marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a
+     hundred a year, so what does her stepfather do to prevent it? He
+     takes the obvious course of keeping her at home and forbidding her to
+     seek the company of people of her own age. But soon he found that
+     that would not answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her
+     rights, and finally announced her positive intention of going to a
+     certain ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives
+     an idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the
+     connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, covered
+     those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with a moustache
+     and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an
+     insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the girl's short
+     sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other lovers by
+     making love himself."
+
+     "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never thought
+     that she would have been so carried away."
+
+     "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very
+     decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that her
+     stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for an
+     instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman's
+     attentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly expressed
+     admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began to call, for it was
+     obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as it would go if a
+     real effect were to be produced. There were meetings, and an
+     engagement, which would finally secure the girl's affections from
+     turning towards anyone else. But the deception could not be kept up
+     forever. These pretended journeys to France were rather cumbrous. The
+     thing to do was clearly to bring the business to an end in such a
+     dramatic manner that it would leave a permanent impression upon the
+     young lady's mind and prevent her from looking upon any other suitor
+     for some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a
+     Testament, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something
+     happening on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished
+     Miss Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as
+     to his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not
+     listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, and
+     then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished away by the
+     old trick of stepping in at one door of a four-wheeler and out at the
+     other. I think that was the chain of events, Mr. Windibank!"
+
+     Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes had
+     been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer upon
+     his pale face.
+
+     "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you are
+     so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is you who
+     are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing actionable
+     from the first, but as long as you keep that door locked you lay
+     yourself open to an action for assault and illegal constraint."
+
+     "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking and
+     throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who deserved
+     punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he
+     ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" he continued,
+     flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's face, "it
+     is not part of my duties to my client, but here's a hunting crop
+     handy, and I think I shall just treat myself to--" He took two swift
+     steps to the whip, but before he could grasp it there was a wild
+     clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy hall door banged, and
+     from the window we could see Mr. James Windibank running at the top
+     of his speed down the road.
+
+     "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he
+     threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will rise
+     from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and ends on a
+     gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of
+     interest."
+
+     "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I
+     remarked.
+
+     "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Hosmer
+     Angel must have some strong object for his curious conduct, and it
+     was equally clear that the only man who really profited by the
+     incident, as far as we could see, was the stepfather. Then the fact
+     that the two men were never together, but that the one always
+     appeared when the other was away, was suggestive. So were the tinted
+     spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted at a disguise, as
+     did the bushy whiskers. My suspicions were all confirmed by his
+     peculiar action in typewriting his signature, which, of course,
+     inferred that his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would
+     recognise even the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated
+     facts, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same
+     direction."
+
+     "And how did you verify them?"
+
+     "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I knew
+     the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed
+     description, I eliminated everything from it which could be the
+     result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I
+     sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me whether
+     it answered to the description of any of their travellers. I had
+     already noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter, and I wrote to
+     the man himself at his business address asking him if he would come
+     here. As I expected, his reply was typewritten and revealed the same
+     trivial but characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter
+     from Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the
+     description tallied in every respect with that of their employee,
+     James Windibank. Voilà tout!"
+
+     "And Miss Sutherland?"
+
+     "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old
+     Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub,
+     and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' There is
+     as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the
+     world."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY
+
+     We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the maid
+     brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran in this
+     way:
+
+     "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from
+     the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall
+     be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Leave
+     Paddington by the 11.15."
+     "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Will
+     you go?" 
+
+     "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at
+     present."
+
+     "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking a
+     little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, and
+     you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases."
+
+     "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained through
+     one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack at once,
+     for I have only half an hour."
+
+     My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the effect
+     of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were few and
+     simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a cab with my
+     valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Holmes was
+     pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt figure made even
+     gaunter and taller by his long grey travelling-cloak and
+     close-fitting cloth cap.
+
+     "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It makes a
+     considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom I can
+     thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless or else
+     biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall get the
+     tickets."
+
+     We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of papers
+     which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged and read,
+     with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until we were past
+     Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a gigantic ball and
+     tossed them up onto the rack.
+
+     "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked.
+
+     "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days."
+
+     "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just been
+     looking through all the recent papers in order to master the
+     particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simple
+     cases which are so extremely difficult."
+
+     "That sounds a little paradoxical."
+
+     "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a clue.
+     The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult
+     it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they have established
+     a very serious case against the son of the murdered man."
+
+     "It is a murder, then?"
+
+     "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for granted
+     until I have the opportunity of looking personally into it. I will
+     explain the state of things to you, as far as I have been able to
+     understand it, in a very few words.
+
+     "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in
+     Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Mr.
+     John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned some years
+     ago to the old country. One of the farms which he held, that of
+     Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was also an
+     ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the colonies, so that
+     it was not unnatural that when they came to settle down they should
+     do so as near each other as possible. Turner was apparently the
+     richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant but still remained, it
+     seems, upon terms of perfect equality, as they were frequently
+     together. McCarthy had one son, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an
+     only daughter of the same age, but neither of them had wives living.
+     They appear to have avoided the society of the neighbouring English
+     families and to have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys
+     were fond of sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of
+     the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl.
+     Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the least.
+     That is as much as I have been able to gather about the families. Now
+     for the facts.
+
+     "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at
+     Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the
+     Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of
+     the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been out with
+     his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the man that
+     he must hurry, as he had an appointment of importance to keep at
+     three. From that appointment he never came back alive.
+
+     "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a
+     mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One was
+     an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was William
+     Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both these
+     witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The game-keeper
+     adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. McCarthy pass he had
+     seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the same way with a gun under
+     his arm. To the best of his belief, the father was actually in sight
+     at the time, and the son was following him. He thought no more of the
+     matter until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that had
+     occurred.
+
+     "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the
+     game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wooded
+     round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the edge. A
+     girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the
+     lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods
+     picking flowers. She states that while she was there she saw, at the
+     border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. McCarthy and his son,
+     and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel. She heard Mr.
+     McCarthy the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw
+     the latter raise up his hand as if to strike his father. She was so
+     frightened by their violence that she ran away and told her mother
+     when she reached home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling
+     near Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to
+     fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came
+     running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead in
+     the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was much
+     excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right hand and
+     sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On following him
+     they found the dead body stretched out upon the grass beside the
+     pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some heavy and
+     blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might very well have been
+     inflicted by the butt-end of his son's gun, which was found lying on
+     the grass within a few paces of the body. Under these circumstances
+     the young man was instantly arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful
+     murder' having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on
+     Wednesday brought before the magistrates at Ross, who have referred
+     the case to the next Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as
+     they came out before the coroner and the police-court."
+
+     "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If ever
+     circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here."
+
+     "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes
+     thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but
+     if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it
+     pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely
+     different. It must be confessed, however, that the case looks
+     exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very possible that
+     he is indeed the culprit. There are several people in the
+     neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the daughter of
+     the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his innocence, and who
+     have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in connection with the
+     Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his interest. Lestrade,
+     being rather puzzled, has referred the case to me, and hence it is
+     that two middle-aged gentlemen are flying westward at fifty miles an
+     hour instead of quietly digesting their breakfasts at home."
+
+     "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you will
+     find little credit to be gained out of this case."
+
+     "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he answered,
+     laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some other obvious
+     facts which may have been by no means obvious to Mr. Lestrade. You
+     know me too well to think that I am boasting when I say that I shall
+     either confirm or destroy his theory by means which he is quite
+     incapable of employing, or even of understanding. To take the first
+     example to hand, I very clearly perceive that in your bedroom the
+     window is upon the right-hand side, and yet I question whether Mr.
+     Lestrade would have noted even so self-evident a thing as that."
+
+     "How on earth--"
+
+     "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness which
+     characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this season you
+     shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less and less
+     complete as we get farther back on the left side, until it becomes
+     positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the jaw, it is
+     surely very clear that that side is less illuminated than the other.
+     I could not imagine a man of your habits looking at himself in an
+     equal light and being satisfied with such a result. I only quote this
+     as a trivial example of observation and inference. Therein lies my
+     métier, and it is just possible that it may be of some service in the
+     investigation which lies before us. There are one or two minor points
+     which were brought out in the inquest, and which are worth
+     considering."
+
+     "What are they?"
+
+     "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after the
+     return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary informing
+     him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not surprised to
+     hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. This observation
+     of his had the natural effect of removing any traces of doubt which
+     might have remained in the minds of the coroner's jury."
+
+     "It was a confession," I ejaculated.
+
+     "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence."
+
+     "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at
+     least a most suspicious remark."
+
+     "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I can
+     at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, he could
+     not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the circumstances
+     were very black against him. Had he appeared surprised at his own
+     arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I should have looked upon it as
+     highly suspicious, because such surprise or anger would not be
+     natural under the circumstances, and yet might appear to be the best
+     policy to a scheming man. His frank acceptance of the situation marks
+     him as either an innocent man, or else as a man of considerable
+     self-restraint and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it
+     was also not unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead
+     body of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very
+     day so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and
+     even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so important, to
+     raise his hand as if to strike him. The self-reproach and contrition
+     which are displayed in his remark appear to me to be the signs of a
+     healthy mind rather than of a guilty one."
+
+     I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter
+     evidence," I remarked.
+
+     "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged."
+
+     "What is the young man's own account of the matter?"
+
+     "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, though
+     there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. You will find
+     it here, and may read it for yourself."
+
+     He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire
+     paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the paragraph
+     in which the unfortunate young man had given his own statement of
+     what had occurred. I settled myself down in the corner of the
+     carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this way:
+
+     "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called
+     and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for three
+     days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the morning of last
+     Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the time of my
+     arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he had driven over to
+     Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after my return I heard the
+     wheels of his trap in the yard, and, looking out of my window, I saw
+     him get out and walk rapidly out of the yard, though I was not aware
+     in which direction he was going. I then took my gun and strolled out
+     in the direction of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting
+     the rabbit warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw
+     William Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence;
+     but he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had
+     no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards from
+     the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal between
+     my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found him standing
+     by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at seeing me and asked
+     me rather roughly what I was doing there. A conversation ensued which
+     led to high words and almost to blows, for my father was a man of a
+     very violent temper. Seeing that his passion was becoming
+     ungovernable, I left him and returned towards Hatherley Farm. I had
+     not gone more than 150 yards, however, when I heard a hideous outcry
+     behind me, which caused me to run back again. I found my father
+     expiring upon the ground, with his head terribly injured. I dropped
+     my gun and held him in my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I
+     knelt beside him for some minutes, and then made my way to Mr.
+     Turner's lodge-keeper, his house being the nearest, to ask for
+     assistance. I saw no one near my father when I returned, and I have
+     no idea how he came by his injuries. He was not a popular man, being
+     somewhat cold and forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I
+     know, no active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.'
+     "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before he
+     died?
+     "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some
+     allusion to a rat.
+     "The Coroner: What did you understand by that?
+     "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was
+     delirious.
+     "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father had
+     this final quarrel?
+     "Witness: I should prefer not to answer.
+     "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it.
+     "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can assure
+     you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which followed.
+     "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point out
+     to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case
+     considerably in any future proceedings which may arise.
+     "Witness: I must still refuse.
+     "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common
+     signal between you and your father?
+     "Witness: It was.
+     "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw you,
+     and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol?
+     "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know.
+     "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions when
+     you returned on hearing the cry and found your father fatally
+     injured?
+     "Witness: Nothing definite.
+     "The Coroner: What do you mean?
+     "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the
+     open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet I have a
+     vague impression that as I ran forward something lay upon the ground
+     to the left of me. It seemed to me to be something grey in colour, a
+     coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. When I rose from my father I
+     looked round for it, but it was gone.
+     "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'
+     "'Yes, it was gone.'
+     "'You cannot say what it was?'
+     "'No, I had a feeling something was there.'
+     "'How far from the body?'
+     "'A dozen yards or so.'
+     "'And how far from the edge of the wood?'
+     "'About the same.'
+     "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen yards
+     of it?'
+     "'Yes, but with my back towards it.'
+     "This concluded the examination of the witness."
+
+     "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner in
+     his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. He
+     calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his father
+     having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his refusal to
+     give details of his conversation with his father, and his singular
+     account of his father's dying words. They are all, as he remarks,
+     very much against the son."
+
+     Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the
+     cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some pains,"
+     said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the young man's
+     favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him credit for having
+     too much imagination and too little? Too little, if he could not
+     invent a cause of quarrel which would give him the sympathy of the
+     jury; too much, if he evolved from his own inner consciousness
+     anything so outré as a dying reference to a rat, and the incident of
+     the vanishing cloth. No, sir, I shall approach this case from the
+     point of view that what this young man says is true, and we shall see
+     whither that hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket
+     Petrarch, and not another word shall I say of this case until we are
+     on the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall
+     be there in twenty minutes."
+
+     It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the
+     beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, found
+     ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A lean,
+     ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for us upon the
+     platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and leather-leggings
+     which he wore in deference to his rustic surroundings, I had no
+     difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Scotland Yard. With him we
+     drove to the Hereford Arms where a room had already been engaged for
+     us.
+
+     "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup of
+     tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be happy
+     until you had been on the scene of the crime."
+
+     "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It is
+     entirely a question of barometric pressure."
+
+     Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said.
+
+     "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud in
+     the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need smoking, and
+     the sofa is very much superior to the usual country hotel
+     abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I shall use the
+     carriage to-night."
+
+     Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed
+     your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as plain
+     as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer it becomes.
+     Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a very positive
+     one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your opinion, though I
+     repeatedly told her that there was nothing which you could do which I
+     had not already done. Why, bless my soul! here is her carriage at the
+     door."
+
+     He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the
+     most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her violet
+     eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her cheeks, all
+     thought of her natural reserve lost in her overpowering excitement
+     and concern.
+
+     "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the other
+     of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, fastening upon my
+     companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I have driven down to
+     tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. I know it, and I want
+     you to start upon your work knowing it, too. Never let yourself doubt
+     upon that point. We have known each other since we were little
+     children, and I know his faults as no one else does; but he is too
+     tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a charge is absurd to anyone who
+     really knows him."
+
+     "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes.  "You
+     may rely upon my doing all that I can."
+
+     "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Do
+     you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself think that
+     he is innocent?"
+
+     "I think that it is very probable."
+
+     "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking defiantly
+     at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes."
+
+     Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague has
+     been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said.
+
+     "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did it.
+     And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the reason why
+     he would not speak about it to the coroner was because I was
+     concerned in it."
+
+     "In what way?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had many
+     disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that there
+     should be a marriage between us. James and I have always loved each
+     other as brother and sister; but of course he is young and has seen
+     very little of life yet, and--and--well, he naturally did not wish to
+     do anything like that yet. So there were quarrels, and this, I am
+     sure, was one of them."
+
+     "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a union?"
+
+     "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in favour
+     of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Holmes shot
+     one of his keen, questioning glances at her.
+
+     "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father if
+     I call to-morrow?"
+
+     "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it."
+
+     "The doctor?"
+
+     "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for years
+     back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken to his
+     bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his nervous
+     system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive who had
+     known dad in the old days in Victoria."
+
+     "Ha! In Victoria! That is important."
+
+     "Yes, at the mines."
+
+     "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner made
+     his money."
+
+     "Yes, certainly."
+
+     "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to me."
+
+     "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you will
+     go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do tell him
+     that I know him to be innocent."
+
+     "I will, Miss Turner."
+
+     "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if I
+     leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She
+     hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we heard
+     the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street.
+
+     "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a few
+     minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you are bound
+     to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I call it cruel."
+
+     "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Holmes.
+     "Have you an order to see him in prison?"
+
+     "Yes, but only for you and me."
+
+     "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have still
+     time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?"
+
+     "Ample."
+
+     "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very slow,
+     but I shall only be away a couple of hours."
+
+     I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through the
+     streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, where I
+     lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a yellow-backed
+     novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, however, when compared
+     to the deep mystery through which we were groping, and I found my
+     attention wander so continually from the action to the fact, that I
+     at last flung it across the room and gave myself up entirely to a
+     consideration of the events of the day. Supposing that this unhappy
+     young man's story were absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what
+     absolutely unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred
+     between the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when,
+     drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was something
+     terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the nature of the
+     injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? I rang the bell
+     and called for the weekly county paper, which contained a verbatim
+     account of the inquest. In the surgeon's deposition it was stated
+     that the posterior third of the left parietal bone and the left half
+     of the occipital bone had been shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt
+     weapon. I marked the spot upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must
+     have been struck from behind. That was to some extent in favour of
+     the accused, as when seen quarrelling he was face to face with his
+     father. Still, it did not go for very much, for the older man might
+     have turned his back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth
+     while to call Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar
+     dying reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be
+     delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become
+     delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how he
+     met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my brains to
+     find some possible explanation. And then the incident of the grey
+     cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the murderer must
+     have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his overcoat, in his
+     flight, and must have had the hardihood to return and to carry it
+     away at the instant when the son was kneeling with his back turned
+     not a dozen paces off. What a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities
+     the whole thing was! I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet
+     I had so much faith in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose
+     hope as long as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction
+     of young McCarthy's innocence.
+
+     It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, for
+     Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town.
+
+     "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "It is
+     of importance that it should not rain before we are able to go over
+     the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his very best and
+     keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not wish to do it when
+     fagged by a long journey. I have seen young McCarthy."
+
+     "And what did you learn from him?"
+
+     "Nothing."
+
+     "Could he throw no light?"
+
+     "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew who
+     had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced now that
+     he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very quick-witted
+     youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, sound at heart."
+
+     "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact that
+     he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as this
+     Miss Turner."
+
+     "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly,
+     insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was only
+     a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away five
+     years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get into the
+     clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a registry office?
+     No one knows a word of the matter, but you can imagine how maddening
+     it must be to him to be upbraided for not doing what he would give
+     his very eyes to do, but what he knows to be absolutely impossible.
+     It was sheer frenzy of this sort which made him throw his hands up
+     into the air when his father, at their last interview, was goading
+     him on to propose to Miss Turner. On the other hand, he had no means
+     of supporting himself, and his father, who was by all accounts a very
+     hard man, would have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth.
+     It was with his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in
+     Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that point.
+     It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, for the
+     barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious trouble and
+     likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and has written to
+     him to say that she has a husband already in the Bermuda Dockyard, so
+     that there is really no tie between them. I think that that bit of
+     news has consoled young McCarthy for all that he has suffered."
+
+     "But if he is innocent, who has done it?"
+
+     "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two
+     points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with someone
+     at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his son, for
+     his son was away, and he did not know when he would return. The
+     second is that the murdered man was heard to cry 'Cooee!' before he
+     knew that his son had returned. Those are the crucial points upon
+     which the case depends. And now let us talk about George Meredith, if
+     you please, and we shall leave all minor matters until to-morrow."
+
+     There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke
+     bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with the
+     carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Pool.
+
+     "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is said
+     that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is despaired
+     of."
+
+     "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes.
+
+     "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life
+     abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This
+     business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend of
+     McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I have
+     learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free."
+
+     "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes.
+
+     "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody about
+     here speaks of his kindness to him."
+
+     "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this
+     McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have been
+     under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of marrying his
+     son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, heiress to the estate,
+     and that in such a very cocksure manner, as if it were merely a case
+     of a proposal and all else would follow? It is the more strange,
+     since we know that Turner himself was averse to the idea. The
+     daughter told us as much. Do you not deduce something from that?"
+
+     "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Lestrade,
+     winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Holmes,
+     without flying away after theories and fancies."
+
+     "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard to
+     tackle the facts."
+
+     "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it difficult
+     to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth.
+
+     "And that is--"
+
+     "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that all
+     theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine."
+
+     "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes,
+     laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Farm
+     upon the left."
+
+     "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking building,
+     two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches of lichen upon
+     the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless chimneys, however,
+     gave it a stricken look, as though the weight of this horror still
+     lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, when the maid, at Holmes'
+     request, showed us the boots which her master wore at the time of his
+     death, and also a pair of the son's, though not the pair which he had
+     then had. Having measured these very carefully from seven or eight
+     different points, Holmes desired to be led to the court-yard, from
+     which we all followed the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent as
+     this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Baker
+     Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed and
+     darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while his
+     eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. His face was
+     bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips compressed, and the
+     veins stood out like whipcord in his long, sinewy neck. His nostrils
+     seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase, and his
+     mind was so absolutely concentrated upon the matter before him that a
+     question or remark fell unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only
+     provoked a quick, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he
+     made his way along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by
+     way of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as
+     is all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon
+     the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either side.
+     Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and once he
+     made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and I walked
+     behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, while I
+     watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the conviction
+     that every one of his actions was directed towards a definite end.
+
+     The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water some
+     fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Hatherley
+     Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. Above the woods
+     which lined it upon the farther side we could see the red, jutting
+     pinnacles which marked the site of the rich landowner's dwelling. On
+     the Hatherley side of the pool the woods grew very thick, and there
+     was a narrow belt of sodden grass twenty paces across between the
+     edge of the trees and the reeds which lined the lake. Lestrade showed
+     us the exact spot at which the body had been found, and, indeed, so
+     moist was the ground, that I could plainly see the traces which had
+     been left by the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see
+     by his eager face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be
+     read upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking
+     up a scent, and then turned upon my companion.
+
+     "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked.
+
+     "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon or
+     other trace. But how on earth--"
+
+     "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its
+     inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and there
+     it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all have been
+     had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and wallowed
+     all over it. Here is where the party with the lodge-keeper came, and
+     they have covered all tracks for six or eight feet round the body.
+     But here are three separate tracks of the same feet." He drew out a
+     lens and lay down upon his waterproof to have a better view, talking
+     all the time rather to himself than to us. "These are young
+     McCarthy's feet. Twice he was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so
+     that the soles are deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That
+     bears out his story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground.
+     Then here are the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is
+     this, then? It is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening.
+     And this? Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too,
+     quite unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course
+     that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up and
+     down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we were
+     well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a great
+     beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced his way
+     to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon his face with
+     a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he remained there,
+     turning over the leaves and dried sticks, gathering up what seemed to
+     me to be dust into an envelope and examining with his lens not only
+     the ground but even the bark of the tree as far as he could reach. A
+     jagged stone was lying among the moss, and this also he carefully
+     examined and retained. Then he followed a pathway through the wood
+     until he came to the highroad, where all traces were lost.
+
+     "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, returning
+     to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on the right
+     must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a word with
+     Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done that, we may
+     drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, and I shall be
+     with you presently."
+
+     It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove back
+     into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he had
+     picked up in the wood.
+
+     "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out.  "The
+     murder was done with it."
+
+     "I see no marks."
+
+     "There are none."
+
+     "How do you know, then?"
+
+     "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few days.
+     There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It corresponds
+     with the injuries. There is no sign of any other weapon."
+
+     "And the murderer?"
+
+     "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears
+     thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian cigars,
+     uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his pocket.
+     There are several other indications, but these may be enough to aid
+     us in our search."
+
+     Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he said.
+     "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a hard-headed
+     British jury."
+
+     "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own method,
+     and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, and shall
+     probably return to London by the evening train."
+
+     "And leave your case unfinished?"
+
+     "No, finished."
+
+     "But the mystery?"
+
+     "It is solved."
+
+     "Who was the criminal, then?"
+
+     "The gentleman I describe."
+
+     "But who is he?"
+
+     "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a
+     populous neighbourhood."
+
+     Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said,
+     "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking for a
+     left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the
+     laughing-stock of Scotland Yard."
+
+     "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Here
+     are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before I leave."
+
+     Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where we
+     found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in thought
+     with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds himself in a
+     perplexing position.
+
+     "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit
+     down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't
+     know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a cigar
+     and let me expound."
+
+     "Pray do so."
+
+     "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about young
+     McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, although they
+     impressed me in his favour and you against him. One was the fact that
+     his father should, according to his account, cry 'Cooee!' before
+     seeing him. The other was his singular dying reference to a rat. He
+     mumbled several words, you understand, but that was all that caught
+     the son's ear. Now from this double point our research must commence,
+     and we will begin it by presuming that what the lad says is
+     absolutely true."
+
+     "What of this 'Cooee!' then?"
+
+     "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The son,
+     as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that he was
+     within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the attention of
+     whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But 'Cooee' is a
+     distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used between Australians.
+     There is a strong presumption that the person whom McCarthy expected
+     to meet him at Boscombe Pool was someone who had been in Australia."
+
+     "What of the rat, then?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened it
+     out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," he said.
+     "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand over part of
+     the map. "What do you read?"
+
+     "ARAT," I read.
+
+     "And now?" He raised his hand.
+
+     "BALLARAT."
+
+     "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his son
+     only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter the name
+     of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat."
+
+     "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed.
+
+     "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down
+     considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point
+     which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a certainty.
+     We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite conception of
+     an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak."
+
+     "Certainly."
+
+     "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only be
+     approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could hardly
+     wander."
+
+     "Quite so."
+
+     "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the ground
+     I gained the trifling details which I gave to that imbecile Lestrade,
+     as to the personality of the criminal."
+
+     "But how did you gain them?"
+
+     "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles."
+
+     "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length of
+     his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces."
+
+     "Yes, they were peculiar boots."
+
+     "But his lameness?"
+
+     "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than his
+     left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he was
+     lame."
+
+     "But his left-handedness."
+
+     "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded by
+     the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from immediately
+     behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can that be unless
+     it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind that tree during
+     the interview between the father and son. He had even smoked there. I
+     found the ash of a cigar, which my special knowledge of tobacco ashes
+     enables me to pronounce as an Indian cigar. I have, as you know,
+     devoted some attention to this, and written a little monograph on the
+     ashes of 140 different varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette
+     tobacco. Having found the ash, I then looked round and discovered the
+     stump among the moss where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar,
+     of the variety which are rolled in Rotterdam."
+
+     "And the cigar-holder?"
+
+     "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he
+     used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the cut
+     was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife."
+
+     "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which he
+     cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as truly as
+     if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the direction in
+     which all this points. The culprit is--"
+
+     "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of our
+     sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.
+
+     The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His slow,
+     limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of decrepitude,
+     and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and his enormous limbs
+     showed that he was possessed of unusual strength of body and of
+     character. His tangled beard, grizzled hair, and outstanding,
+     drooping eyebrows combined to give an air of dignity and power to his
+     appearance, but his face was of an ashen white, while his lips and
+     the corners of his nostrils were tinged with a shade of blue. It was
+     clear to me at a glance that he was in the grip of some deadly and
+     chronic disease.
+
+     "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my note?"
+
+     "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to see
+     me here to avoid scandal."
+
+     "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall."
+
+     "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my companion
+     with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question was already
+     answered.
+
+     "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It is
+     so. I know all about McCarthy."
+
+     The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "But
+     I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you my word
+     that I would have spoken out if it went against him at the Assizes."
+
+     "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely.
+
+     "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It would
+     break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears that I am
+     arrested."
+
+     "It may not come to that," said Holmes.
+
+     "What?"
+
+     "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter who
+     required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Young
+     McCarthy must be got off, however."
+
+     "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for years.
+     My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a month. Yet I
+     would rather die under my own roof than in a jail."
+
+     Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand and a
+     bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he said. "I
+     shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson here can
+     witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the last
+     extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall not use
+     it unless it is absolutely needed."
+
+     "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I shall
+     live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I should wish to
+     spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the thing clear to you; it
+     has been a long time in the acting, but will not take me long to
+     tell.
+
+     "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil incarnate. I
+     tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of such a man as he.
+     His grip has been upon me these twenty years, and he has blasted my
+     life. I'll tell you first how I came to be in his power.
+
+     "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap then,
+     hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at anything; I got
+     among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck with my claim, took
+     to the bush, and in a word became what you would call over here a
+     highway robber. There were six of us, and we had a wild, free life of
+     it, sticking up a station from time to time, or stopping the wagons
+     on the road to the diggings. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I
+     went under, and our party is still remembered in the colony as the
+     Ballarat Gang.
+
+     "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and we
+     lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers and six
+     of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of their saddles
+     at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, however, before
+     we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the wagon-driver, who
+     was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the Lord that I had shot him
+     then, but I spared him, though I saw his wicked little eyes fixed on
+     my face, as though to remember every feature. We got away with the
+     gold, became wealthy men, and made our way over to England without
+     being suspected. There I parted from my old pals and determined to
+     settle down to a quiet and respectable life. I bought this estate,
+     which chanced to be in the market, and I set myself to do a little
+     good with my money, to make up for the way in which I had earned it.
+     I married, too, and though my wife died young she left me my dear
+     little Alice. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to
+     lead me down the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word,
+     I turned over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All
+     was going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me.
+
+     "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Regent
+     Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his foot.
+
+     "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be as
+     good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and you
+     can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, law-abiding
+     country is England, and there's always a policeman within hail.'
+
+     "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking them
+     off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land ever since.
+     There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; turn where I
+     would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my elbow. It grew
+     worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more afraid of her
+     knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he wanted he must have,
+     and whatever it was I gave him without question, land, money, houses,
+     until at last he asked a thing which I could not give. He asked for
+     Alice.
+
+     "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was
+     known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that his
+     lad should step into the whole property. But there I was firm. I
+     would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that I had any
+     dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that was enough. I
+     stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do his worst. We
+     were to meet at the pool midway between our houses to talk it over.
+
+     "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I smoked
+     a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. But as I
+     listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in me seemed to
+     come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my daughter with as
+     little regard for what she might think as if she were a slut from off
+     the streets. It drove me mad to think that I and all that I held most
+     dear should be in the power of such a man as this. Could I not snap
+     the bond? I was already a dying and a desperate man. Though clear of
+     mind and fairly strong of limb, I knew that my own fate was sealed.
+     But my memory and my girl! Both could be saved if I could but silence
+     that foul tongue. I did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply
+     as I have sinned, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But
+     that my girl should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was
+     more than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction
+     than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought
+     back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I was
+     forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in my
+     flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that occurred."
+
+     "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man
+     signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we may
+     never be exposed to such a temptation."
+
+     "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?"
+
+     "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you
+     will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the
+     Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is condemned I
+     shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be seen by mortal
+     eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or dead, shall be safe
+     with us."
+
+     "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds,
+     when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which
+     you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his giant
+     frame, he stumbled slowly from the room.
+
+     "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate play
+     such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such a case as
+     this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, 'There, but for
+     the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'"
+
+     James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a
+     number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and submitted
+     to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven months after our
+     interview, but he is now dead; and there is every prospect that the
+     son and daughter may come to live happily together in ignorance of
+     the black cloud which rests upon their past.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS
+
+     When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes cases
+     between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which present
+     strange and interesting features that it is no easy matter to know
+     which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, have already
+     gained publicity through the papers, and others have not offered a
+     field for those peculiar qualities which my friend possessed in so
+     high a degree, and which it is the object of these papers to
+     illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his analytical skill, and would
+     be, as narratives, beginnings without an ending, while others have
+     been but partially cleared up, and have their explanations founded
+     rather upon conjecture and surmise than on that absolute logical
+     proof which was so dear to him. There is, however, one of these last
+     which was so remarkable in its details and so startling in its
+     results that I am tempted to give some account of it in spite of the
+     fact that there are points in connection with it which never have
+     been, and probably never will be, entirely cleared up.
+
+     The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater or
+     less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my headings under
+     this one twelve months I find an account of the adventure of the
+     Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a
+     luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse, of the
+     facts connected with the loss of the British barque "Sophy Anderson",
+     of the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of
+     Uffa, and finally of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as
+     may be remembered, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead
+     man's watch, to prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and
+     that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a
+     deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the
+     case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of
+     them present such singular features as the strange train of
+     circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe.
+
+     It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had
+     set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and
+     the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the
+     heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds
+     for the instant from the routine of life and to recognise the
+     presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind
+     through the bars of his civilisation, like untamed beasts in a cage.
+     As evening drew in, the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind
+     cried and sobbed like a child in the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat
+     moodily at one side of the fireplace cross-indexing his records of
+     crime, while I at the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine
+     sea-stories until the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend
+     with the text, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the
+     long swash of the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's,
+     and for a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at
+     Baker Street.
+
+     "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the
+     bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?"
+
+     "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage
+     visitors."
+
+     "A client, then?"
+
+     "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out on
+     such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more likely
+     to be some crony of the landlady's."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there came
+     a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He stretched out his
+     long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and towards the vacant
+     chair upon which a newcomer must sit.
+
+     "Come in!" said he.
+
+     The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the outside,
+     well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of refinement and
+     delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella which he held in his
+     hand, and his long shining waterproof told of the fierce weather
+     through which he had come. He looked about him anxiously in the glare
+     of the lamp, and I could see that his face was pale and his eyes
+     heavy, like those of a man who is weighed down with some great
+     anxiety.
+
+     "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to his
+     eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have brought
+     some traces of the storm and rain into your snug chamber."
+
+     "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest here on
+     the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the
+     south-west, I see."
+
+     "Yes, from Horsham."
+
+     "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is quite
+     distinctive."
+
+     "I have come for advice."
+
+     "That is easily got."
+
+     "And help."
+
+     "That is not always so easy."
+
+     "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast how
+     you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal."
+
+     "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards."
+
+     "He said that you could solve anything."
+
+     "He said too much."
+
+     "That you are never beaten."
+
+     "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a
+     woman."
+
+     "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?"
+
+     "It is true that I have been generally successful."
+
+     "Then you may be so with me."
+
+     "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me
+     with some details as to your case."
+
+     "It is no ordinary one."
+
+     "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of appeal."
+
+     "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you have
+     ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of events
+     than those which have happened in my own family."
+
+     "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the essential
+     facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards question you as to
+     those details which seem to me to be most important."
+
+     The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out towards
+     the blaze.
+
+     "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, as
+     far as I can understand, little to do with this awful business. It is
+     a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an idea of the facts, I
+     must go back to the commencement of the affair.
+
+     "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias and
+     my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, which he
+     enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He was a patentee
+     of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business met with such
+     success that he was able to sell it and to retire upon a handsome
+     competence.
+
+     "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and
+     became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done very
+     well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, and
+     afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Lee laid
+     down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained
+     for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came back to Europe
+     and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. He had made a very
+     considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving them
+     was his aversion to the negroes, and his dislike of the Republican
+     policy in extending the franchise to them. He was a singular man,
+     fierce and quick-tempered, very foul-mouthed when he was angry, and
+     of a most retiring disposition. During all the years that he lived at
+     Horsham, I doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and
+     two or three fields round his house, and there he would take his
+     exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave his
+     room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he
+     would see no society and did not want any friends, not even his own
+     brother.
+
+     "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the time
+     when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This would be
+     in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years in England.
+     He begged my father to let me live with him and he was very kind to
+     me in his way. When he was sober he used to be fond of playing
+     backgammon and draughts with me, and he would make me his
+     representative both with the servants and with the tradespeople, so
+     that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite master of the house.
+     I kept all the keys and could go where I liked and do what I liked,
+     so long as I did not disturb him in his privacy. There was one
+     singular exception, however, for he had a single room, a lumber-room
+     up among the attics, which was invariably locked, and which he would
+     never permit either me or anyone else to enter. With a boy's
+     curiosity I have peeped through the keyhole, but I was never able to
+     see more than such a collection of old trunks and bundles as would be
+     expected in such a room.
+
+     "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp lay
+     upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a common
+     thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all paid in
+     ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From India!' said he
+     as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can this be?' Opening
+     it hurriedly, out there jumped five little dried orange pips, which
+     pattered down upon his plate. I began to laugh at this, but the laugh
+     was struck from my lips at the sight of his face. His lip had fallen,
+     his eyes were protruding, his skin the colour of putty, and he glared
+     at the envelope which he still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K.
+     K.!' he shrieked, and then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken
+     me!'
+
+     "'What is it, uncle?' I cried.
+
+     "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his room,
+     leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope and saw
+     scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the gum, the
+     letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else save the five
+     dried pips. What could be the reason of his overpowering terror? I
+     left the breakfast-table, and as I ascended the stair I met him
+     coming down with an old rusty key, which must have belonged to the
+     attic, in one hand, and a small brass box, like a cashbox, in the
+     other.
+
+     "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' said he
+     with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my room to-day,
+     and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.'
+
+     "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to step
+     up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the grate there
+     was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned paper, while the
+     brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I glanced at the box I
+     noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was printed the treble K
+     which I had read in the morning upon the envelope.
+
+     "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave my
+     estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to my
+     brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. If
+     you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot,
+     take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy. I am
+     sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't say what turn
+     things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper where Mr. Fordham
+     shows you.'
+
+     "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with
+     him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest
+     impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every way in
+     my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I could not
+     shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left behind, though the
+     sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed and nothing happened to
+     disturb the usual routine of our lives. I could see a change in my
+     uncle, however. He drank more than ever, and he was less inclined for
+     any sort of society. Most of his time he would spend in his room,
+     with the door locked upon the inside, but sometimes he would emerge
+     in a sort of drunken frenzy and would burst out of the house and tear
+     about the garden with a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he
+     was afraid of no man, and that he was not to be cooped up, like a
+     sheep in a pen, by man or devil. When these hot fits were over,
+     however, he would rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar
+     it behind him, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the
+     terror which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen
+     his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it
+     were new raised from a basin.
+
+     "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to abuse
+     your patience, there came a night when he made one of those drunken
+     sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when we went to
+     search for him, face downward in a little green-scummed pool, which
+     lay at the foot of the garden. There was no sign of any violence, and
+     the water was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having regard to
+     his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who
+     knew how he winced from the very thought of death, had much ado to
+     persuade myself that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The
+     matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession of the
+     estate, and of some £14,000, which lay to his credit at the bank."
+
+     "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, one
+     of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me have the
+     date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the date of
+     his supposed suicide."
+
+     "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks
+     later, upon the night of May 2nd."
+
+     "Thank you. Pray proceed."
+
+     "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my request,
+     made a careful examination of the attic, which had been always locked
+     up. We found the brass box there, although its contents had been
+     destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a paper label, with the
+     initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and 'Letters, memoranda,
+     receipts, and a register' written beneath. These, we presume,
+     indicated the nature of the papers which had been destroyed by
+     Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was nothing of much importance
+     in the attic save a great many scattered papers and note-books
+     bearing upon my uncle's life in America. Some of them were of the war
+     time and showed that he had done his duty well and had borne the
+     repute of a brave soldier. Others were of a date during the
+     reconstruction of the Southern states, and were mostly concerned with
+     politics, for he had evidently taken a strong part in opposing the
+     carpet-bag politicians who had been sent down from the North.
+
+     "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at
+     Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the January
+     of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my father give a
+     sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the breakfast-table.
+     There he was, sitting with a newly opened envelope in one hand and
+     five dried orange pips in the outstretched palm of the other one. He
+     had always laughed at what he called my cock-and-bull story about the
+     colonel, but he looked very scared and puzzled now that the same
+     thing had come upon himself.
+
+     "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered.
+
+     "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I.
+
+     "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the
+     very letters. But what is this written above them?'
+
+     "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his shoulder.
+
+     "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked.
+
+     "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the
+     papers must be those that are destroyed.'
+
+     "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a
+     civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Where
+     does the thing come from?'
+
+     "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark.
+
+     "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do with
+     sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such nonsense.'
+
+     "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said.
+
+     "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.'
+
+     "'Then let me do so?'
+
+     "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such nonsense.'
+
+     "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate man. I
+     went about, however, with a heart which was full of forebodings.
+
+     "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went from
+     home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is in command
+     of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad that he should
+     go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from danger when he was
+     away from home. In that, however, I was in error. Upon the second day
+     of his absence I received a telegram from the major, imploring me to
+     come at once. My father had fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits
+     which abound in the neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a
+     shattered skull. I hurried to him, but he passed away without having
+     ever recovered his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been
+     returning from Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was
+     unknown to him, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no
+     hesitation in bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental
+     causes.' Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death,
+     I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of murder.
+     There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no robbery, no record
+     of strangers having been seen upon the roads. And yet I need not tell
+     you that my mind was far from at ease, and that I was well-nigh
+     certain that some foul plot had been woven round him.
+
+     "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me why
+     I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well convinced that
+     our troubles were in some way dependent upon an incident in my
+     uncle's life, and that the danger would be as pressing in one house
+     as in another.
+
+     "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two
+     years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time I
+     have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that this
+     curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended with the
+     last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, however;
+     yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in which it had
+     come upon my father."
+
+     The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and
+     turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried orange
+     pips.
+
+     "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is
+     London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were upon
+     my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the papers on the
+     sundial.'"
+
+     "What have you done?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Nothing."
+
+     "Nothing?"
+
+     "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white hands--"I
+     have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor rabbits when
+     the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the grasp of some
+     resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight and no precautions
+     can guard against."
+
+     "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are
+     lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for despair."
+
+     "I have seen the police."
+
+     "Ah!"
+
+     "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that the
+     inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all practical
+     jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really accidents, as
+     the jury stated, and were not to be connected with the warnings."
+
+     Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible imbecility!"
+     he cried.
+
+     "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the
+     house with me."
+
+     "Has he come with you to-night?"
+
+     "No. His orders were to stay in the house."
+
+     Again Holmes raved in the air.
+
+     "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you not
+     come at once?"
+
+     "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Prendergast
+     about my troubles and was advised by him to come to you."
+
+     "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have acted
+     before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than that which
+     you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which might help us?"
+
+     "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat
+     pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted paper,
+     he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," said he,
+     "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I observed that the
+     small, unburned margins which lay amid the ashes were of this
+     particular colour. I found this single sheet upon the floor of his
+     room, and I am inclined to think that it may be one of the papers
+     which has, perhaps, fluttered out from among the others, and in that
+     way has escaped destruction. Beyond the mention of pips, I do not see
+     that it helps us much. I think myself that it is a page from some
+     private diary. The writing is undoubtedly my uncle's."
+
+     Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper,
+     which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from a
+     book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the following
+     enigmatical notices:
+
+
+     4th. Hudson came. Same old platform.
+     7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and John Swain, of St.
+     Augustine.
+     9th. McCauley cleared.
+     10th. John Swain cleared.
+     12th. Visited Paramore. All well.
+
+     "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it to
+     our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another instant. We
+     cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told me. You must get
+     home instantly and act."
+
+     "What shall I do?"
+
+     "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must put
+     this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass box which
+     you have described. You must also put in a note to say that all the
+     other papers were burned by your uncle, and that this is the only one
+     which remains. You must assert that in such words as will carry
+     conviction with them. Having done this, you must at once put the box
+     out upon the sundial, as directed. Do you understand?"
+
+     "Entirely."
+
+     "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I
+     think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our web
+     to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first consideration is
+     to remove the pressing danger which threatens you. The second is to
+     clear up the mystery and to punish the guilty parties."
+
+     "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his
+     overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall certainly
+     do as you advise."
+
+     "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the
+     meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that you are
+     threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you go back?"
+
+     "By train from Waterloo."
+
+     "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that you
+     may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too closely."
+
+     "I am armed."
+
+     "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case."
+
+     "I shall see you at Horsham, then?"
+
+     "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek it."
+
+     "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news as to
+     the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every
+     particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the
+     wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered against the
+     windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come to us from amid
+     the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet of sea-weed in a
+     gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them once more.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk
+     forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he lit
+     his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue
+     smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling.
+
+     "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we
+     have had none more fantastic than this."
+
+     "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four."
+
+     "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems to
+     me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Sholtos."
+
+     "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to what
+     these perils are?"
+
+     "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered.
+
+     "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue
+     this unhappy family?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arms
+     of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal reasoner," he
+     remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all
+     its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which
+     led up to it but also all the results which would follow from it. As
+     Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation
+     of a single bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one
+     link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all
+     the other ones, both before and after. We have not yet grasped the
+     results which the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved
+     in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution
+     by the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest
+     pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to utilise
+     all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this in itself
+     implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge,
+     which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a
+     somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so impossible, however, that
+     a man should possess all knowledge which is likely to be useful to
+     him in his work, and this I have endeavoured in my case to do. If I
+     remember rightly, you on one occasion, in the early days of our
+     friendship, defined my limits in a very precise fashion."
+
+     "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Philosophy,
+     astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany
+     variable, geology profound as regards the mud-stains from any region
+     within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy
+     unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique,
+     violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine
+     and tobacco. Those, I think, were the main points of my analysis."
+
+     Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as I
+     said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with
+     all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put
+     away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he
+     wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which has been submitted to
+     us to-night, we need certainly to muster all our resources. Kindly
+     hand me down the letter K of the 'American Encyclopaedia' which
+     stands upon the shelf beside you. Thank you. Now let us consider the
+     situation and see what may be deduced from it. In the first place, we
+     may start with a strong presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some
+     very strong reason for leaving America. Men at his time of life do
+     not change all their habits and exchange willingly the charming
+     climate of Florida for the lonely life of an English provincial town.
+     His extreme love of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was
+     in fear of someone or something, so we may assume as a working
+     hypothesis that it was fear of someone or something which drove him
+     from America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by
+     considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and
+     his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those letters?"
+
+     "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the
+     third from London."
+
+     "From East London. What do you deduce from that?"
+
+     "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship."
+
+     "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the
+     probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was on board
+     of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the case of
+     Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and its
+     fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Does that
+     suggest anything?"
+
+     "A greater distance to travel."
+
+     "But the letter had also a greater distance to come."
+
+     "Then I do not see the point."
+
+     "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man or
+     men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send their
+     singular warning or token before them when starting upon their
+     mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign when it came
+     from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a steamer they
+     would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. But, as a matter
+     of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those seven weeks
+     represented the difference between the mail-boat which brought the
+     letter and the sailing vessel which brought the writer."
+
+     "It is possible."
+
+     "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly urgency
+     of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to caution. The blow
+     has always fallen at the end of the time which it would take the
+     senders to travel the distance. But this one comes from London, and
+     therefore we cannot count upon delay."
+
+     "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless persecution?"
+
+     "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital importance
+     to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think that it is
+     quite clear that there must be more than one of them. A single man
+     could not have carried out two deaths in such a way as to deceive a
+     coroner's jury. There must have been several in it, and they must
+     have been men of resource and determination. Their papers they mean
+     to have, be the holder of them who it may. In this way you see K. K.
+     K. ceases to be the initials of an individual and becomes the badge
+     of a society."
+
+     "But of what society?"
+
+     "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and sinking
+     his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?"
+
+     "I never have."
+
+     Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it
+     is," said he presently:
+
+     "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the
+     sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret society was
+     formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Southern states after
+     the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local branches in different
+     parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas,
+     Georgia, and Florida. Its power was used for political purposes,
+     principally for the terrorising of the negro voters and the murdering
+     and driving from the country of those who were opposed to its views.
+     Its outrages were usually preceded by a warning sent to the marked
+     man in some fantastic but generally recognised shape--a sprig of
+     oak-leaves in some parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On
+     receiving this the victim might either openly abjure his former ways,
+     or might fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death
+     would unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and
+     unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the society,
+     and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a case upon
+     record where any man succeeded in braving it with impunity, or in
+     which any of its outrages were traced home to the perpetrators. For
+     some years the organisation flourished in spite of the efforts of the
+     United States government and of the better classes of the community
+     in the South. Eventually, in the year 1869, the movement rather
+     suddenly collapsed, although there have been sporadic outbreaks of
+     the same sort since that date.'
+
+     "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the
+     sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the
+     disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may well
+     have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his family
+     have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. You can
+     understand that this register and diary may implicate some of the
+     first men in the South, and that there may be many who will not sleep
+     easy at night until it is recovered."
+
+     "Then the page we have seen--"
+
+     "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent the
+     pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to them.
+     Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or left the
+     country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a sinister
+     result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let some light into
+     this dark place, and I believe that the only chance young Openshaw
+     has in the meantime is to do what I have told him. There is nothing
+     more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over my violin and
+     let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the
+     still more miserable ways of our fellow-men."
+
+     It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a subdued
+     brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city.
+     Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came down.
+
+     "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I
+     foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of young
+     Openshaw's."
+
+     "What steps will you take?" I asked.
+
+     "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. I
+     may have to go down to Horsham, after all."
+
+     "You will not go there first?"
+
+     "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the maid
+     will bring up your coffee."
+
+     As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and
+     glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a chill
+     to my heart.
+
+     "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late."
+
+     "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it
+     done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved.
+
+     "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy Near
+     Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account:
+
+     "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H
+     Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and a
+     splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and
+     stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it was
+     quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was given,
+     and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was eventually
+     recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman whose name, as
+     it appears from an envelope which was found in his pocket, was John
+     Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. It is conjectured that
+     he may have been hurrying down to catch the last train from Waterloo
+     Station, and that in his haste and the extreme darkness he missed his
+     path and walked over the edge of one of the small landing-places for
+     river steamboats. The body exhibited no traces of violence, and there
+     can be no doubt that the deceased had been the victim of an
+     unfortunate accident, which should have the effect of calling the
+     attention of the authorities to the condition of the riverside
+     landing-stages."
+
+     We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and shaken
+     than I had ever seen him.
+
+     "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty
+     feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal
+     matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my hand
+     upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that I should
+     send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair and paced
+     about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a flush upon his
+     sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and unclasping of his long thin
+     hands.
+
+     "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could they
+     have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the direct line
+     to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too crowded, even on such a
+     night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, we shall see who will win in
+     the long run. I am going out now!"
+
+     "To the police?"
+
+     "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may take
+     the flies, but not before."
+
+     All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the
+     evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes had not
+     come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he entered, looking
+     pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, and tearing a piece
+     from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, washing it down with a long
+     draught of water.
+
+     "You are hungry," I remarked.
+
+     "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since
+     breakfast."
+
+     "Nothing?"
+
+     "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it."
+
+     "And how have you succeeded?"
+
+     "Well."
+
+     "You have a clue?"
+
+     "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not long
+     remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish
+     trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!"
+
+     "What do you mean?"
+
+     He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he
+     squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and
+     thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "S.
+     H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain James
+     Calhoun, Barque Lone Star, Savannah, Georgia."
+
+     "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "It
+     may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a precursor
+     of his fate as Openshaw did before him."
+
+     "And who is this Captain Calhoun?"
+
+     "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first."
+
+     "How did you trace it, then?"
+
+     He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with
+     dates and names.
+
+     "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers and
+     files of the old papers, following the future career of every vessel
+     which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in '83. There
+     were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were reported there
+     during those months. Of these, one, the Lone Star, instantly
+     attracted my attention, since, although it was reported as having
+     cleared from London, the name is that which is given to one of the
+     states of the Union."
+
+     "Texas, I think."
+
+     "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must have
+     an American origin."
+
+     "What then?"
+
+     "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Lone
+     Star was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a certainty. I
+     then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in the port of
+     London."
+
+     "Yes?"
+
+     "The Lone Star had arrived here last week. I went down to the Albert
+     Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the early
+     tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired to Gravesend
+     and learned that she had passed some time ago, and as the wind is
+     easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Goodwins and not
+     very far from the Isle of Wight."
+
+     "What will you do, then?"
+
+     "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I learn,
+     the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Finns and
+     Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away from the ship
+     last night. I had it from the stevedore who has been loading their
+     cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship reaches Savannah the
+     mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the cable will have
+     informed the police of Savannah that these three gentlemen are badly
+     wanted here upon a charge of murder."
+
+     There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, and
+     the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the orange pips
+     which would show them that another, as cunning and as resolute as
+     themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very severe were the
+     equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for news of the Lone Star
+     of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We did at last hear that
+     somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of a boat
+     was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the letters "L. S."
+     carved upon it, and that is all which we shall ever know of the fate
+     of the Lone Star.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP
+
+     Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal of
+     the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to opium.
+     The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some foolish freak
+     when he was at college; for having read De Quincey's description of
+     his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his tobacco with laudanum
+     in an attempt to produce the same effects. He found, as so many more
+     have done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of,
+     and for many years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object
+     of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see
+     him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point
+     pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble man.
+
+     One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, about
+     the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the clock. I
+     sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work down in her lap
+     and made a little face of disappointment.
+
+     "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out."
+
+     I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.
+
+     We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps
+     upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in some
+     dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.
+
+     "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, suddenly
+     losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms about my
+     wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in such trouble!"
+     she cried; "I do so want a little help."
+
+     "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney.  How
+     you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when you came
+     in."
+
+     "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was
+     always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds to
+     a light-house.
+
+     "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine and
+     water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or should
+     you rather that I sent James off to bed?"
+
+     "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about
+     Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about
+     him!"
+
+     It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband's
+     trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school
+     companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words as we could
+     find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it possible that we
+     could bring him back to her?
+
+     It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late he
+     had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the
+     farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been
+     confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and shattered,
+     in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him eight-and-forty
+     hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the dregs of the docks,
+     breathing in the poison or sleeping off the effects. There he was to
+     be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar of Gold, in Upper Swandam
+     Lane. But what was she to do? How could she, a young and timid woman,
+     make her way into such a place and pluck her husband out from among
+     the ruffians who surrounded him?
+
+     There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it.
+     Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thought,
+     why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical adviser, and
+     as such I had influence over him. I could manage it better if I were
+     alone. I promised her on my word that I would send him home in a cab
+     within two hours if he were indeed at the address which she had given
+     me. And so in ten minutes I had left my armchair and cheery
+     sitting-room behind me, and was speeding eastward in a hansom on a
+     strange errand, as it seemed to me at the time, though the future
+     only could show how strange it was to be.
+
+     But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my adventure.
+     Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the high wharves
+     which line the north side of the river to the east of London Bridge.
+     Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached by a steep flight of
+     steps leading down to a black gap like the mouth of a cave, I found
+     the den of which I was in search. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed
+     down the steps, worn hollow in the centre by the ceaseless tread of
+     drunken feet; and by the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the
+     door I found the latch and made my way into a long, low room, thick
+     and heavy with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden
+     berths, like the forecastle of an emigrant ship.
+
+     Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying in
+     strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thrown
+     back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a dark,
+     lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black shadows
+     there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, now faint,
+     as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the metal pipes.
+     The most lay silent, but some muttered to themselves, and others
+     talked together in a strange, low, monotonous voice, their
+     conversation coming in gushes, and then suddenly tailing off into
+     silence, each mumbling out his own thoughts and paying little heed to
+     the words of his neighbour. At the farther end was a small brazier of
+     burning charcoal, beside which on a three-legged wooden stool there
+     sat a tall, thin old man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists,
+     and his elbows upon his knees, staring into the fire.
+
+     As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe for
+     me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth.
+
+     "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend of
+     mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him."
+
+     There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and peering
+     through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and unkempt, staring
+     out at me.
+
+     "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of
+     reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what o'clock
+     is it?"
+
+     "Nearly eleven."
+
+     "Of what day?"
+
+     "Of Friday, June 19th."
+
+     "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What
+     d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his arms
+     and began to sob in a high treble key.
+
+     "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting this
+     two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
+
+     "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here a
+     few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll go
+     home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. Give me
+     your hand! Have you a cab?"
+
+     "Yes, I have one waiting."
+
+     "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I owe,
+     Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself."
+
+     I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of sleepers,
+     holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying fumes of the drug,
+     and looking about for the manager. As I passed the tall man who sat
+     by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my skirt, and a low voice
+     whispered, "Walk past me, and then look back at me." The words fell
+     quite distinctly upon my ear. I glanced down. They could only have
+     come from the old man at my side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as
+     ever, very thin, very wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling
+     down from between his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer
+     lassitude from his fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back.
+     It took all my self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a
+     cry of astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see
+     him but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull
+     eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and
+     grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He made
+     a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he turned
+     his face half round to the company once more, subsided into a
+     doddering, loose-lipped senility.
+
+     "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?"
+
+     "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you
+     would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend of
+     yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with you."
+
+     "I have a cab outside."
+
+     "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he
+     appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should recommend
+     you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to say that you
+     have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait outside, I shall be
+     with you in five minutes."
+
+           It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests,
+     for they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with
+     such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney was
+     once confined in the cab my mission was practically accomplished; and
+     for the rest, I could not wish anything better than to be associated
+     with my friend in one of those singular adventures which were the
+     normal condition of his existence. In a few minutes I had written my
+     note, paid Whitney's bill, led him out to the cab, and seen him
+     driven through the darkness. In a very short time a decrepit figure
+     had emerged from the opium den, and I was walking down the street
+     with Sherlock Holmes. For two streets he shuffled along with a bent
+     back and an uncertain foot. Then, glancing quickly round, he
+     straightened himself out and burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
+
+     "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added
+     opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little
+     weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical views."
+
+     "I was certainly surprised to find you there."
+
+     "But not more so than I to find you."
+
+     "I came to find a friend."
+
+     "And I to find an enemy."
+
+     "An enemy?"
+
+     "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural prey.
+     Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable inquiry, and
+     I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent ramblings of these
+     sots, as I have done before now. Had I been recognised in that den my
+     life would not have been worth an hour's purchase; for I have used it
+     before now for my own purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it
+     has sworn to have vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back
+     of that building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell
+     some strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless
+     nights."
+
+     "What! You do not mean bodies?"
+
+     "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had £1000 for every
+     poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It is the vilest
+     murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that Neville St. Clair
+     has entered it never to leave it more. But our trap should be here."
+     He put his two forefingers between his teeth and whistled shrilly--a
+     signal which was answered by a similar whistle from the distance,
+     followed shortly by the rattle of wheels and the clink of horses'
+     hoofs.
+
+     "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through the
+     gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from its side
+     lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?"
+
+     "If I can be of use."
+
+     "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more
+     so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one."
+
+     "The Cedars?"
+
+     "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I
+     conduct the inquiry."
+
+     "Where is it, then?"
+
+     "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us."
+
+     "But I am all in the dark."
+
+     "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up here.
+     All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a crown. Look out
+     for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her head. So long, then!"
+
+     He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through the
+     endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which widened
+     gradually, until we were flying across a broad balustraded bridge,
+     with the murky river flowing sluggishly beneath us. Beyond lay
+     another dull wilderness of bricks and mortar, its silence broken only
+     by the heavy, regular footfall of the policeman, or the songs and
+     shouts of some belated party of revellers. A dull wrack was drifting
+     slowly across the sky, and a star or two twinkled dimly here and
+     there through the rifts of the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with
+     his head sunk upon his breast, and the air of a man who is lost in
+     thought, while I sat beside him, curious to learn what this new quest
+     might be which seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to
+     break in upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several
+     miles, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of
+     suburban villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and
+     lit up his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that
+     he is acting for the best.
+
+     "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes you
+     quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great thing
+     for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are not
+     over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear little
+     woman to-night when she meets me at the door."
+
+     "You forget that I know nothing about it."
+
+     "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before we
+     get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can get
+     nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I can't
+     get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case clearly and
+     concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a spark where all is
+     dark to me."
+
+     "Proceed, then."
+
+     "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee a
+     gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have plenty of
+     money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very nicely, and
+     lived generally in good style. By degrees he made friends in the
+     neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter of a local brewer,
+     by whom he now has two children. He had no occupation, but was
+     interested in several companies and went into town as a rule in the
+     morning, returning by the 5.14 from Cannon Street every night. Mr.
+     St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of age, is a man of temperate
+     habits, a good husband, a very affectionate father, and a man who is
+     popular with all who know him. I may add that his whole debts at the
+     present moment, as far as we have been able to ascertain, amount to
+     £88 10s., while he has £220 standing to his credit in the Capital and
+     Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money
+     troubles have been weighing upon his mind.
+
+     "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier than
+     usual, remarking before he started that he had two important
+     commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy home a
+     box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife received a
+     telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his departure, to
+     the effect that a small parcel of considerable value which she had
+     been expecting was waiting for her at the offices of the Aberdeen
+     Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up in your London, you will
+     know that the office of the company is in Fresno Street, which
+     branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where you found me to-night. Mrs.
+     St. Clair had her lunch, started for the City, did some shopping,
+     proceeded to the company's office, got her packet, and found herself
+     at exactly 4.35 walking through Swandam Lane on her way back to the
+     station. Have you followed me so far?"
+
+     "It is very clear."
+
+     "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St.
+     Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, as
+     she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. While
+     she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly heard an
+     ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her husband looking
+     down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning to her from a
+     second-floor window. The window was open, and she distinctly saw his
+     face, which she describes as being terribly agitated. He waved his
+     hands frantically to her, and then vanished from the window so
+     suddenly that it seemed to her that he had been plucked back by some
+     irresistible force from behind. One singular point which struck her
+     quick feminine eye was that although he wore some dark coat, such as
+     he had started to town in, he had on neither collar nor necktie.
+
+     "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the
+     steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which you
+     found me to-night--and running through the front room she attempted
+     to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At the foot of the
+     stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of whom I have spoken,
+     who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who acts as assistant
+     there, pushed her out into the street. Filled with the most maddening
+     doubts and fears, she rushed down the lane and, by rare good-fortune,
+     met in Fresno Street a number of constables with an inspector, all on
+     their way to their beat. The inspector and two men accompanied her
+     back, and in spite of the continued resistance of the proprietor,
+     they made their way to the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been
+     seen. There was no sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that
+     floor there was no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous
+     aspect, who, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar
+     stoutly swore that no one else had been in the front room during the
+     afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was
+     staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had
+     been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box which
+     lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell a cascade
+     of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had promised to bring
+     home.
+
+     "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple showed,
+     made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. The rooms
+     were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an abominable
+     crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a sitting-room and led
+     into a small bedroom, which looked out upon the back of one of the
+     wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom window is a narrow strip,
+     which is dry at low tide but is covered at high tide with at least
+     four and a half feet of water. The bedroom window was a broad one and
+     opened from below. On examination traces of blood were to be seen
+     upon the windowsill, and several scattered drops were visible upon
+     the wooden floor of the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the
+     front room were all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the
+     exception of his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his
+     watch--all were there. There were no signs of violence upon any of
+     these garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St.
+     Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no other
+     exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the sill
+     gave little promise that he could save himself by swimming, for the
+     tide was at its very highest at the moment of the tragedy.
+
+     "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately implicated
+     in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the vilest
+     antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was known to have
+     been at the foot of the stair within a very few seconds of her
+     husband's appearance at the window, he could hardly have been more
+     than an accessory to the crime. His defence was one of absolute
+     ignorance, and he protested that he had no knowledge as to the doings
+     of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he could not account in any way
+     for the presence of the missing gentleman's clothes.
+
+     "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who
+     lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was certainly
+     the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Clair. His
+     name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which is familiar to
+     every man who goes much to the City. He is a professional beggar,
+     though in order to avoid the police regulations he pretends to a
+     small trade in wax vestas. Some little distance down Threadneedle
+     Street, upon the left-hand side, there is, as you may have remarked,
+     a small angle in the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his
+     daily seat, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap,
+     and as he is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends
+     into the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him.
+     I have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of
+     making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised at
+     the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His appearance, you
+     see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him without observing him.
+     A shock of orange hair, a pale face disfigured by a horrible scar,
+     which, by its contraction, has turned up the outer edge of his upper
+     lip, a bulldog chin, and a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which
+     present a singular contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him
+     out from amid the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his
+     wit, for he is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which
+     may be thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now
+     learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been the
+     last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest."
+
+     "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed
+     against a man in the prime of life?"
+
+     "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in other
+     respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Surely
+     your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that weakness in one
+     limb is often compensated for by exceptional strength in the others."
+
+     "Pray continue your narrative."
+
+     "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the
+     window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her
+     presence could be of no help to them in their investigations.
+     Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful
+     examination of the premises, but without finding anything which threw
+     any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not arresting
+     Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes during which he
+     might have communicated with his friend the Lascar, but this fault
+     was soon remedied, and he was seized and searched, without anything
+     being found which could incriminate him. There were, it is true, some
+     blood-stains upon his right shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his
+     ring-finger, which had been cut near the nail, and explained that the
+     bleeding came from there, adding that he had been to the window not
+     long before, and that the stains which had been observed there came
+     doubtless from the same source. He denied strenuously having ever
+     seen Mr. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes
+     in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Mrs.
+     St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband at the
+     window, he declared that she must have been either mad or dreaming.
+     He was removed, loudly protesting, to the police-station, while the
+     inspector remained upon the premises in the hope that the ebbing tide
+     might afford some fresh clue.
+
+     "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they had
+     feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Neville St.
+     Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And what do you think
+     they found in the pockets?"
+
+     "I cannot imagine."
+
+     "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with pennies
+     and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It was no wonder
+     that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a human body is a
+     different matter. There is a fierce eddy between the wharf and the
+     house. It seemed likely enough that the weighted coat had remained
+     when the stripped body had been sucked away into the river."
+
+     "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the room.
+     Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?"
+
+     "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose that
+     this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the window, there
+     is no human eye which could have seen the deed. What would he do
+     then? It would of course instantly strike him that he must get rid of
+     the tell-tale garments. He would seize the coat, then, and be in the
+     act of throwing it out, when it would occur to him that it would swim
+     and not sink. He has little time, for he has heard the scuffle
+     downstairs when the wife tried to force her way up, and perhaps he
+     has already heard from his Lascar confederate that the police are
+     hurrying up the street. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes
+     to some secret hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his
+     beggary, and he stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands
+     into the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it
+     out, and would have done the same with the other garments had not he
+     heard the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the
+     window when the police appeared."
+
+     "It certainly sounds feasible."
+
+     "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a better.
+     Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the station, but
+     it could not be shown that there had ever before been anything
+     against him. He had for years been known as a professional beggar,
+     but his life appeared to have been a very quiet and innocent one.
+     There the matter stands at present, and the questions which have to
+     be solved--what Neville St. Clair was doing in the opium den, what
+     happened to him when there, where is he now, and what Hugh Boone had
+     to do with his disappearance--are all as far from a solution as ever.
+     I confess that I cannot recall any case within my experience which
+     looked at the first glance so simple and yet which presented such
+     difficulties."
+
+     While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of
+     events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great town
+     until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and we rattled
+     along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Just as he
+     finished, however, we drove through two scattered villages, where a
+     few lights still glimmered in the windows.
+
+     "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have touched
+     on three English counties in our short drive, starting in Middlesex,
+     passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. See that light
+     among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside that lamp sits a
+     woman whose anxious ears have already, I have little doubt, caught
+     the clink of our horse's feet."
+
+     "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I asked.
+
+     "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. Mrs.
+     St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and you may
+     rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for my friend
+     and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have no news of her
+     husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!"
+
+     We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its own
+     grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and springing
+     down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding gravel-drive which led
+     to the house. As we approached, the door flew open, and a little
+     blonde woman stood in the opening, clad in some sort of light
+     mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy pink chiffon at her neck
+     and wrists. She stood with her figure outlined against the flood of
+     light, one hand upon the door, one half-raised in her eagerness, her
+     body slightly bent, her head and face protruded, with eager eyes and
+     parted lips, a standing question.
+
+     "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two of
+     us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw that my
+     companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "No good news?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "No bad?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have had
+     a long day."
+
+     "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to me
+     in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it possible for
+     me to bring him out and associate him with this investigation."
+
+     "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "You
+     will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our
+     arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so suddenly
+     upon us."
+
+     "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were not I
+     can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of any
+     assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be indeed
+     happy."
+
+     "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a well-lit
+     dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had been laid out,
+     "I should very much like to ask you one or two plain questions, to
+     which I beg that you will give a plain answer."
+
+     "Certainly, madam."
+
+     "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given to
+     fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion."
+
+     "Upon what point?"
+
+     "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Frankly,
+     now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking keenly down at
+     him as he leaned back in a basket-chair.
+
+     "Frankly, then, madam, I do not."
+
+     "You think that he is dead?"
+
+     "I do."
+
+     "Murdered?"
+
+     "I don't say that. Perhaps."
+
+     "And on what day did he meet his death?"
+
+     "On Monday."
+
+     "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how it
+     is that I have received a letter from him to-day."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been galvanised.
+
+     "What!" he roared.
+
+     "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of paper
+     in the air.
+
+     "May I see it?"
+
+     "Certainly."
+
+     He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out upon
+     the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I had left
+     my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The envelope was a
+     very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend postmark and with
+     the date of that very day, or rather of the day before, for it was
+     considerably after midnight.
+
+     "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your husband's
+     writing, madam."
+
+     "No, but the enclosure is."
+
+     "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go and
+     inquire as to the address."
+
+     "How can you tell that?"
+
+     "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried
+     itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that
+     blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight off,
+     and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This man has
+     written the name, and there has then been a pause before he wrote the
+     address, which can only mean that he was not familiar with it. It is,
+     of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles.
+     Let us now see the letter. Ha!  there has been an enclosure here!"
+
+     "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring."
+
+     "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?"
+
+     "One of his hands."
+
+     "One?"
+
+     "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual
+     writing, and yet I know it well."
+
+     "Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a huge
+     error which it may take some little time to rectify. Wait in
+     patience.
+     "Neville.
+
+     Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf of a book, octavo size, no
+     water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Gravesend by a man with a dirty
+     thumb. Ha! And the flap has been gummed, if I am not very much in
+     error, by a person who had been chewing tobacco. And you have no
+     doubt that it is your husband's hand, madam?"
+
+     "None. Neville wrote those words."
+
+     "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the
+     clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the danger is
+     over."
+
+     "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. The
+     ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from him."
+
+     "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!"
+
+     "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only
+     posted to-day."
+
+     "That is possible."
+
+     "If so, much may have happened between."
+
+     "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is well
+     with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I should know
+     if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him last he cut
+     himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room rushed upstairs
+     instantly with the utmost certainty that something had happened. Do
+     you think that I would respond to such a trifle and yet be ignorant
+     of his death?"
+
+     "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman may
+     be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reasoner. And
+     in this letter you certainly have a very strong piece of evidence to
+     corroborate your view. But if your husband is alive and able to write
+     letters, why should he remain away from you?"
+
+     "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable."
+
+     "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?"
+
+     "Very much so."
+
+     "Was the window open?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Then he might have called to you?"
+
+     "He might."
+
+     "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "A call for help, you thought?"
+
+     "Yes. He waved his hands."
+
+     "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the
+     unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?"
+
+     "It is possible."
+
+     "And you thought he was pulled back?"
+
+     "He disappeared so suddenly."
+
+     "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the room?"
+
+     "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the
+     Lascar was at the foot of the stairs."
+
+     "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his ordinary
+     clothes on?"
+
+     "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare throat."
+
+     "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?"
+
+     "Never."
+
+     "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?"
+
+     "Never."
+
+     "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about
+     which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little
+     supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day to-morrow."
+
+     A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our
+     disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary after
+     my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, who, when
+     he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for days, and even
+     for a week, without rest, turning it over, rearranging his facts,
+     looking at it from every point of view until he had either fathomed
+     it or convinced himself that his data were insufficient. It was soon
+     evident to me that he was now preparing for an all-night sitting. He
+     took off his coat and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown,
+     and then wandered about the room collecting pillows from his bed and
+     cushions from the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a
+     sort of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged,
+     with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front
+     of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old
+     briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner
+     of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent,
+     motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline
+     features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a
+     sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the summer sun
+     shining into the apartment. The pipe was still between his lips, the
+     smoke still curled upward, and the room was full of a dense tobacco
+     haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had seen upon
+     the previous night.
+
+     "Awake, Watson?" he asked.
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Game for a morning drive?"
+
+     "Certainly."
+
+     "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the stable-boy
+     sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He chuckled to himself
+     as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed a different man to the
+     sombre thinker of the previous night.
+
+     As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one was
+     stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly finished
+     when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was putting in the
+     horse.
+
+     "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his
+     boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the presence of
+     one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve to be kicked from
+     here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the key of the affair now."
+
+     "And where is it?" I asked, smiling.
+
+     "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he
+     continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been there,
+     and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Gladstone bag.
+     Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will not fit the lock."
+
+     We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into the
+     bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and trap, with
+     the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both sprang in, and
+     away we dashed down the London Road. A few country carts were
+     stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but the lines of
+     villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as some city in a
+     dream.
+
+     "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, flicking
+     the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been as blind as a
+     mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at
+     all."
+
+     In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily from
+     their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey side.
+     Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the river, and
+     dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the right and found
+     ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well known to the force,
+     and the two constables at the door saluted him. One of them held the
+     horse's head while the other led us in.
+
+     "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Inspector Bradstreet, sir."
+
+     "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come down
+     the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged jacket. "I
+     wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Certainly, Mr.
+     Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, office-like room,
+     with a huge ledger upon the table, and a telephone projecting from
+     the wall. The inspector sat down at his desk.
+
+     "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged with
+     being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. Clair, of
+     Lee."
+
+     "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries."
+
+     "So I heard. You have him here?"
+
+     "In the cells."
+
+     "Is he quiet?"
+
+     "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel."
+
+     "Dirty?"
+
+     "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his face is
+     as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been settled, he
+     will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you saw him, you
+     would agree with me that he needed it."
+
+     "I should like to see him very much."
+
+     "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave your
+     bag."
+
+     "No, I think that I'll take it."
+
+     "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a passage,
+     opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and brought us to
+     a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each side.
+
+     "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it is!" He
+     quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and glanced
+     through.
+
+     "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well."
+
+     We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his face
+     towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and heavily. He
+     was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his calling, with a
+     coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his tattered coat. He
+     was, as the inspector had said, extremely dirty, but the grime which
+     covered his face could not conceal its repulsive ugliness. A broad
+     wheal from an old scar ran right across it from eye to chin, and by
+     its contraction had turned up one side of the upper lip, so that
+     three teeth were exposed in a perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright
+     red hair grew low over his eyes and forehead.
+
+     "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector.
+
+     "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that he
+     might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." He
+     opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my
+     astonishment, a very large bath-sponge.
+
+     "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector.
+
+     "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very
+     quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable figure."
+
+     "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't look a
+     credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his key into the
+     lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The sleeper half
+     turned, and then settled down once more into a deep slumber. Holmes
+     stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, and then rubbed it
+     twice vigorously across and down the prisoner's face.
+
+     "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of
+     Lee, in the county of Kent."
+
+     Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled off
+     under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the coarse brown
+     tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had seamed it across, and
+     the twisted lip which had given the repulsive sneer to the face! A
+     twitch brought away the tangled red hair, and there, sitting up in
+     his bed, was a pale, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and
+     smooth-skinned, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy
+     bewilderment. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a
+     scream and threw himself down with his face to the pillow.
+
+     "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing
+     man. I know him from the photograph."
+
+     The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons
+     himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I
+     charged with?"
+
+     "With making away with Mr. Neville St.--Oh, come, you can't be
+     charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of
+     it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been twenty-seven
+     years in the force, but this really takes the cake."
+
+     "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime has
+     been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally detained."
+
+     "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said Holmes.
+     "You would have done better to have trusted your wife."
+
+     "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner.
+     "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My God!
+     What an exposure! What can I do?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him
+     kindly on the shoulder.
+
+     "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said he,
+     "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, if you
+     convince the police authorities that there is no possible case
+     against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the details
+     should find their way into the papers. Inspector Bradstreet would, I
+     am sure, make notes upon anything which you might tell us and submit
+     it to the proper authorities. The case would then never go into court
+     at all."
+
+     "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have
+     endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left my
+     miserable secret as a family blot to my children.
+
+     "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a
+     schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent
+     education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and finally
+     became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day my editor
+     wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the metropolis,
+     and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point from which all
+     my adventures started. It was only by trying begging as an amateur
+     that I could get the facts upon which to base my articles. When an
+     actor I had, of course, learned all the secrets of making up, and had
+     been famous in the green-room for my skill. I took advantage now of
+     my attainments. I painted my face, and to make myself as pitiable as
+     possible I made a good scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist
+     by the aid of a small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red
+     head of hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the
+     business part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as
+     a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned home
+     in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no less
+     than 26s. 4d.
+
+     "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until,
+     some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ served
+     upon me for £25. I was at my wit's end where to get the money, but a
+     sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's grace from the
+     creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, and spent the time
+     in begging in the City under my disguise. In ten days I had the money
+     and had paid the debt.
+
+     "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous work
+     at £2 a week when I knew that I could earn as much in a day by
+     smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the ground,
+     and sitting still. It was a long fight between my pride and the
+     money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up reporting and sat
+     day after day in the corner which I had first chosen, inspiring pity
+     by my ghastly face and filling my pockets with coppers. Only one man
+     knew my secret. He was the keeper of a low den in which I used to
+     lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could every morning emerge as a
+     squalid beggar and in the evenings transform myself into a
+     well-dressed man about town. This fellow, a Lascar, was well paid by
+     me for his rooms, so that I knew that my secret was safe in his
+     possession.
+
+     "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of
+     money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London could
+     earn £700 a year--which is less than my average takings--but I had
+     exceptional advantages in my power of making up, and also in a
+     facility of repartee, which improved by practice and made me quite a
+     recognised character in the City. All day a stream of pennies, varied
+     by silver, poured in upon me, and it was a very bad day in which I
+     failed to take £2.
+
+     "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country,
+     and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my
+     real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had business in the City.
+     She little knew what.
+
+     "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my room
+     above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, to my
+     horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the street,
+     with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of surprise, threw up
+     my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my confidant, the Lascar,
+     entreated him to prevent anyone from coming up to me. I heard her
+     voice downstairs, but I knew that she could not ascend. Swiftly I
+     threw off my clothes, pulled on those of a beggar, and put on my
+     pigments and wig. Even a wife's eyes could not pierce so complete a
+     disguise. But then it occurred to me that there might be a search in
+     the room, and that the clothes might betray me. I threw open the
+     window, reopening by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted
+     upon myself in the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which
+     was weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from
+     the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the
+     window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes would
+     have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of constables up
+     the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, I confess, to my
+     relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Neville St. Clair, I
+     was arrested as his murderer.
+
+     "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I was
+     determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and hence my
+     preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would be terribly
+     anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Lascar at a
+     moment when no constable was watching me, together with a hurried
+     scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to fear."
+
+     "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes.
+
+     "Good God! What a week she must have spent!"
+
+     "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet,
+     "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to post a
+     letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor customer of
+     his, who forgot all about it for some days."
+
+     "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt of
+     it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?"
+
+     "Many times; but what was a fine to me?"
+
+     "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are to
+     hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone."
+
+     "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take."
+
+     "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps may
+     be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. I am
+     sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for having
+     cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your results."
+
+     "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five pillows
+     and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if we drive to
+     Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
+
+     I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning
+     after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of
+     the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a purple dressing-gown,
+     a pipe-rack within his reach upon the right, and a pile of crumpled
+     morning papers, evidently newly studied, near at hand. Beside the
+     couch was a wooden chair, and on the angle of the back hung a very
+     seedy and disreputable hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and
+     cracked in several places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat
+     of the chair suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner
+     for the purpose of examination.
+
+     "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you."
+
+     "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my
+     results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his thumb
+     in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in connection
+     with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and even of
+     instruction."
+
+     I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his
+     crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows were
+     thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, homely
+     as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to it--that
+     it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of some mystery
+     and the punishment of some crime."
+
+     "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of
+     those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have four
+     million human beings all jostling each other within the space of a
+     few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of
+     humanity, every possible combination of events may be expected to
+     take place, and many a little problem will be presented which may be
+     striking and bizarre without being criminal. We have already had
+     experience of such."
+
+     "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I have
+     added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any legal crime."
+
+     "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler
+     papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the
+     adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt that
+     this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. You know
+     Peterson, the commissionaire?" 
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "It is to him that this trophy belongs."
+
+     "It is his hat."
+
+     "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will look
+     upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual problem.
+     And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Christmas
+     morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I have no doubt,
+     roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's fire. The facts are
+     these: about four o'clock on Christmas morning, Peterson, who, as you
+     know, is a very honest fellow, was returning from some small
+     jollification and was making his way homeward down Tottenham Court
+     Road. In front of him he saw, in the gaslight, a tallish man, walking
+     with a slight stagger, and carrying a white goose slung over his
+     shoulder. As he reached the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out
+     between this stranger and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter
+     knocked off the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend
+     himself and, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window
+     behind him. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from
+     his assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and
+     seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him,
+     dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the labyrinth
+     of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Court Road. The
+     roughs had also fled at the appearance of Peterson, so that he was
+     left in possession of the field of battle, and also of the spoils of
+     victory in the shape of this battered hat and a most unimpeachable
+     Christmas goose."
+
+     "Which surely he restored to their owner?"
+
+     "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For Mrs.
+     Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the
+     bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. B.' are
+     legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are some thousands
+     of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in this city of ours, it
+     is not easy to restore lost property to any one of them."
+
+     "What, then, did Peterson do?"
+
+     "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning,
+     knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. The
+     goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs that, in
+     spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it should be eaten
+     without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried it off, therefore,
+     to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, while I continue to retain
+     the hat of the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas dinner."
+
+     "Did he not advertise?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?"
+
+     "Only as much as we can deduce."
+
+     "From his hat?"
+
+     "Precisely."
+
+     "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered
+     felt?"
+
+     "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather yourself
+     as to the individuality of the man who has worn this article?"
+
+     I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather
+     ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round shape,
+     hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of red silk,
+     but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's name; but, as
+     Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were scrawled upon one
+     side. It was pierced in the brim for a hat-securer, but the elastic
+     was missing. For the rest, it was cracked, exceedingly dusty, and
+     spotted in several places, although there seemed to have been some
+     attempt to hide the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink.
+
+     "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend.
+
+     "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, however,
+     to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your
+     inferences."
+
+     "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?"
+
+     He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective fashion
+     which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less suggestive than
+     it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there are a few inferences
+     which are very distinct, and a few others which represent at least a
+     strong balance of probability. That the man was highly intellectual
+     is of course obvious upon the face of it, and also that he was fairly
+     well-to-do within the last three years, although he has now fallen
+     upon evil days. He had foresight, but has less now than formerly,
+     pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline
+     of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably
+     drink, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact
+     that his wife has ceased to love him."
+
+     "My dear Holmes!"
+
+     "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he
+     continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a
+     sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is
+     middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the last
+     few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are the more
+     patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, by the way,
+     that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid on in his
+     house."
+
+     "You are certainly joking, Holmes."
+
+     "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you
+     these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?"
+
+     "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I am
+     unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that this man
+     was intellectual?"
+
+     For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right over
+     the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is a
+     question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a brain
+     must have something in it."
+
+     "The decline of his fortunes, then?"
+
+     "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge
+     came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the band
+     of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could afford to
+     buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no hat since,
+     then he has assuredly gone down in the world."
+
+     "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the foresight
+     and the moral retrogression?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting his
+     finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer.  "They are
+     never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a sign of a
+     certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his way to take
+     this precaution against the wind. But since we see that he has broken
+     the elastic and has not troubled to replace it, it is obvious that he
+     has less foresight now than formerly, which is a distinct proof of a
+     weakening nature. On the other hand, he has endeavoured to conceal
+     some of these stains upon the felt by daubing them with ink, which is
+     a sign that he has not entirely lost his self-respect."
+
+     "Your reasoning is certainly plausible."
+
+     "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is
+     grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses lime-cream,
+     are all to be gathered from a close examination of the lower part of
+     the lining. The lens discloses a large number of hair-ends, clean cut
+     by the scissors of the barber. They all appear to be adhesive, and
+     there is a distinct odour of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe,
+     is not the gritty, grey dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust
+     of the house, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the
+     time, while the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive
+     that the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be
+     in the best of training."
+
+     "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him."
+
+     "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear
+     Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and when
+     your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear that you
+     also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's affection."
+
+     "But he might be a bachelor."
+
+     "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his wife.
+     Remember the card upon the bird's leg."
+
+     "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce
+     that the gas is not laid on in his house?"
+
+     "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I see
+     no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt that the
+     individual must be brought into frequent contact with burning
+     tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in one hand and
+     a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never got tallow-stains
+     from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?"
+
+     "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as you
+     said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm done
+     save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a waste of
+     energy."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew
+     open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment
+     with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with
+     astonishment.
+
+     "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped.
+
+     "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off
+     through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the
+     sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.
+
+     "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out his
+     hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly
+     scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but of
+     such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric point in
+     the dark hollow of his hand.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said he,
+     "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have
+     got?"
+
+     "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it
+     were putty."
+
+     "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."
+
+     "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated.
+
+     "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I have
+     read the advertisement about it in The Times every day lately. It is
+     absolutely unique, and its value can only be conjectured, but the
+     reward offered of £1000 is certainly not within a twentieth part of
+     the market price."
+
+     "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire plumped
+     down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.
+
+     "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are
+     sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the
+     Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but recover the
+     gem."
+
+     "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I
+     remarked.
+
+     "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, a
+     plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's
+     jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case has
+     been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the matter here,
+     I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, glancing over the dates,
+     until at last he smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the
+     following paragraph:
+
+     "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was
+     brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst. abstracted
+     from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the valuable gem known
+     as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, upper-attendant at the hotel,
+     gave his evidence to the effect that he had shown Horner up to the
+     dressing-room of the Countess of Morcar upon the day of the robbery
+     in order that he might solder the second bar of the grate, which was
+     loose. He had remained with Horner some little time, but had finally
+     been called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared,
+     that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco
+     casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was
+     accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the
+     dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was
+     arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found either
+     upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to the
+     Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on
+     discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, where
+     she found matters as described by the last witness. Inspector
+     Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest of Horner, who
+     struggled frantically, and protested his innocence in the strongest
+     terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for robbery having been
+     given against the prisoner, the magistrate refused to deal summarily
+     with the offence, but referred it to the Assizes. Horner, who had
+     shown signs of intense emotion during the proceedings, fainted away
+     at the conclusion and was carried out of court."
+
+     "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully,
+     tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the
+     sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to the
+     crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You see,
+     Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much more
+     important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the stone came
+     from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Baker, the
+     gentleman with the bad hat and all the other characteristics with
+     which I have bored you. So now we must set ourselves very seriously
+     to finding this gentleman and ascertaining what part he has played in
+     this little mystery. To do this, we must try the simplest means
+     first, and these lie undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the
+     evening papers. If this fail, I shall have recourse to other
+     methods."
+
+     "What will you say?"
+
+     "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at the
+     corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Henry
+     Baker can have the same by applying at 6.30 this evening at 221b,
+     Baker Street.' That is clear and concise."
+
+     "Very. But will he see it?"
+
+     "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor man,
+     the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his mischance
+     in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson that he
+     thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must have bitterly
+     regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his bird. Then, again,
+     the introduction of his name will cause him to see it, for everyone
+     who knows him will direct his attention to it. Here you are,
+     Peterson, run down to the advertising agency and have this put in the
+     evening papers."
+
+     "In which, sir?"
+
+     "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News,
+     Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you."
+
+     "Very well, sir. And this stone?"
+
+     "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Peterson,
+     just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here with me, for we
+     must have one to give to this gentleman in place of the one which
+     your family is now devouring."
+
+     When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and held
+     it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just see how it
+     glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime.
+     Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet baits. In the larger
+     and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody deed. This stone
+     is not yet twenty years old. It was found in the banks of the Amoy
+     River in southern China and is remarkable in having every
+     characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is blue in shade
+     instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister
+     history. There have been two murders, a vitriol-throwing, a suicide,
+     and several robberies brought about for the sake of this forty-grain
+     weight of crystallised charcoal. Who would think that so pretty a toy
+     would be a purveyor to the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in
+     my strong box now and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have
+     it."
+
+     "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?"
+
+     "I cannot tell."
+
+     "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had
+     anything to do with the matter?"
+
+     "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an absolutely
+     innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he was carrying was
+     of considerably more value than if it were made of solid gold. That,
+     however, I shall determine by a very simple test if we have an answer
+     to our advertisement."
+
+     "And you can do nothing until then?"
+
+     "Nothing."
+
+     "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall
+     come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I should
+     like to see the solution of so tangled a business."
+
+     "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I
+     believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I ought
+     to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop."
+
+     I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past six
+     when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I approached the
+     house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a coat which was
+     buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the bright semicircle
+     which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I arrived the door was
+     opened, and we were shown up together to Holmes' room.
+
+     "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and
+     greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could so
+     readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Baker. It is a
+     cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted for
+     summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have just come at the right
+     time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat."
+
+     He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a
+     broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of grizzled
+     brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight tremor of his
+     extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his habits. His rusty
+     black frock-coat was buttoned right up in front, with the collar
+     turned up, and his lank wrists protruded from his sleeves without a
+     sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a slow staccato fashion, choosing
+     his words with care, and gave the impression generally of a man of
+     learning and letters who had had ill-usage at the hands of fortune.
+
+     "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "because
+     we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your address. I
+     am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise."
+
+     Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not been
+     so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had no doubt
+     that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off both my hat
+     and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a hopeless
+     attempt at recovering them."
+
+     "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to eat
+     it."
+
+     "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his excitement.
+
+     "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. But
+     I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is about
+     the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your purpose equally
+     well?"
+
+     "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of relief.
+
+     "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of your
+     own bird, so if you wish--"
+
+     The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as
+     relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly see
+     what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are going to be
+     to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I will confine my
+     attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive upon the
+     sideboard."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug of
+     his shoulders.
+
+     "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the way,
+     would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one from? I am
+     somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a better grown
+     goose."
+
+     "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly
+     gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who frequent
+     the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in the Museum
+     itself during the day, you understand. This year our good host,
+     Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, on
+     consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to receive a
+     bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the rest is familiar
+     to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Scotch bonnet is fitted
+     neither to my years nor my gravity." With a comical pomposity of
+     manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and strode off upon his way.
+
+     "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the
+     door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing whatever
+     about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?"
+
+     "Not particularly."
+
+     "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up
+     this clue while it is still hot."
+
+     "By all means."
+
+     It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats
+     about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in a
+     cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out into smoke
+     like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly
+     as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley
+     Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street. In a
+     quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is a
+     small public-house at the corner of one of the streets which runs
+     down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the door of the private bar and
+     ordered two glasses of beer from the ruddy-faced, white-aproned
+     landlord.
+
+     "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," said
+     he.
+
+     "My geese!" The man seemed surprised.
+
+     "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, who
+     was a member of your goose club."
+
+     "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese."
+
+     "Indeed! Whose, then?"
+
+     "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden."
+
+     "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?"
+
+     "Breckinridge is his name."
+
+     "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, and
+     prosperity to your house. Good-night."
+
+     "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat as we
+     came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though we have
+     so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we have at the
+     other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal servitude
+     unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible that our
+     inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we have a line
+     of investigation which has been missed by the police, and which a
+     singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us follow it out to the
+     bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and quick march!"
+
+     We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a zigzag
+     of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest stalls bore the
+     name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor a horsey-looking
+     man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was helping a boy to
+     put up the shutters.
+
+     "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes.
+
+     The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my companion.
+
+     "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the bare
+     slabs of marble.
+
+     "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning."
+
+     "That's no good."
+
+     "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare."
+
+     "Ah, but I was recommended to you."
+
+     "Who by?"
+
+     "The landlord of the Alpha."
+
+     "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen."
+
+     "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?"
+
+     To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the
+     salesman.
+
+     "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms
+     akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now."
+
+     "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the geese
+     which you supplied to the Alpha."
+
+     "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!"
+
+     "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you should
+     be so warm over such a trifle."
+
+     "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. When
+     I pay good money for a good article there should be an end of the
+     business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you sell the
+     geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One would think
+     they were the only geese in the world, to hear the fuss that is made
+     over them."
+
+     "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been
+     making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us the
+     bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my opinion on a
+     matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the bird I ate is
+     country bred."
+
+     "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped the
+     salesman.
+
+     "It's nothing of the kind."
+
+     "I say it is."
+
+     "I don't believe it."
+
+     "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled them
+     ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that went to
+     the Alpha were town bred."
+
+     "You'll never persuade me to believe that."
+
+     "Will you bet, then?"
+
+     "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But I'll
+     have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be obstinate."
+
+     The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said he.
+
+     The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great
+     greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging lamp.
+
+     "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I was
+     out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is still one
+     left in my shop. You see this little book?"
+
+     "Well?"
+
+     "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, then,
+     here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers after their
+     names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Now, then! You
+     see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a list of my town
+     suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just read it out to me."
+
+     "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes.
+
+     "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger."
+
+     Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. Oakshott,
+     117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'"
+
+     "Now, then, what's the last entry?"
+
+     "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'"
+
+     "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?"
+
+     "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'"
+
+     "What have you to say now?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from his
+     pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the air of
+     a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off he stopped
+     under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless fashion which
+     was peculiar to him.
+
+     "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un'
+     protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," said
+     he. "I daresay that if I had put £100 down in front of him, that man
+     would not have given me such complete information as was drawn from
+     him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager. Well, Watson, we
+     are, I fancy, nearing the end of our quest, and the only point which
+     remains to be determined is whether we should go on to this Mrs.
+     Oakshott to-night, or whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It
+     is clear from what that surly fellow said that there are others
+     besides ourselves who are anxious about the matter, and I should--"
+
+     His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke out
+     from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a little
+     rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of yellow light
+     which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Breckinridge, the
+     salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was shaking his fists
+     fiercely at the cringing figure.
+
+     "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you were
+     all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more with
+     your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Oakshott here
+     and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with it? Did I buy the
+     geese off you?"
+
+     "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little man.
+
+     "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it."
+
+     "She told me to ask you."
+
+     "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had
+     enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and the
+     inquirer flitted away into the darkness.
+
+     "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes.
+     "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this fellow."
+     Striding through the scattered knots of people who lounged round the
+     flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the little man and
+     touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang round, and I could see in
+     the gas-light that every vestige of colour had been driven from his
+     face.
+
+     "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering voice.
+
+     "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help
+     overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. I
+     think that I could be of assistance to you."
+
+     "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?"
+
+     "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other
+     people don't know."
+
+     "But you can know nothing of this?"
+
+     "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to trace
+     some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Road, to a
+     salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Windigate, of the
+     Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. Henry Baker is a member."
+
+     "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried the
+     little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "I can
+     hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that
+     case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this
+     wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we go
+     farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting."
+
+     The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he
+     answered with a sidelong glance.
+
+     "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always awkward
+     doing business with an alias."
+
+     A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," said
+     he, "my real name is James Ryder."
+
+     "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray step
+     into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you everything which
+     you would wish to know."
+
+     The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with
+     half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure whether he
+     is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Then he stepped
+     into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the sitting-room at
+     Baker Street. Nothing had been said during our drive, but the high,
+     thin breathing of our new companion, and the claspings and
+     unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous tension within him.
+
+     "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "The
+     fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Mr. Ryder.
+     Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my slippers before we
+     settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! You want to know what
+     became of those geese?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in
+     which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the tail."
+
+     Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell me
+     where it went to?"
+
+     "It came here."
+
+     "Here?"
+
+     "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that you
+     should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was dead--the
+     bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I have it
+     here in my museum."
+
+     Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece with
+     his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up the blue
+     carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, brilliant,
+     many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a drawn face,
+     uncertain whether to claim or to disown it.
+
+     "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or you'll
+     be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Watson. He's
+     not got blood enough to go in for felony with impunity. Give him a
+     dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little more human. What a shrimp
+     it is, to be sure!"
+
+     For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy
+     brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring with
+     frightened eyes at his accuser.
+
+     "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I
+     could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me.
+     Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case
+     complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Countess of
+     Morcar's?"
+
+     "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a crackling
+     voice.
+
+     "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sudden
+     wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has been for
+     better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous in the means
+     you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the making of a very
+     pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Horner, the plumber,
+     had been concerned in some such matter before, and that suspicion
+     would rest the more readily upon him. What did you do, then? You made
+     some small job in my lady's room--you and your confederate
+     Cusack--and you managed that he should be the man sent for. Then,
+     when he had left, you rifled the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and
+     had this unfortunate man arrested. You then--"
+
+     Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my
+     companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Think
+     of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I never went
+     wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll swear it on a
+     Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's sake, don't!"
+
+     "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well to
+     cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this poor
+     Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing."
+
+     "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the
+     charge against him will break down."
+
+     "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account of
+     the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the
+     goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies your
+     only hope of safety."
+
+     Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you it
+     just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been arrested,
+     it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get away with the
+     stone at once, for I did not know at what moment the police might not
+     take it into their heads to search me and my room. There was no place
+     about the hotel where it would be safe. I went out, as if on some
+     commission, and I made for my sister's house. She had married a man
+     named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened fowls
+     for the market. All the way there every man I met seemed to me to be
+     a policeman or a detective; and, for all that it was a cold night,
+     the sweat was pouring down my face before I came to the Brixton Road.
+     My sister asked me what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I
+     told her that I had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel.
+     Then I went into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it
+     would be best to do.
+
+     "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and has
+     just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met me, and
+     fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they could get rid
+     of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to me, for I knew
+     one or two things about him; so I made up my mind to go right on to
+     Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my confidence. He would
+     show me how to turn the stone into money. But how to get to him in
+     safety? I thought of the agonies I had gone through in coming from
+     the hotel. I might at any moment be seized and searched, and there
+     would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket. I was leaning against the
+     wall at the time and looking at the geese which were waddling about
+     round my feet, and suddenly an idea came into my head which showed me
+     how I could beat the best detective that ever lived.
+
+     "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the pick
+     of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she was always
+     as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in it I would
+     carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the yard, and
+     behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big one, white, with a
+     barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill open, I thrust the
+     stone down its throat as far as my finger could reach. The bird gave
+     a gulp, and I felt the stone pass along its gullet and down into its
+     crop. But the creature flapped and struggled, and out came my sister
+     to know what was the matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute
+     broke loose and fluttered off among the others.
+
+     "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she.
+
+     "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I was
+     feeling which was the fattest.'
+
+     "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we call
+     it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six of them,
+     which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen for the
+     market.'
+
+     "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, I'd
+     rather have that one I was handling just now.'
+
+     "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we
+     fattened it expressly for you.'
+
+     "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I.
+
+     "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it you
+     want, then?'
+
+     "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the
+     flock.'
+
+     "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.'
+
+     "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird all
+     the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was a man
+     that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed until he
+     choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My heart turned to
+     water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I knew that some
+     terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, rushed back to my
+     sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There was not a bird to be
+     seen there.
+
+     "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried.
+
+     "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.'
+
+     "'Which dealer's?'
+
+     "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.'
+
+     "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same as
+     the one I chose?'
+
+     "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never tell
+     them apart.'
+
+     "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my feet
+     would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the lot at
+     once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they had gone.
+     You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always answered me
+     like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Sometimes I think
+     that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself a branded thief,
+     without ever having touched the wealth for which I sold my character.
+     God help me! God help me!" He burst into convulsive sobbing, with his
+     face buried in his hands.
+
+     There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and by
+     the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the edge of
+     the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door.
+
+     "Get out!" said he.
+
+     "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!"
+
+     "No more words. Get out!"
+
+     And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the
+     stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running footfalls
+     from the street.
+
+     "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his clay
+     pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies.
+     If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; but this fellow
+     will not appear against him, and the case must collapse. I suppose
+     that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am
+     saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too
+     terribly frightened. Send him to jail now, and you make him a
+     jail-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of forgiveness. Chance
+     has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its
+     solution is its own reward. If you will have the goodness to touch
+     the bell, Doctor, we will begin another investigation, in which, also
+     a bird will be the chief feature."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND
+
+     On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have
+     during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock
+     Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely
+     strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the
+     love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to
+     associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards
+     the unusual, and even the fantastic. Of all these varied cases,
+     however, I cannot recall any which presented more singular features
+     than that which was associated with the well-known Surrey family of
+     the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. The events in question occurred in the
+     early days of my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms
+     as bachelors in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed
+     them upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the
+     time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the
+     untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It is
+     perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I have
+     reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the death of
+     Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even more terrible
+     than the truth.
+
+     It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to find
+     Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. He
+     was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the mantelpiece
+     showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I blinked up at him
+     in some surprise, and perhaps just a little resentment, for I was
+     myself regular in my habits.
+
+     "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the common
+     lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon
+     me, and I on you."
+
+     "What is it, then--a fire?"
+
+     "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a
+     considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She is
+     waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander about
+     the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock sleepy people
+     up out of their beds, I presume that it is something very pressing
+     which they have to communicate. Should it prove to be an interesting
+     case, you would, I am sure, wish to follow it from the outset. I
+     thought, at any rate, that I should call you and give you the
+     chance."
+
+     "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything."
+
+     I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional
+     investigations, and in admiring the rapid deductions, as swift as
+     intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis with which he
+     unravelled the problems which were submitted to him. I rapidly threw
+     on my clothes and was ready in a few minutes to accompany my friend
+     down to the sitting-room. A lady dressed in black and heavily veiled,
+     who had been sitting in the window, rose as we entered.
+
+     "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock
+     Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, before
+     whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am glad to see
+     that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the fire. Pray draw
+     up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot coffee, for I observe
+     that you are shivering."
+
+     "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low
+     voice, changing her seat as requested.
+
+     "What, then?"
+
+     "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as she
+     spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of
+     agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless frightened
+     eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were
+     those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with premature
+     grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes ran
+     her over with one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances.
+
+     "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and patting
+     her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no doubt. You
+     have come in by train this morning, I see."
+
+     "You know me, then?"
+
+     "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of
+     your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had a good
+     drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached the
+     station."
+
+     The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my
+     companion.
+
+     "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left arm
+     of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places.
+     The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a dog-cart
+     which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you sit on the
+     left-hand side of the driver."
+
+     "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said she.
+     "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at twenty past,
+     and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I can stand this
+     strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. I have no one to
+     turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, and he, poor fellow,
+     can be of little aid. I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes; I have heard
+     of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you helped in the hour of her sore
+     need. It was from her that I had your address. Oh, sir, do you not
+     think that you could help me, too, and at least throw a little light
+     through the dense darkness which surrounds me? At present it is out
+     of my power to reward you for your services, but in a month or six
+     weeks I shall be married, with the control of my own income, and then
+     at least you shall not find me ungrateful."
+
+     Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small
+     case-book, which he consulted.
+
+     "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was concerned
+     with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Watson. I can
+     only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the same care to
+     your case as I did to that of your friend. As to reward, my
+     profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty to defray
+     whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which suits you best.
+     And now I beg that you will lay before us everything that may help us
+     in forming an opinion upon the matter."
+
+     "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation lies in
+     the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions depend so
+     entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to another, that
+     even he to whom of all others I have a right to look for help and
+     advice looks upon all that I tell him about it as the fancies of a
+     nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can read it from his
+     soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have heard, Mr. Holmes, that
+     you can see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart.
+     You may advise me how to walk amid the dangers which encompass me."
+
+     "I am all attention, madam."
+
+     "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who is
+     the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the
+     Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Surrey."
+
+     Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he.
+
+     "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the
+     estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and
+     Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four successive
+     heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, and the family
+     ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the days of the
+     Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and the
+     two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under a heavy
+     mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence there, living the
+     horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but his only son, my
+     stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the new conditions,
+     obtained an advance from a relative, which enabled him to take a
+     medical degree and went out to Calcutta, where, by his professional
+     skill and his force of character, he established a large practice. In
+     a fit of anger, however, caused by some robberies which had been
+     perpetrated in the house, he beat his native butler to death and
+     narrowly escaped a capital sentence. As it was, he suffered a long
+     term of imprisonment and afterwards returned to England a morose and
+     disappointed man.
+
+     "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the
+     young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. My
+     sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at the
+     time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable sum of
+     money--not less than £1000 a year--and this she bequeathed to Dr.
+     Roylott entirely while we resided with him, with a provision that a
+     certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the event of
+     our marriage. Shortly after our return to England my mother died--she
+     was killed eight years ago in a railway accident near Crewe. Dr.
+     Roylott then abandoned his attempts to establish himself in practice
+     in London and took us to live with him in the old ancestral house at
+     Stoke Moran. The money which my mother had left was enough for all
+     our wants, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness.
+
+     "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time.
+     Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbours,
+     who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back
+     in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his house and seldom
+     came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might
+     cross his path. Violence of temper approaching to mania has been
+     hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather's case it
+     had, I believe, been intensified by his long residence in the
+     tropics. A series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which
+     ended in the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the
+     village, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of
+     immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.
+
+     "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a
+     stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I could
+     gather together that I was able to avert another public exposure. He
+     had no friends at all save the wandering gypsies, and he would give
+     these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few acres of bramble-covered
+     land which represent the family estate, and would accept in return
+     the hospitality of their tents, wandering away with them sometimes
+     for weeks on end. He has a passion also for Indian animals, which are
+     sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a
+     cheetah and a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds and are
+     feared by the villagers almost as much as their master.
+
+     "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I had
+     no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with us, and
+     for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was but thirty
+     at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already begun to
+     whiten, even as mine has."
+
+     "Your sister is dead, then?"
+
+     "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish to
+     speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I have
+     described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own age and
+     position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden sister, Miss
+     Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we were occasionally
+     allowed to pay short visits at this lady's house. Julia went there at
+     Christmas two years ago, and met there a half-pay major of marines,
+     to whom she became engaged. My stepfather learned of the engagement
+     when my sister returned and offered no objection to the marriage; but
+     within a fortnight of the day which had been fixed for the wedding,
+     the terrible event occurred which has deprived me of my only
+     companion."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes
+     closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his lids
+     now and glanced across at his visitor.
+
+     "Pray be precise as to details," said he.
+
+     "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful time is
+     seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have already said,
+     very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The bedrooms in this
+     wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms being in the central
+     block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the first is Dr. Roylott's,
+     the second my sister's, and the third my own. There is no
+     communication between them, but they all open out into the same
+     corridor. Do I make myself plain?"
+
+     "Perfectly so."
+
+     "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That fatal
+     night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we knew that he
+     had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled by the smell of
+     the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom to smoke. She left
+     her room, therefore, and came into mine, where she sat for some time,
+     chatting about her approaching wedding. At eleven o'clock she rose to
+     leave me, but she paused at the door and looked back.
+
+     "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle in
+     the dead of the night?'
+
+     "'Never,' said I.
+
+     "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in your
+     sleep?'
+
+     "'Certainly not. But why?'
+
+     "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three in
+     the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, and it
+     has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps from the
+     next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would just ask you
+     whether you had heard it.'
+
+     "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the
+     plantation.'
+
+     "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you did
+     not hear it also.'
+
+     "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.'
+
+     "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled back
+     at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her key turn
+     in the lock."
+
+     "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock yourselves
+     in at night?"
+
+     "Always."
+
+     "And why?"
+
+     "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah and a
+     baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were locked."
+
+     "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement."
+
+     "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending
+     misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, were
+     twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two souls
+     which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind was
+     howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing against the
+     windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, there burst forth
+     the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew that it was my sister's
+     voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a shawl round me, and rushed
+     into the corridor. As I opened my door I seemed to hear a low
+     whistle, such as my sister described, and a few moments later a
+     clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fallen. As I ran down the
+     passage, my sister's door was unlocked, and revolved slowly upon its
+     hinges. I stared at it horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to
+     issue from it. By the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister
+     appear at the opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands
+     groping for help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a
+     drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that
+     moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground.  She
+     writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were dreadfully
+     convulsed. At first I thought that she had not recognised me, but as
+     I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out in a voice which I shall
+     never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled
+     band!' There was something else which she would fain have said, and
+     she stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of the
+     doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion seized her and choked her
+     words. I rushed out, calling loudly for my stepfather, and I met him
+     hastening from his room in his dressing-gown. When he reached my
+     sister's side she was unconscious, and though he poured brandy down
+     her throat and sent for medical aid from the village, all efforts
+     were in vain, for she slowly sank and died without having recovered
+     her consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister."
+
+     "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and
+     metallic sound? Could you swear to it?"
+
+     "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is my
+     strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the
+     gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have been
+     deceived."
+
+     "Was your sister dressed?"
+
+     "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the
+     charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box."
+
+     "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the
+     alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the
+     coroner come to?"
+
+     "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's conduct
+     had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to find any
+     satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the door had
+     been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows were blocked by
+     old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, which were secured every
+     night. The walls were carefully sounded, and were shown to be quite
+     solid all round, and the flooring was also thoroughly examined, with
+     the same result. The chimney is wide, but is barred up by four large
+     staples. It is certain, therefore, that my sister was quite alone
+     when she met her end. Besides, there were no marks of any violence
+     upon her."
+
+     "How about poison?"
+
+     "The doctors examined her for it, but without success."
+
+     "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?"
+
+     "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, though
+     what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine."
+
+     "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?"
+
+     "Yes, there are nearly always some there."
+
+     "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a speckled
+     band?"
+
+     "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of
+     delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of people,
+     perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not know
+     whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear over
+     their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which she
+     used."
+
+     Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied.
+
+     "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your
+     narrative."
+
+     "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until lately
+     lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, whom I have
+     known for many years, has done me the honour to ask my hand in
+     marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the second son of Mr.
+     Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My stepfather has offered no
+     opposition to the match, and we are to be married in the course of
+     the spring. Two days ago some repairs were started in the west wing
+     of the building, and my bedroom wall has been pierced, so that I have
+     had to move into the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in
+     the very bed in which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror
+     when last night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I
+     suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which had
+     been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the lamp, but
+     nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to go to bed
+     again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was daylight I
+     slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which is opposite, and
+     drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on this morning with
+     the one object of seeing you and asking your advice."
+
+     "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me all?"
+
+     "Yes, all."
+
+     "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather."
+
+     "Why, what do you mean?"
+
+     For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which fringed
+     the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little livid spots,
+     the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white
+     wrist.
+
+     "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes.
+
+     The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He is a
+     hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength."
+
+     There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin upon
+     his hands and stared into the crackling fire.
+
+     "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a
+     thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide upon
+     our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If we were to
+     come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for us to see over
+     these rooms without the knowledge of your stepfather?"
+
+     "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some most
+     important business. It is probable that he will be away all day, and
+     that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a housekeeper
+     now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily get her out of
+     the way."
+
+     "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?"
+
+     "By no means."
+
+     "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?"
+
+     "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am in
+     town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to be
+     there in time for your coming."
+
+     "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some
+     small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and
+     breakfast?"
+
+     "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have confided
+     my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you again this
+     afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her face and glided
+     from the room.
+
+     "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes,
+     leaning back in his chair.
+
+     "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business."
+
+     "Dark enough and sinister enough."
+
+     "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls are
+     sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, then
+     her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her
+     mysterious end."
+
+     "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the
+     very peculiar words of the dying woman?"
+
+     "I cannot think."
+
+     "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of a
+     band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the
+     fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has an
+     interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying
+     allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner
+     heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of those
+     metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its place, I
+     think that there is good ground to think that the mystery may be
+     cleared along those lines."
+
+     "But what, then, did the gipsies do?"
+
+     "I cannot imagine."
+
+     "I see many objections to any such theory."
+
+     "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going to
+     Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are fatal,
+     or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the devil!"
+
+     The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that our
+     door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had framed
+     himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar mixture of the
+     professional and of the agricultural, having a black top-hat, a long
+     frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with a hunting-crop swinging
+     in his hand. So tall was he that his hat actually brushed the cross
+     bar of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span it across from
+     side to side. A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned
+     yellow with the sun, and marked with every evil passion, was turned
+     from one to the other of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and
+     his high, thin, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to
+     a fierce old bird of prey.
+
+     "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition.
+
+     "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my companion
+     quietly.
+
+     "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran."
+
+     "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat."
+
+     "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have
+     traced her. What has she been saying to you?"
+
+     "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes.
+
+     "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man furiously.
+
+     "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my
+     companion imperturbably.
+
+     "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step
+     forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel!  I
+     have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler."
+
+     My friend smiled.
+
+     "Holmes, the busybody!"
+
+     His smile broadened.
+
+     "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!"
+
+     Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most entertaining,"
+     said he. "When you go out close the door, for there is a decided
+     draught."
+
+     "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with my
+     affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I am a
+     dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped swiftly forward,
+     seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands.
+
+     "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and hurling
+     the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the room.
+
+     "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am not
+     quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my
+     grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke he picked up
+     the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again.
+
+     "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official
+     detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation,
+     however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer from
+     her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Watson,
+     we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk down to
+     Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may help us in
+     this matter."
+
+     It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his
+     excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over
+     with notes and figures.
+
+     "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To determine
+     its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the present prices
+     of the investments with which it is concerned. The total income,
+     which at the time of the wife's death was little short of £1100, is
+     now, through the fall in agricultural prices, not more than £750.
+     Each daughter can claim an income of £250, in case of marriage. It is
+     evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would
+     have had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to
+     a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, since
+     it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for standing in
+     the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, this is too serious
+     for dawdling, especially as the old man is aware that we are
+     interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you are ready, we shall
+     call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be very much obliged if
+     you would slip your revolver into your pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an
+     excellent argument with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into
+     knots. That and a tooth-brush are, I think, all that we need."
+
+     At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Leatherhead,
+     where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove for four or five
+     miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a perfect day, with a
+     bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the heavens. The trees and
+     wayside hedges were just throwing out their first green shoots, and
+     the air was full of the pleasant smell of the moist earth. To me at
+     least there was a strange contrast between the sweet promise of the
+     spring and this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My
+     companion sat in the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat
+     pulled down over his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried
+     in the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on
+     the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows.
+
+     "Look there!" said he.
+
+     A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, thickening
+     into a grove at the highest point. From amid the branches there
+     jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a very old mansion.
+
+     "Stoke Moran?" said he.
+
+     "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked the
+     driver.
+
+     "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is where
+     we are going."
+
+     "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of
+     roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the
+     house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the
+     foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is walking."
+
+     "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading his
+     eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest."
+
+     We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way to
+     Leatherhead.
+
+     "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "that
+     this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or on some
+     definite business. It may stop his gossip. Good-afternoon, Miss
+     Stoner. You see that we have been as good as our word."
+
+     Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a face
+     which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for you," she
+     cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned out splendidly.
+     Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that he will be back
+     before evening."
+
+     "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," said
+     Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had occurred. Miss
+     Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.
+
+     "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then."
+
+     "So it appears."
+
+     "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What
+     will he say when he returns?"
+
+     "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone more
+     cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself up from
+     him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to your aunt's
+     at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our time, so kindly take
+     us at once to the rooms which we are to examine."
+
+     The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central
+     portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out
+     on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken and
+     blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a
+     picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but
+     the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the
+     windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed
+     that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been
+     erected against the end wall, and the stone-work had been broken
+     into, but there were no signs of any workmen at the moment of our
+     visit. Holmes walked slowly up and down the ill-trimmed lawn and
+     examined with deep attention the outsides of the windows.
+
+     "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, the
+     centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main building to
+     Dr. Roylott's chamber?"
+
+     "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one."
+
+     "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does not
+     seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end wall."
+
+     "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from my
+     room."
+
+     "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow wing
+     runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There are
+     windows in it, of course?"
+
+     "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass through."
+
+     "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were
+     unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness to go
+     into your room and bar your shutters?"
+
+     Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination through
+     the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the shutter open,
+     but without success. There was no slit through which a knife could be
+     passed to raise the bar. Then with his lens he tested the hinges, but
+     they were of solid iron, built firmly into the massive masonry.
+     "Hum!" said he, scratching his chin in some perplexity, "my theory
+     certainly presents some difficulties. No one could pass these
+     shutters if they were bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws
+     any light upon the matter."
+
+     A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the
+     three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third chamber,
+     so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Stoner was now
+     sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her fate. It was a
+     homely little room, with a low ceiling and a gaping fireplace, after
+     the fashion of old country-houses. A brown chest of drawers stood in
+     one corner, a narrow white-counterpaned bed in another, and a
+     dressing-table on the left-hand side of the window. These articles,
+     with two small wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the
+     room save for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards
+     round and the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak,
+     so old and discoloured that it may have dated from the original
+     building of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner
+     and sat silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and
+     down, taking in every detail of the apartment.
+
+     "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last pointing to
+     a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the tassel actually
+     lying upon the pillow.
+
+     "It goes to the housekeeper's room."
+
+     "It looks newer than the other things?"
+
+     "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago."
+
+     "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?"
+
+     "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we
+     wanted for ourselves."
+
+     "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. You
+     will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to this
+     floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in his hand
+     and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining minutely the
+     cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the wood-work
+     with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he walked over to the
+     bed and spent some time in staring at it and in running his eye up
+     and down the wall. Finally he took the bell-rope in his hand and gave
+     it a brisk tug.
+
+     "Why, it's a dummy," said he.
+
+     "Won't it ring?"
+
+     "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. You
+     can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the little
+     opening for the ventilator is."
+
+     "How very absurd! I never noticed that before."
+
+     "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are one
+     or two very singular points about this room. For example, what a fool
+     a builder must be to open a ventilator into another room, when, with
+     the same trouble, he might have communicated with the outside air!"
+
+     "That is also quite modern," said the lady.
+
+     "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes.
+
+     "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that time."
+
+     "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy
+     bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your
+     permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the
+     inner apartment."
+
+     Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his
+     step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small
+     wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an
+     armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a
+     round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things which
+     met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each and all of
+     them with the keenest interest.
+
+     "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe.
+
+     "My stepfather's business papers."
+
+     "Oh! you have seen inside, then?"
+
+     "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of papers."
+
+     "There isn't a cat in it, for example?"
+
+     "No. What a strange idea!"
+
+     "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which stood
+     on the top of it.
+
+     "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon."
+
+     "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a
+     saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I
+     daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He
+     squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat of
+     it with the greatest attention.
+
+     "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting his
+     lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!"
+
+     The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on one
+     corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and tied
+     so as to make a loop of whipcord.
+
+     "What do you make of that, Watson?"
+
+     "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be tied."
+
+     "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, and
+     when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of all. I
+     think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and with your
+     permission we shall walk out upon the lawn."
+
+     I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as it
+     was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We had
+     walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Stoner nor
+     myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he roused himself
+     from his reverie.
+
+     "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should
+     absolutely follow my advice in every respect."
+
+     "I shall most certainly do so."
+
+     "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may depend
+     upon your compliance."
+
+     "I assure you that I am in your hands."
+
+     "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in
+     your room."
+
+     Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.
+
+     "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the
+     village inn over there?"
+
+     "Yes, that is the Crown."
+
+     "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?"
+
+     "Certainly."
+
+     "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a headache,
+     when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him retire for
+     the night, you must open the shutters of your window, undo the hasp,
+     put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then withdraw quietly with
+     everything which you are likely to want into the room which you used
+     to occupy. I have no doubt that, in spite of the repairs, you could
+     manage there for one night."
+
+     "Oh, yes, easily."
+
+     "The rest you will leave in our hands."
+
+     "But what will you do?"
+
+     "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the
+     cause of this noise which has disturbed you."
+
+     "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind,"
+     said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve.
+
+     "Perhaps I have."
+
+     "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's
+     death."
+
+     "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak."
+
+     "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and if
+     she died from some sudden fright."
+
+     "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more
+     tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Dr.
+     Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain.  Good-bye,
+     and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, you may rest
+     assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers that threaten you."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and
+     sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and from
+     our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and of the
+     inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Dr.
+     Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside the
+     little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some slight
+     difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard the hoarse
+     roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which he shook his
+     clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few minutes later we
+     saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the lamp was lit in
+     one of the sitting-rooms.
+
+     "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the
+     gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you
+     to-night. There is a distinct element of danger."
+
+     "Can I be of assistance?"
+
+     "Your presence might be invaluable."
+
+     "Then I shall certainly come."
+
+     "It is very kind of you."
+
+     "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms
+     than was visible to me."
+
+     "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine
+     that you saw all that I did."
+
+     "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose that
+     could answer I confess is more than I can imagine."
+
+     "You saw the ventilator, too?"
+
+     "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to have
+     a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a rat could
+     hardly pass through."
+
+     "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Stoke
+     Moran."
+
+     "My dear Holmes!"
+
+     "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her
+     sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that suggested
+     at once that there must be a communication between the two rooms. It
+     could only be a small one, or it would have been remarked upon at the
+     coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator."
+
+     "But what harm can there be in that?"
+
+     "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A ventilator
+     is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does
+     not that strike you?"
+
+     "I cannot as yet see any connection."
+
+     "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like
+     that before?"
+
+     "I cannot say that I have."
+
+     "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same
+     relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may
+     call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull."
+
+     "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. We
+     are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime."
+
+     "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong he is
+     the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer and
+     Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. This man strikes
+     even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall be able to strike
+     deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough before the night is
+     over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet pipe and turn our minds
+     for a few hours to something more cheerful."
+
+     About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, and
+     all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours passed
+     slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of eleven, a
+     single bright light shone out right in front of us.
+
+     "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it comes
+     from the middle window."
+
+     As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord,
+     explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and
+     that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A moment
+     later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing in our
+     faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us through the
+     gloom to guide us on our sombre errand.
+
+     There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for unrepaired
+     breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way among the trees,
+     we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about to enter through the
+     window when out from a clump of laurel bushes there darted what
+     seemed to be a hideous and distorted child, who threw itself upon the
+     grass with writhing limbs and then ran swiftly across the lawn into
+     the darkness.
+
+     "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?"
+
+     Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like a
+     vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low laugh
+     and put his lips to my ear.
+
+     "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon."
+
+     I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There was
+     a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders at any
+     moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, after following
+     Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I found myself inside the
+     bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the shutters, moved the lamp
+     onto the table, and cast his eyes round the room. All was as we had
+     seen it in the daytime. Then creeping up to me and making a trumpet
+     of his hand, he whispered into my ear again so gently that it was all
+     that I could do to distinguish the words:
+
+     "The least sound would be fatal to our plans."
+
+     I nodded to show that I had heard.
+
+     "We must sit without light. He would see it through the ventilator."
+
+     I nodded again.
+
+     "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your
+     pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the
+     bed, and you in that chair."
+
+     I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table.
+
+     Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the
+     bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the stump of a
+     candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left in darkness.
+
+     How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a
+     sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my
+     companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same state
+     of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut off the
+     least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.
+
+     From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at our
+     very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the
+     cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the deep tones
+     of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of an hour. How
+     long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and one and two and
+     three, and still we sat waiting silently for whatever might befall.
+
+     Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the direction
+     of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was succeeded by a
+     strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Someone in the next
+     room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle sound of movement, and
+     then all was silent once more, though the smell grew stronger. For
+     half an hour I sat with straining ears. Then suddenly another sound
+     became audible--a very gentle, soothing sound, like that of a small
+     jet of steam escaping continually from a kettle. The instant that we
+     heard it, Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed
+     furiously with his cane at the bell-pull.
+
+     "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?"
+
+     But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heard
+     a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my weary
+     eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which my friend
+     lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face was deadly
+     pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had ceased to strike and
+     was gazing up at the ventilator when suddenly there broke from the
+     silence of the night the most horrible cry to which I have ever
+     listened. It swelled up louder and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and
+     fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful shriek. They say that
+     away down in the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry
+     raised the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts,
+     and I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of
+     it had died away into the silence from which it rose.
+
+     "What can it mean?" I gasped.
+
+     "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, after
+     all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will enter Dr.
+     Roylott's room."
+
+     With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the corridor.
+     Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply from within.
+     Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his heels, with the
+     cocked pistol in my hand.
+
+     It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a
+     dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant beam of
+     light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Beside this
+     table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott clad in a long
+     grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding beneath, and his feet
+     thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Across his lap lay the
+     short stock with the long lash which we had noticed during the day.
+     His chin was cocked upward and his eyes were fixed in a dreadful,
+     rigid stare at the corner of the ceiling. Round his brow he had a
+     peculiar yellow band, with brownish speckles, which seemed to be
+     bound tightly round his head. As we entered he made neither sound nor
+     motion.
+
+     "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes.
+
+     I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began to
+     move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat
+     diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.
+
+     "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in India.
+     He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence does, in
+     truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit
+     which he digs for another. Let us thrust this creature back into its
+     den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to some place of shelter and
+     let the county police know what has happened."
+
+     As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, and
+     throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from its
+     horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into the iron
+     safe, which he closed upon it.
+
+     Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of
+     Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a narrative
+     which has already run to too great a length by telling how we broke
+     the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her by the
+     morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, of how the slow
+     process of official inquiry came to the conclusion that the doctor
+     met his fate while indiscreetly playing with a dangerous pet. The
+     little which I had yet to learn of the case was told me by Sherlock
+     Holmes as we travelled back next day.
+
+     "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which
+     shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from
+     insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the
+     word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to explain
+     the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of by the light
+     of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an entirely wrong scent.
+     I can only claim the merit that I instantly reconsidered my position
+     when, however, it became clear to me that whatever danger threatened
+     an occupant of the room could not come either from the window or the
+     door. My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to
+     you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the
+     bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was
+     clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the
+     rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and
+     coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and
+     when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished
+     with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I was probably on
+     the right track. The idea of using a form of poison which could not
+     possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as
+     would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern
+     training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect
+     would also, from his point of view, be an advantage. It would be a
+     sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could distinguish the two little dark
+     punctures which would show where the poison fangs had done their
+     work. Then I thought of the whistle. Of course he must recall the
+     snake before the morning light revealed it to the victim. He had
+     trained it, probably by the use of the milk which we saw, to return
+     to him when summoned. He would put it through this ventilator at the
+     hour that he thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl
+     down the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the
+     occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but sooner
+     or later she must fall a victim.
+
+     "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his room.
+     An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the habit of
+     standing on it, which of course would be necessary in order that he
+     should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe, the saucer of
+     milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to finally dispel any
+     doubts which may have remained. The metallic clang heard by Miss
+     Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather hastily closing the
+     door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Having once made up my
+     mind, you know the steps which I took in order to put the matter to
+     the proof. I heard the creature hiss as I have no doubt that you did
+     also, and I instantly lit the light and attacked it."
+
+     "With the result of driving it through the ventilator."
+
+     "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master at
+     the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and roused its
+     snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw. In this
+     way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Grimesby Roylott's
+     death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon
+     my conscience."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB
+
+     Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr.
+     Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, there
+     were only two which I was the means of introducing to his
+     notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel
+     Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a finer
+     field for an acute and original observer, but the other was so
+     strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that it may
+     be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gave my
+     friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of reasoning by
+     which he achieved such remarkable results. The story has, I believe,
+     been told more than once in the newspapers, but, like all such
+     narratives, its effect is much less striking when set forth en bloc
+     in a single half-column of print than when the facts slowly evolve
+     before your own eyes, and the mystery clears gradually away as each
+     new discovery furnishes a step which leads on to the complete truth.
+     At the time the circumstances made a deep impression upon me, and the
+     lapse of two years has hardly served to weaken the effect.
+
+     It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the
+     events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned to
+     civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Street
+     rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally even
+     persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come and
+     visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I happened to
+     live at no very great distance from Paddington Station, I got a few
+     patients from among the officials. One of these, whom I had cured of
+     a painful and lingering disease, was never weary of advertising my
+     virtues and of endeavouring to send me on every sufferer over whom he
+     might have any influence.
+
+     One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the
+     maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come from
+     Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I dressed
+     hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases were seldom
+     trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my old ally, the
+     guard, came out of the room and closed the door tightly behind him.
+
+     "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his
+     shoulder; "he's all right."
+
+     "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was
+     some strange creature which he had caged up in my room.
+
+     "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him round
+     myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe and sound.
+     I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the same as you." And
+     off he went, this trusty tout, without even giving me time to thank
+     him.
+
+     I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the
+     table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a soft
+     cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of his
+     hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all over with
+     bloodstains. He was young, not more than five-and-twenty, I should
+     say, with a strong, masculine face; but he was exceedingly pale and
+     gave me the impression of a man who was suffering from some strong
+     agitation, which it took all his strength of mind to control.
+
+     "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I have
+     had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by train this
+     morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I might find a
+     doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me here. I gave the maid
+     a card, but I see that she has left it upon the side-table."
+
+     I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic
+     engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name,
+     style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have kept
+     you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You are
+     fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself a
+     monotonous occupation."
+
+     "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and laughed.
+     He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, leaning back in
+     his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical instincts rose up
+     against that laugh.
+
+     "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out some
+     water from a caraffe.
+
+     It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical
+     outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis is
+     over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very weary and
+     pale-looking.
+
+     "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped.
+
+     "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, and
+     the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks.
+
+     "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would kindly
+     attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb used to
+     be."
+
+     He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even my
+     hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four protruding
+     fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the thumb should have
+     been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the roots.
+
+     "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have
+     bled considerably."
+
+     "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must
+     have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that it
+     was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very tightly
+     round the wrist and braced it up with a twig."
+
+     "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon."
+
+     "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own
+     province."
+
+     "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very heavy
+     and sharp instrument."
+
+     "A thing like a cleaver," said he.
+
+     "An accident, I presume?"
+
+     "By no means."
+
+     "What! a murderous attack?"
+
+     "Very murderous indeed."
+
+     "You horrify me."
+
+     I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered it
+     over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back without
+     wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time.
+
+     "How is that?" I asked when I had finished.
+
+     "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. I
+     was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through."
+
+     "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently
+     trying to your nerves."
+
+     "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; but,
+     between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing evidence of this
+     wound of mine, I should be surprised if they believed my statement,
+     for it is a very extraordinary one, and I have not much in the way of
+     proof with which to back it up; and, even if they believe me, the
+     clues which I can give them are so vague that it is a question
+     whether justice will be done."
+
+     "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem which
+     you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you to come to
+     my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the official
+     police."
+
+     "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I should
+     be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of course I must
+     use the official police as well. Would you give me an introduction to
+     him?"
+
+     "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself."
+
+     "I should be immensely obliged to you."
+
+     "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to have a
+     little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?"
+
+     "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story."
+
+     "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an
+     instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my wife,
+     and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my new
+     acquaintance to Baker Street.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his sitting-room
+     in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Times and
+     smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of all the
+     plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day before, all
+     carefully dried and collected on the corner of the mantelpiece. He
+     received us in his quietly genial fashion, ordered fresh rashers and
+     eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. When it was concluded he
+     settled our new acquaintance upon the sofa, placed a pillow beneath
+     his head, and laid a glass of brandy and water within his reach.
+
+     "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Mr.
+     Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself
+     absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are tired
+     and keep up your strength with a little stimulant."
+
+     "Thank you," said my patient. "but I have felt another man since the
+     doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has completed the
+     cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable time as possible, so
+     I shall start at once upon my peculiar experiences."
+
+     Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded
+     expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat
+     opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story
+     which our visitor detailed to us.
+
+     "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor,
+     residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a hydraulic
+     engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my work during
+     the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Matheson, the
+     well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, having served my time,
+     and having also come into a fair sum of money through my poor
+     father's death, I determined to start in business for myself and took
+     professional chambers in Victoria Street.
+
+     "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in
+     business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so.
+     During two years I have had three consultations and one small job,
+     and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought me. My
+     gross takings amount to £27 10s. Every day, from nine in the morning
+     until four in the afternoon, I waited in my little den, until at last
+     my heart began to sink, and I came to believe that I should never
+     have any practice at all.
+
+     "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the office, my
+     clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who wished to see
+     me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the name of
+     'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at his heels came
+     the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle size, but of an
+     exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have ever seen so thin a
+     man. His whole face sharpened away into nose and chin, and the skin
+     of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over his outstanding bones. Yet
+     this emaciation seemed to be his natural habit, and due to no
+     disease, for his eye was bright, his step brisk, and his bearing
+     assured. He was plainly but neatly dressed, and his age, I should
+     judge, would be nearer forty than thirty.
+
+     "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. 'You
+     have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man who is not
+     only proficient in his profession but is also discreet and capable of
+     preserving a secret.'
+
+     "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an
+     address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' 
+
+     "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just at
+     this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both an
+     orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.'
+
+     "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if I
+     say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional
+     qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter
+     that you wished to speak to me?'
+
+     "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the
+     point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute secrecy
+     is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and of course
+     we may expect that more from a man who is alone than from one who
+     lives in the bosom of his family.'
+
+     "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely depend
+     upon my doing so.'
+
+     "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I had
+     never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye.
+
+     "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last.
+
+     "'Yes, I promise.'
+
+     "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No
+     reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?'
+
+     "'I have already given you my word.'
+
+     "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning
+     across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was
+     empty.
+
+     "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are
+     sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk in
+     safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to stare
+     at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look.
+
+     "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun to
+     rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Even my
+     dread of losing a client could not restrain me from showing my
+     impatience.
+
+     "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time is
+     of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the words
+     came to my lips.
+
+     "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked.
+
+     "'Most admirably.'
+
+     "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I
+     simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which has
+     got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon set it
+     right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as that?'
+
+     "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.'
+
+     "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last
+     train.'
+
+     "'Where to?'
+
+     "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders of
+     Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a train from
+     Paddington which would bring you there at about 11.15.'
+
+     "'Very good.'
+
+     "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.'
+
+     "'There is a drive, then?'
+
+     "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good
+     seven miles from Eyford Station.'
+
+     "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there would
+     be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop the
+     night.'
+
+     "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.'
+
+     "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient
+     hour?'
+
+     "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to
+     recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a
+     young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the very
+     heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would like to draw
+     out of the business, there is plenty of time to do so.'
+
+     "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they would be
+     to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to accommodate
+     myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to understand a little
+     more clearly what it is that you wish me to do.'
+
+     "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which we
+     have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have no
+     wish to commit you to anything without your having it all laid before
+     you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from eavesdroppers?'
+
+     "'Entirely.'
+
+     "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that
+     fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found in
+     one or two places in England?'
+
+     "'I have heard so.'
+
+     "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small
+     place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to
+     discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my
+     fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a
+     comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two very
+     much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, however, in
+     the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were absolutely
+     ignorant that their land contained that which was quite as valuable
+     as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my interest to buy their land
+     before they discovered its true value, but unfortunately I had no
+     capital by which I could do this. I took a few of my friends into the
+     secret, however, and they suggested that we should quietly and
+     secretly work our own little deposit and that in this way we should
+     earn the money which would enable us to buy the neighbouring fields.
+     This we have now been doing for some time, and in order to help us in
+     our operations we erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have
+     already explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon
+     the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it
+     once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our
+     little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts
+     came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these fields
+     and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you promise me
+     that you will not tell a human being that you are going to Eyford
+     to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?'
+
+     "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not
+     quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press in
+     excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out like
+     gravel from a pit.'
+
+     "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress the
+     earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing what they
+     are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully into my
+     confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I trust you.'
+     He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Eyford at 11.15.'
+
+     "'I shall certainly be there.'
+
+     "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long,
+     questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank grasp,
+     he hurried from the room.
+
+     "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very much
+     astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission which
+     had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was glad, for
+     the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked had I set a
+     price upon my own services, and it was possible that this order might
+     lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face and manner of my
+     patron had made an unpleasant impression upon me, and I could not
+     think that his explanation of the fuller's-earth was sufficient to
+     explain the necessity for my coming at midnight, and his extreme
+     anxiety lest I should tell anyone of my errand. However, I threw all
+     fears to the winds, ate a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and
+     started off, having obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding
+     my tongue.
+
+     "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station.
+     However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I reached
+     the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the only
+     passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the platform
+     save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed out through
+     the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of the morning
+     waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a word he grasped
+     my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door of which was standing
+     open. He drew up the windows on either side, tapped on the wood-work,
+     and away we went as fast as the horse could go."
+
+     "One horse?" interjected Holmes.
+
+     "Yes, only one."
+
+     "Did you observe the colour?"
+
+     "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the
+     carriage. It was a chestnut."
+
+     "Tired-looking or fresh?"
+
+     "Oh, fresh and glossy."
+
+     "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your
+     most interesting statement."
+
+     "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel
+     Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I should
+     think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the time that we
+     took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat at my side in
+     silence all the time, and I was aware, more than once when I glanced
+     in his direction, that he was looking at me with great intensity. The
+     country roads seem to be not very good in that part of the world, for
+     we lurched and jolted terribly. I tried to look out of the windows to
+     see something of where we were, but they were made of frosted glass,
+     and I could make out nothing save the occasional bright blur of a
+     passing light. Now and then I hazarded some remark to break the
+     monotony of the journey, but the colonel answered only in
+     monosyllables, and the conversation soon flagged. At last, however,
+     the bumping of the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a
+     gravel-drive, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander
+     Stark sprang out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly
+     into a porch which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were,
+     right out of the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to
+     catch the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant
+     that I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us,
+     and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage drove
+     away.
+
+     "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled about
+     looking for matches and muttering under his breath. Suddenly a door
+     opened at the other end of the passage, and a long, golden bar of
+     light shot out in our direction. It grew broader, and a woman
+     appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she held above her head,
+     pushing her face forward and peering at us. I could see that she was
+     pretty, and from the gloss with which the light shone upon her dark
+     dress I knew that it was a rich material. She spoke a few words in a
+     foreign tongue in a tone as though asking a question, and when my
+     companion answered in a gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that
+     the lamp nearly fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her,
+     whispered something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the
+     room from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the
+     lamp in his hand.
+
+     "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a few
+     minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a quiet,
+     little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the centre, on
+     which several German books were scattered. Colonel Stark laid down
+     the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the door. 'I shall not keep
+     you waiting an instant,' said he, and vanished into the darkness.
+
+     "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my ignorance
+     of German I could see that two of them were treatises on science, the
+     others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked across to the window,
+     hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the country-side, but an
+     oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded across it. It was a
+     wonderfully silent house. There was an old clock ticking loudly
+     somewhere in the passage, but otherwise everything was deadly still.
+     A vague feeling of uneasiness began to steal over me. Who were these
+     German people, and what were they doing living in this strange,
+     out-of-the-way place? And where was the place? I was ten miles or so
+     from Eyford, that was all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or
+     west I had no idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other
+     large towns, were within that radius, so the place might not be so
+     secluded, after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute
+     stillness, that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room,
+     humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling that
+     I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee.
+
+     "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the utter
+     stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman was
+     standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind her, the
+     yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and beautiful face.
+     I could see at a glance that she was sick with fear, and the sight
+     sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one shaking finger to warn
+     me to be silent, and she shot a few whispered words of broken English
+     at me, her eyes glancing back, like those of a frightened horse, into
+     the gloom behind her.
+
+     "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to speak
+     calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no good for you
+     to do.'
+
+     "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I cannot
+     possibly leave until I have seen the machine.'
+
+     "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass
+     through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and
+     shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and made a
+     step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love of
+     Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too late!'
+
+     "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to engage
+     in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I thought of my
+     fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the unpleasant
+     night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to go for nothing? Why
+     should I slink away without having carried out my commission, and
+     without the payment which was my due? This woman might, for all I
+     knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout bearing, therefore, though her
+     manner had shaken me more than I cared to confess, I still shook my
+     head and declared my intention of remaining where I was. She was
+     about to renew her entreaties when a door slammed overhead, and the
+     sound of several footsteps was heard upon the stairs. She listened
+     for an instant, threw up her hands with a despairing gesture, and
+     vanished as suddenly and as noiselessly as she had come.
+
+     "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man with
+     a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double chin, who
+     was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson.
+
+     "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the way, I
+     was under the impression that I left this door shut just now. I fear
+     that you have felt the draught.'
+
+     "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I felt
+     the room to be a little close.'
+
+     "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had better
+     proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I will take
+     you up to see the machine.'
+
+     "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'
+
+     "'Oh, no, it is in the house.'
+
+     "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'
+
+     "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. All
+     we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us know what
+     is wrong with it.'
+
+     "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the fat
+     manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, with
+     corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little low doors,
+     the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations who had
+     crossed them. There were no carpets and no signs of any furniture
+     above the ground floor, while the plaster was peeling off the walls,
+     and the damp was breaking through in green, unhealthy blotches. I
+     tried to put on as unconcerned an air as possible, but I had not
+     forgotten the warnings of the lady, even though I disregarded them,
+     and I kept a keen eye upon my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be
+     a morose and silent man, but I could see from the little that he said
+     that he was at least a fellow-countryman.
+
+     "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which he
+     unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three of us
+     could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and the
+     colonel ushered me in.
+
+     "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and it
+     would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were to
+     turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the end of
+     the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of many tons
+     upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns of water
+     outside which receive the force, and which transmit and multiply it
+     in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine goes readily
+     enough, but there is some stiffness in the working of it, and it has
+     lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will have the goodness to
+     look it over and to show us how we can set it right.'
+
+     "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very
+     thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of exercising
+     enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and pressed down
+     the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by the whishing sound
+     that there was a slight leakage, which allowed a regurgitation of
+     water through one of the side cylinders. An examination showed that
+     one of the india-rubber bands which was round the head of a
+     driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to fill the socket along which
+     it worked. This was clearly the cause of the loss of power, and I
+     pointed it out to my companions, who followed my remarks very
+     carefully and asked several practical questions as to how they should
+     proceed to set it right. When I had made it clear to them, I returned
+     to the main chamber of the machine and took a good look at it to
+     satisfy my own curiosity. It was obvious at a glance that the story
+     of the fuller's-earth was the merest fabrication, for it would be
+     absurd to suppose that so powerful an engine could be designed for so
+     inadequate a purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted
+     of a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a
+     crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was scraping
+     at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a muttered
+     exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the colonel
+     looking down at me.
+
+     "'What are you doing there?' he asked.
+
+     "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as that
+     which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' said I;
+     'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to your
+     machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it was used.'
+
+     "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of my
+     speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in his grey
+     eyes.
+
+     "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He
+     took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key in
+     the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it was
+     quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and shoves.
+     'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!'
+
+     "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my heart
+     into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish of the
+     leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp still stood
+     upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the trough. By
+     its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming down upon me,
+     slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than myself, with a force
+     which must within a minute grind me to a shapeless pulp. I threw
+     myself, screaming, against the door, and dragged with my nails at the
+     lock. I implored the colonel to let me out, but the remorseless
+     clanking of the levers drowned my cries. The ceiling was only a foot
+     or two above my head, and with my hand upraised I could feel its
+     hard, rough surface. Then it flashed through my mind that the pain of
+     my death would depend very much upon the position in which I met it.
+     If I lay on my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I
+     shuddered to think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way,
+     perhaps; and yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly
+     black shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand
+     erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope back
+     to my heart.
+
+     "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the
+     walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw a
+     thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which broadened
+     and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For an instant I
+     could hardly believe that here was indeed a door which led away from
+     death. The next instant I threw myself through, and lay half-fainting
+     upon the other side. The panel had closed again behind me, but the
+     crash of the lamp, and a few moments afterwards the clang of the two
+     slabs of metal, told me how narrow had been my escape.
+
+     "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and I
+     found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, while a
+     woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, while she
+     held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend whose warning
+     I had so foolishly rejected.
+
+     "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a
+     moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the
+     so-precious time, but come!'
+
+     "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to my
+     feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding stair.
+     The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we reached it we
+     heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of two voices, one
+     answering the other from the floor on which  we were and from the one
+     beneath. My guide stopped and looked about her like one  who is at
+     her wit's end. Then she threw open a door which led into a bedroom,
+     through the window of which the moon was shining brightly.
+
+     "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be that
+     you can jump it.'
+
+     "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the
+     passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark rushing
+     forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a butcher's
+     cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, flung open the
+     window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and wholesome the garden
+     looked in the moonlight, and it could not be more than thirty feet
+     down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I hesitated to jump until I
+     should have heard what passed between my saviour and the ruffian who
+     pursued me. If she were ill-used, then at any risks I was determined
+     to go back to her assistance. The thought had hardly flashed through
+     my mind before he was at the door, pushing his way past her; but she
+     threw her arms round him and tried to hold him back.
+
+     "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise after
+     the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be silent!
+     Oh, he will be silent!'
+
+     "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from her.
+     'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me pass, I
+     say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the window, cut at
+     me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and was hanging by the
+     hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was conscious of a dull
+     pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the garden below.
+
+     "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and
+     rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I understood
+     that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, however, as I
+     ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. I glanced down at
+     my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and then, for the first time,
+     saw that my thumb had been cut off and that the blood was pouring
+     from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my handkerchief round it, but
+     there came a sudden buzzing in my ears, and next moment I fell in a
+     dead faint among the rose-bushes.
+
+     "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been a
+     very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was
+     breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with dew,
+     and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded thumb. The
+     smarting of it recalled in an instant all the particulars of my
+     night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the feeling that I
+     might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But to my astonishment,
+     when I came to look round me, neither house nor garden were to be
+     seen. I had been lying in an angle of the hedge close by the
+     highroad, and just a little lower down was a long building, which
+     proved, upon my approaching it, to be the very station at which I had
+     arrived upon the previous night. Were it not for the ugly wound upon
+     my hand, all that had passed during those dreadful hours might have
+     been an evil dream.
+
+     "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning
+     train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The same
+     porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I arrived. I
+     inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Lysander Stark.
+     The name was strange to him. Had he observed a carriage the night
+     before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was there a police-station
+     anywhere near? There was one about three miles off.
+
+     "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined to
+     wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the police.
+     It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first to have my
+     wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to bring me along
+     here. I put the case into your hands and shall do exactly what you
+     advise."
+
+     We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to this
+     extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down from the
+     shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he placed his
+     cuttings.
+
+     "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It
+     appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this:
+
+     "'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty-six, a
+     hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten o'clock at night, and
+     has not been heard of since. Was dressed in--'
+
+     etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the colonel needed
+     to have his machine overhauled, I fancy."
+
+     "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the girl
+     said."
+
+     "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and
+     desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should
+     stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out pirates
+     who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, every moment
+     now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall go down to
+     Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Eyford."
+
+     Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train together,
+     bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. There were
+     Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Bradstreet, of
+     Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Bradstreet had spread
+     an ordnance map of the county out upon the seat and was busy with his
+     compasses drawing a circle with Eyford for its centre.
+
+     "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of ten
+     miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere near that
+     line. You said ten miles, I think, sir."
+
+     "It was an hour's good drive."
+
+     "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you were
+     unconscious?"
+
+     "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having
+     been lifted and conveyed somewhere."
+
+     "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have spared
+     you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Perhaps the
+     villain was softened by the woman's entreaties."
+
+     "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face in my
+     life."
+
+     "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I have
+     drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon it the
+     folk that we are in search of are to be found."
+
+     "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly.
+
+     "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your opinion!
+     Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is south, for
+     the country is more deserted there."
+
+     "And I say east," said my patient.
+
+     "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are several
+     quiet little villages up there."
+
+     "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, and
+     our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up any."
+
+     "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty diversity
+     of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you give your
+     casting vote to?"
+
+     "You are all wrong."
+
+     "But we can't all be."
+
+     "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the
+     centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them."
+
+     "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley.
+
+     "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the
+     horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that if
+     it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?"
+
+     "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet
+     thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature of
+     this gang."
+
+     "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, and
+     have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the place
+     of silver."
+
+     "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," said
+     the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the
+     thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could get no
+     farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that showed that
+     they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this lucky chance, I
+     think that we have got them right enough."
+
+     But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not destined
+     to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into Eyford Station
+     we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed up from behind a
+     small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and hung like an immense
+     ostrich feather over the landscape.
+
+     "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off again on
+     its way.
+
+     "Yes, sir!" said the station-master.
+
+     "When did it break out?"
+
+     "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, and
+     the whole place is in a blaze."
+
+     "Whose house is it?"
+
+     "Dr. Becher's."
+
+     "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very thin,
+     with a long, sharp nose?"
+
+     The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an
+     Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a
+     better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, a
+     patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as if a
+     little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm."
+
+     The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all
+     hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low hill,
+     and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in front of us,
+     spouting fire at every chink and window, while in the garden in front
+     three fire-engines were vainly striving to keep the flames under.
+
+     "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is the
+     gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That second
+     window is the one that I jumped from."
+
+     "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon them.
+     There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, when it was
+     crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, though no doubt
+     they were too excited in the chase after you to observe it at the
+     time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for your friends of last
+     night, though I very much fear that they are a good hundred miles off
+     by now."
+
+     And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this no
+     word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the sinister
+     German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a peasant had
+     met a cart containing several people and some very bulky boxes
+     driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but there all traces of
+     the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' ingenuity failed ever to
+     discover the least clue as to their whereabouts.
+
+     The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements which
+     they had found within, and still more so by discovering a newly
+     severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. About
+     sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and they
+     subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, and the
+     whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save some
+     twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the
+     machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so dearly.
+     Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored in an
+     out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have explained
+     the presence of those bulky boxes which have been already referred
+     to.
+
+     How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the
+     spot where he recovered his senses might have remained forever a
+     mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a very plain
+     tale. He had evidently been carried down by two persons, one of whom
+     had remarkably small feet and the other unusually large ones. On the
+     whole, it was most probable that the silent Englishman, being less
+     bold or less murderous than his companion, had assisted the woman to
+     bear the unconscious man out of the way of danger.
+
+     "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return
+     once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I have
+     lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have I
+     gained?"
+
+     "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of value,
+     you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation
+     of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR
+
+     The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have long
+     ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles in which
+     the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have eclipsed it,
+     and their more piquant details have drawn the gossips away from this
+     four-year-old drama. As I have reason to believe, however, that the
+     full facts have never been revealed to the general public, and as my
+     friend Sherlock Holmes had a considerable share in clearing the
+     matter up, I feel that no memoir of him would be complete without
+     some little sketch of this remarkable episode.
+
+     It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I was
+     still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came home
+     from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table waiting for
+     him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather had taken a
+     sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and the Jezail bullet
+     which I had brought back in one of my limbs as a relic of my Afghan
+     campaign throbbed with dull persistence. With my body in one
+     easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had surrounded myself with a
+     cloud of newspapers until at last, saturated with the news of the
+     day, I tossed them all aside and lay listless, watching the huge
+     crest and monogram upon the envelope upon the table and wondering
+     lazily who my friend's noble correspondent could be.
+
+     "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Your
+     morning letters, if I remember right, were from a fish-monger and a
+     tide-waiter."
+
+     "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he
+     answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more interesting.
+     This looks like one of those unwelcome social summonses which call
+     upon a man either to be bored or to lie."
+
+     He broke the seal and glanced over the contents.
+
+     "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all."
+
+     "Not social, then?"
+
+     "No, distinctly professional."
+
+     "And from a noble client?"
+
+     "One of the highest in England."
+
+     "My dear fellow, I congratulate you."
+
+     "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my
+     client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his
+     case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be wanting
+     in this new investigation. You have been reading the papers
+     diligently of late, have you not?"
+
+     "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in the
+     corner. "I have had nothing else to do."
+
+     "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I read
+     nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The latter is
+     always instructive. But if you have followed recent events so closely
+     you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his wedding?"
+
+     "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest."
+
+     "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord St.
+     Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn over these
+     papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. This is what
+     he says:
+
+     "'My dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes:
+     "'Lord Backwater tells me that I may place implicit reliance upon
+     your judgment and discretion. I have determined, therefore, to call
+     upon you and to consult you in reference to the very painful event
+     which has occurred in connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of
+     Scotland Yard, is acting already in the matter, but he assures me
+     that he sees no objection to your co-operation, and that he even
+     thinks that it might be of some assistance. I will call at four
+     o'clock in the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement
+     at that time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of
+     paramount importance.
+     "'Yours faithfully,
+     "'St. Simon.'
+
+     "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, and
+     the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink upon the
+     outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes as he folded
+     up the epistle.
+
+     "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an hour."
+
+     "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon the
+     subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in their
+     order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client is." He
+     picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of reference beside
+     the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting down and flattening
+     it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon,
+     second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: Azure, three
+     caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' He's forty-one
+     years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Under-Secretary for
+     the colonies in a late administration. The Duke, his father, was at
+     one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. They inherit Plantagenet
+     blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the distaff side. Ha! Well,
+     there is nothing very instructive in all this. I think that I must
+     turn to you Watson, for something more solid."
+
+     "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "for
+     the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as remarkable. I
+     feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew that you had an
+     inquiry on hand and that you disliked the intrusion of other
+     matters."
+
+     "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture
+     van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it was obvious
+     from the first. Pray give me the results of your newspaper
+     selections."
+
+     "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal
+     column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks back:
+
+     "'A marriage has been arranged [it says] and will, if rumour is
+     correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert St. Simon,
+     second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Doran, the only
+     daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.'
+
+     That is all."
+
+     "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, thin
+     legs towards the fire.
+
+     "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society papers
+     of the same week. Ah, here it is:
+
+     "'There will soon be a call for protection in the marriage market,
+     for the present free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against
+     our home product. One by one the management of the noble houses of
+     Great Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from
+     across the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the
+     last week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by
+     these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself for
+     over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has now
+     definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Doran,
+     the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Doran,
+     whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much attention at
+     the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, and it is currently
+     reported that her dowry will run to considerably over the six
+     figures, with expectancies for the future. As it is an open secret
+     that the Duke of Balmoral has been compelled to sell his pictures
+     within the last few years, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of
+     his own save the small estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the
+     Californian heiress is not the only gainer by an alliance which will
+     enable her to make the easy and common transition from a Republican
+     lady to a British peeress.'"
+
+     "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning.
+
+     "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post to
+     say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it would
+     be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen intimate
+     friends would be invited, and that the party would return to the
+     furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been taken by Mr.
+     Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Wednesday last--there is
+     a curt announcement that the wedding had taken place, and that the
+     honeymoon would be passed at Lord Backwater's place, near
+     Petersfield. Those are all the notices which appeared before the
+     disappearance of the bride."
+
+     "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start.
+
+     "The vanishing of the lady."
+
+     "When did she vanish, then?"
+
+     "At the wedding breakfast."
+
+     "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite
+     dramatic, in fact."
+
+     "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common."
+
+     "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the
+     honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt as
+     this. Pray let me have the details."
+
+     "I warn you that they are very incomplete."
+
+     "Perhaps we may make them less so."
+
+     "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a
+     morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is headed,
+     'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding':
+
+     "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the
+     greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which have
+     taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as shortly
+     announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the previous
+     morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to confirm the
+     strange rumours which have been so persistently floating about. In
+     spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the matter up, so much
+     public attention has now been drawn to it that no good purpose can be
+     served by affecting to disregard what is a common subject for
+     conversation.
+     "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Square,
+     was a very quiet one, no one being present save the father of the
+     bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Lord Backwater,
+     Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the younger brother and sister
+     of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Whittington. The whole party
+     proceeded afterwards to the house of Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster
+     Gate, where breakfast had been prepared. It appears that some little
+     trouble was caused by a woman, whose name has not been ascertained,
+     who endeavoured to force her way into the house after the bridal
+     party, alleging that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was
+     only after a painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the
+     butler and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the
+     house before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast
+     with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and
+     retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some
+     comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that she
+     had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an ulster
+     and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the footmen
+     declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus apparelled, but
+     had refused to credit that it was his mistress, believing her to be
+     with the company. On ascertaining that his daughter had disappeared,
+     Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with the bridegroom, instantly put
+     themselves in communication with the police, and very energetic
+     inquiries are being made, which will probably result in a speedy
+     clearing up of this very singular business. Up to a late hour last
+     night, however, nothing had transpired as to the whereabouts of the
+     missing lady. There are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is
+     said that the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had
+     caused the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or
+     some other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange
+     disappearance of the bride.'"
+
+     "And is that all?"
+
+     "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is a
+     suggestive one."
+
+     "And it is--"
+
+     "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, has
+     actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a danseuse
+     at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom for some years.
+     There are no further particulars, and the whole case is in your hands
+     now--so far as it has been set forth in the public press."
+
+     "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would not
+     have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Watson,
+     and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I have no doubt
+     that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not dream of going,
+     Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, if only as a check
+     to my own memory."
+
+     "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open the
+     door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, high-nosed
+     and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the mouth, and
+     with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose pleasant lot it had
+     ever been to command and to be obeyed. His manner was brisk, and yet
+     his general appearance gave an undue impression of age, for he had a
+     slight forward stoop and a little bend of the knees as he walked. His
+     hair, too, as he swept off his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled
+     round the edges and thin upon the top. As to his dress, it was
+     careful to the verge of foppishness, with high collar, black
+     frock-coat, white waistcoat, yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and
+     light-coloured gaiters. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his
+     head from left to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord
+     which held his golden eyeglasses.
+
+     "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray
+     take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson.
+     Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this matter over."
+
+     "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, Mr.
+     Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you have
+     already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, though I
+     presume that they were hardly from the same class of society."
+
+     "No, I am descending."
+
+     "I beg pardon."
+
+     "My last client of the sort was a king."
+
+     "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?"
+
+     "The King of Scandinavia."
+
+     "What! Had he lost his wife?"
+
+     "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the
+     affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to you
+     in yours."
+
+     "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to my
+     own case, I am ready to give you any information which may assist you
+     in forming an opinion."
+
+     "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public prints,
+     nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this article,
+     for example, as to the disappearance of the bride."
+
+     Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it
+     goes."
+
+     "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could offer
+     an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most directly by
+     questioning you."
+
+     "Pray do so."
+
+     "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?"
+
+     "In San Francisco, a year ago."
+
+     "You were travelling in the States?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Did you become engaged then?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "But you were on a friendly footing?"
+
+     "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was amused."
+
+     "Her father is very rich?"
+
+     "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope."
+
+     "And how did he make his money?"
+
+     "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold,
+     invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds."
+
+     "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your wife's
+     character?"
+
+     The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down into
+     the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was twenty before
+     her father became a rich man. During that time she ran free in a
+     mining camp and wandered through woods or mountains, so that her
+     education has come from Nature rather than from the schoolmaster. She
+     is what we call in England a tomboy, with a strong nature, wild and
+     free, unfettered by any sort of traditions. She is
+     impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She is swift in making up
+     her mind and fearless in carrying out her resolutions. On the other
+     hand, I would not have given her the name which I have the honour to
+     bear"--he gave a little stately cough--"had not I thought her to be
+     at bottom a noble woman. I believe that she is capable of heroic
+     self-sacrifice and that anything dishonourable would be repugnant to
+     her."
+
+     "Have you her photograph?"
+
+     "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the full
+     face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an ivory
+     miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect of the
+     lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the exquisite mouth.
+     Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he closed the locket and
+     handed it back to Lord St. Simon.
+
+     "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your
+     acquaintance?"
+
+     "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I met
+     her several times, became engaged to her, and have now married her."
+
+     "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?"
+
+     "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family."
+
+     "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a fait
+     accompli?"
+
+     "I really have made no inquiries on the subject."
+
+     "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the
+     wedding?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Was she in good spirits?"
+
+     "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our future
+     lives."
+
+     "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the
+     wedding?"
+
+     "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the ceremony."
+
+     "And did you observe any change in her then?"
+
+     "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had ever
+     seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident however,
+     was too trivial to relate and can have no possible bearing upon the
+     case."
+
+     "Pray let us have it, for all that."
+
+     "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the
+     vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it fell over
+     into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the gentleman in the
+     pew handed it up to her again, and it did not appear to be the worse
+     for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the matter, she answered me
+     abruptly; and in the carriage, on our way home, she seemed absurdly
+     agitated over this trifling cause."
+
+     "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of the
+     general public were present, then?"
+
+     "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is open."
+
+     "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?"
+
+     "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a
+     common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But really I
+     think that we are wandering rather far from the point."
+
+     "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less cheerful
+     frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do on re-entering
+     her father's house?"
+
+     "I saw her in conversation with her maid."
+
+     "And who is her maid?"
+
+     "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California with
+     her."
+
+     "A confidential servant?"
+
+     "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed her
+     to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they look upon
+     these things in a different way."
+
+     "How long did she speak to this Alice?"
+
+     "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of."
+
+     "You did not overhear what they said?"
+
+     "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was
+     accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she meant."
+
+     "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your wife
+     do when she finished speaking to her maid?"
+
+     "She walked into the breakfast-room."
+
+     "On your arm?"
+
+     "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that.
+     Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose
+     hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She
+     never came back."
+
+     "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to her
+     room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a bonnet,
+     and went out."
+
+     "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in
+     company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who had
+     already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that morning."
+
+     "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, and
+     your relations to her."
+
+     Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "We
+     have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on a very
+     friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have not treated
+     her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of complaint against me,
+     but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Flora was a dear little
+     thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and devotedly attached to me. She
+     wrote me dreadful letters when she heard that I was about to be
+     married, and, to tell the truth, the reason why I had the marriage
+     celebrated so quietly was that I feared lest there might be a scandal
+     in the church. She came to Mr. Doran's door just after we returned,
+     and she endeavoured to push her way in, uttering very abusive
+     expressions towards my wife, and even threatening her, but I had
+     foreseen the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two
+     police fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out
+     again. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a
+     row."
+
+     "Did your wife hear all this?"
+
+     "No, thank goodness, she did not."
+
+     "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?"
+
+     "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as so
+     serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid some
+     terrible trap for her."
+
+     "Well, it is a possible supposition."
+
+     "You think so, too?"
+
+     "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon this
+     as likely?"
+
+     "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly."
+
+     "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray what is
+     your own theory as to what took place?"
+
+     "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I have
+     given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may say that it
+     has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of this affair,
+     the consciousness that she had made so immense a social stride, had
+     the effect of causing some little nervous disturbance in my wife."
+
+     "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?"
+
+     "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I will
+     not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to without
+     success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion."
+
+     "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said Holmes,
+     smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have nearly all my
+     data. May I ask whether you were seated at the breakfast-table so
+     that you could see out of the window?"
+
+     "We could see the other side of the road and the Park."
+
+     "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. I
+     shall communicate with you."
+
+     "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our
+     client, rising.
+
+     "I have solved it."
+
+     "Eh? What was that?"
+
+     "I say that I have solved it."
+
+     "Where, then, is my wife?"
+
+     "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply."
+
+     Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take wiser
+     heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a stately,
+     old-fashioned manner he departed.
+
+     "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting it on
+     a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I think that
+     I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all this
+     cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the case before
+     our client came into the room."
+
+     "My dear Holmes!"
+
+     "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I remarked
+     before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination served to
+     turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial evidence is
+     occasionally very convincing, as when you find a trout in the milk,
+     to quote Thoreau's example."
+
+     "But I have heard all that you have heard."
+
+     "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which serves
+     me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some years
+     back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich the year
+     after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these cases--but, hullo,
+     here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! You will find an extra
+     tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are cigars in the box."
+
+     The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, which
+     gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a black
+     canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated himself and
+     lit the cigar which had been offered to him.
+
+     "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You look
+     dissatisfied."
+
+     "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage
+     case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business."
+
+     "Really! You surprise me."
+
+     "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip
+     through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day."
+
+     "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his hand
+     upon the arm of the pea-jacket.
+
+     "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine."
+
+     "In heaven's name, what for?"
+
+     "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily.
+
+     "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he asked.
+
+     "Why? What do you mean?"
+
+     "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in the
+     one as in the other."
+
+     Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you know
+     all about it," he snarled.
+
+     "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up."
+
+     "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in the
+     matter?"
+
+     "I think it very unlikely."
+
+     "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found this in
+     it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the floor a
+     wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin shoes and a
+     bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked in water.
+     "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the top of the
+     pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Holmes."
+
+     "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air.  "You
+     dragged them from the Serpentine?"
+
+     "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. They
+     have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me that if the
+     clothes were there the body would not be far off."
+
+     "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found in
+     the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope to
+     arrive at through this?"
+
+     "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance."
+
+     "I am afraid that you will find it difficult."
+
+     "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I am
+     afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your deductions
+     and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as many minutes.
+     This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar."
+
+     "And how?"
+
+     "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the
+     card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it down
+     upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this:
+
+     "'You will see me when all is ready. Come at once.
+     "'F.H.M.'
+
+     Now my theory all along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away
+     by Flora Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was
+     responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her initials, is
+     the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped into her hand at the
+     door and which lured her within their reach."
+
+     "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are very
+     fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a listless way,
+     but his attention instantly became riveted, and he gave a little cry
+     of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," said he.
+
+     "Ha! you find it so?"
+
+     "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly."
+
+     Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he
+     shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!"
+
+     "On the contrary, this is the right side."
+
+     "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil over
+     here."
+
+     "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel bill,
+     which interests me deeply."
+
+     "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade.
+
+     "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s.
+     6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that."
+
+     "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the note,
+     it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I congratulate
+     you again."
+
+     "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in hard
+     work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. Good-day,
+     Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom of the matter
+     first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them into the bag, and
+     made for the door.
+
+     "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival
+     vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady St.
+     Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any such
+     person."
+
+     Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, tapped
+     his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and hurried away.
+
+     He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on his
+     overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about outdoor
+     work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must leave you to
+     your papers for a little."
+
+     It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had no
+     time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a confectioner's
+     man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked with the help of a
+     youth whom he had brought with him, and presently, to my very great
+     astonishment, a quite epicurean little cold supper began to be laid
+     out upon our humble lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of
+     brace of cold woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a
+     group of ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these
+     luxuries, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the
+     Arabian Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been
+     paid for and were ordered to this address.
+
+     Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the
+     room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his eye
+     which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his
+     conclusions.
+
+     "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands.
+
+     "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five."
+
+     "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I am
+     surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I fancy
+     that I hear his step now upon the stairs."
+
+     It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in,
+     dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very
+     perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features.
+
+     "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure.
+     Have you good authority for what you say?" 
+
+     "The best possible."
+
+     Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his
+     forehead.
+
+     "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of the
+     family has been subjected to such humiliation?"
+
+     "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any
+     humiliation."
+
+     "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint."
+
+     "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the lady
+     could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of doing it was
+     undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she had no one to
+     advise her at such a crisis."
+
+     "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, tapping
+     his fingers upon the table.
+
+     "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so
+     unprecedented a position."
+
+     "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have been
+     shamefully used."
+
+     "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps on
+     the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view of the
+     matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here who may be
+     more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a lady and
+     gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to introduce you to
+     Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I think, you have already
+     met."
+
+     At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his seat
+     and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand thrust
+     into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended dignity. The
+     lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out her hand to him,
+     but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was as well for his
+     resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was one which it was hard
+     to resist.
+
+     "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every cause
+     to be."
+
+     "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly.
+
+     "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I should
+     have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of rattled, and from
+     the time when I saw Frank here again I just didn't know what I was
+     doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't fall down and do a faint
+     right there before the altar."
+
+     "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the
+     room while you explain this matter?"
+
+     "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "we've
+     had just a little too much secrecy over this business already. For my
+     part, I should like all Europe and America to hear the rights of it."
+     He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, clean-shaven, with a sharp face
+     and alert manner.
+
+     "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here and
+     I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa was
+     working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; but then
+     one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, while poor Frank
+     here had a claim that petered out and came to nothing. The richer pa
+     grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa wouldn't hear of our
+     engagement lasting any longer, and he took me away to 'Frisco. Frank
+     wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so he followed me there, and he
+     saw me without pa knowing anything about it. It would only have made
+     him mad to know, so we just fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said
+     that he would go and make his pile, too, and never come back to claim
+     me until he had as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to
+     the end of time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he
+     lived. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and
+     then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your husband
+     until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had fixed it all
+     up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, that we just did
+     it right there; and then Frank went off to seek his fortune, and I
+     went back to pa.
+
+     "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then he
+     went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Mexico.
+     After that came a long newspaper story about how a miners' camp had
+     been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was my Frank's name among
+     the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was very sick for months
+     after. Pa thought I had a decline and took me to half the doctors in
+     'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a year and more, so that I never
+     doubted that Frank was really dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to
+     'Frisco, and we came to London, and a marriage was arranged, and pa
+     was very pleased, but I felt all the time that no man on this earth
+     would ever take the place in my heart that had been given to my poor
+     Frank.
+
+     "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done my
+     duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our actions. I
+     went to the altar with him with the intention to make him just as
+     good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may imagine what I felt
+     when, just as I came to the altar rails, I glanced back and saw Frank
+     standing and looking at me out of the first pew. I thought it was his
+     ghost at first; but when I looked again there he was still, with a
+     kind of question in his eyes, as if to ask me whether I were glad or
+     sorry to see him. I wonder I didn't drop. I know that everything was
+     turning round, and the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz
+     of a bee in my ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the
+     service and make a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and
+     he seemed to know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to
+     his lips to tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece
+     of paper, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his
+     pew on the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped
+     the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a
+     line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. Of
+     course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now to
+     him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct.
+
+     "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, and
+     had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but to get
+     a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to have
+     spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before his mother
+     and all those great people. I just made up my mind to run away and
+     explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten minutes before I
+     saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the road. He
+     beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. I slipped out,
+     put on my things, and followed him. Some woman came talking something
+     or other about Lord St. Simon to me--seemed to me from the little I
+     heard as if he had a little secret of his own before marriage
+     also--but I managed to get away from her and soon overtook Frank. We
+     got into a cab together, and away we drove to some lodgings he had
+     taken in Gordon Square, and that was my true wedding after all those
+     years of waiting. Frank had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had
+     escaped, came on to 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead
+     and had gone to England, followed me there, and had come upon me at
+     last on the very morning of my second wedding."
+
+     "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name and
+     the church but not where the lady lived."
+
+     "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all for
+     openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I should
+     like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just sending a
+     line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It was awful to me
+     to think of all those lords and ladies sitting round that
+     breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So Frank took my
+     wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of them, so that I
+     should not be traced, and dropped them away somewhere where no one
+     could find them. It is likely that we should have gone on to Paris
+     to-morrow, only that this good gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to
+     us this evening, though how he found us is more than I can think, and
+     he showed us very clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank
+     was right, and that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we
+     were so secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to
+     Lord St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at
+     once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if I
+     have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very meanly of
+     me."
+
+     Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but had
+     listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this long
+     narrative.
+
+     "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most
+     intimate personal affairs in this public manner."
+
+     "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?"
+
+     "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out his
+     hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him.
+
+     "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us in a
+     friendly supper."
+
+     "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his
+     Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent developments,
+     but I can hardly be expected to make merry over them. I think that
+     with your permission I will now wish you all a very good-night." He
+     included us all in a sweeping bow and stalked out of the room.
+
+     "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your company,"
+     said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an American, Mr.
+     Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the folly of a
+     monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone years will not
+     prevent our children from being some day citizens of the same
+     world-wide country under a flag which shall be a quartering of the
+     Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes."
+
+     "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our
+     visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how
+     simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight seems
+     to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural than the
+     sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing stranger
+     than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Lestrade of
+     Scotland Yard."
+
+     "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?"
+
+     "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that the
+     lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the
+     other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of returning
+     home. Obviously something had occurred during the morning, then, to
+     cause her to change her mind. What could that something be? She could
+     not have spoken to anyone when she was out, for she had been in the
+     company of the bridegroom. Had she seen someone, then? If she had, it
+     must be someone from America because she had spent so short a time in
+     this country that she could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so
+     deep an influence over her that the mere sight of him would induce
+     her to change her plans so completely. You see we have already
+     arrived, by a process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have
+     seen an American. Then who could this American be, and why should he
+     possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might be
+     a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in rough
+     scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got before I ever
+     heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us of a man in a pew,
+     of the change in the bride's manner, of so transparent a device for
+     obtaining a note as the dropping of a bouquet, of her resort to her
+     confidential maid, and of her very significant allusion to
+     claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance means taking possession of
+     that which another person has a prior claim to--the whole situation
+     became absolutely clear. She had gone off with a man, and the man was
+     either a lover or was a previous husband--the chances being in favour
+     of the latter."
+
+     "And how in the world did you find them?"
+
+     "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held information
+     in his hands the value of which he did not himself know. The initials
+     were, of course, of the highest importance, but more valuable still
+     was it to know that within a week he had settled his bill at one of
+     the most select London hotels."
+
+     "How did you deduce the select?"
+
+     "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence for a
+     glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive hotels. There
+     are not many in London which charge at that rate. In the second one
+     which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I learned by an inspection
+     of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an American gentleman, had left
+     only the day before, and on looking over the entries against him, I
+     came upon the very items which I had seen in the duplicate bill. His
+     letters were to be forwarded to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I
+     travelled, and being fortunate enough to find the loving couple at
+     home, I ventured to give them some paternal advice and to point out
+     to them that it would be better in every way that they should make
+     their position a little clearer both to the general public and to
+     Lord St. Simon in particular. I invited them to meet him here, and,
+     as you see, I made him keep the appointment."
+
+     "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was
+     certainly not very gracious."
+
+     "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be very
+     gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and wedding, you
+     found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of fortune. I think
+     that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and thank our stars
+     that we are never likely to find ourselves in the same position. Draw
+     your chair up and hand me my violin, for the only problem we have
+     still to solve is how to while away these bleak autumnal evenings."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET
+
+     "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking
+     down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather sad
+     that his relatives should allow him to come out alone."
+
+     My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands in
+     the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It was a
+     bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day before still
+     lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the wintry sun. Down
+     the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed into a brown crumbly
+     band by the traffic, but at either side and on the heaped-up edges of
+     the foot-paths it still lay as white as when it fell. The grey
+     pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but was still dangerously
+     slippery, so that there were fewer passengers than usual. Indeed,
+     from the direction of the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save
+     the single gentleman whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention.
+
+     He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a
+     massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was dressed
+     in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining hat, neat
+     brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet his actions were
+     in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress and features, for he
+     was running hard, with occasional little springs, such as a weary man
+     gives who is little accustomed to set any tax upon his legs. As he
+     ran he jerked his hands up and down, waggled his head, and writhed
+     his face into the most extraordinary contortions.
+
+     "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is looking
+     up at the numbers of the houses."
+
+     "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his hands.
+
+     "Here?"
+
+     "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I
+     think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As he
+     spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and pulled at
+     our bell until the whole house resounded with the clanging.
+
+     A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still
+     gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in his
+     eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and pity.
+     For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his body and
+     plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the extreme
+     limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his feet, he beat
+     his head against the wall with such force that we both rushed upon
+     him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Sherlock Holmes
+     pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting beside him, patted
+     his hand and chatted with him in the easy, soothing tones which he
+     knew so well how to employ.
+
+     "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "You
+     are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have recovered
+     yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into any little
+     problem which you may submit to me."
+
+     The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting
+     against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his brow,
+     set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us.
+
+     "No doubt you think me mad?" said he.
+
+     "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes.
+
+     "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my reason, so
+     sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might have faced,
+     although I am a man whose character has never yet borne a stain.
+     Private affliction also is the lot of every man; but the two coming
+     together, and in so frightful a form, have been enough to shake my
+     very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. The very noblest in the land
+     may suffer unless some way be found out of this horrible affair."
+
+     "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a clear
+     account of who you are and what it is that has befallen you."
+
+     "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your ears.
+     I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & Stevenson, of
+     Threadneedle Street."
+
+     The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior
+     partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City of
+     London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the foremost
+     citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We waited, all
+     curiosity, until with another effort he braced himself to tell his
+     story.
+
+     "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened here
+     when the police inspector suggested that I should secure your
+     co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and hurried
+     from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this snow. That is
+     why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who takes very little
+     exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the facts before you as
+     shortly and yet as clearly as I can.
+
+     "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking
+     business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative
+     investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection and
+     the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means of
+     laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security is
+     unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction during the
+     last few years, and there are many noble families to whom we have
+     advanced large sums upon the security of their pictures, libraries,
+     or plate.
+
+     "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a card
+     was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I saw the
+     name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps even to you I
+     had better say no more than that it was a name which is a household
+     word all over the earth--one of the highest, noblest, most exalted
+     names in England. I was overwhelmed by the honour and attempted, when
+     he entered, to say so, but he plunged at once into business with the
+     air of a man who wishes to hurry quickly through a disagreeable task.
+
+     "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the
+     habit of advancing money.'
+
+     "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered.
+
+     "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have
+     £50,000 at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a sum ten
+     times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it a matter of
+     business and to carry out that business myself. In my position you
+     can readily understand that it is unwise to place one's self under
+     obligations.'
+
+     "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked.
+
+     "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most
+     certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you think it
+     right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the money should
+     be paid at once.'
+
+     "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my own
+     private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be rather
+     more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do it in the
+     name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must insist that,
+     even in your case, every businesslike precaution should be taken.'
+
+     "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a square,
+     black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair.  'You have
+     doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?'
+
+     "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' said I.
+
+     "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft,
+     flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery which
+     he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said he, 'and
+     the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The lowest estimate
+     would put the worth of the coronet at double the sum which I have
+     asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my security.'
+
+     "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some perplexity
+     from it to my illustrious client.
+
+     "'You doubt its value?' he asked.
+
+     "'Not at all. I only doubt--'
+
+     "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest about
+     that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely certain
+     that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a pure matter
+     of form. Is the security sufficient?'
+
+     "'Ample.'
+
+     "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof of
+     the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I have
+     heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to refrain
+     from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to preserve this
+     coronet with every possible precaution because I need not say that a
+     great public scandal would be caused if any harm were to befall it.
+     Any injury to it would be almost as serious as its complete loss, for
+     there are no beryls in the world to match these, and it would be
+     impossible to replace them. I leave it with you, however, with every
+     confidence, and I shall call for it in person on Monday morning.'
+
+     "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but,
+     calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty £1000 notes.
+     When I was alone once more, however, with the precious case lying
+     upon the table in front of me, I could not but think with some
+     misgivings of the immense responsibility which it entailed upon me.
+     There could be no doubt that, as it was a national possession, a
+     horrible scandal would ensue if any misfortune should occur to it. I
+     already regretted having ever consented to take charge of it.
+     However, it was too late to alter the matter now, so I locked it up
+     in my private safe and turned once more to my work.
+
+     "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave so
+     precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had been
+     forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how terrible
+     would be the position in which I should find myself! I determined,
+     therefore, that for the next few days I would always carry the case
+     backward and forward with me, so that it might never be really out of
+     my reach. With this intention, I called a cab and drove out to my
+     house at Streatham, carrying the jewel with me. I did not breathe
+     freely until I had taken it upstairs and locked it in the bureau of
+     my dressing-room.
+
+     "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to
+     thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep out
+     of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three
+     maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose
+     absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Parr,
+     the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few months.
+     She came with an excellent character, however, and has always given
+     me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has attracted admirers
+     who have occasionally hung about the place. That is the only drawback
+     which we have found to her, but we believe her to be a thoroughly
+     good girl in every way.
+
+     "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it will
+     not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an only son,
+     Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Holmes--a grievous
+     disappointment. I have no doubt that I am myself to blame. People
+     tell me that I have spoiled him. Very likely I have. When my dear
+     wife died I felt that he was all I had to love. I could not bear to
+     see the smile fade even for a moment from his face. I have never
+     denied him a wish. Perhaps it would have been better for both of us
+     had I been sterner, but I meant it for the best.
+
+     "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my
+     business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, wayward,
+     and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the handling of
+     large sums of money. When he was young he became a member of an
+     aristocratic club, and there, having charming manners, he was soon
+     the intimate of a number of men with long purses and expensive
+     habits. He learned to play heavily at cards and to squander money on
+     the turf, until he had again and again to come to me and implore me
+     to give him an advance upon his allowance, that he might settle his
+     debts of honour. He tried more than once to break away from the
+     dangerous company which he was keeping, but each time the influence
+     of his friend, Sir George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back
+     again.
+
+     "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George
+     Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently
+     brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could hardly
+     resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Arthur, a man
+     of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been everywhere, seen
+     everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of great personal beauty.
+     Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far away from the glamour of
+     his presence, I am convinced from his cynical speech and the look
+     which I have caught in his eyes that he is one who should be deeply
+     distrusted. So I think, and so, too, thinks my little Mary, who has a
+     woman's quick insight into character.
+
+     "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but when
+     my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the world I
+     adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my daughter. She
+     is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, a wonderful
+     manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and gentle as a
+     woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know what I could do
+     without her. In only one matter has she ever gone against my wishes.
+     Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for he loves her devotedly,
+     but each time she has refused him. I think that if anyone could have
+     drawn him into the right path it would have been she, and that his
+     marriage might have changed his whole life; but now, alas! it is too
+     late--forever too late!
+
+     "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and I
+     shall continue with my miserable story.
+
+     "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after
+     dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious
+     treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name of my
+     client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am sure,
+     left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Mary and
+     Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous coronet, but
+     I thought it better not to disturb it.
+
+     "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur.
+
+     "'In my own bureau.'
+
+     "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the
+     night.' said he.
+
+     "'It is locked up,' I answered.
+
+     "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I have
+     opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.'
+
+     "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of what
+     he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with a very
+     grave face.
+
+     "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let me
+     have £200?'
+
+     "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too generous
+     with you in money matters.'
+
+     "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, or
+     else I can never show my face inside the club again.'
+
+     "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried.
+
+     "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' said
+     he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money in some
+     way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try other
+     means.'
+
+     "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the month.
+     'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which he bowed
+     and left the room without another word.
+
+     "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my treasure
+     was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go round the house
+     to see that all was secure--a duty which I usually leave to Mary but
+     which I thought it well to perform myself that night. As I came down
+     the stairs I saw Mary herself at the side window of the hall, which
+     she closed and fastened as I approached.
+
+     "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little disturbed,
+     'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out to-night?'
+
+     "'Certainly not.'
+
+     "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she has
+     only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that it is
+     hardly safe and should be stopped.'
+
+     "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer it.
+     Are you sure that everything is fastened?'
+
+     "'Quite sure, dad.'
+
+     "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom again,
+     where I was soon asleep.
+
+     "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may have
+     any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question me upon
+     any point which I do not make clear."
+
+     "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid."
+
+     "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be
+     particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety in my
+     mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. About two
+     in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in the house. It
+     had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an impression behind
+     it as though a window had gently closed somewhere. I lay listening
+     with all my ears. Suddenly, to my horror, there was a distinct sound
+     of footsteps moving softly in the next room. I slipped out of bed,
+     all palpitating with fear, and peeped round the corner of my
+     dressing-room door.
+
+     "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you touch
+     that coronet?'
+
+     "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, dressed
+     only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the light,
+     holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be wrenching at it,
+     or bending it with all his strength. At my cry he dropped it from his
+     grasp and turned as pale as death. I snatched it up and examined it.
+     One of the gold corners, with three of the beryls in it, was missing.
+
+     "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have
+     destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the jewels
+     which you have stolen?'
+
+     "'Stolen!' he cried.
+
+     "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder.
+
+     "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he.
+
+     "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I call
+     you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to tear off
+     another piece?'
+
+     "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it any
+     longer. I shall not say another word about this business, since you
+     have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in the morning and
+     make my own way in the world.'
+
+     "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried half-mad
+     with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to the bottom.'
+
+     "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such as I
+     should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to call the
+     police, let the police find what they can.'
+
+     "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my voice in
+     my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, at the sight
+     of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the whole story and,
+     with a scream, fell down senseless on the ground. I sent the
+     house-maid for the police and put the investigation into their hands
+     at once. When the inspector and a constable entered the house,
+     Arthur, who had stood sullenly with his arms folded, asked me whether
+     it was my intention to charge him with theft. I answered that it had
+     ceased to be a private matter, but had become a public one, since the
+     ruined coronet was national property. I was determined that the law
+     should have its way in everything.
+
+     "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It
+     would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the house
+     for five minutes.'
+
+     "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you
+     have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position in
+     which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only my
+     honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at stake; and
+     that he threatened to raise a scandal which would convulse the
+     nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell me what he had
+     done with the three missing stones.
+
+     "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught in
+     the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. If you
+     but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling us where the
+     beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.'
+
+     "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered,
+     turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened for
+     any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for it. I
+     called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search was made
+     at once not only of his person but of his room and of every portion
+     of the house where he could possibly have concealed the gems; but no
+     trace of them could be found, nor would the wretched boy open his
+     mouth for all our persuasions and our threats. This morning he was
+     removed to a cell, and I, after going through all the police
+     formalities, have hurried round to you to implore you to use your
+     skill in unravelling the matter. The police have openly confessed
+     that they can at present make nothing of it. You may go to any
+     expense which you think necessary. I have already offered a reward of
+     £1000. My God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and
+     my son in one night. Oh, what shall I do!"
+
+     He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to and
+     fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got beyond
+     words.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows
+     knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire.
+
+     "Do you receive much company?" he asked.
+
+     "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of
+     Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No one
+     else, I think."
+
+     "Do you go out much in society?"
+
+     "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for it."
+
+     "That is unusual in a young girl."
+
+     "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She is
+     four-and-twenty."
+
+     "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to her
+     also."
+
+     "Terrible! She is even more affected than I."
+
+     "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?"
+
+     "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet in
+     his hands."
+
+     "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of the
+     coronet at all injured?"
+
+     "Yes, it was twisted."
+
+     "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to straighten
+     it?"
+
+     "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. But it
+     is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If his purpose
+     were innocent, why did he not say so?"
+
+     "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? His
+     silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several singular
+     points about the case. What did the police think of the noise which
+     awoke you from your sleep?"
+
+     "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his
+     bedroom door."
+
+     "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door so as
+     to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the disappearance of
+     these gems?"
+
+     "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture in
+     the hope of finding them."
+
+     "Have they thought of looking outside the house?"
+
+     "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has
+     already been minutely examined."
+
+     "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes. "is it not obvious to you now that
+     this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you or the
+     police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you to be a
+     simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider what is
+     involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came down from his
+     bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, opened your bureau,
+     took out your coronet, broke off by main force a small portion of it,
+     went off to some other place, concealed three gems out of the
+     thirty-nine, with such skill that nobody can find them, and then
+     returned with the other thirty-six into the room in which he exposed
+     himself to the greatest danger of being discovered. I ask you now, is
+     such a theory tenable?"
+
+     "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of
+     despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain
+     them?"
+
+     "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if you
+     please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, and
+     devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into details."
+
+     My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition,
+     which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy were
+     deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I confess that
+     the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be as obvious as it
+     did to his unhappy father, but still I had such faith in Holmes'
+     judgment that I felt that there must be some grounds for hope as long
+     as he was dissatisfied with the accepted explanation. He hardly spoke
+     a word the whole way out to the southern suburb, but sat with his
+     chin upon his breast and his hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the
+     deepest thought. Our client appeared to have taken fresh heart at the
+     little glimpse of hope which had been presented to him, and he even
+     broke into a desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A
+     short railway journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the
+     modest residence of the great financier.
+
+     Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing back
+     a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a snow-clad
+     lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates which closed
+     the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden thicket, which led
+     into a narrow path between two neat hedges stretching from the road
+     to the kitchen door, and forming the tradesmen's entrance. On the
+     left ran a lane which led to the stables, and was not itself within
+     the grounds at all, being a public, though little used, thoroughfare.
+     Holmes left us standing at the door and walked slowly all round the
+     house, across the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by
+     the garden behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr.
+     Holder and I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until
+     he should return. We were sitting there in silence when the door
+     opened and a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle
+     height, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker
+     against the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have
+     ever seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were
+     bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept
+     silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of grief
+     than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the more striking
+     in her as she was evidently a woman of strong character, with immense
+     capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding my presence, she went
+     straight to her uncle and passed her hand over his head with a sweet
+     womanly caress.
+
+     "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you not,
+     dad?" she asked.
+
+     "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom."
+
+     "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's
+     instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will be
+     sorry for having acted so harshly."
+
+     "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?"
+
+     "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should suspect
+     him."
+
+     "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the
+     coronet in his hand?"
+
+     "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take my
+     word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say no more.
+     It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in a prison!"
+
+     "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary!
+     Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences to
+     me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman down
+     from London to inquire more deeply into it."
+
+     "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me.
+
+     "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the
+     stable lane now."
+
+     "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he hope to
+     find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, that you will
+     succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, that my cousin
+     Arthur is innocent of this crime."
+
+     "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may prove
+     it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the snow from
+     his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Miss Mary
+     Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?"
+
+     "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up."
+
+     "You heard nothing yourself last night?"
+
+     "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard that,
+     and I came down."
+
+     "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you fasten
+     all the windows?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Were they all fastened this morning?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked to
+     your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?"
+
+     "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and who
+     may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet."
+
+     "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her sweetheart,
+     and that the two may have planned the robbery."
+
+     "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the banker
+     impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with the coronet
+     in his hands?"
+
+     "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this
+     girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I
+     presume?"
+
+     "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I met
+     her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom."
+
+     "Do you know him?"
+
+     "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. 
+     His name is Francis Prosper."
+
+     "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to say,
+     farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?"
+
+     "Yes, he did."
+
+     "And he is a man with a wooden leg?"
+
+     Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive black
+     eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you know
+     that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Holmes' thin,
+     eager face.
+
+     "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall
+     probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I
+     had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up."
+
+     He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the
+     large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. This he
+     opened and made a very careful examination of the sill with his
+     powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," said he at
+     last.
+
+     The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little chamber,
+     with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Holmes went to
+     the bureau first and looked hard at the lock.
+
+     "Which key was used to open it?" he asked.
+
+     "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the
+     lumber-room."
+
+     "Have you it here?"
+
+     "That is it on the dressing-table."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau.
+
+     "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did not
+     wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must have a
+     look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem he laid it
+     upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the jeweller's art,
+     and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I have ever seen. At
+     one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, where a corner holding
+     three gems had been torn away.
+
+     "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which corresponds
+     to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I beg that you
+     will break it off."
+
+     The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," said
+     he.
+
+     "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but without
+     result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though I am
+     exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my time to
+     break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do you think
+     would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would be a noise
+     like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this happened within a
+     few yards of your bed and that you heard nothing of it?"
+
+     "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me."
+
+     "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Miss
+     Holder?"
+
+     "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity."
+
+     "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?"
+
+     "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt."
+
+     "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary luck
+     during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault if we do
+     not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your permission, Mr.
+     Holder, I shall now continue my investigations outside."
+
+     He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any
+     unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an hour
+     or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet heavy with
+     snow and his features as inscrutable as ever.
+
+     "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Holder,"
+     said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my rooms."
+
+     "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?"
+
+     "I cannot tell."
+
+     The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he cried.
+     "And my son? You give me hopes?"
+
+     "My opinion is in no way altered."
+
+     "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was acted in
+     my house last night?"
+
+     "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow morning
+     between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to make it
+     clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to act for you,
+     provided only that I get back the gems, and that you place no limit
+     on the sum I may draw."
+
+     "I would give my fortune to have them back."
+
+     "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. 
+     Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here again
+     before evening."
+
+     It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up about
+     the case, although what his conclusions were was more than I could
+     even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward journey I
+     endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always glided away to
+     some other topic, until at last I gave it over in despair. It was not
+     yet three when we found ourselves in our rooms once more. He hurried
+     to his chamber and was down again in a few minutes dressed as a
+     common loafer. With his collar turned up, his shiny, seedy coat, his
+     red cravat, and his worn boots, he was a perfect sample of the class.
+
+     "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass above
+     the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Watson, but
+     I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in this matter, or I
+     may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I shall soon know which it
+     is. I hope that I may be back in a few hours." He cut a slice of beef
+     from the joint upon the sideboard, sandwiched it between two rounds
+     of bread, and thrusting this rude meal into his pocket he started off
+     upon his expedition.
+
+     I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in excellent
+     spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his hand. He chucked
+     it down into a corner and helped himself to a cup of tea.
+
+     "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on."
+
+     "Where to?"
+
+     "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time before I
+     get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be late."
+
+     "How are you getting on?"
+
+     "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham
+     since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a very
+     sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a good deal.
+     However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get these
+     disreputable clothes off and return to my highly respectable self."
+
+     I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for
+     satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, and
+     there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He hastened
+     upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the hall door,
+     which told me that he was off once more upon his congenial hunt.
+
+     I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so I
+     retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away for
+     days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that his
+     lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he came
+     in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there he was
+     with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the other, as fresh
+     and trim as possible.
+
+     "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but you
+     remember that our client has rather an early appointment this
+     morning."
+
+     "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be surprised
+     if that were he. I thought I heard a ring."
+
+     It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the change
+     which had come over him, for his face which was naturally of a broad
+     and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, while his hair
+     seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered with a weariness and
+     lethargy which was even more painful than his violence of the morning
+     before, and he dropped heavily into the armchair which I pushed
+     forward for him.
+
+     "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said he.
+     "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without a care
+     in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured age. One
+     sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Mary, has
+     deserted me."
+
+     "Deserted you?"
+
+     "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was empty,
+     and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to her last
+     night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had married my boy all
+     might have been well with him. Perhaps it was thoughtless of me to
+     say so. It is to that remark that she refers in this note:
+
+     "'My dearest Uncle:
+     "'I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and that if I had
+     acted differently this terrible misfortune might never have occurred.
+     I cannot, with this thought in my mind, ever again be happy under
+     your roof, and I feel that I must leave you forever. Do not worry
+     about my future, for that is provided for; and, above all, do not
+     search for me, for it will be fruitless labour and an ill-service to
+     me. In life or in death, I am ever
+     "'Your loving
+     "'Mary.'
+
+     "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it points
+     to suicide?"
+
+     "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible
+     solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of your
+     troubles."
+
+     "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have
+     learned something! Where are the gems?"
+
+     "You would not think £1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for them?"
+
+     "I would pay ten."
+
+     "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. And
+     there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book?  Here is
+     a pen. Better make it out for £4000."
+
+     With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes
+     walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of gold
+     with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table.
+
+     With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up.
+
+     "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!"
+
+     The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and he
+     hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.
+
+     "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Holmes
+     rather sternly.
+
+     "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it."
+
+     "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that
+     noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I
+     should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to have
+     one."
+
+     "Then it was not Arthur who took them?"
+
+     "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not."
+
+     "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him know
+     that the truth is known."
+
+     "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an interview
+     with him, and finding that he would not tell me the story, I told it
+     to him, on which he had to confess that I was right and to add the
+     very few details which were not yet quite clear to me. Your news of
+     this morning, however, may open his lips."
+
+     "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary
+     mystery!"
+
+     "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached it.
+     And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me to say
+     and for you to hear: there has been an understanding between Sir
+     George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now fled together."
+
+     "My Mary? Impossible!"
+
+     "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither you
+     nor your son knew the true character of this man when you admitted
+     him into your family circle. He is one of the most dangerous men in
+     England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely desperate villain, a man
+     without heart or conscience. Your niece knew nothing of such men.
+     When he breathed his vows to her, as he had done to a hundred before
+     her, she flattered herself that she alone had touched his heart. The
+     devil knows best what he said, but at least she became his tool and
+     was in the habit of seeing him nearly every evening."
+
+     "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an
+     ashen face.
+
+     "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Your
+     niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, slipped down
+     and talked to her lover through the window which leads into the
+     stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right through the snow, so
+     long had he stood there. She told him of the coronet. His wicked lust
+     for gold kindled at the news, and he bent her to his will. I have no
+     doubt that she loved you, but there are women in whom the love of a
+     lover extinguishes all other loves, and I think that she must have
+     been one. She had hardly listened to his instructions when she saw
+     you coming downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and
+     told you about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged
+     lover, which was all perfectly true.
+
+     "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but he
+     slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. In the
+     middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, so he rose
+     and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin walking very
+     stealthily along the passage until she disappeared into your
+     dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad slipped on some
+     clothes and waited there in the dark to see what would come of this
+     strange affair. Presently she emerged from the room again, and in the
+     light of the passage-lamp your son saw that she carried the precious
+     coronet in her hands. She passed down the stairs, and he, thrilling
+     with horror, ran along and slipped behind the curtain near your door,
+     whence he could see what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her
+     stealthily open the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the
+     gloom, and then closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing
+     quite close to where he stood hid behind the curtain.
+
+     "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action without
+     a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the instant that
+     she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune this would be for
+     you, and how all-important it was to set it right. He rushed down,
+     just as he was, in his bare feet, opened the window, sprang out into
+     the snow, and ran down the lane, where he could see a dark figure in
+     the moonlight. Sir George Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur
+     caught him, and there was a struggle between them, your lad tugging
+     at one side of the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the
+     scuffle, your son struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then
+     something suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the
+     coronet in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to
+     your room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in
+     the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you appeared
+     upon the scene."
+
+     "Is it possible?" gasped the banker.
+
+     "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when he
+     felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not explain
+     the true state of affairs without betraying one who certainly
+     deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He took the more
+     chivalrous view, however, and preserved her secret."
+
+     "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the coronet,"
+     cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have been! And his
+     asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! The dear fellow
+     wanted to see if the missing piece were at the scene of the struggle.
+     How cruelly I have misjudged him!"
+
+     "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went very
+     carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the snow
+     which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the evening
+     before, and also that there had been a strong frost to preserve
+     impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but found it all
+     trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, however, at the
+     far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood and talked with a
+     man, whose round impressions on one side showed that he had a wooden
+     leg. I could even tell that they had been disturbed, for the woman
+     had run back swiftly to the door, as was shown by the deep toe and
+     light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had waited a little, and then had
+     gone away. I thought at the time that this might be the maid and her
+     sweetheart, of whom you had already spoken to me, and inquiry showed
+     it was so. I passed round the garden without seeing anything more
+     than random tracks, which I took to be the police; but when I got
+     into the stable lane a very long and complex story was written in the
+     snow in front of me.
+
+     "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second
+     double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked
+     feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the
+     latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the other
+     had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the
+     depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed after the
+     other. I followed them up and found they led to the hall window,
+     where Boots had worn all the snow away while waiting. Then I walked
+     to the other end, which was a hundred yards or more down the lane. I
+     saw where Boots had faced round, where the snow was cut up as though
+     there had been a struggle, and, finally, where a few drops of blood
+     had fallen, to show me that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run
+     down the lane, and another little smudge of blood showed that it was
+     he who had been hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end,
+     I found that the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to
+     that clue.
+
+     "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the
+     sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could at
+     once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the outline
+     of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming in. I was
+     then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what had occurred.
+     A man had waited outside the window; someone had brought the gems;
+     the deed had been overseen by your son; he had pursued the thief; had
+     struggled with him; they had each tugged at the coronet, their united
+     strength causing injuries which neither alone could have effected. He
+     had returned with the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of
+     his opponent. So far I was clear. The question now was, who was the
+     man and who was it brought him the coronet?
+
+     "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the
+     impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
+     Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, so there
+     only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the maids, why
+     should your son allow himself to be accused in their place? There
+     could be no possible reason. As he loved his cousin, however, there
+     was an excellent explanation why he should retain her secret--the
+     more so as the secret was a disgraceful one. When I remembered that
+     you had seen her at that window, and how she had fainted on seeing
+     the coronet again, my conjecture became a certainty.
+
+     "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, for
+     who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must feel to
+     you? I knew that you went out little, and that your circle of friends
+     was a very limited one. But among them was Sir George Burnwell. I had
+     heard of him before as being a man of evil reputation among women. It
+     must have been he who wore those boots and retained the missing gems.
+     Even though he knew that Arthur had discovered him, he might still
+     flatter himself that he was safe, for the lad could not say a word
+     without compromising his own family.
+
+     "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took next. I
+     went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, managed to pick
+     up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that his master had cut
+     his head the night before, and, finally, at the expense of six
+     shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of his cast-off shoes. With
+     these I journeyed down to Streatham and saw that they exactly fitted
+     the tracks."
+
+     "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," said
+     Mr. Holder.
+
+     "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home and
+     changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to play then,
+     for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert scandal, and I
+     knew that so astute a villain would see that our hands were tied in
+     the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of course, he denied
+     everything. But when I gave him every particular that had occurred,
+     he tried to bluster and took down a life-preserver from the wall. I
+     knew my man, however, and I clapped a pistol to his head before he
+     could strike. Then he became a little more reasonable. I told him
+     that we would give him a price for the stones he held--£1000 apiece.
+     That brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why,
+     dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the
+     three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had
+     them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I set
+     to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 pounds
+     apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all was right,
+     and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after what I may call
+     a really hard day's work."
+
+     "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said the
+     banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but you shall
+     not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your skill has indeed
+     exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I must fly to my dear
+     boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I have done him. As to
+     what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my very heart. Not even
+     your skill can inform me where she is now."
+
+     "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is
+     wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that
+     whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sufficient
+     punishment."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES
+
+     "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock
+     Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Telegraph,
+     "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations
+     that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is pleasant to me to
+     observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped this truth that in
+     these little records of our cases which you have been good enough to
+     draw up, and, I am bound to say, occasionally to embellish, you have
+     given prominence not so much to the many causes célèbres and
+     sensational trials in which I have figured but rather to those
+     incidents which may have been trivial in themselves, but which have
+     given room for those faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis
+     which I have made my special province."
+
+     "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved from
+     the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my
+     records."
+
+     "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing cinder
+     with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood pipe which
+     was wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather
+     than a meditative mood--"you have erred perhaps in attempting to put
+     colour and life into each of your statements instead of confining
+     yourself to the task of placing upon record that severe reasoning
+     from cause to effect which is really the only notable feature about
+     the thing."
+
+     "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," I
+     remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism which
+     I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my friend's
+     singular character.
+
+     "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as was
+     his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full justice
+     for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a thing beyond
+     myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the
+     logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell. You have
+     degraded what should have been a course of lectures into a series of
+     tales."
+
+     It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after breakfast
+     on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Baker Street. A
+     thick fog rolled down between the lines of dun-coloured houses, and
+     the opposing windows loomed like dark, shapeless blurs through the
+     heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and shone on the white cloth
+     and glimmer of china and metal, for the table had not been cleared
+     yet. Sherlock Holmes had been silent all the morning, dipping
+     continuously into the advertisement columns of a succession of papers
+     until at last, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged
+     in no very sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.
+
+     "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he had
+     sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "you can
+     hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of these cases
+     which you have been so kind as to interest yourself in, a fair
+     proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, at all. The
+     small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King of Bohemia, the
+     singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the problem connected
+     with the man with the twisted lip, and the incident of the noble
+     bachelor, were all matters which are outside the pale of the law. But
+     in avoiding the sensational, I fear that you may have bordered on the
+     trivial."
+
+     "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to
+     have been novel and of interest."
+
+     "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant
+     public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a compositor
+     by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of analysis and
+     deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot blame you, for
+     the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at least criminal man,
+     has lost all enterprise and originality. As to my own little
+     practice, it seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering
+     lost lead pencils and giving advice to young ladies from
+     boarding-schools. I think that I have touched bottom at last,
+     however. This note I had this morning marks my zero-point, I fancy.
+     Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across to me.
+
+     It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ran
+     thus:
+
+     Dear Mr. Holmes:
+     I am very anxious to consult you as to whether I should or should not
+     accept a situation which has been offered to me as governess. I shall
+     call at half-past ten to-morrow if I do not inconvenience you.
+     Yours faithfully,
+     Violet Hunter.
+
+     "Do you know the young lady?" I asked.
+
+     "Not I."
+
+     "It is half-past ten now."
+
+     "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring."
+
+     "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You remember
+     that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to be a mere
+     whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. It may be so
+     in this case, also."
+
+     "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, for
+     here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question."
+
+     As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. She
+     was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, freckled
+     like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a woman who has had
+     her own way to make in the world.
+
+     "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my
+     companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange
+     experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort from
+     whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be kind
+     enough to tell me what I should do."
+
+     "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything that
+     I can to serve you."
+
+     I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner and
+     speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching
+     fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and his
+     finger-tips together, to listen to her story.
+
+     "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the family of
+     Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel received an
+     appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his children over to
+     America with him, so that I found myself without a situation. I
+     advertised, and I answered advertisements, but without success. At
+     last the little money which I had saved began to run short, and I was
+     at my wit's end as to what I should do.
+
+     "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End called
+     Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in order to
+     see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Westaway was
+     the name of the founder of the business, but it is really managed by
+     Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and the ladies who
+     are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and are then shown in one
+     by one, when she consults her ledgers and sees whether she has
+     anything which would suit them.
+
+     "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office as
+     usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prodigiously
+     stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy chin which
+     rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at her elbow with a
+     pair of glasses on his nose, looking very earnestly at the ladies who
+     entered. As I came in he gave quite a jump in his chair and turned
+     quickly to Miss Stoper.
+
+     "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better.
+     Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his hands
+     together in the most genial fashion. He was such a
+     comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at him.
+
+     "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked.
+
+     "'Yes, sir.'
+
+     "'As governess?'
+
+     "'Yes, sir.'
+
+     "'And what salary do you ask?'
+
+     "'I had £4 a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Munro.'
+
+     "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his fat
+     hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling passion. 'How
+     could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with such attractions
+     and accomplishments?'
+
+     "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. 'A
+     little French, a little German, music, and drawing--'
+
+     "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. The
+     point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment of a
+     lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are not fitted
+     for the rearing of a child who may some day play a considerable part
+     in the history of the country. But if you have why, then, how could
+     any gentleman ask you to condescend to accept anything under the
+     three figures? Your salary with me, madam, would commence at £100 a
+     year.'
+
+     "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, such an
+     offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, however,
+     seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, opened a
+     pocket-book and took out a note.
+
+     "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant
+     fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the
+     white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies half their
+     salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little expenses of their
+     journey and their wardrobe.'
+
+     "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so
+     thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the
+     advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something
+     unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know a
+     little more before I quite committed myself.
+
+     "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.
+
+     "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles on
+     the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my dear
+     young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'
+
+     "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would be.'
+
+     "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if you
+     could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! smack!
+     smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in his chair
+     and laughed his eyes into his head again.
+
+     "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, but
+     the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was joking.
+
+     "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single
+     child?'
+
+     "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he cried.
+     'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would suggest, to
+     obey any little commands my wife might give, provided always that
+     they were such commands as a lady might with propriety obey. You see
+     no difficulty, heh?'
+
+     "'I should be happy to make myself useful.'
+
+     "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you
+     know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress
+     which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim.
+     Heh?'
+
+     "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.
+
+     "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to you?'
+
+     "'Oh, no.'
+
+     "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'
+
+     "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, my
+     hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of
+     chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of
+     sacrificing it in this offhand fashion.
+
+     "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been
+     watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a shadow
+     pass over his face as I spoke.
+
+     "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a little
+     fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, ladies'
+     fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your hair?'
+
+     "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.
+
+     "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a pity,
+     because in other respects you would really have done very nicely. In
+     that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more of your young
+     ladies.'
+
+     "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers without a
+     word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so much
+     annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting that she had
+     lost a handsome commission through my refusal.
+
+     "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.
+
+     "'If you please, Miss Stoper.'
+
+     "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the most
+     excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You can hardly
+     expect us to exert ourselves to find another such opening for you.
+     Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong upon the table, and
+     I was shown out by the page.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found little
+     enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the table. I
+     began to ask myself whether I had not done a very foolish thing.
+     After all, if these people had strange fads and expected obedience on
+     the most extraordinary matters, they were at least ready to pay for
+     their eccentricity. Very few governesses in England are getting £100
+     a year. Besides, what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved
+     by wearing it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next
+     day I was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day
+     after I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to
+     go back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open
+     when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it
+     here and I will read it to you:
+
+     "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester.
+     "'Dear Miss Hunter:
+     "'Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your address, and I write from
+     here to ask you whether you have reconsidered your decision. My wife
+     is very anxious that you should come, for she has been much attracted
+     by my description of you. We are willing to give £30 a quarter, or
+     £120 a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience
+     which our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all.
+     My wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would like
+     you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need not,
+     however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one
+     belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which
+     would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting here or
+     there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that need cause
+     you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no doubt a pity,
+     especially as I could not help remarking its beauty during our short
+     interview, but I am afraid that I must remain firm upon this point,
+     and I only hope that the increased salary may recompense you for the
+     loss. Your duties, as far as the child is concerned, are very light.
+     Now do try to come, and I shall meet you with the dog-cart at
+     Winchester. Let me know your train.
+     "'Yours faithfully,
+     "'Jephro Rucastle.'
+
+     "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and my
+     mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, that
+     before taking the final step I should like to submit the whole matter
+     to your consideration."
+
+     "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the
+     question," said Holmes, smiling.
+
+     "But you would not advise me to refuse?"
+
+     "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to see a
+     sister of mine apply for."
+
+     "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself formed
+     some opinion?"
+
+     "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr.
+     Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not
+     possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the
+     matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that he
+     humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an outbreak?"
+
+     "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is the
+     most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a nice
+     household for a young lady."
+
+     "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!"
+
+     "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what makes
+     me uneasy. Why should they give you £120 a year, when they could have
+     their pick for £40? There must be some strong reason behind."
+
+     "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would understand
+     afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so much stronger if I
+     felt that you were at the back of me."
+
+     "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that your
+     little problem promises to be the most interesting which has come my
+     way for some months. There is something distinctly novel about some
+     of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt or in danger--"
+
+     "Danger! What danger do you foresee?"
+
+     Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if we
+     could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a telegram
+     would bring me down to your help."
+
+     "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the anxiety
+     all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire quite easy in
+     my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, sacrifice my poor
+     hair to-night, and start for Winchester to-morrow." With a few
+     grateful words to Holmes she bade us both good-night and bustled off
+     upon her way.
+
+     "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending the
+     stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able to take
+     care of herself."
+
+     "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much mistaken
+     if we do not hear from her before many days are past."
+
+     It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. A
+     fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts
+     turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of
+     human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual
+     salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to
+     something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the
+     man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond my powers
+     to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat frequently for
+     half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an abstracted air, but he
+     swept the matter away with a wave of his hand when I mentioned it.
+     "Data! data! data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks
+     without clay." And yet he would always wind up by muttering that no
+     sister of his should ever have accepted such a situation.
+
+     The telegram which we eventually received came late one night just as
+     I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down to one of
+     those all-night chemical researches which he frequently indulged in,
+     when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a test-tube at
+     night and find him in the same position when I came down to breakfast
+     in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, and then, glancing at
+     the message, threw it across to me.
+
+     "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back to
+     his chemical studies.
+
+     The summons was a brief and urgent one.
+
+     Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday to-morrow
+     [it said]. Do come! I am at my wit's end.
+     Hunter.
+
+     "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up.
+
+     "I should wish to."
+
+     "Just look it up, then."
+
+     "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my
+     Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11.30."
+
+     "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my
+     analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the
+     morning."
+
+     By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the old
+     English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers all the
+     way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he threw them
+     down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal spring day, a
+     light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white clouds drifting
+     across from west to east. The sun was shining very brightly, and yet
+     there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge to a
+     man's energy. All over the countryside, away to the rolling hills
+     around Aldershot, the little red and grey roofs of the farm-steadings
+     peeped out from amid the light green of the new foliage.
+
+     "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the enthusiasm
+     of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.
+
+     But Holmes shook his head gravely.
+
+     "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of a
+     mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with
+     reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered
+     houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and
+     the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation
+     and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there."
+
+     "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these dear
+     old homesteads?"
+
+     "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson,
+     founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in
+     London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the
+     smiling and beautiful countryside."
+
+     "You horrify me!"
+
+     "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion can
+     do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so
+     vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard's
+     blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours,
+     and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word
+     of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the
+     crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own
+     fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know
+     little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden
+     wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and
+     none the wiser. Had this lady who appeals to us for help gone to live
+     in Winchester, I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five
+     miles of country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she
+     is not personally threatened."
+
+     "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away."
+
+     "Quite so. She has her freedom."
+
+     "What can be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?"
+
+     "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would
+     cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is correct
+     can only be determined by the fresh information which we shall no
+     doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the cathedral,
+     and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has to tell."
+
+     The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no distance
+     from the station, and there we found the young lady waiting for us.
+     She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch awaited us upon the
+     table.
+
+     "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It is so
+     very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I should do.
+     Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me."
+
+     "Pray tell us what has happened to you."
+
+     "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Rucastle
+     to be back before three. I got his leave to come into town this
+     morning, though he little knew for what purpose."
+
+     "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long
+     thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen.
+
+     "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, with no
+     actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is only fair to
+     them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and I am not easy in
+     my mind about them."
+
+     "What can you not understand?"
+
+     "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just as
+     it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and drove me
+     in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he said, beautifully
+     situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, for it is a large square
+     block of a house, whitewashed, but all stained and streaked with damp
+     and bad weather. There are grounds round it, woods on three sides,
+     and on the fourth a field which slopes down to the Southampton
+     highroad, which curves past about a hundred yards from the front
+     door. This ground in front belongs to the house, but the woods all
+     round are part of Lord Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper
+     beeches immediately in front of the hall door has given its name to
+     the place.
+
+     "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, and
+     was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. There
+     was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to us to be
+     probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is not mad. I
+     found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much younger than her
+     husband, not more than thirty, I should think, while he can hardly be
+     less than forty-five. From their conversation I have gathered that
+     they have been married about seven years, that he was a widower, and
+     that his only child by the first wife was the daughter who has gone
+     to Philadelphia. Mr. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why
+     she had left them was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her
+     stepmother. As the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I
+     can quite imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with
+     her father's young wife.
+
+     "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as in
+     feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. She was
+     a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately devoted
+     both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey eyes
+     wandered continually from one to the other, noting every little want
+     and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her also in his
+     bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they seemed to be a happy
+     couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, this woman. She would
+     often be lost in deep thought, with the saddest look upon her face.
+     More than once I have surprised her in tears. I have thought
+     sometimes that it was the disposition of her child which weighed upon
+     her mind, for I have never met so utterly spoiled and so ill-natured
+     a little creature. He is small for his age, with a head which is
+     quite disproportionately large. His whole life appears to be spent in
+     an alternation between savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of
+     sulking. Giving pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be
+     his one idea of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in
+     planning the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would
+     rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he has
+     little to do with my story."
+
+     "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they seem to
+     you to be relevant or not."
+
+     "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one unpleasant
+     thing about the house, which struck me at once, was the appearance
+     and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a man and his wife.
+     Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, uncouth man, with grizzled
+     hair and whiskers, and a perpetual smell of drink. Twice since I have
+     been with them he has been quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed
+     to take no notice of it. His wife is a very tall and strong woman
+     with a sour face, as silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable.
+     They are a most unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my
+     time in the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in
+     one corner of the building.
+
+     "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was very
+     quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after breakfast and
+     whispered something to her husband.
+
+     "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to you,
+     Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut your
+     hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest iota from
+     your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue dress will
+     become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in your room, and
+     if you would be so good as to put it on we should both be extremely
+     obliged.'
+
+     "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade of
+     blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it bore
+     unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not have been
+     a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and Mrs.
+     Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which seemed quite
+     exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for me in the
+     drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching along the entire
+     front of the house, with three long windows reaching down to the
+     floor. A chair had been placed close to the central window, with its
+     back turned towards it. In this I was asked to sit, and then Mr.
+     Rucastle, walking up and down on the other side of the room, began to
+     tell me a series of the funniest stories that I have ever listened
+     to. You cannot imagine how comical he was, and I laughed until I was
+     quite weary. Mrs. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of
+     humour, never so much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap,
+     and a sad, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr.
+     Rucastle suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of
+     the day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in
+     the nursery.
+
+     "Two days later this same performance was gone through under exactly
+     similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I sat in the
+     window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny stories of
+     which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which he told
+     inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and moving my
+     chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not fall upon the
+     page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for about ten
+     minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then suddenly, in
+     the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and to change my
+     dress.
+
+     "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to what
+     the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly be. They
+     were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face away from the
+     window, so that I became consumed with the desire to see what was
+     going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be impossible, but I
+     soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been broken, so a happy
+     thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the glass in my
+     handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst of my laughter, I
+     put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able with a little
+     management to see all that there was behind me. I confess that I was
+     disappointed. There was nothing. At least that was my first
+     impression. At the second glance, however, I perceived that there was
+     a man standing in the Southampton Road, a small bearded man in a grey
+     suit, who seemed to be looking in my direction. The road is an
+     important highway, and there are usually people there. This man,
+     however, was leaning against the railings which bordered our field
+     and was looking earnestly up. I lowered my handkerchief and glanced
+     at Mrs. Rucastle to find her eyes fixed upon me with a most searching
+     gaze. She said nothing, but I am convinced that she had divined that
+     I had a mirror in my hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose
+     at once.
+
+     "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the road
+     there who stares up at Miss Hunter.'
+
+     "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked.
+
+     "'No, I know no one in these parts.'
+
+     "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to him
+     to go away.'
+
+     "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.'
+
+     "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn round
+     and wave him away like that.'
+
+     "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew down
+     the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have not sat
+     again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor seen the man
+     in the road."
+
+     "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a most
+     interesting one."
+
+     "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may prove to
+     be little relation between the different incidents of which I speak.
+     On the very first day that I was at the Copper Beeches, Mr. Rucastle
+     took me to a small outhouse which stands near the kitchen door. As we
+     approached it I heard the sharp rattling of a chain, and the sound as
+     of a large animal moving about.
+
+     "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two
+     planks. 'Is he not a beauty?'
+
+     "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a
+     vague figure huddled up in the darkness.
+
+     "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start which
+     I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, but
+     really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do anything with
+     him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, so that he is
+     always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose every night, and God
+     help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs upon. For goodness' sake
+     don't you ever on any pretext set your foot over the threshold at
+     night, for it's as much as your life is worth.'
+
+     "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to look
+     out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. It was a
+     beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the house was
+     silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was standing, rapt in
+     the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was aware that something was
+     moving under the shadow of the copper beeches. As it emerged into the
+     moonshine I saw what it was. It was a giant dog, as large as a calf,
+     tawny tinted, with hanging jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting
+     bones. It walked slowly across the lawn and vanished into the shadow
+     upon the other side. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart
+     which I do not think that any burglar could have done.
+
+     "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as you
+     know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a great coil
+     at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the child was in bed, I
+     began to amuse myself by examining the furniture of my room and by
+     rearranging my own little things. There was an old chest of drawers
+     in the room, the two upper ones empty and open, the lower one locked.
+     I had filled the first two with my linen, and as I had still much to
+     pack away I was naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third
+     drawer. It struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere
+     oversight, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The
+     very first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open.
+     There was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never
+     guess what it was. It was my coil of hair.
+
+     "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and
+     the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing obtruded
+     itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the drawer?
+     With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the contents, and
+     drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two tresses together,
+     and I assure you that they were identical. Was it not extraordinary?
+     Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at all of what it meant. I
+     returned the strange hair to the drawer, and I said nothing of the
+     matter to the Rucastles as I felt that I had put myself in the wrong
+     by opening a drawer which they had locked.
+
+     "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, and
+     I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. There
+     was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited at all. A
+     door which faced that which led into the quarters of the Tollers
+     opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. One day,
+     however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle coming out
+     through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on his face which
+     made him a very different person to the round, jovial man to whom I
+     was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his brow was all crinkled with
+     anger, and the veins stood out at his temples with passion. He locked
+     the door and hurried past me without a word or a look.
+
+     "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the
+     grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I
+     could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four of
+     them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the fourth was
+     shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I strolled up and
+     down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle came out to me,
+     looking as merry and jovial as ever.
+
+     "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you without a
+     word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with business matters.'
+
+     "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, 'you
+     seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one of them
+     has the shutters up.'
+
+     "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled at my
+     remark.
+
+     "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my dark
+     room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we have
+     come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever believed
+     it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in his eyes as
+     he looked at me. I read suspicion there and annoyance, but no jest.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there was
+     something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, I was
+     all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, though I have
+     my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a feeling that some
+     good might come from my penetrating to this place. They talk of
+     woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's instinct which gave me that
+     feeling. At any rate, it was there, and I was keenly on the lookout
+     for any chance to pass the forbidden door.
+
+     "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that,
+     besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to do
+     in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large black
+     linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been drinking
+     hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when I came
+     upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at all that
+     he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both downstairs, and
+     the child was with them, so that I had an admirable opportunity. I
+     turned the key gently in the lock, opened the door, and slipped
+     through.
+
+     "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and uncarpeted,
+     which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Round this corner
+     were three doors in a line, the first and third of which were open.
+     They each led into an empty room, dusty and cheerless, with two
+     windows in the one and one in the other, so thick with dirt that the
+     evening light glimmered dimly through them. The centre door was
+     closed, and across the outside of it had been fastened one of the
+     broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked at one end to a ring in the
+     wall, and fastened at the other with stout cord. The door itself was
+     locked as well, and the key was not there. This barricaded door
+     corresponded clearly with the shuttered window outside, and yet I
+     could see by the glimmer from beneath it that the room was not in
+     darkness. Evidently there was a skylight which let in light from
+     above. As I stood in the passage gazing at the sinister door and
+     wondering what secret it might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of
+     steps within the room and saw a shadow pass backward and forward
+     against the little slit of dim light which shone out from under the
+     door. A mad, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr.
+     Holmes. My overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and
+     ran--ran as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the
+     skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, and
+     straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting outside.
+
+     "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it must be
+     when I saw the door open.'
+
+     "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted.
+
+     "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how
+     caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened you,
+     my dear young lady?'
+
+     "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I was
+     keenly on my guard against him.
+
+     "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. 'But
+     it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was frightened and
+     ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in there!'
+
+     "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly.
+
+     "'Why, what did you think?' I asked.
+
+     "'Why do you think that I lock this door?'
+
+     "'I am sure that I do not know.'
+
+     "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you see?'
+     He was still smiling in the most amiable manner.
+
+     "'I am sure if I had known--'
+
+     "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over that
+     threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into a grin
+     of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a demon--'I'll
+     throw you to the mastiff.'
+
+     "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that I
+     must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing until I
+     found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I thought of
+     you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without some advice. I
+     was frightened of the house, of the man, of the woman, of the
+     servants, even of the child. They were all horrible to me. If I could
+     only bring you down all would be well. Of course I might have fled
+     from the house, but my curiosity was almost as strong as my fears. My
+     mind was soon made up. I would send you a wire. I put on my hat and
+     cloak, went down to the office, which is about half a mile from the
+     house, and then returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt
+     came into my mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be
+     loose, but I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of
+     insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one in
+     the household who had any influence with the savage creature, or who
+     would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and lay awake
+     half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. I had no
+     difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this morning, but
+     I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle are
+     going on a visit, and will be away all the evening, so that I must
+     look after the child. Now I have told you all my adventures, Mr.
+     Holmes, and I should be very glad if you could tell me what it all
+     means, and, above all, what I should do."
+
+     Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. My
+     friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in his
+     pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon his
+     face.
+
+     "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked.
+
+     "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do nothing
+     with him."
+
+     "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?"
+
+     "Yes, the wine-cellar."
+
+     "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very
+     brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could
+     perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think
+     you a quite exceptional woman."
+
+     "I will try. What is it?"
+
+     "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend and I.
+     The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, we hope, be
+     incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might give the alarm.
+     If you could send her into the cellar on some errand, and then turn
+     the key upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely."
+
+     "I will do it."
+
+     "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of course
+     there is only one feasible explanation. You have been brought there
+     to personate someone, and the real person is imprisoned in this
+     chamber. That is obvious. As to who this prisoner is, I have no doubt
+     that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Rucastle, if I remember right,
+     who was said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as
+     resembling her in height, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers
+     had been cut off, very possibly in some illness through which she has
+     passed, and so, of course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a
+     curious chance you came upon her tresses. The man in the road was
+     undoubtedly some friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt,
+     as you wore the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced
+     from your laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your
+     gesture, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no
+     longer desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to
+     prevent him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is
+     fairly clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition
+     of the child."
+
+     "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated.
+
+     "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light
+     as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Don't
+     you see that the converse is equally valid. I have frequently gained
+     my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their
+     children. This child's disposition is abnormally cruel, merely for
+     cruelty's sake, and whether he derives this from his smiling father,
+     as I should suspect, or from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor
+     girl who is in their power."
+
+     "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A
+     thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you have
+     hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to this poor
+     creature."
+
+     "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning man.
+     We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall be with
+     you, and it will not be long before we solve the mystery."
+
+     We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we reached
+     the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside public-house.
+     The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining like burnished
+     metal in the light of the setting sun, were sufficient to mark the
+     house even had Miss Hunter not been standing smiling on the
+     door-step.
+
+     "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes.
+
+     A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Mrs.
+     Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring on the
+     kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates of Mr.
+     Rucastle's."
+
+     "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now lead
+     the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black business."
+
+     We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a
+     passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss
+     Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the transverse
+     bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but without success.
+     No sound came from within, and at the silence Holmes' face clouded
+     over.
+
+     "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Hunter,
+     that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put your shoulder
+     to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in."
+
+     It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united
+     strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There was
+     no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a basketful
+     of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner gone.
+
+     "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty has
+     guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim off."
+
+     "But how?"
+
+     "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He swung
+     himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the end of a
+     long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did it."
+
+     "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not there
+     when the Rucastles went away."
+
+     "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and
+     dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were he
+     whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it would
+     be as well for you to have your pistol ready."
+
+     The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the
+     door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy stick in his
+     hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the wall at the sight
+     of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and confronted him.
+
+     "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?"
+
+     The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open skylight.
+
+     "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies and
+     thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll serve
+     you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he could go.
+
+     "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter.
+
+     "I have my revolver," said I.
+
+     "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed down
+     the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the
+     baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a horrible
+     worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An elderly man
+     with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out at a side door.
+
+     "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been fed
+     for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"
+
+     Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Toller
+     hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its black
+     muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and screamed
+     upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over
+     with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great creases of his
+     neck. With much labour we separated them and carried him, living but
+     horribly mangled, into the house. We laid him upon the drawing-room
+     sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Toller to bear the news to
+     his wife, I did what I could to relieve his pain. We were all
+     assembled round him when the door opened, and a tall, gaunt woman
+     entered the room.
+
+     "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter.
+
+     "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he went
+     up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know what you
+     were planning, for I would have told you that your pains were
+     wasted."
+
+     "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs.
+     Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else."
+
+     "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know."
+
+     "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several
+     points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark."
+
+     "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done so
+     before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's
+     police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the one
+     that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend too.
+
+     "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time that
+     her father married again. She was slighted like and had no say in
+     anything, but it never really became bad for her until after she met
+     Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could learn, Miss Alice
+     had rights of her own by will, but she was so quiet and patient, she
+     was, that she never said a word about them but just left everything
+     in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was safe with her; but when there
+     was a chance of a husband coming forward, who would ask for all that
+     the law would give him, then her father thought it time to put a stop
+     on it. He wanted her to sign a paper, so that whether she married or
+     not, he could use her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on
+     worrying her until she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at
+     death's door. Then she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and
+     with her beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in
+     her young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."
+
+     "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough to
+     tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce all that
+     remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this system of
+     imprisonment?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of the
+     disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler."
+
+     "That was it, sir."
+
+     "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should be,
+     blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain
+     arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your
+     interests were the same as his."
+
+     "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Mrs.
+     Toller serenely.
+
+     "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no want of
+     drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment when your
+     master had gone out."
+
+     "You have it, sir, just as it happened."
+
+     "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for you
+     have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And here comes
+     the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Watson, that we
+     had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, as it seems to me
+     that our locus standi now is rather a questionable one."
+
+     And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the copper
+     beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but was always a
+     broken man, kept alive solely through the care of his devoted wife.
+     They still live with their old servants, who probably know so much of
+     Rucastle's past life that he finds it difficult to part from them.
+     Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were married, by special license, in
+     Southampton the day after their flight, and he is now the holder of a
+     government appointment in the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet
+     Hunter, my friend Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no
+     further interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of
+     one of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at
+     Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+     ----------
+     This text is provided to you "as-is" without any warranty. No
+     warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, are made to you as to
+     the text or any medium it may be on, including but not limited to
+     warranties of merchantablity or fitness for a particular purpose.
+
+     This text was formatted from various free ASCII and HTML variants.
+     See http://sherlock-holm.es for an electronic form of this text and
+     additional information about it.
+
+     This text comes from the collection's version 3.1.
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+
+                        THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+
+                               Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+                                Table of contents
+
+               Preface
+               The Illustrious Client
+               The Blanched Soldier
+               The Adventure Of The Mazarin Stone
+               The Adventure of the Three Gables
+               The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
+               The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
+               The Problem of Thor Bridge
+               The Adventure of the Creeping Man
+               The Adventure of the Lion's Mane
+               The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
+               The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
+               The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                     PREFACE
+
+     I fear that Mr. Sherlock Holmes may become like one of those popular
+     tenors who, having outlived their time, are still tempted to make
+     repeated farewell bows to their indulgent audiences. This must cease
+     and he must go the way of all flesh, material or imaginary. One likes
+     to think that there is some fantastic limbo for the children of
+     imagination, some strange, impossible place where the beaux of
+     Fielding may still make love to the belles of Richardson, where
+     Scott's heroes still may strut, Dickens's delightful Cockneys still
+     raise a laugh, and Thackeray's worldlings continue to carry on their
+     reprehensible careers. Perhaps in some humble corner of such a
+     Valhalla, Sherlock and his Watson may for a time find a place, while
+     some more astute sleuth with some even less astute comrade may fill
+     the stage which they have vacated.
+
+     His career has been a long one--though it is possible to exaggerate
+     it; decrepit gentlemen who approach me and declare that his
+     adventures formed the reading of their boyhood do not meet the
+     response from me which they seem to expect. One is not anxious to
+     have one's personal dates handled so unkindly. As a matter of cold
+     fact, Holmes made his debut in A Study in Scarlet and in The Sign of
+     Four, two small booklets which appeared between 1887 and 1889. It was
+     in 1891 that "A Scandal in Bohemia," the first of the long series of
+     short stories, appeared in The Strand Magazine. The public seemed
+     appreciative and desirous of more, so that from that date,
+     thirty-nine years ago, they have been produced in a broken series
+     which now contains no fewer than fifty-six stories, republished in
+     The Adventures, The Memoirs, The Return, and His Last Bow. And there
+     remain these twelve published during the last few years which are
+     here produced under the title of The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes. He
+     began his adventures in the very heart of the later Victorian era,
+     carried it through the all-too-short reign of Edward, and has managed
+     to hold his own little niche even in these feverish days. Thus it
+     would be true to say that those who first read of him, as young men,
+     have lived to see their own grown-up children following the same
+     adventures in the same magazine. It is a striking example of the
+     patience and loyalty of the British public.
+
+     I had fully determined at the conclusion of The Memoirs to bring
+     Holmes to an end, as I felt that my literary energies should not be
+     directed too much into one channel. That pale, clear-cut face and
+     loose-limbed figure were taking up an undue share of my imagination.
+     I did the deed, but fortunately no coroner had pronounced upon the
+     remains, and so, after a long interval, it was not difficult for me
+     to respond to the flattering demand and to explain my rash act away.
+     I have never regretted it, for I have not in actual practice found
+     that these lighter sketches have prevented me from exploring and
+     finding my limitations in such varied branches of literature as
+     history, poetry, historical novels, psychic research, and the drama.
+     Had Holmes never existed I could not have done more, though he may
+     perhaps have stood a little in the way of the recognition of my more
+     serious literary work.
+
+     And so, reader, farewell to Sherlock Holmes! I thank you for your
+     past constancy, and can but hope that some return has been made in
+     the shape of that distraction from the worries of life and
+     stimulating change of thought which can only be found in the fairy
+     kingdom of romance.
+
+
+             Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                             THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT
+
+     "It can't hurt now," was Mr. Sherlock Holmes's comment when, for the
+     tenth time in as many years, I asked his leave to reveal the
+     following narrative. So it was that at last I obtained permission to
+     put on record what was, in some ways, the supreme moment of my
+     friend's career.
+
+     Both Holmes and I had a weakness for the Turkish bath. It was over a
+     smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying-room that I have found
+     him less reticent and more human than anywhere else. On the upper
+     floor of the Northumberland Avenue establishment there is an isolated
+     corner where two couches lie side by side, and it was on these that
+     we lay upon September 3, 1902, the day when my narrative begins. I
+     had asked him whether anything was stirring, and for answer he had
+     shot his long, thin, nervous arm out of the sheets which enveloped
+     him and had drawn an envelope from the inside pocket of the coat
+     which hung beside him.
+
+     "It may be some fussy, self-important fool; it may be a matter of
+     life or death," said he as he handed me the note. "I know no more
+     than this message tells me."
+
+     It was from the Carlton Club and dated the evening before. This is
+     what I read:
+
+     Sir James Damery presents his compliments to Mr. Sherlock Holmes and
+     will call upon him at 4.30 to-morrow. Sir James begs to say that the
+     matter upon which he desires to consult Mr. Holmes is very delicate
+     and also very important. He trusts, therefore, that Mr. Holmes will
+     make every effort to grant this interview, and that he will confirm
+     it over the telephone to the Carlton Club.
+
+     "I need not say that I have confirmed it, Watson," said Holmes as I
+     returned the paper. "Do you know anything of this man Damery?"
+
+     "Only that this name is a household word in society."
+
+     "Well, I can tell you a little more than that. He has rather a
+     reputation for arranging delicate matters which are to be kept out of
+     the papers. You may remember his negotiations with Sir George Lewis
+     over the Hammerford Will case. He is a man of the world with a
+     natural turn for diplomacy. I am bound, therefore, to hope that it is
+     not a false scent and that he has some real need for our assistance."
+
+     "Our?"
+
+     "Well, if you will be so good, Watson."
+
+     "I shall be honoured."
+
+     "Then you have the hour--4.30. Until then we can put the matter out
+     of our heads."
+
+     I was living in my own rooms in Queen Anne Street at the time, but I
+     was round at Baker Street before the time named. Sharp to the
+     half-hour, Colonel Sir James Damery was announced. It is hardly
+     necessary to describe him, for many will remember that large, bluff,
+     honest personality, that broad, clean-shaven face, and, above all,
+     that pleasant, mellow voice. Frankness shone from his gray Irish
+     eyes, and good humour played round his mobile, smiling lips. His
+     lucent top-hat, his dark frock-coat, indeed, every detail, from the
+     pearl pin in the black satin cravat to the lavender spats over the
+     varnished shoes, spoke of the meticulous care in dress for which he
+     was famous. The big, masterful aristocrat dominated the little room.
+
+     "Of course, I was prepared to find Dr. Watson," he remarked with a
+     courteous bow. "His collaboration may be very necessary, for we are
+     dealing on this occasion, Mr. Holmes, with a man to whom violence is
+     familiar and who will, literally, stick at nothing. I should say that
+     there is no more dangerous man in Europe."
+
+     "I have had several opponents to whom that flattering term has been
+     applied," said Holmes with a smile. "Don't you smoke? Then you will
+     excuse me if I light my pipe. If your man is more dangerous than the
+     late Professor Moriarty, or than the living Colonel Sebastian Moran,
+     then he is indeed worth meeting. May I ask his name?"
+
+     "Have you ever heard of Baron Gruner?"
+
+     "You mean the Austrian murderer?"
+
+     Colonel Damery threw up his kid-gloved hands with a laugh. "There is
+     no getting past you, Mr. Holmes! Wonderful! So you have already sized
+     him up as a murderer?"
+
+     "It is my business to follow the details of Continental crime. Who
+     could possibly have read what happened at Prague and have any doubts
+     as to the man's guilt! It was a purely technical legal point and the
+     suspicious death of a witness that saved him! I am as sure that he
+     killed his wife when the so-called 'accident' happened in the Splugen
+     Pass as if I had seen him do it. I knew, also, that he had come to
+     England and had a presentiment that sooner or later he would find me
+     some work to do. Well, what has Baron Gruner been up to? I presume it
+     is not this old tragedy which has come up again?"
+
+     "No, it is more serious than that. To revenge crime is important, but
+     to prevent it is more so. It is a terrible thing, Mr. Holmes, to see
+     a dreadful event, an atrocious situation, preparing itself before
+     your eyes, to clearly understand whither it will lead and yet to be
+     utterly unable to avert it. Can a human being be placed in a more
+     trying position?"
+
+     "Perhaps not."
+
+     "Then you will sympathize with the client in whose interests I am
+     acting."
+
+     "I did not understand that you were merely an intermediary. Who is
+     the principal?"
+
+     "Mr. Holmes, I must beg you not to press that question. It is
+     important that I should be able to assure him that his honoured name
+     has been in no way dragged into the matter. His motives are, to the
+     last degree, honourable and chivalrous, but he prefers to remain
+     unknown. I need not say that your fees will be assured and that you
+     will be given a perfectly free hand. Surely the actual name of your
+     client is immaterial?"
+
+     "I am sorry," said Holmes. "I am accustomed to have mystery at one
+     end of my cases, but to have it at both ends is too confusing. I
+     fear, Sir James, that I must decline to act."
+
+     Our visitor was greatly disturbed. His large, sensitive face was
+     darkened with emotion and disappointment.
+
+     "You hardly realize the effect of your own action, Mr. Holmes," said
+     he. "You place me in a most serious dilemma, for I am perfectly
+     certain that you would be proud to take over the case if I could give
+     you the facts, and yet a promise forbids me from revealing them all.
+     May I, at least, lay all that I can before you?"
+
+     "By all means, so long as it is understood that I commit myself to
+     nothing."
+
+     "That is understood. In the first place, you have no doubt heard of
+     General de Merville?"
+
+     "De Merville of Khyber fame? Yes, I have heard of him."
+
+     "He has a daughter, Violet de Merville, young, rich, beautiful,
+     accomplished, a wonder-woman in every way. It is this daughter, this
+     lovely, innocent girl, whom we are endeavouring to save from the
+     clutches of a fiend."
+
+     "Baron Gruner has some hold over her, then?"
+
+     "The strongest of all holds where a woman is concerned--the hold of
+     love. The fellow is, as you may have heard, extraordinarily handsome,
+     with a most fascinating manner, a gentle voice, and that air of
+     romance and mystery which means so much to a woman. He is said to
+     have the whole sex at his mercy and to have made ample use of the
+     fact."
+
+     "But how came such a man to meet a lady of the standing of Miss
+     Violet de Merville?"
+
+     "It was on a Mediterranean yachting voyage. The company, though
+     select, paid their own passages. No doubt the promoters hardly
+     realized the Baron's true character until it was too late. The
+     villain attached himself to the lady, and with such effect that he
+     has completely and absolutely won her heart. To say that she loves
+     him hardly expresses it. She dotes upon him; she is obsessed by him.
+     Outside of him there is nothing on earth. She will not hear one word
+     against him. Everything has been done to cure her of her madness, but
+     in vain. To sum up, she proposes to marry him next month. As she is
+     of age and has a will of iron, it is hard to know how to prevent
+     her."
+
+     "Does she know about the Austrian episode?"
+
+     "The cunning devil has told her every unsavoury public scandal of his
+     past life, but always in such a way as to make himself out to be an
+     innocent martyr. She absolutely accepts his version and will listen
+     to no other."
+
+     "Dear me! But surely you have inadvertently let out the name of your
+     client? It is no doubt General de Merville."
+
+     Our visitor fidgeted in his chair.
+
+     "I could deceive you by saying so, Mr. Holmes, but it would not be
+     true. De Merville is a broken man. The strong soldier has been
+     utterly demoralized by this incident. He has lost the nerve which
+     never failed him on the battlefield and has become a weak, doddering
+     old man, utterly incapable of contending with a brilliant, forceful
+     rascal like this Austrian. My client, however, is an old friend, one
+     who has known the General intimately for many years and taken a
+     paternal interest in this young girl since she wore short frocks. He
+     cannot see this tragedy consummated without some attempt to stop it.
+     There is nothing in which Scotland Yard can act. It was his own
+     suggestion that you should be called in, but it was, as I have said,
+     on the express stipulation that he should not be personally involved
+     in the matter. I have no doubt, Mr. Holmes, with your great powers
+     you could easily trace my client back through me, but I must ask you,
+     as a point of honour, to refrain from doing so, and not to break in
+     upon his incognito."
+
+     Holmes gave a whimsical smile.
+
+     "I think I may safely promise that," said he. "I may add that your
+     problem interests me, and that I shall be prepared to look into it.
+     How shall I keep in touch with you?"
+
+     "The Carlton Club will find me. But in case of emergency, there is a
+     private telephone call, 'XX.31.'"
+
+     Holmes noted it down and sat, still smiling, with the open
+     memorandum-book upon his knee.
+
+     "The Baron's present address, please?"
+
+     "Vernon Lodge, near Kingston. It is a large house. He has been
+     fortunate in some rather shady speculations and is a rich man, which
+     naturally makes him a more dangerous antagonist."
+
+     "Is he at home at present?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Apart from what you have told me, can you give me any further
+     information about the man?"
+
+     "He has expensive tastes. He is a horse fancier. For a short time he
+     played polo at Hurlingham, but then this Prague affair got noised
+     about and he had to leave. He collects books and pictures. He is a
+     man with a considerable artistic side to his nature. He is, I
+     believe, a recognized authority upon Chinese pottery and has written
+     a book upon the subject."
+
+     "A complex mind," said Holmes. "All great criminals have that. My old
+     friend Charlie Peace was a violin virtuoso. Wainwright was no mean
+     artist. I could quote many more. Well, Sir James, you will inform
+     your client that I am turning my mind upon Baron Gruner. I can say no
+     more. I have some sources of information of my own, and I dare say we
+     may find some means of opening the matter up."
+
+     When our visitor had left us Holmes sat so long in deep thought that
+     it seemed to me that he had forgotten my presence. At last, however,
+     he came briskly back to earth.
+
+     "Well, Watson, any views?" he asked.
+
+     "I should think you had better see the young lady herself."
+
+     "My dear Watson, if her poor old broken father cannot move her, how
+     shall I, a stranger, prevail? And yet there is something in the
+     suggestion if all else fails. But I think we must begin from a
+     different angle. I rather fancy that Shinwell Johnson might be a
+     help."
+
+     I have not had occasion to mention Shinwell Johnson in these memoirs
+     because I have seldom drawn my cases from the latter phases of my
+     friend's career. During the first years of the century he became a
+     valuable assistant. Johnson, I grieve to say, made his name first as
+     a very dangerous villain and served two terms at Parkhurst. Finally
+     he repented and allied himself to Holmes, acting as his agent in the
+     huge criminal underworld of London and obtaining information which
+     often proved to be of vital importance. Had Johnson been a "nark" of
+     the police he would soon have been exposed, but as he dealt with
+     cases which never came directly into the courts, his activities were
+     never realized by his companions. With the glamour of his two
+     convictions upon him, he had the entree of every night-club, doss
+     house, and gambling-den in the town, and his quick observation and
+     active brain made him an ideal agent for gaining information. It was
+     to him that Sherlock Holmes now proposed to turn.
+
+     It was not possible for me to follow the immediate steps taken by my
+     friend, for I had some pressing professional business of my own, but
+     I met him by appointment that evening at Simpson's, where, sitting at
+     a small table in the front window and looking down at the rushing
+     stream of life in the Strand, he told me something of what had
+     passed.
+
+     "Johnson is on the prowl," said he. "He may pick up some garbage in
+     the darker recesses of the underworld, for it is down there, amid the
+     black roots of crime, that we must hunt for this man's secrets."
+
+     "But if the lady will not accept what is already known, why should
+     any fresh discovery of yours turn her from her purpose?"
+
+     "Who knows, Watson? Woman's heart and mind are insoluble puzzles to
+     the male. Murder might be condoned or explained, and yet some smaller
+     offence might rankle. Baron Gruner remarked to me--"
+
+     "He remarked to you!"
+
+     "Oh, to be sure, I had not told you of my plans. Well, Watson, I love
+     to come to close grips with my man. I like to meet him eye to eye and
+     read for myself the stuff that he is made of. When I had given
+     Johnson his instructions I took a cab out to Kingston and found the
+     Baron in a most affable mood."
+
+     "Did he recognize you?"
+
+     "There was no difficulty about that, for I simply sent in my card. He
+     is an excellent antagonist, cool as ice, silky voiced and soothing as
+     one of your fashionable consultants, and poisonous as a cobra. He has
+     breeding in him--a real aristocrat of crime, with a superficial
+     suggestion of afternoon tea and all the cruelty of the grave behind
+     it. Yes, I am glad to have had my attention called to Baron Adelbert
+     Gruner."
+
+     "You say he was affable?"
+
+     "A purring cat who thinks he sees prospective mice. Some people's
+     affability is more deadly than the violence of coarser souls. His
+     greeting was characteristic. 'I rather thought I should see you
+     sooner or later, Mr. Holmes,' said he. 'You have been engaged, no
+     doubt by General de Merville, to endeavour to stop my marriage with
+     his daughter, Violet. That is so, is it not?'
+
+     "I acquiesced.
+
+     "'My dear man,' said he, 'you will only ruin your own well-deserved
+     reputation. It is not a case in which you can possibly succeed. You
+     will have barren work, to say nothing of incurring some danger. Let
+     me very strongly advise you to draw off at once.'
+
+     "'It is curious,' I answered, 'but that was the very advice which I
+     had intended to give you. I have a respect for your brains, Baron,
+     and the little which I have seen of your personality has not lessened
+     it. Let me put it to you as man to man. No one wants to rake up your
+     past and make you unduly uncomfortable. It is over, and you are now
+     in smooth waters, but if you persist in this marriage you will raise
+     up a swarm of powerful enemies who will never leave you alone until
+     they have made England too hot to hold you. Is the game worth it?
+     Surely you would be wiser if you left the lady alone. It would not be
+     pleasant for you if these facts of your past were brought to her
+     notice.'
+
+     "The Baron has little waxed tips of hair under his nose, like the
+     short antennae of an insect. These quivered with amusement as he
+     listened, and he finally broke into a gentle chuckle.
+
+     "'Excuse my amusement, Mr. Holmes,' said he, 'but it is really funny
+     to see you trying to play a hand with no cards in it. I don't think
+     anyone could do it better, but it is rather pathetic, all the same.
+     Not a colour card there, Mr. Holmes, nothing but the smallest of the
+     small.'
+
+     "'So you think.'
+
+     "'So I know. Let me make the thing clear to you, for my own hand is
+     so strong that I can afford to show it. I have been fortunate enough
+     to win the entire affection of this lady. This was given to me in
+     spite of the fact that I told her very clearly of all the unhappy
+     incidents in my past life. I also told her that certain wicked and
+     designing persons--I hope you recognize yourself--would come to her
+     and tell her these things, and I warned her how to treat them. You
+     have heard of post-hypnotic suggestion, Mr. Holmes? Well, you will
+     see how it works, for a man of personality can use hypnotism without
+     any vulgar passes or tomfoolery. So she is ready for you and, I have
+     no doubt, would give you an appointment, for she is quite amenable to
+     her father's will--save only in the one little matter.'
+
+     "Well, Watson, there seemed to be no more to say, so I took my leave
+     with as much cold dignity as I could summon, but, as I had my hand on
+     the door-handle, he stopped me.
+
+     "'By the way, Mr. Holmes,' said he, 'did you know Le Brun, the French
+     agent?'
+
+     "'Yes,' said I.
+
+     "'Do you know what befell him?'
+
+     "'I heard that he was beaten by some Apaches in the Montmartre
+     district and crippled for life.'
+
+     "'Quite true, Mr. Holmes. By a curious coincidence he had been
+     inquiring into my affairs only a week before. Don't do it, Mr.
+     Holmes; it's not a lucky thing to do. Several have found that out. My
+     last word to you is, go your own way and let me go mine. Good-bye!'
+
+     "So there you are, Watson. You are up to date now."
+
+     "The fellow seems dangerous."
+
+     "Mighty dangerous. I disregard the blusterer, but this is the sort of
+     man who says rather less than he means."
+
+     "Must you interfere? Does it really matter if he marries the girl?"
+
+     "Considering that he undoubtedly murdered his last wife, I should say
+     it mattered very much. Besides, the client! Well, well, we need not
+     discuss that. When you have finished your coffee you had best come
+     home with me, for the blithe Shinwell will be there with his report."
+
+     We found him sure enough, a huge, coarse, red-faced, scorbutic man,
+     with a pair of vivid black eyes which were the only external sign of
+     the very cunning mind within. It seems that he had dived down into
+     what was peculiarly his kingdom, and beside him on the settee was a
+     brand which he had brought up in the shape of a slim, flame-like
+     young woman with a pale, intense face, youthful, and yet so worn with
+     sin and sorrow that one read the terrible years which had left their
+     leprous mark upon her.
+
+     "This is Miss Kitty Winter," said Shinwell Johnson, waving his fat
+     hand as an introduction. "What she don't know--well, there, she'll
+     speak for herself. Put my hand right on her, Mr. Holmes, within an
+     hour of your message."
+
+     "I'm easy to find," said the young woman. "Hell, London, gets me
+     every time. Same address for Porky Shinwell. We're old mates, Porky,
+     you and I. But, by cripes! there is another who ought to be down in a
+     lower hell than we if there was any justice in the world! That is the
+     man you are after, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     Holmes smiled. "I gather we have your good wishes, Miss Winter."
+
+     "If I can help to put him where he belongs, I'm yours to the rattle,"
+     said our visitor with fierce energy. There was an intensity of hatred
+     in her white, set face and her blazing eyes such as woman seldom and
+     man never can attain. "You needn't go into my past, Mr. Holmes.
+     That's neither here nor there. But what I am Adelbert Gruner made me.
+     If I could pull him down!" She clutched frantically with her hands
+     into the air. "Oh, if I could only pull him into the pit where he has
+     pushed so many!"
+
+     "You know how the matter stands?"
+
+     "Porky Shinwell has been telling me. He's after some other poor fool
+     and wants to marry her this time. You want to stop it. Well, you
+     surely know enough about this devil to prevent any decent girl in her
+     senses wanting to be in the same parish with him."
+
+     "She is not in her senses. She is madly in love. She has been told
+     all about him. She cares nothing."
+
+     "Told about the murder?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "My Lord, she must have a nerve!"
+
+     "She puts them all down as slanders."
+
+     "Couldn't you lay proofs before her silly eyes?"
+
+     "Well, can you help us do so?"
+
+     "Ain't I a proof myself? If I stood before her and told her how he
+     used me--"
+
+     "Would you do this?"
+
+     "Would I? Would I not!"
+
+     "Well, it might be worth trying. But he has told her most of his sins
+     and had pardon from her, and I understand she will not reopen the
+     question."
+
+     "I'll lay he didn't tell her all," said Miss Winter. "I caught a
+     glimpse of one or two murders besides the one that made such a fuss.
+     He would speak of someone in his velvet way and then look at me with
+     a steady eye and say: 'He died within a month.' It wasn't hot air,
+     either. But I took little notice--you see, I loved him myself at that
+     time. Whatever he did went with me, same as with this poor fool!
+     There was just one thing that shook me. Yes, by cripes! if it had not
+     been for his poisonous, lying tongue that explains and soothes, I'd
+     have left him that very night. It's a book he has--a brown leather
+     book with a lock, and his arms in gold on the outside. I think he was
+     a bit drunk that night, or he would not have shown it to me."
+
+     "What was it, then?"
+
+     "I tell you, Mr. Holmes, this man collects women, and takes a pride
+     in his collection, as some men collect moths or butterflies. He had
+     it all in that book. Snapshot photographs, names, details, everything
+     about them. It was a beastly book--a book no man, even if he had come
+     from the gutter, could have put together. But it was Adelbert
+     Gruner's book all the same. 'Souls I have ruined.' He could have put
+     that on the outside if he had been so minded. However, that's neither
+     here nor there, for the book would not serve you, and, if it would,
+     you can't get it."
+
+     "Where is it?"
+
+     "How can I tell you where it is now? It's more than a year since I
+     left him. I know where he kept it then. He's a precise, tidy cat of a
+     man in many of his ways, so maybe it is still in the pigeon-hole of
+     the old bureau in the inner study. Do you know his house?"
+
+     "I've been in the study," said Holmes.
+
+     "Have you, though? You haven't been slow on the job if you only
+     started this morning. Maybe dear Adelbert has met his match this
+     time. The outer study is the one with the Chinese crockery in it--big
+     glass cupboard between the windows. Then behind his desk is the door
+     that leads to the inner study--a small room where he keeps papers and
+     things."
+
+     "Is he not afraid of burglars?"
+
+     "Adelbert is no coward. His worst enemy couldn't say that of him. He
+     can look after himself. There's a burglar alarm at night. Besides,
+     what is there for a burglar--unless they got away with all this fancy
+     crockery?"
+
+     "No good," said Shinwell Johnson with the decided voice of the
+     expert. "No fence wants stuff of that sort that you can neither melt
+     nor sell."
+
+     "Quite so," said Holmes. "Well, now, Miss Winter, if you would call
+     here to-morrow evening at five, I would consider in the meanwhile
+     whether your suggestion of seeing this lady personally may not be
+     arranged. I am exceedingly obliged to you for your cooperation. I
+     need not say that my clients will consider liberally--"
+
+     "None of that, Mr. Holmes," cried the young woman. "I am not out for
+     money. Let me see this man in the mud, and I've got all I've worked
+     for--in the mud with my foot on his cursed face. That's my price. I'm
+     with you to-morrow or any other day so long as you are on his track.
+     Porky here can tell you always where to find me."
+
+     I did not see Holmes again until the following evening when we dined
+     once more at our Strand restaurant. He shrugged his shoulders when I
+     asked him what luck he had had in his interview. Then he told the
+     story, which I would repeat in this way. His hard, dry statement
+     needs some little editing to soften it into the terms of real life.
+
+     "There was no difficulty at all about the appointment," said Holmes,
+     "for the girl glories in showing abject filial obedience in all
+     secondary things in an attempt to atone for her flagrant breach of it
+     in her engagement. The General 'phoned that all was ready, and the
+     fiery Miss W. turned up according to schedule, so that at half-past
+     five a cab deposited us outside 104 Berkeley Square, where the old
+     soldier resides--one of those awful gray London castles which would
+     make a church seem frivolous. A footman showed us into a great
+     yellow-curtained drawing-room, and there was the lady awaiting us,
+     demure, pale, self-contained, as inflexible and remote as a snow
+     image on a mountain.
+
+     "I don't quite know how to make her clear to you, Watson. Perhaps you
+     may meet her before we are through, and you can use your own gift of
+     words. She is beautiful, but with the ethereal other-world beauty of
+     some fanatic whose thoughts are set on high. I have seen such faces
+     in the pictures of the old masters of the Middle Ages. How a beastman
+     could have laid his vile paws upon such a being of the beyond I
+     cannot imagine. You may have noticed how extremes call to each other,
+     the spiritual to the animal, the cave-man to the angel. You never saw
+     a worse case than this.
+
+     "She knew what we had come for, of course--that villain had lost no
+     time in poisoning her mind against us. Miss Winter's advent rather
+     amazed her, I think, but she waved us into our respective chairs like
+     a reverend abbess receiving two rather leprous mendicants. If your
+     head is inclined to swell, my dear Watson, take a course of Miss
+     Violet de Merville.
+
+     "'Well, sir,' said she in a voice like the wind from an iceberg,
+     'your name is familiar to me. You have called, as I understand, to
+     malign my fiancé, Baron Gruner. It is only by my father's request
+     that I see you at all, and I warn you in advance that anything you
+     can say could not possibly have the slightest effect upon my mind.'
+
+     "I was sorry for her, Watson. I thought of her for the moment as I
+     would have thought of a daughter of my own. I am not often eloquent.
+     I use my head, not my heart. But I really did plead with her with all
+     the warmth of words that I could find in my nature. I pictured to her
+     the awful position of the woman who only wakes to a man's character
+     after she is his wife--a woman who has to submit to be caressed by
+     bloody hands and lecherous lips. I spared her nothing--the shame, the
+     fear, the agony, the hopelessness of it all. All my hot words could
+     not bring one tinge of colour to those ivory cheeks or one gleam of
+     emotion to those abstracted eyes. I thought of what the rascal had
+     said about a post-hypnotic influence. One could really believe that
+     she was living above the earth in some ecstatic dream. Yet there was
+     nothing indefinite in her replies.
+
+     "'I have listened to you with patience, Mr. Holmes,' said she. 'The
+     effect upon my mind is exactly as predicted. I am aware that
+     Adelbert, that my fiancé, has had a stormy life in which he has
+     incurred bitter hatreds and most unjust aspersions. You are only the
+     last of a series who have brought their slanders before me. Possibly
+     you mean well, though I learn that you are a paid agent who would
+     have been equally willing to act for the Baron as against him. But in
+     any case I wish you to understand once for all that I love him and
+     that he loves me, and that the opinion of all the world is no more to
+     me than the twitter of those birds outside the window. If his noble
+     nature has ever for an instant fallen, it may be that I have been
+     specially sent to raise it to its true and lofty level. I am not
+     clear'--here she turned eyes upon my companion--'who this young lady
+     may be.'
+
+     "I was about to answer when the girl broke in like a whirlwind. If
+     ever you saw flame and ice face to face, it was those two women.
+
+     "'I'll tell you who I am,' she cried, springing out of her chair, her
+     mouth all twisted with passion--'I am his last mistress. I am one of
+     a hundred that he has tempted and used and ruined and thrown into the
+     refuse heap, as he will you also. Your refuse heap is more likely to
+     be a grave, and maybe that's the best. I tell you, you foolish woman,
+     if you marry this man he'll be the death of you. It may be a broken
+     heart or it may be a broken neck, but he'll have you one way or the
+     other. It's not out of love for you I'm speaking. I don't care a
+     tinker's curse whether you live or die. It's out of hate for him and
+     to spite him and to get back on him for what he did to me. But it's
+     all the same, and you needn't look at me like that, my fine lady, for
+     you may be lower than I am before you are through with it.'
+
+     "'I should prefer not to discuss such matters,' said Miss de Merville
+     coldly. 'Let me say once for all that I am aware of three passages in
+     my fiancé's life in which he became entangled with designing women,
+     and that I am assured of his hearty repentance for any evil that he
+     may have done.'
+
+     "'Three passages!' screamed my companion. 'You fool! You unutterable
+     fool!'
+
+     "'Mr. Holmes, I beg that you will bring this interview to an end,'
+     said the icy voice. 'I have obeyed my father's wish in seeing you,
+     but I am not compelled to listen to the ravings of this person.'
+
+     "With an oath Miss Winter darted forward, and if I had not caught her
+     wrist she would have clutched this maddening woman by the hair. I
+     dragged her towards the door and was lucky to get her back into the
+     cab without a public scene, for she was beside herself with rage. In
+     a cold way I felt pretty furious myself, Watson, for there was
+     something indescribably annoying in the calm aloofness and supreme
+     self-complaisance of the woman whom we were trying to save. So now
+     once again you know exactly how we stand, and it is clear that I must
+     plan some fresh opening move, for this gambit won't work. I'll keep
+     in touch with you, Watson, for it is more than likely that you will
+     have your part to play, though it is just possible that the next move
+     may lie with them rather than with us."
+
+     And it did. Their blow fell--or his blow rather, for never could I
+     believe that the lady was privy to it. I think I could show you the
+     very paving-stone upon which I stood when my eyes fell upon the
+     placard, and a pang of horror passed through my very soul. It was
+     between the Grand Hotel and Charing Cross Station, where a one-legged
+     news-vender displayed his evening papers. The date was just two days
+     after the last conversation. There, black upon yellow, was the
+     terrible news-sheet:
+
+                      Murderous Attack Upon Sherlock Holmes
+
+     I think I stood stunned for some moments. Then I have a confused
+     recollection of snatching at a paper, of the remonstrance of the man,
+     whom I had not paid, and, finally, of standing in the doorway of a
+     chemist's shop while I turned up the fateful paragraph. This was how
+     it ran:
+
+     We learn with regret that Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the well-known private
+     detective, was the victim this morning of a murderous assault which
+     has left him in a precarious position. There are no exact details to
+     hand, but the event seems to have occurred about twelve o'clock in
+     Regent Street, outside the Cafe Royal. The attack was made by two men
+     armed with sticks, and Mr. Holmes was beaten about the head and body,
+     receiving injuries which the doctors describe as most serious. He was
+     carried to Charing Cross Hospital and afterwards insisted upon being
+     taken to his rooms in Baker Street. The miscreants who attacked him
+     appear to have been respectably dressed men, who escaped from the
+     bystanders by passing through the Cafe Royal and out into Glasshouse
+     Street behind it. No doubt they belonged to that criminal fraternity
+     which has so often had occasion to bewail the activity and ingenuity
+     of the injured man.
+
+     I need not say that my eyes had hardly glanced over the paragraph
+     before I had sprung into a hansom and was on my way to Baker Street.
+     I found Sir Leslie Oakshott, the famous surgeon, in the hall and his
+     brougham waiting at the curb.
+
+     "No immediate danger," was his report. "Two lacerated scalp wounds
+     and some considerable bruises. Several stitches have been necessary.
+     Morphine has been injected and quiet is essential, but an interview
+     of a few minutes would not be absolutely forbidden."
+
+     With this permission I stole into the darkened room. The sufferer was
+     wide awake, and I heard my name in a hoarse whisper. The blind was
+     three-quarters down, but one ray of sunlight slanted through and
+     struck the bandaged head of the injured man. A crimson patch had
+     soaked through the white linen compress. I sat beside him and bent my
+     head.
+
+     "All right, Watson. Don't look so scared," he muttered in a very weak
+     voice. "It's not as bad as it seems."
+
+     "Thank God for that!"
+
+     "I'm a bit of a single-stick expert, as you know. I took most of them
+     on my guard. It was the second man that was too much for me."
+
+     "What can I do, Holmes? Of course, it was that damned fellow who set
+     them on. I'll go and thrash the hide off him if you give the word."
+
+     "Good old Watson! No, we can do nothing there unless the police lay
+     their hands on the men. But their get-away had been well prepared. We
+     may be sure of that. Wait a little. I have my plans. The first thing
+     is to exaggerate my injuries. They'll come to you for news. Put it on
+     thick, Watson. Lucky if I live the week
+     out--concussion--delirium--what you like! You can't overdo it."
+
+     "But Sir Leslie Oakshott?"
+
+     "Oh, he's all right. He shall see the worst side of me. I'll look
+     after that."
+
+     "Anything else?"
+
+     "Yes. Tell Shinwell Johnson to get that girl out of the way. Those
+     beauties will be after her now. They know, of course, that she was
+     with me in the case. If they dared to do me in it is not likely they
+     will neglect her. That is urgent. Do it to-night."
+
+     "I'll go now. Anything more?"
+
+     "Put my pipe on the table--and the tobacco-slipper. Right! Come in
+     each morning and we will plan our campaign."
+
+     I arranged with Johnson that evening to take Miss Winter to a quiet
+     suburb and see that she lay low until the danger was past.
+
+     For six days the public were under the impression that Holmes was at
+     the door of death. The bulletins were very grave and there were
+     sinister paragraphs in the papers. My continual visits assured me
+     that it was not so bad as that. His wiry constitution and his
+     determined will were working wonders. He was recovering fast, and I
+     had suspicions at times that he was really finding himself faster
+     than he pretended even to me. There was a curious secretive streak in
+     the man which led to many dramatic effects, but left even his closest
+     friend guessing as to what his exact plans might be. He pushed to an
+     extreme the axiom that the only safe plotter was he who plotted
+     alone. I was nearer him than anyone else, and yet I was always
+     conscious of the gap between.
+
+     On the seventh day the stitches were taken out, in spite of which
+     there was a report of erysipelas in the evening papers. The same
+     evening papers had an announcement which I was bound, sick or well,
+     to carry to my friend. It was simply that among the passengers on the
+     Cunard boat Ruritania, starting from Liverpool on Friday, was the
+     Baron Adelbert Gruner, who had some important financial business to
+     settle in the States before his impending wedding to Miss Violet de
+     Merville, only daughter of, etc., etc. Holmes listened to the news
+     with a cold, concentrated look upon his pale face, which told me that
+     it hit him hard.
+
+     "Friday!" he cried. "Only three clear days. I believe the rascal
+     wants to put himself out of danger's way. But he won't, Watson! By
+     the Lord Harry, he won't! Now, Watson, I want you to do something for
+     me."
+
+     "I am here to be used, Holmes."
+
+     "Well, then, spend the next twenty-four hours in an intensive study
+     of Chinese pottery."
+
+     He gave no explanations and I asked for none. By long experience I
+     had learned the wisdom of obedience. But when I had left his room I
+     walked down Baker Street, revolving in my head how on earth I was to
+     carry out so strange an order. Finally I drove to the London Library
+     in St. James's Square, put the matter to my friend Lomax, the
+     sublibrarian, and departed to my rooms with a goodly volume under my
+     arm.
+
+     It is said that the barrister who crams up a case with such care that
+     he can examine an expert witness upon the Monday has forgotten all
+     his forced knowledge before the Saturday. Certainly I should not like
+     now to pose as an authority upon ceramics. And yet all that evening,
+     and all that night with a short interval for rest, and all next
+     morning, I was sucking in knowledge and committing names to memory.
+     There I learned of the hall-marks of the great artist-decorators, of
+     the mystery of cyclical dates, the marks of the Hung-wu and the
+     beauties of the Yung-lo, the writings of Tang-ying, and the glories
+     of the primitive period of the Sung and the Yuan. I was charged with
+     all this information when I called upon Holmes next evening. He was
+     out of bed now, though you would not have guessed it from the
+     published reports, and he sat with his much-bandaged head resting
+     upon his hand in the depth of his favourite armchair.
+
+     "Why, Holmes," I said, "if one believed the papers, you are dying."
+
+     "That," said he, "is the very impression which I intended to convey.
+     And now, Watson, have you learned your lessons?"
+
+     "At least I have tried to."
+
+     "Good. You could keep up an intelligent conversation on the subject?"
+
+     "I believe I could."
+
+     "Then hand me that little box from the mantelpiece."
+
+     He opened the lid and took out a small object most carefully wrapped
+     in some fine Eastern silk. This he unfolded, and disclosed a delicate
+     little saucer of the most beautiful deep-blue colour.
+
+     "It needs careful handling, Watson. This is the real egg-shell
+     pottery of the Ming dynasty. No finer piece ever passed through
+     Christie's. A complete set of this would be worth a king's ransom--in
+     fact, it is doubtful if there is a complete set outside the imperial
+     palace of Peking. The sight of this would drive a real connoisseur
+     wild."
+
+     "What am I to do with it?"
+
+     Holmes handed me a card upon which was printed: "Dr. Hill Barton, 369
+     Half Moon Street."
+
+     "That is your name for the evening, Watson. You will call upon Baron
+     Gruner. I know something of his habits, and at half-past eight he
+     would probably be disengaged. A note will tell him in advance that
+     you are about to call, and you will say that you are bringing him a
+     specimen of an absolutely unique set of Ming china. You may as well
+     be a medical man, since that is a part which you can play without
+     duplicity. You are a collector, this set has come your way, you have
+     heard of the Baron's interest in the subject, and you are not averse
+     to selling at a price."
+
+     "What price?"
+
+     "Well asked, Watson. You would certainly fall down badly if you did
+     not know the value of your own wares. This saucer was got for me by
+     Sir James, and comes, I understand, from the collection of his
+     client. You will not exaggerate if you say that it could hardly be
+     matched in the world."
+
+     "I could perhaps suggest that the set should be valued by an expert."
+
+     "Excellent, Watson! You scintillate to-day. Suggest Christie or
+     Sotheby. Your delicacy prevents your putting a price for yourself."
+
+     "But if he won't see me?"
+
+     "Oh, yes, he will see you. He has the collection mania in its most
+     acute form--and especially on this subject, on which he is an
+     acknowledged authority. Sit down, Watson, and I will dictate the
+     letter. No answer needed. You will merely say that you are coming,
+     and why."
+
+     It was an admirable document, short, courteous, and stimulating to
+     the curiosity of the connoisseur. A district messenger was duly
+     dispatched with it. On the same evening, with the precious saucer in
+     my hand and the card of Dr. Hill Barton in my pocket, I set off on my
+     own adventure.
+
+     The beautiful house and grounds indicated that Baron Gruner was, as
+     Sir James had said, a man of considerable wealth. A long winding
+     drive, with banks of rare shrubs on either side, opened out into a
+     great gravelled square adorned with statues. The place had been built
+     by a South African gold king in the days of the great boom, and the
+     long, low house with the turrets at the corners, though an
+     architectural nightmare, was imposing in its size and solidity. A
+     butler, who would have adorned a bench of bishops, showed me in and
+     handed me over to a plush-clad footman, who ushered me into the
+     Baron's presence.
+
+     He was standing at the open front of a great case which stood between
+     the windows and which contained part of his Chinese collection. He
+     turned as I entered with a small brown vase in his hand.
+
+     "Pray sit down, Doctor," said he. "I was looking over my own
+     treasures and wondering whether I could really afford to add to them.
+     This little Tang specimen, which dates from the seventh century,
+     would probably interest you. I am sure you never saw finer
+     workmanship or a richer glaze. Have you the Ming saucer with you of
+     which you spoke?"
+
+     I carefully unpacked it and handed it to him. He seated himself at
+     his desk, pulled over the lamp, for it was growing dark, and set
+     himself to examine it. As he did so the yellow light beat upon his
+     own features, and I was able to study them at my ease.
+
+     He was certainly a remarkably handsome man. His European reputation
+     for beauty was fully deserved. In figure he was not more than of
+     middle size, but was built upon graceful and active lines. His face
+     was swarthy, almost Oriental, with large, dark, languorous eyes which
+     might easily hold an irresistible fascination for women. His hair and
+     moustache were raven black, the latter short, pointed, and carefully
+     waxed. His features were regular and pleasing, save only his
+     straight, thin-lipped mouth. If ever I saw a murderer's mouth it was
+     there--a cruel, hard gash in the face, compressed, inexorable, and
+     terrible. He was ill-advised to train his moustache away from it, for
+     it was Nature's danger-signal, set as a warning to his victims. His
+     voice was engaging and his manners perfect. In age I should have put
+     him at little over thirty, though his record afterwards showed that
+     he was forty-two.
+
+     "Very fine--very fine indeed!" he said at last. "And you say you have
+     a set of six to correspond. What puzzles me is that I should not have
+     heard of such magnificent specimens. I only know of one in England to
+     match this, and it is certainly not likely to be in the market. Would
+     it be indiscreet if I were to ask you, Dr. Hill Barton, how you
+     obtained this?"
+
+     "Does it really matter?" I asked with as careless an air as I could
+     muster. "You can see that the piece is genuine, and, as to the value,
+     I am content to take an expert's valuation."
+
+     "Very mysterious," said he with a quick, suspicious flash of his dark
+     eyes. "In dealing with objects of such value, one naturally wishes to
+     know all about the transaction. That the piece is genuine is certain.
+     I have no doubts at all about that. But suppose--I am bound to take
+     every possibility into account--that it should prove afterwards that
+     you had no right to sell?"
+
+     "I would guarantee you against any claim of the sort."
+
+     "That, of course, would open up the question as to what your
+     guarantee was worth."
+
+     "My bankers would answer that."
+
+     "Quite so. And yet the whole transaction strikes me as rather
+     unusual."
+
+     "You can do business or not," said I with indifference. "I have given
+     you the first offer as I understood that you were a connoisseur, but
+     I shall have no difficulty in other quarters."
+
+     "Who told you I was a connoisseur?"
+
+     "I was aware that you had written a book upon the subject."
+
+     "Have you read the book?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Dear me, this becomes more and more difficult for me to understand!
+     You are a connoisseur and collector with a very valuable piece in
+     your collection, and yet you have never troubled to consult the one
+     book which would have told you of the real meaning and value of what
+     you held. How do you explain that?"
+
+     "I am a very busy man. I am a doctor in practice."
+
+     "That is no answer. If a man has a hobby he follows it up, whatever
+     his other pursuits may be. You said in your note that you were a
+     connoisseur."
+
+     "So I am."
+
+     "Might I ask you a few questions to test you? I am obliged to tell
+     you, Doctor--if you are indeed a doctor--that the incident becomes
+     more and more suspicious. I would ask you what do you know of the
+     Emperor Shomu and how do you associate him with the Shoso-in near
+     Nara? Dear me, does that puzzle you? Tell me a little about the
+     Northern Wei dynasty and its place in the history of ceramics."
+
+     I sprang from my chair in simulated anger.
+
+     "This is intolerable, sir," said I. "I came here to do you a favour,
+     and not to be examined as if I were a schoolboy. My knowledge on
+     these subjects may be second only to your own, but I certainly shall
+     not answer questions which have been put in so offensive a way."
+
+     He looked at me steadily. The languor had gone from his eyes. They
+     suddenly glared. There was a gleam of teeth from between those cruel
+     lips.
+
+     "What is the game? You are here as a spy. You are an emissary of
+     Holmes. This is a trick that you are playing upon me. The fellow is
+     dying I hear, so he sends his tools to keep watch upon me. You've
+     made your way in here without leave, and, by God! you may find it
+     harder to get out than to get in."
+
+     He had sprung to his feet, and I stepped back, bracing myself for an
+     attack, for the man was beside himself with rage. He may have
+     suspected me from the first; certainly this cross-examination had
+     shown him the truth; but it was clear that I could not hope to
+     deceive him. He dived his hand into a side-drawer and rummaged
+     furiously. Then something struck upon his ear, for he stood listening
+     intently.
+
+     "Ah!" he cried. "Ah!" and dashed into the room behind him.
+
+     Two steps took me to the open door, and my mind will ever carry a
+     clear picture of the scene within. The window leading out to the
+     garden was wide open. Beside it, looking like some terrible ghost,
+     his head girt with bloody bandages, his face drawn and white, stood
+     Sherlock Holmes. The next instant he was through the gap, and I heard
+     the crash of his body among the laurel bushes outside. With a howl of
+     rage the master of the house rushed after him to the open window.
+
+     And then! It was done in an instant, and yet I clearly saw it. An
+     arm--a woman's arm--shot out from among the leaves. At the same
+     instant the Baron uttered a horrible cry--a yell which will always
+     ring in my memory. He clapped his two hands to his face and rushed
+     round the room, beating his head horribly against the walls. Then he
+     fell upon the carpet, rolling and writhing, while scream after scream
+     resounded through the house.
+
+     "Water! For God's sake, water!" was his cry.
+
+     I seized a carafe from a side-table and rushed to his aid. At the
+     same moment the butler and several footmen ran in from the hall. I
+     remember that one of them fainted as I knelt by the injured man and
+     turned that awful face to the light of the lamp. The vitriol was
+     eating into it everywhere and dripping from the ears and the chin.
+     One eye was already white and glazed. The other was red and inflamed.
+     The features which I had admired a few minutes before were now like
+     some beautiful painting over which the artist has passed a wet and
+     foul sponge. They were blurred, discoloured, inhuman, terrible.
+
+     In a few words I explained exactly what had occurred, so far as the
+     vitriol attack was concerned. Some had climbed through the window and
+     others had rushed out on to the lawn, but it was dark and it had
+     begun to rain. Between his screams the victim raged and raved against
+     the avenger. "It was that hell-cat, Kitty Winter!" he cried. "Oh, the
+     she-devil! She shall pay for it! She shall pay! Oh, God in heaven,
+     this pain is more than I can bear!"
+
+     I bathed his face in oil, put cotton wadding on the raw surfaces, and
+     administered a hypodermic of morphia. All suspicion of me had passed
+     from his mind in the presence of this shock, and he clung to my hands
+     as if I might have the power even yet to clear those dead-fish eyes
+     which gazed up at me. I could have wept over the ruin had I not
+     remembered very clearly the vile life which had led up to so hideous
+     a change. It was loathsome to feel the pawing of his burning hands,
+     and I was relieved when his family surgeon, closely followed by a
+     specialist, came to relieve me of my charge. An inspector of police
+     had also arrived, and to him I handed my real card. It would have
+     been useless as well as foolish to do otherwise, for I was nearly as
+     well known by sight at the Yard as Holmes himself. Then I left that
+     house of gloom and terror. Within an hour I was at Baker Street.
+
+     Holmes was seated in his familiar chair, looking very pale and
+     exhausted. Apart from his injuries, even his iron nerves had been
+     shocked by the events of the evening, and he listened with horror to
+     my account of the Baron's transformation.
+
+     "The wages of sin, Watson--the wages of sin!" said he. "Sooner or
+     later it will always come. God knows, there was sin enough," he
+     added, taking up a brown volume from the table. "Here is the book the
+     woman talked of. If this will not break off the marriage, nothing
+     ever could. But it will, Watson. It must. No self-respecting woman
+     could stand it."
+
+     "It is his love diary?"
+
+     "Or his lust diary. Call it what you will. The moment the woman told
+     us of it I realized what a tremendous weapon was there if we could
+     but lay our hands on it. I said nothing at the time to indicate my
+     thoughts, for this woman might have given it away. But I brooded over
+     it. Then this assault upon me gave me the chance of letting the Baron
+     think that no precautions need be taken against me. That was all to
+     the good. I would have waited a little longer, but his visit to
+     America forced my hand. He would never have left so compromising a
+     document behind him. Therefore we had to act at once. Burglary at
+     night is impossible. He takes precautions. But there was a chance in
+     the evening if I could only be sure that his attention was engaged.
+     That was where you and your blue saucer came in. But I had to be sure
+     of the position of the book, and I knew I had only a few minutes in
+     which to act, for my time was limited by your knowledge of Chinese
+     pottery. Therefore I gathered the girl up at the last moment. How
+     could I guess what the little packet was that she carried so
+     carefully under her cloak? I thought she had come altogether on my
+     business, but it seems she had some of her own."
+
+     "He guessed I came from you."
+
+     "I feared he would. But you held him in play just long enough for me
+     to get the book, though not long enough for an unobserved escape. Ah,
+     Sir James, I am very glad you have come!"
+
+     Our courtly friend had appeared in answer to a previous summons. He
+     listened with the deepest attention to Holmes's account of what had
+     occurred.
+
+     "You have done wonders--wonders!" he cried when he had heard the
+     narrative. "But if these injuries are as terrible as Dr. Watson
+     describes, then surely our purpose of thwarting the marriage is
+     sufficiently gained without the use of this horrible book."
+
+     Holmes shook his head.
+
+     "Women of the De Merville type do not act like that. She would love
+     him the more as a disfigured martyr. No, no. It is his moral side,
+     not his physical, which we have to destroy. That book will bring her
+     back to earth--and I know nothing else that could. It is in his own
+     writing. She cannot get past it."
+
+     Sir James carried away both it and the precious saucer. As I was
+     myself overdue, I went down with him into the street. A brougham was
+     waiting for him. He sprang in, gave a hurried order to the cockaded
+     coachman, and drove swiftly away. He flung his overcoat half out of
+     the window to cover the armorial bearings upon the panel, but I had
+     seen them in the glare of our fanlight none the less. I gasped with
+     surprise. Then I turned back and ascended the stair to Holmes's room.
+
+     "I have found out who our client is," I cried, bursting with my great
+     news. "Why, Holmes, it is--"
+
+     "It is a loyal friend and a chivalrous gentleman," said Holmes,
+     holding up a restraining hand. "Let that now and forever be enough
+     for us."
+
+     I do not know how the incriminating book was used. Sir James may have
+     managed it. Or it is more probable that so delicate a task was
+     entrusted to the young lady's father. The effect, at any rate, was
+     all that could be desired. Three days later appeared a paragraph in
+     the Morning Post to say that the marriage between Baron Adelbert
+     Gruner and Miss Violet de Merville would not take place. The same
+     paper had the first police-court hearing of the proceedings against
+     Miss Kitty Winter on the grave charge of vitriol-throwing. Such
+     extenuating circumstances came out in the trial that the sentence, as
+     will be remembered, was the lowest that was possible for such an
+     offence. Sherlock Holmes was threatened with a prosecution for
+     burglary, but when an object is good and a client is sufficiently
+     illustrious, even the rigid British law becomes human and elastic. My
+     friend has not yet stood in the dock.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE BLANCHED SOLDIER
+
+     The ideas of my friend Watson, though limited, are exceedingly
+     pertinacious. For a long time he has worried me to write an
+     experience of my own. Perhaps I have rather invited this persecution,
+     since I have often had occasion to point out to him how superficial
+     are his own accounts and to accuse him of pandering to popular taste
+     instead of confining himself rigidly to facts and figures. "Try it
+     yourself, Holmes!" he has retorted, and I am compelled to admit that,
+     having taken my pen in my hand, I do begin to realize that the matter
+     must be presented in such a way as may interest the reader. The
+     following case can hardly fail to do so, as it is among the strangest
+     happenings in my collection, though it chanced that Watson had no
+     note of it in his collection. Speaking of my old friend and
+     biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark that if I burden
+     myself with a companion in my various little inquiries it is not done
+     out of sentiment or caprice, but it is that Watson has some
+     remarkable characteristics of his own to which in his modesty he has
+     given small attention amid his exaggerated estimates of my own
+     performances. A confederate who foresees your conclusions and course
+     of action is always dangerous, but one to whom each development comes
+     as a perpetual surprise, and to whom the future is always a closed
+     book, is indeed an ideal helpmate.
+
+     I find from my notebook that it was in January, 1903, just after the
+     conclusion of the Boer War, that I had my visit from Mr. James M.
+     Dodd, a big, fresh, sunburned, upstanding Briton. The good Watson had
+     at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I
+     can recall in our association. I was alone.
+
+     It is my habit to sit with my back to the window and to place my
+     visitors in the opposite chair, where the light falls full upon them.
+     Mr. James M. Dodd seemed somewhat at a loss how to begin the
+     interview. I did not attempt to help him, for his silence gave me
+     more time for observation. I have found it wise to impress clients
+     with a sense of power, and so I gave him some of my conclusions.
+
+     "From South Africa, sir, I perceive."
+
+     "Yes, sir," he answered, with some surprise.
+
+     "Imperial Yeomanry, I fancy."
+
+     "Exactly."
+
+     "Middlesex Corps, no doubt."
+
+     "That is so. Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard."
+
+     I smiled at his bewildered expression.
+
+     "When a gentleman of virile appearance enters my room with such tan
+     upon his face as an English sun could never give, and with his
+     handkerchief in his sleeve instead of in his pocket, it is not
+     difficult to place him. You wear a short beard, which shows that you
+     were not a regular. You have the cut of a riding-man. As to
+     Middlesex, your card has already shown me that you are a stockbroker
+     from Throgmorton Street. What other regiment would you join?"
+
+     "You see everything."
+
+     "I see no more than you, but I have trained myself to notice what I
+     see. However, Mr. Dodd, it was not to discuss the science of
+     observation that you called upon me this morning. What has been
+     happening at Tuxbury Old Park?"
+
+     "Mr. Holmes--!"
+
+     "My dear sir, there is no mystery. Your letter came with that
+     heading, and as you fixed this appointment in very pressing terms it
+     was clear that something sudden and important had occurred."
+
+     "Yes, indeed. But the letter was written in the afternoon, and a good
+     deal has happened since then. If Colonel Emsworth had not kicked me
+     out--"
+
+     "Kicked you out!"
+
+     "Well, that was what it amounted to. He is a hard nail, is Colonel
+     Emsworth. The greatest martinet in the Army in his day, and it was a
+     day of rough language, too. I couldn't have stuck the colonel if it
+     had not been for Godfrey's sake."
+
+     I lit my pipe and leaned back in my chair.
+
+     "Perhaps you will explain what you are talking about."
+
+     My client grinned mischievously.
+
+     "I had got into the way of supposing that you knew everything without
+     being told," said he. "But I will give you the facts, and I hope to
+     God that you will be able to tell me what they mean. I've been awake
+     all night puzzling my brain, and the more I think the more incredible
+     does it become.
+
+     "When I joined up in January, 1901--just two years ago--young Godfrey
+     Emsworth had joined the same squadron. He was Colonel Emsworth's only
+     son--Emsworth, the Crimean V. C.--and he had the fighting blood in
+     him, so it is no wonder he volunteered. There was not a finer lad in
+     the regiment. We formed a friendship--the sort of friendship which
+     can only be made when one lives the same life and shares the same
+     joys and sorrows. He was my mate--and that means a good deal in the
+     Army. We took the rough and the smooth together for a year of hard
+     fighting. Then he was hit with a bullet from an elephant gun in the
+     action near Diamond Hill outside Pretoria. I got one letter from the
+     hospital at Cape Town and one from Southampton. Since then not a
+     word--not one word, Mr. Holmes, for six months and more, and he my
+     closest pal.
+
+     "Well, when the war was over, and we all got back, I wrote to his
+     father and asked where Godfrey was. No answer. I waited a bit and
+     then I wrote again. This time I had a reply, short and gruff. Godfrey
+     had gone on a voyage round the world, and it was not likely that he
+     would be back for a year. That was all.
+
+     "I wasn't satisfied, Mr. Holmes. The whole thing seemed to me so
+     damned unnatural. He was a good lad, and he would not drop a pal like
+     that. It was not like him. Then, again, I happened to know that he
+     was heir to a lot of money, and also that his father and he did not
+     always hit it off too well. The old man was sometimes a bully, and
+     young Godfrey had too much spirit to stand it. No, I wasn't
+     satisfied, and I determined that I would get to the root of the
+     matter. It happened, however, that my own affairs needed a lot of
+     straightening out, after two years' absence, and so it is only this
+     week that I have been able to take up Godfrey's case again. But since
+     I have taken it up I mean to drop everything in order to see it
+     through."
+
+     Mr. James M. Dodd appeared to be the sort of person whom it would be
+     better to have as a friend than as an enemy. His blue eyes were stern
+     and his square jaw had set hard as he spoke.
+
+     "Well, what have you done?" I asked.
+
+     "My first move was to get down to his home, Tuxbury Old Park, near
+     Bedford, and to see for myself how the ground lay. I wrote to the
+     mother, therefore--I had had quite enough of the curmudgeon of a
+     father--and I made a clean frontal attack: Godfrey was my chum, I had
+     a great deal of interest which I might tell her of our common
+     experiences, I should be in the neighbourhood, would there be any
+     objection, et cetera? In reply I had quite an amiable answer from her
+     and an offer to put me up for the night. That was what took me down
+     on Monday.
+
+     "Tuxbury Old Hall is inaccessible--five miles from anywhere. There
+     was no trap at the station, so I had to walk, carrying my suitcase,
+     and it was nearly dark before I arrived. It is a great wandering
+     house, standing in a considerable park. I should judge it was of all
+     sorts of ages and styles, starting on a half-timbered Elizabethan
+     foundation and ending in a Victorian portico. Inside it was all
+     panelling and tapestry and half-effaced old pictures, a house of
+     shadows and mystery. There was a butler, old Ralph, who seemed about
+     the same age as the house, and there was his wife, who might have
+     been older. She had been Godfrey's nurse, and I had heard him speak
+     of her as second only to his mother in his affections, so I was drawn
+     to her in spite of her queer appearance. The mother I liked also--a
+     gentle little white mouse of a woman. It was only the colonel himself
+     whom I barred.
+
+     "We had a bit of barney right away, and I should have walked back to
+     the station if I had not felt that it might be playing his game for
+     me to do so. I was shown straight into his study, and there I found
+     him, a huge, bow-backed man with a smoky skin and a straggling gray
+     beard, seated behind his littered desk. A red-veined nose jutted out
+     like a vulture's beak, and two fierce gray eyes glared at me from
+     under tufted brows. I could understand now why Godfrey seldom spoke
+     of his father.
+
+     "'Well, sir,' said he in a rasping voice, 'I should be interested to
+     know the real reasons for this visit.'
+
+     "I answered that I had explained them in my letter to his wife.
+
+     "'Yes, yes, you said that you had known Godfrey in Africa. We have,
+     of course, only your word for that.'
+
+     "'I have his letters to me in my pocket.'
+
+     "'Kindly let me see them.'
+
+     "He glanced at the two which I handed him, and then he tossed them
+     back.
+
+     "'Well, what then?' he asked.
+
+     "'I was fond of your son Godfrey, sir. Many ties and memories united
+     us. Is it not natural that I should wonder at his sudden silence and
+     should wish to know what has become of him?'
+
+     "'I have some recollections, sir, that I had already corresponded
+     with you and had told you what had become of him. He has gone upon a
+     voyage round the world. His health was in a poor way after his
+     African experiences, and both his mother and I were of opinion that
+     complete rest and change were needed. Kindly pass that explanation on
+     to any other friends who may be interested in the matter.'
+
+     "'Certainly,' I answered. 'But perhaps you would have the goodness to
+     let me have the name of the steamer and of the line by which he
+     sailed, together with the date. I have no doubt that I should be able
+     to get a letter through to him.'
+
+     "My request seemed both to puzzle and to irritate my host. His great
+     eyebrows came down over his eyes, and he tapped his fingers
+     impatiently on the table. He looked up at last with the expression of
+     one who has seen his adversary make a dangerous move at chess, and
+     has decided how to meet it.
+
+     "'Many people, Mr. Dodd,' said he, 'would take offence at your
+     infernal pertinacity and would think that this insistence had reached
+     the point of damned impertinence.'
+
+     "'You must put it down, sir, to my real love for your son.'
+
+     "'Exactly. I have already made every allowance upon that score. I
+     must ask you, however, to drop these inquiries. Every family has its
+     own inner knowledge and its own motives, which cannot always be made
+     clear to outsiders, however well-intentioned. My wife is anxious to
+     hear something of Godfrey's past which you are in a position to tell
+     her, but I would ask you to let the present and the future alone.
+     Such inquiries serve no useful purpose, sir, and place us in a
+     delicate and difficult position.'
+
+     "So I came to a dead end, Mr. Holmes. There was no getting past it. I
+     could only pretend to accept the situation and register a vow
+     inwardly that I would never rest until my friend's fate had been
+     cleared up. It was a dull evening. We dined quietly, the three of us,
+     in a gloomy, faded old room. The lady questioned me eagerly about her
+     son, but the old man seemed morose and depressed. I was so bored by
+     the whole proceeding that I made an excuse as soon as I decently
+     could and retired to my bedroom. It was a large, bare room on the
+     ground floor, as gloomy as the rest of the house, but after a year of
+     sleeping upon the veldt, Mr. Holmes, one is not too particular about
+     one's quarters. I opened the curtains and looked out into the garden,
+     remarking that it was a fine night with a bright half-moon. Then I
+     sat down by the roaring fire with the lamp on a table beside me, and
+     endeavoured to distract my mind with a novel. I was interrupted,
+     however, by Ralph, the old butler, who came in with a fresh supply of
+     coals.
+
+     "'I thought you might run short in the night-time, sir. It is bitter
+     weather and these rooms are cold.'
+
+     "He hesitated before leaving the room, and when I looked round he was
+     standing facing me with a wistful look upon his wrinkled face.
+
+     "'Beg your pardon, sir, but I could not help hearing what you said of
+     young Master Godfrey at dinner. You know, sir, that my wife nursed
+     him, and so I may say I am his foster-father. It's natural we should
+     take an interest. And you say he carried himself well, sir?'
+
+     "'There was no braver man in the regiment. He pulled me out once from
+     under the rifles of the Boers, or maybe I should not be here.'
+
+     "The old butler rubbed his skinny hands.
+
+     "'Yes, sir, yes, that is Master Godfrey all over. He was always
+     courageous. There's not a tree in the park, sir, that he has not
+     climbed. Nothing would stop him. He was a fine boy--and oh, sir, he
+     was a fine man.'
+
+     "I sprang to my feet.
+
+     "'Look here!' I cried. 'You say he was. You speak as if he were dead.
+     What is all this mystery? What has become of Godfrey Emsworth?'
+
+     "I gripped the old man by the shoulder, but he shrank away.
+
+     "'I don't know what you mean, sir. Ask the master about Master
+     Godfrey. He knows. It is not for me to interfere.'
+
+     "He was leaving the room, but I held his arm.
+
+     "'Listen,' I said. 'You are going to answer one question before you
+     leave if I have to hold you all night. Is Godfrey dead?'
+
+     "He could not face my eyes. He was like a man hypnotized. The answer
+     was dragged from his lips. It was a terrible and unexpected one.
+
+     "'I wish to God he was!' he cried, and, tearing himself free, he
+     dashed from the room.
+
+     "You will think, Mr. Holmes, that I returned to my chair in no very
+     happy state of mind. The old man's words seemed to me to bear only
+     one interpretation. Clearly my poor friend had become involved in
+     some criminal or, at the least, disreputable transaction which
+     touched the family honour. That stern old man had sent his son away
+     and hidden him from the world lest some scandal should come to light.
+     Godfrey was a reckless fellow. He was easily influenced by those
+     around him. No doubt he had fallen into bad hands and been misled to
+     his ruin. It was a piteous business, if it was indeed so, but even
+     now it was my duty to hunt him out and see if I could aid him. I was
+     anxiously pondering the matter when I looked up, and there was
+     Godfrey Emsworth standing before me."
+
+     My client had paused as one in deep emotion.
+
+     "Pray continue," I said. "Your problem presents some very unusual
+     features."
+
+     "He was outside the window, Mr. Holmes, with his face pressed against
+     the glass. I have told you that I looked out at the night. When I did
+     so I left the curtains partly open. His figure was framed in this
+     gap. The window came down to the ground and I could see the whole
+     length of it, but it was his face which held my gaze. He was deadly
+     pale--never have I seen a man so white. I reckon ghosts may look like
+     that; but his eyes met mine, and they were the eyes of a living man.
+     He sprang back when he saw that I was looking at him, and he vanished
+     into the darkness.
+
+     "There was something shocking about the man, Mr. Holmes. It wasn't
+     merely that ghastly face glimmering as white as cheese in the
+     darkness. It was more subtle than that--something slinking, something
+     furtive, something guilty-- something very unlike the frank, manly
+     lad that I had known. It left a feeling of horror in my mind.
+
+     "But when a man has been soldiering for a year or two with brother
+     Boer as a playmate, he keeps his nerve and acts quickly. Godfrey had
+     hardly vanished before I was at the window. There was an awkward
+     catch, and I was some little time before I could throw it up. Then I
+     nipped through and ran down the garden path in the direction that I
+     thought he might have taken.
+
+     "It was a long path and the light was not very good, but it seemed to
+     me something was moving ahead of me. I ran on and called his name,
+     but it was no use. When I got to the end of the path there were
+     several others branching in different directions to various
+     outhouses. I stood hesitating, and as I did so I heard distinctly the
+     sound of a closing door. It was not behind me in the house, but ahead
+     of me, somewhere in the darkness. That was enough, Mr. Holmes, to
+     assure me that what I had seen was not a vision. Godfrey had run away
+     from me, and he had shut a door behind him. Of that I was certain.
+
+     "There was nothing more I could do, and I spent an uneasy night
+     turning the matter over in my mind and trying to find some theory
+     which would cover the facts. Next day I found the colonel rather more
+     conciliatory, and as his wife remarked that there were some places of
+     interest in the neighbourhood, it gave me an opening to ask whether
+     my presence for one more night would incommode them. A somewhat
+     grudging acquiescence from the old man gave me a clear day in which
+     to make my observations. I was already perfectly convinced that
+     Godfrey was in hiding somewhere near, but where and why remained to
+     be solved.
+
+     "The house was so large and so rambling that a regiment might be hid
+     away in it and no one the wiser. If the secret lay there it was
+     difficult for me to penetrate it. But the door which I had heard
+     close was certainly not in the house. I must explore the garden and
+     see what I could find. There was no difficulty in the way, for the
+     old people were busy in their own fashion and left me to my own
+     devices.
+
+     "There were several small outhouses, but at the end of the garden
+     there was a detached building of some size--large enough for a
+     gardener's or a gamekeeper's residence. Could this be the place
+     whence the sound of that shutting door had come? I approached it in a
+     careless fashion as though I were strolling aimlessly round the
+     grounds. As I did so, a small, brisk, bearded man in a black coat and
+     bowler hat--not at all the gardener type--came out of the door. To my
+     surprise, he locked it after him and put the key in his pocket. Then
+     he looked at me with some surprise on his face.
+
+     "'Are you a visitor here?' he asked.
+
+     "I explained that I was and that I was a friend of Godfrey's.
+
+     "'What a pity that he should be away on his travels, for he would
+     have so liked to see me,' I continued.
+
+     "'Quite so. Exactly,' said he with a rather guilty air. 'No doubt you
+     will renew your visit at some more propitious time.' He passed on,
+     but when I turned I observed that he was standing watching me,
+     half-concealed by the laurels at the far end of the garden.
+
+     "I had a good look at the little house as I passed it, but the
+     windows were heavily curtained, and, so far as one could see, it was
+     empty. I might spoil my own game and even be ordered off the premises
+     if I were too audacious, for I was still conscious that I was being
+     watched. Therefore, I strolled back to the house and waited for night
+     before I went on with my inquiry. When all was dark and quiet I
+     slipped out of my window and made my way as silently as possible to
+     the mysterious lodge.
+
+     "I have said that it was heavily curtained, but now I found that the
+     windows were shuttered as well. Some light, however, was breaking
+     through one of them, so I concentrated my attention upon this. I was
+     in luck, for the curtain had not been quite closed, and there was a
+     crack in the shutter, so that I could see the inside of the room. It
+     was a cheery place enough, a bright lamp and a blazing fire. Opposite
+     to me was seated the little man whom I had seen in the morning. He
+     was smoking a pipe and reading a paper."
+
+     "What paper?" I asked.
+
+     My client seemed annoyed at the interruption of his narrative.
+
+     "Can it matter?" he asked.
+
+     "It is most essential."
+
+     "I really took no notice."
+
+     "Possibly you observed whether it was a broad-leafed paper or of that
+     smaller type which one associates with weeklies."
+
+     "Now that you mention it, it was not large. It might have been the
+     Spectator. However, I had little thought to spare upon such details,
+     for a second man was seated with his back to the window, and I could
+     swear that this second man was Godfrey. I could not see his face, but
+     I knew the familiar slope of his shoulders. He was leaning upon his
+     elbow in an attitude of great melancholy, his body turned towards the
+     fire. I was hesitating as to what I should do when there was a sharp
+     tap on my shoulder, and there was Colonel Emsworth beside me.
+
+     "'This way, sir!' said he in a low voice. He walked in silence to the
+     house, and I followed him into my own bedroom. He had picked up a
+     time-table in the hall.
+
+     "'There is a train to London at 8.30,' said he. 'The trap will be at
+     the door at eight.'
+
+     "He was white with rage, and, indeed, I felt myself in so difficult a
+     position that I could only stammer out a few incoherent apologies in
+     which I tried to excuse myself by urging my anxiety for my friend.
+
+     "'The matter will not bear discussion,' said he abruptly. 'You have
+     made a most damnable intrusion into the privacy of our family. You
+     were here as a guest and you have become a spy. I have nothing more
+     to say, sir, save that I have no wish ever to see you again.'
+
+     "At this I lost my temper, Mr. Holmes, and I spoke with some warmth.
+
+     "'I have seen your son, and I am convinced that for some reason of
+     your own you are concealing him from the world. I have no idea what
+     your motives are in cutting him off in this fashion, but I am sure
+     that he is no longer a free agent. I warn you, Colonel Emsworth, that
+     until I am assured as to the safety and well-being of my friend I
+     shall never desist in my efforts to get to the bottom of the mystery,
+     and I shall certainly not allow myself to be intimidated by anything
+     which you may say or do.'
+
+     "The old fellow looked diabolical, and I really thought he was about
+     to attack me. I have said that he was a gaunt, fierce old giant, and
+     though I am no weakling I might have been hard put to it to hold my
+     own against him. However, after a long glare of rage he turned upon
+     his heel and walked out of the room. For my part, I took the
+     appointed train in the morning, with the full intention of coming
+     straight to you and asking for your advice and assistance at the
+     appointment for which I had already written."
+
+     Such was the problem which my visitor laid before me. It presented,
+     as the astute reader will have already perceived, few difficulties in
+     its solution, for a very limited choice of alternatives must get to
+     the root of the matter. Still, elementary as it was, there were
+     points of interest and novelty about it which may excuse my placing
+     it upon record. I now proceeded, using my familiar method of logical
+     analysis, to narrow down the possible solutions.
+
+     "The servants," I asked; "how many were in the house?"
+
+     "To the best of my belief there were only the old butler and his
+     wife. They seemed to live in the simplest fashion."
+
+     "There was no servant, then, in the detached house?"
+
+     "None, unless the little man with the beard acted as such. He seemed,
+     however, to be quite a superior person."
+
+     "That seems very suggestive. Had you any indication that food was
+     conveyed from the one house to the other?"
+
+     "Now that you mention it, I did see old Ralph carrying a basket down
+     the garden walk and going in the direction of this house. The idea of
+     food did not occur to me at the moment."
+
+     "Did you make any local inquiries?"
+
+     "Yes, I did. I spoke to the station-master and also to the innkeeper
+     in the village. I simply asked if they knew anything of my old
+     comrade, Godfrey Emsworth. Both of them assured me that he had gone
+     for a voyage round the world. He had come home and then had almost at
+     once started off again. The story was evidently universally
+     accepted."
+
+     "You said nothing of your suspicions?"
+
+     "Nothing."
+
+     "That was very wise. The matter should certainly be inquired into. I
+     will go back with you to Tuxbury Old Park."
+
+     "To-day?"
+
+     It happened that at the moment I was clearing up the case which my
+     friend Watson has described as that of the Abbey School, in which the
+     Duke of Greyminster was so deeply involved. I had also a commission
+     from the Sultan of Turkey which called for immediate action, as
+     political consequences of the gravest kind might arise from its
+     neglect. Therefore it was not until the beginning of the next week,
+     as my diary records, that I was able to start forth on my mission to
+     Bedfordshire in company with Mr. James M. Dodd. As we drove to Euston
+     we picked up a grave and taciturn gentleman of iron-gray aspect, with
+     whom I had made the necessary arrangements.
+
+     "This is an old friend," said I to Dodd. "It is possible that his
+     presence may be entirely unnecessary, and, on the other hand, it may
+     be essential. It is not necessary at the present stage to go further
+     into the matter."
+
+     The narratives of Watson have accustomed the reader, no doubt, to the
+     fact that I do not waste words or disclose my thoughts while a case
+     is actually under consideration. Dodd seemed surprised, but nothing
+     more was said, and the three of us continued our journey together. In
+     the train I asked Dodd one more question which I wished our companion
+     to hear.
+
+     "You say that you saw your friend's face quite clearly at the window,
+     so clearly that you are sure of his identity?"
+
+     "I have no doubt about it whatever. His nose was pressed against the
+     glass. The lamplight shone full upon him."
+
+     "It could not have been someone resembling him?"
+
+     "No, no, it was he."
+
+     "But you say he was changed?"
+
+     "Only in colour. His face was--how shall I describe it?--it was of a
+     fish-belly whiteness. It was bleached."
+
+     "Was it equally pale all over?"
+
+     "I think not. It was his brow which I saw so clearly as it was
+     pressed against the window."
+
+     "Did you call to him?"
+
+     "I was too startled and horrified for the moment. Then I pursued him,
+     as I have told you, but without result."
+
+     My case was practically complete, and there was only one small
+     incident needed to round it off. When, after a considerable drive, we
+     arrived at the strange old rambling house which my client had
+     described, it was Ralph, the elderly butler, who opened the door. I
+     had requisitioned the carriage for the day and had asked my elderly
+     friend to remain within it unless we should summon him. Ralph, a
+     little wrinkled old fellow, was in the conventional costume of black
+     coat and pepper-and-salt trousers, with only one curious variant. He
+     wore brown leather gloves, which at sight of us he instantly shuffled
+     off, laying them down on the hall-table as we passed in. I have, as
+     my friend Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of
+     senses, and a faint but incisive scent was apparent. It seemed to
+     centre on the hall-table. I turned, placed my hat there, knocked it
+     off, stooped to pick it up, and contrived to bring my nose within a
+     foot of the gloves. Yes, it was undoubtedly from them that the
+     curious tarry odour was oozing. I passed on into the study with my
+     case complete. Alas, that I should have to show my hand so when I
+     tell my own story! It was by concealing such links in the chain that
+     Watson was enabled to produce his meretricious finales.
+
+     Colonel Emsworth was not in his room, but he came quickly enough on
+     receipt of Ralph's message. We heard his quick, heavy step in the
+     passage. The door was flung open and he rushed in with bristling
+     beard and twisted features, as terrible an old man as ever I have
+     seen. He held our cards in his hand, and he tore them up and stamped
+     on the fragments.
+
+     "Have I not told you, you infernal busybody, that you are warned off
+     the premises? Never dare to show your damned face here again. If you
+     enter again without my leave I shall be within my rights if I use
+     violence. I'll shoot you, sir! By God, I will! As to you, sir,"
+     turning upon me, "I extend the same warning to you. I am familiar
+     with your ignoble profession, but you must take your reputed talents
+     to some other field. There is no opening for them here."
+
+     "I cannot leave here," said my client firmly, "until I hear from
+     Godfrey's own lips that he is under no restraint."
+
+     Our involuntary host rang the bell.
+
+     "Ralph," he said, "telephone down to the county police and ask the
+     inspector to send up two constables. Tell him there are burglars in
+     the house."
+
+     "One moment," said I. "You must be aware, Mr. Dodd, that Colonel
+     Emsworth is within his rights and that we have no legal status within
+     his house. On the other hand, he should recognize that your action is
+     prompted entirely by solicitude for his son. I venture to hope that
+     if I were allowed to have five minutes' conversation with Colonel
+     Emsworth I could certainly alter his view of the matter."
+
+     "I am not so easily altered," said the old soldier. "Ralph, do what I
+     have told you. What the devil are you waiting for? Ring up the
+     police!"
+
+     "Nothing of the sort," I said, putting my back to the door. "Any
+     police interference would bring about the very catastrophe which you
+     dread." I took out my notebook and scribbled one word upon a loose
+     sheet. "That," said I as I handed it to Colonel Emsworth, "is what
+     has brought us here."
+
+     He stared at the writing with a face from which every expression save
+     amazement had vanished.
+
+     "How do you know?" he gasped, sitting down heavily in his chair.
+
+     "It is my business to know things. That is my trade."
+
+     He sat in deep thought, his gaunt hand tugging at his straggling
+     beard. Then he made a gesture of resignation.
+
+     "Well, if you wish to see Godfrey, you shall. It is no doing of mine,
+     but you have forced my hand. Ralph, tell Mr. Godfrey and Mr. Kent
+     that in five minutes we shall be with them."
+
+     At the end of that time we passed down the garden path and found
+     ourselves in front of the mystery house at the end. A small bearded
+     man stood at the door with a look of considerable astonishment upon
+     his face.
+
+     "This is very sudden, Colonel Emsworth," said he. "This will
+     disarrange all our plans."
+
+     "I can't help it, Mr. Kent. Our hands have been forced. Can Mr.
+     Godfrey see us?"
+
+     "Yes, he is waiting inside." He turned and led us into a large,
+     plainly furnished front room. A man was standing with his back to the
+     fire, and at the sight of him my client sprang forward with
+     outstretched hand.
+
+     "Why, Godfrey, old man, this is fine!"
+
+     But the other waved him back.
+
+     "Don't touch me, Jimmie. Keep your distance. Yes, you may well stare!
+     I don't quite look the smart Lance-Corporal Emsworth, of B Squadron,
+     do I?"
+
+     His appearance was certainly extraordinary. One could see that he had
+     indeed been a handsome man with clear-cut features sunburned by an
+     African sun, but mottled in patches over this darker surface were
+     curious whitish patches which had bleached his skin.
+
+     "That's why I don't court visitors," said he. "I don't mind you,
+     Jimmie, but I could have done without your friend. I suppose there is
+     some good reason for it, but you have me at a disadvantage."
+
+     "I wanted to be sure that all was well with you, Godfrey. I saw you
+     that night when you looked into my window, and I could not let the
+     matter rest till I had cleared things up."
+
+     "Old Ralph told me you were there, and I couldn't help taking a peep
+     at you. I hoped you would not have seen me, and I had to run to my
+     burrow when I heard the window go up."
+
+     "But what in heaven's name is the matter?"
+
+     "Well, it's not a long story to tell," said he, lighting a cigarette.
+     "You remember that morning fight at Buffelsspruit, outside Pretoria,
+     on the Eastern railway line? You heard I was hit?"
+
+     "Yes, I heard that, but I never got particulars."
+
+     "Three of us got separated from the others. It was very broken
+     country, you may remember. There was Simpson--the fellow we called
+     Baldy Simpson-- and Anderson, and I. We were clearing brother Boer,
+     but he lay low and got the three of us. The other two were killed. I
+     got an elephant bullet through my shoulder. I stuck on to my horse,
+     however, and he galloped several miles before I fainted and rolled
+     off the saddle.
+
+     "When I came to myself it was nightfall, and I raised myself up,
+     feeling very weak and ill. To my surprise there was a house close
+     beside me, a fairly large house with a broad stoep and many windows.
+     It was deadly cold. You remember the kind of numb cold which used to
+     come at evening, a deadly, sickening sort of cold, very different
+     from a crisp healthy frost. Well, I was chilled to the bone, and my
+     only hope seemed to lie in reaching that house. I staggered to my
+     feet and dragged myself along, hardly conscious of what I did. I have
+     a dim memory of slowly ascending the steps, entering a wide-opened
+     door, passing into a large room which contained several beds, and
+     throwing myself down with a gasp of satisfaction upon one of them. It
+     was unmade, but that troubled me not at all. I drew the clothes over
+     my shivering body and in a moment I was in a deep sleep.
+
+     "It was morning when I wakened, and it seemed to me that instead of
+     coming out into a world of sanity I had emerged into some
+     extraordinary nightmare. The African sun flooded through the big,
+     curtainless windows, and every detail of the great, bare, whitewashed
+     dormitory stood out hard and clear. In front of me was standing a
+     small, dwarf-like man with a huge, bulbous head, who was jabbering
+     excitedly in Dutch, waving two horrible hands which looked to me like
+     brown sponges. Behind him stood a group of people who seemed to be
+     intensely amused by the situation, but a chill came over me as I
+     looked at them. Not one of them was a normal human being. Every one
+     was twisted or swollen or disfigured in some strange way. The
+     laughter of these strange monstrosities was a dreadful thing to hear.
+
+     "It seemed that none of them could speak English, but the situation
+     wanted clearing up, for the creature with the big head was growing
+     furiously angry, and, uttering wild-beast cries, he had laid his
+     deformed hands upon me and was dragging me out of bed, regardless of
+     the fresh flow of blood from my wound. The little monster was as
+     strong as a bull, and I don't know what he might have done to me had
+     not an elderly man who was clearly in authority been attracted to the
+     room by the hubbub. He said a few stern words in Dutch, and my
+     persecutor shrank away. Then he turned upon me, gazing at me in the
+     utmost amazement.
+
+     "'How in the world did you come here?' he asked in amazement. 'Wait a
+     bit! I see that you are tired out and that wounded shoulder of yours
+     wants looking after. I am a doctor, and I'll soon have you tied up.
+     But, man alive! you are in far greater danger here than ever you were
+     on the battlefield. You are in the Leper Hospital, and you have slept
+     in a leper's bed.'
+
+     "Need I tell you more, Jimmie? It seems that in view of the
+     approaching battle all these poor creatures had been evacuated the
+     day before. Then, as the British advanced, they had been brought back
+     by this, their medical superintendent, who assured me that, though he
+     believed he was immune to the disease, he would none the less never
+     have dared to do what I had done. He put me in a private room,
+     treated me kindly, and within a week or so I was removed to the
+     general hospital at Pretoria.
+
+     "So there you have my tragedy. I hoped against hope, but it was not
+     until I had reached home that the terrible signs which you see upon
+     my face told me that I had not escaped. What was I to do? I was in
+     this lonely house. We had two servants whom we could utterly trust.
+     There was a house where I could live. Under pledge of secrecy, Mr.
+     Kent, who is a surgeon, was prepared to stay with me. It seemed
+     simple enough on those lines. The alternative was a dreadful
+     one--segregation for life among strangers with never a hope of
+     release. But absolute secrecy was necessary, or even in this quiet
+     countryside there would have been an outcry, and I should have been
+     dragged to my horrible doom. Even you, Jimmie--even you had to be
+     kept in the dark. Why my father has relented I cannot imagine."
+
+     Colonel Emsworth pointed to me.
+
+     "This is the gentleman who forced my hand." He unfolded the scrap of
+     paper on which I had written the word "Leprosy." "It seemed to me
+     that if he knew so much as that it was safer that he should know
+     all."
+
+     "And so it was," said I. "Who knows but good may come of it? I
+     understand that only Mr. Kent has seen the patient. May I ask, sir,
+     if you are an authority on such complaints, which are, I understand,
+     tropical or semi-tropical in their nature?"
+
+     "I have the ordinary knowledge of the educated medical man," he
+     observed with some stiffness.
+
+     "I have no doubt, sir, that you are fully competent, but I am sure
+     that you will agree that in such a case a second opinion is valuable.
+     You have avoided this, I understand, for fear that pressure should be
+     put upon you to segregate the patient."
+
+     "That is so," said Colonel Emsworth.
+
+     "I foresaw this situation," I explained, "and I have brought with me
+     a friend whose discretion may absolutely be trusted. I was able once
+     to do him a professional service, and he is ready to advise as a
+     friend rather than as a specialist. His name is Sir James Saunders."
+
+     The prospect of an interview with Lord Roberts would not have excited
+     greater wonder and pleasure in a raw subaltern than was now reflected
+     upon the face of Mr. Kent.
+
+     "I shall indeed be proud," he murmured.
+
+     "Then I will ask Sir James to step this way. He is at present in the
+     carriage outside the door. Meanwhile, Colonel Emsworth, we may
+     perhaps assemble in your study, where I could give the necessary
+     explanations."
+
+     And here it is that I miss my Watson. By cunning questions and
+     ejaculations of wonder he could elevate my simple art, which is but
+     systematized common sense, into a prodigy. When I tell my own story I
+     have no such aid. And yet I will give my process of thought even as I
+     gave it to my small audience, which included Godfrey's mother in the
+     study of Colonel Emsworth.
+
+     "That process," said I, "starts upon the supposition that when you
+     have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains,
+     however improbable, must be the truth. It may well be that several
+     explanations remain, in which case one tries test after test until
+     one or other of them has a convincing amount of support. We will now
+     apply this principle to the case in point. As it was first presented
+     to me, there were three possible explanations of the seclusion or
+     incarceration of this gentleman in an outhouse of his father's
+     mansion. There was the explanation that he was in hiding for a crime,
+     or that he was mad and that they wished to avoid an asylum, or that
+     he had some disease which caused his segregation. I could think of no
+     other adequate solutions. These, then, had to be sifted and balanced
+     against each other.
+
+     "The criminal solution would not bear inspection. No unsolved crime
+     had been reported from that district. I was sure of that. If it were
+     some crime not yet discovered, then clearly it would be to the
+     interest of the family to get rid of the delinquent and send him
+     abroad rather than keep him concealed at home. I could see no
+     explanation for such a line of conduct.
+
+     "Insanity was more plausible. The presence of the second person in
+     the outhouse suggested a keeper. The fact that he locked the door
+     when he came out strengthened the supposition and gave the idea of
+     constraint. On the other hand, this constraint could not be severe or
+     the young man could not have got loose and come down to have a look
+     at his friend. You will remember, Mr. Dodd, that I felt round for
+     points, asking you, for example, about the paper which Mr. Kent was
+     reading. Had it been the Lancet or the British Medical Journal it
+     would have helped me. It is not illegal, however, to keep a lunatic
+     upon private premises so long as there is a qualified person in
+     attendance and that the authorities have been duly notified. Why,
+     then, all this desperate desire for secrecy? Once again I could not
+     get the theory to fit the facts.
+
+     "There remained the third possibility, into which, rare and unlikely
+     as it was, everything seemed to fit. Leprosy is not uncommon in South
+     Africa. By some extraordinary chance this youth might have contracted
+     it. His people would be placed in a very dreadful position, since
+     they would desire to save him from segregation. Great secrecy would
+     be needed to prevent rumours from getting about and subsequent
+     interference by the authorities. A devoted medical man, if
+     sufficiently paid, would easily be found to take charge of the
+     sufferer. There would be no reason why the latter should not be
+     allowed freedom after dark. Bleaching of the skin is a common result
+     of the disease. The case was a strong one--so strong that I
+     determined to act as if it were actually proved. When on arriving
+     here I noticed that Ralph, who carries out the meals, had gloves
+     which are impregnated with disinfectants, my last doubts were
+     removed. A single word showed you, sir, that your secret was
+     discovered, and if I wrote rather than said it, it was to prove to
+     you that my discretion was to be trusted."
+
+     I was finishing this little analysis of the case when the door was
+     opened and the austere figure of the great dermatologist was ushered
+     in. But for once his sphinx-like features had relaxed and there was a
+     warm humanity in his eyes. He strode up to Colonel Emsworth and shook
+     him by the hand.
+
+     "It is often my lot to bring ill-tidings and seldom good," said he.
+     "This occasion is the more welcome. It is not leprosy."
+
+     "What?"
+
+     "A well-marked case of pseudo-leprosy or ichthyosis, a scale-like
+     affection of the skin, unsightly, obstinate, but possibly curable,
+     and certainly noninfective. Yes, Mr. Holmes, the coincidence is a
+     remarkable one. But is it coincidence? Are there not subtle forces at
+     work of which we know little? Are we assured that the apprehension
+     from which this young man has no doubt suffered terribly since his
+     exposure to its contagion may not produce a physical effect which
+     simulates that which it fears? At any rate, I pledge my professional
+     reputation-- But the lady has fainted! I think that Mr. Kent had
+     better be with her until she recovers from this joyous shock."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE MAZARIN STONE
+
+     It was pleasant to Dr. Watson to find himself once more in the untidy
+     room of the first floor in Baker Street which had been the
+     starting-point of so many remarkable adventures. He looked round him
+     at the scientific charts upon the wall, the acid-charred bench of
+     chemicals, the violin-case leaning in the corner, the coal-scuttle,
+     which contained of old the pipes and tobacco. Finally, his eyes came
+     round to the fresh and smiling face of Billy, the young but very wise
+     and tactful page, who had helped a little to fill up the gap of
+     loneliness and isolation which surrounded the saturnine figure of the
+     great detective.
+
+     "It all seems very unchanged, Billy. You don't change, either. I hope
+     the same can be said of him?"
+
+     Billy glanced with some solicitude at the closed door of the bedroom.
+
+     "I think he's in bed and asleep," he said.
+
+     It was seven in the evening of a lovely summer's day, but Dr. Watson
+     was sufficiently familiar with the irregularity of his old friend's
+     hours to feel no surprise at the idea.
+
+     "That means a case, I suppose?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, he is very hard at it just now. I'm frightened for his
+     health. He gets paler and thinner, and he eats nothing. 'When will
+     you be pleased to dine, Mr. Holmes?' Mrs. Hudson asked.
+     'Seven-thirty, the day after to-morrow,' said he. You know his way
+     when he is keen on a case."
+
+     "Yes, Billy, I know."
+
+     "He's following someone. Yesterday he was out as a workman looking
+     for a job. To-day he was an old woman. Fairly took me in, he did, and
+     I ought to know his ways by now." Billy pointed with a grin to a very
+     baggy parasol which leaned against the sofa. "That's part of the old
+     woman's outfit," he said.
+
+     "But what is it all about, Billy?"
+
+     Billy sank his voice, as one who discusses great secrets of State. "I
+     don't mind telling you, sir, but it should go no farther. It's this
+     case of the Crown diamond."
+
+     "What--the hundred-thousand-pound burglary?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. They must get it back, sir. Why, we had the Prime Minister
+     and the Home Secretary both sitting on that very sofa. Mr. Holmes was
+     very nice to them. He soon put them at their ease and promised he
+     would do all he could. Then there is Lord Cantlemere--"
+
+     "Ah!"
+
+     "Yes, sir, you know what that means. He's a stiff 'un, sir, if I may
+     say so. I can get along with the Prime Minister, and I've nothing
+     against the Home Secretary, who seemed a civil, obliging sort of man,
+     but I can't stand his Lordship. Neither can Mr. Holmes, sir. You see,
+     he don't believe in Mr. Holmes and he was against employing him. He'd
+     rather he failed."
+
+     "And Mr. Holmes knows it?"
+
+     "Mr. Holmes always knows whatever there is to know."
+
+     "Well, we'll hope he won't fail and that Lord Cantlemere will be
+     confounded. But I say, Billy, what is that curtain for across the
+     window?"
+
+     "Mr. Holmes had it put up there three days ago. We've got something
+     funny behind it."
+
+     Billy advanced and drew away the drapery which screened the alcove of
+     the bow window.
+
+     Dr. Watson could not restrain a cry of amazement. There was a
+     facsimile of his old friend, dressing-gown and all, the face turned
+     three-quarters towards the window and downward, as though reading an
+     invisible book, while the body was sunk deep in an armchair. Billy
+     detached the head and held it in the air.
+
+     "We put it at different angles, so that it may seem more lifelike. I
+     wouldn't dare touch it if the blind were not down. But when it's up
+     you can see this from across the way."
+
+     "We used something of the sort once before."
+
+     "Before my time," said Billy. He drew the window curtains apart and
+     looked out into the street. "There are folk who watch us from over
+     yonder. I can see a fellow now at the window. Have a look for
+     yourself."
+
+     Watson had taken a step forward when the bedroom door opened, and the
+     long, thin form of Holmes emerged, his face pale and drawn, but his
+     step and bearing as active as ever. With a single spring he was at
+     the window, and had drawn the blind once more.
+
+     "That will do, Billy," said he. "You were in danger of your life
+     then, my boy, and I can't do without you just yet. Well, Watson, it
+     is good to see you in your old quarters once again. You come at a
+     critical moment."
+
+     "So I gather."
+
+     "You can go, Billy. That boy is a problem, Watson. How far am I
+     justified in allowing him to be in danger?"
+
+     "Danger of what, Holmes?"
+
+     "Of sudden death. I'm expecting something this evening."
+
+     "Expecting what?"
+
+     "To be murdered, Watson."
+
+     "No, no, you are joking, Holmes!"
+
+     "Even my limited sense of humour could evolve a better joke than
+     that. But we may be comfortable in the meantime, may we not? Is
+     alcohol permitted? The gasogene and cigars are in the old place. Let
+     me see you once more in the customary armchair. You have not, I hope,
+     learned to despise my pipe and my lamentable tobacco? It has to take
+     the place of food these days."
+
+     "But why not eat?"
+
+     "Because the faculties become refined when you starve them. Why,
+     surely, as a doctor, my dear Watson, you must admit that what your
+     digestion gains in the way of blood supply is so much lost to the
+     brain. I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix.
+     Therefore, it is the brain I must consider."
+
+     "But this danger, Holmes?"
+
+     "Ah, yes, in case it should come off, it would perhaps be as well
+     that you should burden your memory with the name and address of the
+     murderer. You can give it to Scotland Yard, with my love and a
+     parting blessing. Sylvius is the name--Count Negretto Sylvius. Write
+     it down, man, write it down! 136 Moorside Gardens, N. W. Got it?"
+
+     Watson's honest face was twitching with anxiety. He knew only too
+     well the immense risks taken by Holmes and was well aware that what
+     he said was more likely to be under-statement than exaggeration.
+     Watson was always the man of action, and he rose to the occasion.
+
+     "Count me in, Holmes. I have nothing to do for a day or two."
+
+     "Your morals don't improve, Watson. You have added fibbing to your
+     other vices. You bear every sign of the busy medical man, with calls
+     on him every hour."
+
+     "Not such important ones. But can't you have this fellow arrested?"
+
+     "Yes, Watson, I could. That's what worries him so."
+
+     "But why don't you?"
+
+     "Because I don't know where the diamond is."
+
+     "Ah! Billy told me--the missing Crown jewel!"
+
+     "Yes, the great yellow Mazarin stone. I've cast my net and I have my
+     fish. But I have not got the stone. What is the use of taking them?
+     We can make the world a better place by laying them by the heels. But
+     that is not what I am out for. It's the stone I want."
+
+     "And is this Count Sylvius one of your fish?"
+
+     "Yes, and he's a shark. He bites. The other is Sam Merton, the boxer.
+     Not a bad fellow, Sam, but the Count has used him. Sam's not a shark.
+     He is a great big silly bull-headed gudgeon. But he is flopping about
+     in my net all the same."
+
+     "Where is this Count Sylvius?"
+
+     "I've been at his very elbow all the morning. You've seen me as an
+     old lady, Watson. I was never more convincing. He actually picked up
+     my parasol for me once. 'By your leave, madame,' said
+     he--half-Italian, you know, and with the Southern graces of manner
+     when in the mood, but a devil incarnate in the other mood. Life is
+     full of whimsical happenings, Watson."
+
+     "It might have been tragedy."
+
+     "Well, perhaps it might. I followed him to old Straubenzee's workshop
+     in the Minories. Straubenzee made the air-gun--a very pretty bit of
+     work, as I understand, and I rather fancy it is in the opposite
+     window at the present moment. Have you seen the dummy? Of course,
+     Billy showed it to you. Well, it may get a bullet through its
+     beautiful head at any moment. Ah, Billy, what is it?"
+
+     The boy had reappeared in the room with a card upon a tray. Holmes
+     glanced at it with raised eyebrows and an amused smile.
+
+     "The man himself. I had hardly expected this. Grasp the nettle,
+     Watson! A man of nerve. Possibly you have heard of his reputation as
+     a shooter of big game. It would indeed be a triumphant ending to his
+     excellent sporting record if he added me to his bag. This is a proof
+     that he feels my toe very close behind his heel."
+
+     "Send for the police."
+
+     "I probably shall. But not just yet. Would you glance carefully out
+     of the window, Watson, and see if anyone is hanging about in the
+     street?"
+
+     Watson looked warily round the edge of the curtain.
+
+     "Yes, there is one rough fellow near the door."
+
+     "That will be Sam Merton--the faithful but rather fatuous Sam. Where
+     is this gentleman, Billy?"
+
+     "In the waiting-room, sir."
+
+     "Show him up when I ring."
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "If I am not in the room, show him in all the same."
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     Watson waited until the door was closed, and then he turned earnestly
+     to his companion.
+
+     "Look here, Holmes, this is simply impossible. This is a desperate
+     man, who sticks at nothing. He may have come to murder you."
+
+     "I should not be surprised."
+
+     "I insist upon staying with you."
+
+     "You would be horribly in the way."
+
+     "In his way?"
+
+     "No, my dear fellow--in my way."
+
+     "Well, I can't possibly leave you."
+
+     "Yes, you can, Watson. And you will, for you have never failed to
+     play the game. I am sure you will play it to the end. This man has
+     come for his own purpose, but he may stay for mine." Holmes took out
+     his notebook and scribbled a few lines. "Take a cab to Scotland Yard
+     and give this to Youghal of the C. I. D. Come back with the police.
+     The fellow's arrest will follow."
+
+     "I'll do that with joy."
+
+     "Before you return I may have just time enough to find out where the
+     stone is." He touched the bell. "I think we will go out through the
+     bedroom. This second exit is exceedingly useful. I rather want to see
+     my shark without his seeing me, and I have, as you will remember, my
+     own way of doing it."
+
+     It was, therefore, an empty room into which Billy, a minute later,
+     ushered Count Sylvius. The famous game-shot, sportsman, and
+     man-about-town was a big, swarthy fellow, with a formidable dark
+     moustache shading a cruel, thin-lipped mouth, and surmounted by a
+     long, curved nose like the beak of an eagle. He was well dressed, but
+     his brilliant necktie, shining pin, and glittering rings were
+     flamboyant in their effect. As the door closed behind him he looked
+     round him with fierce, startled eyes, like one who suspects a trap at
+     every turn. Then he gave a violent start as he saw the impassive head
+     and the collar of the dressing-gown which projected above the
+     armchair in the window. At first his expression was one of pure
+     amazement. Then the light of a horrible hope gleamed in his dark,
+     murderous eyes. He took one more glance round to see that there were
+     no witnesses, and then, on tiptoe, his thick stick half raised, he
+     approached the silent figure. He was crouching for his final spring
+     and blow when a cool, sardonic voice greeted him from the open
+     bedroom door:
+
+     "Don't break it, Count! Don't break it!"
+
+     The assassin staggered back, amazement in his convulsed face. For an
+     instant he half raised his loaded cane once more, as if he would turn
+     his violence from the effigy to the original; but there was something
+     in that steady gray eye and mocking smile which caused his hand to
+     sink to his side.
+
+     "It's a pretty little thing," said Holmes, advancing towards the
+     image. "Tavernier, the French modeller, made it. He is as good at
+     waxworks as your friend Straubenzee is at air-guns."
+
+     "Air-guns, sir! What do you mean?"
+
+     "Put your hat and stick on the side-table. Thank you! Pray take a
+     seat. Would you care to put your revolver out also? Oh, very good, if
+     you prefer to sit upon it. Your visit is really most opportune, for I
+     wanted badly to have a few minutes' chat with you."
+
+     The Count scowled, with heavy, threatening eyebrows.
+
+     "I, too, wished to have some words with you, Holmes. That is why I am
+     here. I won't deny that I intended to assault you just now."
+
+     Holmes swung his leg on the edge of the table.
+
+     "I rather gathered that you had some idea of the sort in your head,"
+     said he. "But why these personal attentions?"
+
+     "Because you have gone out of your way to annoy me. Because you have
+     put your creatures upon my track."
+
+     "My creatures! I assure you no!"
+
+     "Nonsense! I have had them followed. Two can play at that game,
+     Holmes."
+
+     "It is a small point, Count Sylvius, but perhaps you would kindly
+     give me my prefix when you address me. You can understand that, with
+     my routine of work, I should find myself on familiar terms with half
+     the rogues' gallery, and you will agree that exceptions are
+     invidious."
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, then."
+
+     "Excellent! But I assure you you are mistaken about my alleged
+     agents."
+
+     Count Sylvius laughed contemptuously.
+
+     "Other people can observe as well as you. Yesterday there was an old
+     sporting man. To-day it was an elderly woman. They held me in view
+     all day."
+
+     "Really, sir, you compliment me. Old Baron Dowson said the night
+     before he was hanged that in my case what the law had gained the
+     stage had lost. And now you give my little impersonations your kindly
+     praise?"
+
+     "It was you--you yourself?"
+
+     Holmes shrugged his shoulders. "You can see in the corner the parasol
+     which you so politely handed to me in the Minories before you began
+     to suspect."
+
+     "If I had known, you might never--"
+
+     "Have seen this humble home again. I was well aware of it. We all
+     have neglected opportunities to deplore. As it happens, you did not
+     know, so here we are!"
+
+     The Count's knotted brows gathered more heavily over his menacing
+     eyes. "What you say only makes the matter worse. It was not your
+     agents but your play-acting, busybody self! You admit that you have
+     dogged me. Why?"
+
+     "Come now, Count. You used to shoot lions in Algeria."
+
+     "Well?"
+
+     "But why?"
+
+     "Why? The sport--the excitement--the danger!"
+
+     "And, no doubt, to free the country from a pest?"
+
+     "Exactly!"
+
+     "My reasons in a nutshell!"
+
+     The Count sprang to his feet, and his hand involuntarily moved back
+     to his hip-pocket.
+
+     "Sit down, sir, sit down! There was another, more practical, reason.
+     I want that yellow diamond!"
+
+     Count Sylvius lay back in his chair with an evil smile.
+
+     "Upon my word!" said he.
+
+     "You knew that I was after you for that. The real reason why you are
+     here to-night is to find out how much I know about the matter and how
+     far my removal is absolutely essential. Well, I should say that, from
+     your point of view, it is absolutely essential, for I know all about
+     it, save only one thing, which you are about to tell me."
+
+     "Oh, indeed! And pray, what is this missing fact?"
+
+     "Where the Crown diamond now is."
+
+     The Count looked sharply at his companion. "Oh, you want to know
+     that, do you? How the devil should I be able to tell you where it
+     is?"
+
+     "You can, and you will."
+
+     "Indeed!"
+
+     "You can't bluff me, Count Sylvius." Holmes's eyes, as he gazed at
+     him, contracted and lightened until they were like two menacing
+     points of steel. "You are absolute plate-glass. I see to the very
+     back of your mind."
+
+     "Then, of course, you see where the diamond is!"
+
+     Holmes clapped his hands with amusement, and then pointed a derisive
+     finger. "Then you do know. You have admitted it!"
+
+     "I admit nothing."
+
+     "Now, Count, if you will be reasonable we can do business. If not,
+     you will get hurt."
+
+     Count Sylvius threw up his eyes to the ceiling. "And you talk about
+     bluff!" said he.
+
+     Holmes looked at him thoughtfully like a master chess-player who
+     meditates his crowning move. Then he threw open the table drawer and
+     drew out a squat notebook.
+
+     "Do you know what I keep in this book?"
+
+     "No, sir, I do not!"
+
+     "You!"
+
+     "Me!"
+
+     "Yes, sir, you! You are all here--every action of your vile and
+     dangerous life."
+
+     "Damn you, Holmes!" cried the Count with blazing eyes. "There are
+     limits to my patience!"
+
+     "It's all here, Count. The real facts as to the death of old Mrs.
+     Harold, who left you the Blymer estate, which you so rapidly gambled
+     away."
+
+     "You are dreaming!"
+
+     "And the complete life history of Miss Minnie Warrender."
+
+     "Tut! You will make nothing of that!"
+
+     "Plenty more here, Count. Here is the robbery in the train de-luxe to
+     the Riviera on February 13, 1892. Here is the forged check in the
+     same year on the Credit Lyonnais."
+
+     "No; you're wrong there."
+
+     "Then I am right on the others! Now, Count, you are a card-player.
+     When the other fellow has all the trumps, it saves time to throw down
+     your hand."
+
+     "What has all this talk to do with the jewel of which you spoke?"
+
+     "Gently, Count. Restrain that eager mind! Let me get to the points in
+     my own humdrum fashion. I have all this against you; but, above all,
+     I have a clear case against both you and your fighting bully in the
+     case of the Crown diamond."
+
+     "Indeed!"
+
+     "I have the cabman who took you to Whitehall and the cabman who
+     brought you away. I have the commissionaire who saw you near the
+     case. I have Ikey Sanders, who refused to cut it up for you. Ikey has
+     peached, and the game is up."
+
+     The veins stood out on the Count's forehead. His dark, hairy hands
+     were clenched in a convulsion of restrained emotion. He tried to
+     speak, but the words would not shape themselves.
+
+     "That's the hand I play from," said Holmes. "I put it all upon the
+     table. But one card is missing. It's the king of diamonds. I don't
+     know where the stone is."
+
+     "You never shall know."
+
+     "No? Now, be reasonable, Count. Consider the situation. You are going
+     to be locked up for twenty years. So is Sam Merton. What good are you
+     going to get out of your diamond? None in the world. But if you hand
+     it over--well, I'll compound a felony. We don't want you or Sam. We
+     want the stone. Give that up, and so far as I am concerned you can go
+     free so long as you behave yourself in the future. If you make
+     another slip--well, it will be the last. But this time my commission
+     is to get the stone, not you."
+
+     "But if I refuse?"
+
+     "Why, then--alas!--it must be you and not the stone."
+
+     Billy had appeared in answer to a ring.
+
+     "I think, Count, that it would be as well to have your friend Sam at
+     this conference. After all, his interests should be represented.
+     Billy, you will see a large and ugly gentleman outside the front
+     door. Ask him to come up."
+
+     "If he won't come, sir?"
+
+     "No violence, Billy. Don't be rough with him. If you tell him that
+     Count Sylvius wants him he will certainly come."
+
+     "What are you going to do now?" asked the Count as Billy disappeared.
+
+     "My friend Watson was with me just now. I told him that I had a shark
+     and a gudgeon in my net; now I am drawing the net and up they come
+     together."
+
+     The Count had risen from his chair, and his hand was behind his back.
+     Holmes held something half protruding from the pocket of his
+     dressing-gown.
+
+     "You won't die in your bed, Holmes."
+
+     "I have often had the same idea. Does it matter very much? After all,
+     Count, your own exit is more likely to be perpendicular than
+     horizontal. But these anticipations of the future are morbid. Why not
+     give ourselves up to the unrestrained enjoyment of the present?"
+
+     A sudden wild-beast light sprang up in the dark, menacing eyes of the
+     master criminal. Holmes's figure seemed to grow taller as he grew
+     tense and ready.
+
+     "It is no use your fingering your revolver, my friend," he said in a
+     quiet voice. "You know perfectly well that you dare not use it, even
+     if I gave you time to draw it. Nasty, noisy things, revolvers, Count.
+     Better stick to air-guns. Ah! I think I hear the fairy footstep of
+     your estimable partner. Good day, Mr. Merton. Rather dull in the
+     street, is it not?"
+
+     The prize-fighter, a heavily built young man with a stupid,
+     obstinate, slab-sided face, stood awkwardly at the door, looking
+     about him with a puzzled expression. Holmes's debonair manner was a
+     new experience, and though he vaguely felt that it was hostile, he
+     did not know how to counter it. He turned to his more astute comrade
+     for help.
+
+     "What's the game now, Count? What's this fellow want? What's up?" His
+     voice was deep and raucous.
+
+     The Count shrugged his shoulders, and it was Holmes who answered.
+
+     "If I may put it in a nutshell, Mr. Merton, I should say it was all
+     up."
+
+     The boxer still addressed his remarks to his associate.
+
+     "Is this cove trying to be funny, or what? I'm not in the funny mood
+     myself."
+
+     "No, I expect not," said Holmes. "I think I can promise you that you
+     will feel even less humorous as the evening advances. Now, look here,
+     Count Sylvius. I'm a busy man and I can't waste time. I'm going into
+     that bedroom. Pray make yourselves quite at home in my absence. You
+     can explain to your friend how the matter lies without the restraint
+     of my presence. I shall try over the Hoffman 'Barcarole' upon my
+     violin. In five minutes I shall return for your final answer. You
+     quite grasp the alternative, do you not? Shall we take you, or shall
+     we have the stone?"
+
+     Holmes withdrew, picking up his violin from the corner as he passed.
+     A few moments later the long-drawn, wailing notes of that most
+     haunting of tunes came faintly through the closed door of the
+     bedroom.
+
+     "What is it, then?" asked Merton anxiously as his companion turned to
+     him. "Does he know about the stone?"
+
+     "He knows a damned sight too much about it. I'm not sure that he
+     doesn't know all about it."
+
+     "Good Lord!" The boxer's sallow face turned a shade whiter.
+
+     "Ikey Sanders has split on us."
+
+     "He has, has he? I'll do him down a thick 'un for that if I swing for
+     it."
+
+     "That won't help us much. We've got to make up our minds what to do."
+
+     "Half a mo'," said the boxer, looking suspiciously at the bedroom
+     door. "He's a leary cove that wants watching. I suppose he's not
+     listening?"
+
+     "How can he be listening with that music going?"
+
+     "That's right. Maybe somebody's behind a curtain. Too many curtains
+     in this room." As he looked round he suddenly saw for the first time
+     the effigy in the window, and stood staring and pointing, too amazed
+     for words.
+
+     "Tut! it's only a dummy," said the Count.
+
+     "A fake, is it? Well, strike me! Madame Tussaud ain't in it. It's the
+     living spit of him, gown and all. But them curtains, Count!"
+
+     "Oh, confound the curtains! We are wasting our time, and there is
+     none too much. He can lag us over this stone."
+
+     "The deuce he can!"
+
+     "But he'll let us slip if we only tell him where the swag is."
+
+     "What! Give it up? Give up a hundred thousand quid?"
+
+     "It's one or the other."
+
+     Merton scratched his short-cropped pate.
+
+     "He's alone in there. Let's do him in. If his light were out we
+     should have nothing to fear."
+
+     The Count shook his head.
+
+     "He is armed and ready. If we shot him we could hardly get away in a
+     place like this. Besides, it's likely enough that the police know
+     whatever evidence he has got. Hallo! What was that?"
+
+     There was a vague sound which seemed to come from the window. Both
+     men sprang round, but all was quiet. Save for the one strange figure
+     seated in the chair, the room was certainly empty.
+
+     "Something in the street," said Merton. "Now look here, guv'nor,
+     you've got the brains. Surely you can think a way out of it. If
+     slugging is no use then it's up to you."
+
+     "I've fooled better men than he," the Count answered. "The stone is
+     here in my secret pocket. I take no chances leaving it about. It can
+     be out of England to-night and cut into four pieces in Amsterdam
+     before Sunday. He knows nothing of Van Seddar."
+
+     "I thought Van Seddar was going next week."
+
+     "He was. But now he must get off by the next boat. One or other of us
+     must slip round with the stone to Lime Street and tell him."
+
+     "But the false bottom ain't ready."
+
+     "Well, he must take it as it is and chance it. There's not a moment
+     to lose." Again, with the sense of danger which becomes an instinct
+     with the sportsman, he paused and looked hard at the window. Yes, it
+     was surely from the street that the faint sound had come.
+
+     "As to Holmes," he continued, "we can fool him easily enough. You
+     see, the damned fool won't arrest us if he can get the stone. Well,
+     we'll promise him the stone. We'll put him on the wrong track about
+     it, and before he finds that it is the wrong track it will be in
+     Holland and we out of the country."
+
+     "That sounds good to me!" cried Sam Merton with a grin.
+
+     "You go on and tell the Dutchman to get a move on him. I'll see this
+     sucker and fill him up with a bogus confession. I'll tell him that
+     the stone is in Liverpool. Confound that whining music; it gets on my
+     nerves! By the time he finds it isn't in Liverpool it will be in
+     quarters and we on the blue water. Come back here, out of a line with
+     that keyhole. Here is the stone."
+
+     "I wonder you dare carry it."
+
+     "Where could I have it safer? If we could take it out of Whitehall
+     someone else could surely take it out of my lodgings."
+
+     "Let's have a look at it."
+
+     Count Sylvius cast a somewhat unflattering glance at his associate
+     and disregarded the unwashed hand which was extended towards him.
+
+     "What--d'ye think I'm going to snatch it off you? See here, mister,
+     I'm getting a bit tired of your ways."
+
+     "Well, well, no offence, Sam. We can't afford to quarrel. Come over
+     to the window if you want to see the beauty properly. Now hold it to
+     the light! Here!"
+
+     "Thank you!"
+
+     With a single spring Holmes had leaped from the dummy's chair and had
+     grasped the precious jewel. He held it now in one hand, while his
+     other pointed a revolver at the Count's head. The two villains
+     staggered back in utter amazement. Before they had recovered Holmes
+     had pressed the electric bell.
+
+     "No violence, gentlemen--no violence, I beg of you! Consider the
+     furniture! It must be very clear to you that your position is an
+     impossible one. The police are waiting below."
+
+     The Count's bewilderment overmastered his rage and fear.
+
+     "But how the deuce--?" he gasped.
+
+     "Your surprise is very natural. You are not aware that a second door
+     from my bedroom leads behind that curtain. I fancied that you must
+     have heard me when I displaced the figure, but luck was on my side.
+     It gave me a chance of listening to your racy conversation which
+     would have been painfully constrained had you been aware of my
+     presence."
+
+     The Count gave a gesture of resignation.
+
+     "We give you best, Holmes. I believe you are the devil himself."
+
+     "Not far from him, at any rate," Holmes answered with a polite smile.
+
+     Sam Merton's slow intellect had only gradually appreciated the
+     situation. Now, as the sound of heavy steps came from the stairs
+     outside, he broke silence at last.
+
+     "A fair cop!" said he. "But, I say, what about that bloomin' fiddle!
+     I hear it yet."
+
+     "Tut, tut!" Holmes answered. "You are perfectly right. Let it play!
+     These modern gramophones are a remarkable invention."
+
+     There was an inrush of police, the handcuffs clicked and the
+     criminals were led to the waiting cab. Watson lingered with Holmes,
+     congratulating him upon this fresh leaf added to his laurels. Once
+     more their conversation was interrupted by the imperturbable Billy
+     with his card-tray.
+
+     "Lord Cantlemere, sir."
+
+     "Show him up, Billy. This is the eminent peer who represents the very
+     highest interests," said Holmes. "He is an excellent and loyal
+     person, but rather of the old regime. Shall we make him unbend? Dare
+     we venture upon a slight liberty? He knows, we may conjecture,
+     nothing of what has occurred."
+
+     The door opened to admit a thin, austere figure with a hatchet face
+     and drooping mid-Victorian whiskers of a glossy blackness which
+     hardly corresponded with the rounded shoulders and feeble gait.
+     Holmes advanced affably, and shook an unresponsive hand.
+
+     "How do you do, Lord Cantlemere? It is chilly for the time of year,
+     but rather warm indoors. May I take your overcoat?"
+
+     "No, I thank you; I will not take it off."
+
+     Holmes laid his hand insistently upon the sleeve.
+
+     "Pray allow me! My friend Dr. Watson would assure you that these
+     changes of temperature are most insidious."
+
+     His Lordship shook himself free with some impatience.
+
+     "I am quite comfortable, sir. I have no need to stay. I have simply
+     looked in to know how your self-appointed task was progressing."
+
+     "It is difficult--very difficult."
+
+     "I feared that you would find it so."
+
+     There was a distinct sneer in the old courtier's words and manner.
+
+     "Every man finds his limitations, Mr. Holmes, but at least it cures
+     us of the weakness of self-satisfaction."
+
+     "Yes, sir, I have been much perplexed."
+
+     "No doubt."
+
+     "Especially upon one point. Possibly you could help me upon it?"
+
+     "You apply for my advice rather late in the day. I thought that you
+     had your own all-sufficient methods. Still, I am ready to help you."
+
+     "You see, Lord Cantlemere, we can no doubt frame a case against the
+     actual thieves."
+
+     "When you have caught them."
+
+     "Exactly. But the question is--how shall we proceed against the
+     receiver?"
+
+     "Is this not rather premature?"
+
+     "It is as well to have our plans ready. Now, what would you regard as
+     final evidence against the receiver?"
+
+     "The actual possession of the stone."
+
+     "You would arrest him upon that?"
+
+     "Most undoubtedly."
+
+     Holmes seldom laughed, but he got as near it as his old friend Watson
+     could remember.
+
+     "In that case, my dear sir, I shall be under the painful necessity of
+     advising your arrest."
+
+     Lord Cantlemere was very angry. Some of the ancient fires flickered
+     up into his sallow cheeks.
+
+     "You take a great liberty, Mr. Holmes. In fifty years of official
+     life I cannot recall such a case. I am a busy man, sir, engaged upon
+     important affairs, and I have no time or taste for foolish jokes. I
+     may tell you frankly, sir, that I have never been a believer in your
+     powers, and that I have always been of the opinion that the matter
+     was far safer in the hands of the regular police force. Your conduct
+     confirms all my conclusions. I have the honour, sir, to wish you
+     good-evening."
+
+     Holmes had swiftly changed his position and was between the peer and
+     the door.
+
+     "One moment, sir," said he. "To actually go off with the Mazarin
+     stone would be a more serious offence than to be found in temporary
+     possession of it."
+
+     "Sir, this is intolerable! Let me pass."
+
+     "Put your hand in the right-hand pocket of your overcoat."
+
+     "What do you mean, sir?"
+
+     "Come--come, do what I ask."
+
+     An instant later the amazed peer was standing, blinking and
+     stammering, with the great yellow stone on his shaking palm.
+
+     "What! What! How is this, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Too bad, Lord Cantlemere, too bad!" cried Holmes. "My old friend
+     here will tell you that I have an impish habit of practical joking.
+     Also that I can never resist a dramatic situation. I took the
+     liberty--the very great liberty, I admit--of putting the stone into
+     your pocket at the beginning of our interview."
+
+     The old peer stared from the stone to the smiling face before him.
+
+     "Sir, I am bewildered. But--yes--it is indeed the Mazarin stone. We
+     are greatly your debtors, Mr. Holmes. Your sense of humour may, as
+     you admit, be somewhat perverted, and its exhibition remarkably
+     untimely, but at least I withdraw any reflection I have made upon
+     your amazing professional powers. But how--"
+
+     "The case is but half finished; the details can wait. No doubt, Lord
+     Cantlemere, your pleasure in telling of this successful result in the
+     exalted circle to which you return will be some small atonement for
+     my practical joke. Billy, you will show his Lordship out, and tell
+     Mrs. Hudson that I should be glad if she would send up dinner for two
+     as soon as possible."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GABLES
+
+     I don't think that any of my adventures with Mr. Sherlock Holmes
+     opened quite so abruptly, or so dramatically, as that which I
+     associate with The Three Gables. I had not seen Holmes for some days
+     and had no idea of the new channel into which his activities had been
+     directed. He was in a chatty mood that morning, however, and had just
+     settled me into the well-worn low armchair on one side of the fire,
+     while he had curled down with his pipe in his mouth upon the opposite
+     chair, when our visitor arrived. If I had said that a mad bull had
+     arrived it would give a clearer impression of what occurred.
+
+     The door had flown open and a huge negro had burst into the room. He
+     would have been a comic figure if he had not been terrific, for he
+     was dressed in a very loud gray check suit with a flowing
+     salmon-coloured tie. His broad face and flattened nose were thrust
+     forward, as his sullen dark eyes, with a smouldering gleam of malice
+     in them, turned from one of us to the other.
+
+     "Which of you gen'l'men is Masser Holmes?" he asked.
+
+     Holmes raised his pipe with a languid smile.
+
+     "Oh! it's you, is it?" said our visitor, coming with an unpleasant,
+     stealthy step round the angle of the table. "See here, Masser Holmes,
+     you keep your hands out of other folks' business. Leave folks to
+     manage their own affairs. Got that, Masser Holmes?"
+
+     "Keep on talking," said Holmes. "It's fine."
+
+     "Oh! it's fine, is it?" growled the savage. "It won't be so damn fine
+     if I have to trim you up a bit. I've handled your kind before now,
+     and they didn't look fine when I was through with them. Look at that,
+     Masser Holmes!"
+
+     He swung a huge knotted lump of a fist under my friend's nose. Holmes
+     examined it closely with an air of great interest. "Were you born
+     so?" he asked. "Or did it come by degrees?"
+
+     It may have been the icy coolness of my friend, or it may have been
+     the slight clatter which I made as I picked up the poker. In any
+     case, our visitor's manner became less flamboyant.
+
+     "Well, I've given you fair warnin'," said he. "I've a friend that's
+     interested out Harrow way--you know what I'm meaning--and he don't
+     intend to have no buttin' in by you. Got that? You ain't the law, and
+     I ain't the law either, and if you come in I'll be on hand also.
+     Don't you forget it."
+
+     "I've wanted to meet you for some time," said Holmes. "I won't ask
+     you to sit down, for I don't like the smell of you, but aren't you
+     Steve Dixie, the bruiser?"
+
+     "That's my name, Masser Holmes, and you'll get put through it for
+     sure if you give me any lip."
+
+     "It is certainly the last thing you need," said Holmes, staring at
+     our visitor's hideous mouth. "But it was the killing of young Perkins
+     outside the Holborn Bar-- What! you're not going?"
+
+     The negro had sprung back, and his face was leaden. "I won't listen
+     to no such talk," said he. "What have I to do with this 'ere Perkins,
+     Masser Holmes? I was trainin' at the Bull Ring in Birmingham when
+     this boy done gone get into trouble."
+
+     "Yes, you'll tell the magistrate about it, Steve," said Holmes. "I've
+     been watching you and Barney Stockdale--"
+
+     "So help me the Lord! Masser Holmes--"
+
+     "That's enough. Get out of it. I'll pick you up when I want you."
+
+     "Good-mornin', Masser Holmes. I hope there ain't no hard feelin's
+     about this 'ere visit?"
+
+     "There will be unless you tell me who sent you."
+
+     "Why, there ain't no secret about that, Masser Holmes. It was that
+     same gen'l'man that you have just done gone mention."
+
+     "And who set him on to it?"
+
+     "S'elp me. I don't know, Masser Holmes. He just say, 'Steve, you go
+     see Mr. Holmes, and tell him his life ain't safe if he go down Harrow
+     way.' That's the whole truth." Without waiting for any further
+     questioning, our visitor bolted out of the room almost as
+     precipitately as he had entered. Holmes knocked out the ashes of his
+     pipe with a quiet chuckle.
+
+     "I am glad you were not forced to break his woolly head, Watson. I
+     observed your manoeuvres with the poker. But he is really rather a
+     harmless fellow, a great muscular, foolish, blustering baby, and
+     easily cowed, as you have seen. He is one of the Spencer John gang
+     and has taken part in some dirty work of late which I may clear up
+     when I have time. His immediate principal, Barney, is a more astute
+     person. They specialize in assaults, intimidation, and the like. What
+     I want to know is, who is at the back of them on this particular
+     occasion?"
+
+     "But why do they want to intimidate you?"
+
+     "It is this Harrow Weald case. It decides me to look into the matter,
+     for if it is worth anyone's while to take so much trouble, there must
+     be something in it."
+
+     "But what is it?"
+
+     "I was going to tell you when we had this comic interlude. Here is
+     Mrs. Maberley's note. If you care to come with me we will wire her
+     and go out at once."
+
+     Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes [I read]:
+     I have had a succession of strange incidents occur to me in
+     connection with this house, and I should much value your advice. You
+     would find me at home any time to-morrow. The house is within a short
+     walk of the Weald Station. I believe that my late husband, Mortimer
+     Maberley, was one of your early clients.
+     Yours faithfully,
+     Mary Maberley
+
+     The address was "The Three Gables, Harrow Weald."
+
+     "So that's that!" said Holmes. "And now, if you can spare the time,
+     Watson, we will get upon our way."
+
+     A short railway journey, and a shorter drive, brought us to the
+     house, a brick and timber villa, standing in its own acre of
+     undeveloped grassland. Three small projections above the upper
+     windows made a feeble attempt to justify its name. Behind was a grove
+     of melancholy, half-grown pines, and the whole aspect of the place
+     was poor and depressing. None the less, we found the house to be well
+     furnished, and the lady who received us was a most engaging elderly
+     person, who bore every mark of refinement and culture.
+
+     "I remember your husband well, madam," said Holmes, "though it is
+     some years since he used my services in some trifling matter."
+
+     "Probably you would be more familiar with the name of my son
+     Douglas."
+
+     Holmes looked at her with great interest.
+
+     "Dear me! Are you the mother of Douglas Maberley? I knew him
+     slightly. But of course all London knew him. What a magnificent
+     creature he was! Where is he now?"
+
+     "Dead, Mr. Holmes, dead! He was attache at Rome, and he died there of
+     pneumonia last month."
+
+     "I am sorry. One could not connect death with such a man. I have
+     never known anyone so vitally alive. He lived intensely--every fibre
+     of him!"
+
+     "Too intensely, Mr. Holmes. That was the ruin of him. You remember
+     him as he was--debonair and splendid. You did not see the moody,
+     morose, brooding creature into which he developed. His heart was
+     broken. In a single month I seemed to see my gallant boy turn into a
+     worn-out cynical man."
+
+     "A love affair--a woman?"
+
+     "Or a fiend. Well, it was not to talk of my poor lad that I asked you
+     to come, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Dr. Watson and I are at your service."
+
+     "There have been some very strange happenings. I have been in this
+     house more than a year now, and as I wished to lead a retired life I
+     have seen little of my neighbours. Three days ago I had a call from a
+     man who said that he was a house agent. He said that this house would
+     exactly suit a client of his, and that if I would part with it money
+     would be no object. It seemed to me very strange as there are several
+     empty houses on the market which appear to be equally eligible, but
+     naturally I was interested in what he said. I therefore named a price
+     which was five hundred pounds more than I gave. He at once closed
+     with the offer, but added that his client desired to buy the
+     furniture as well and would I put a price upon it. Some of this
+     furniture is from my old home, and it is, as you see, very good, so
+     that I named a good round sum. To this also he at once agreed. I had
+     always wanted to travel, and the bargain was so good a one that it
+     really seemed that I should be my own mistress for the rest of my
+     life.
+
+     "Yesterday the man arrived with the agreement all drawn out. Luckily
+     I showed it to Mr. Sutro, my lawyer, who lives in Harrow. He said to
+     me, 'This is a very strange document. Are you aware that if you sign
+     it you could not legally take anything out of the house--not even
+     your own private possessions?' When the man came again in the evening
+     I pointed this out, and I said that I meant only to sell the
+     furniture.
+
+     "'No, no, everything,' said he.
+
+     "'But my clothes? My jewels?'
+
+     "'Well, well, some concession might be made for your personal
+     effects. But nothing shall go out of the house unchecked. My client
+     is a very liberal man, but he has his fads and his own way of doing
+     things. It is everything or nothing with him.'
+
+     "'Then it must be nothing,' said I. And there the matter was left,
+     but the whole thing seemed to me to be so unusual that I thought--"
+
+     Here we had a very extraordinary interruption.
+
+     Holmes raised his hand for silence. Then he strode across the room,
+     flung open the door, and dragged in a great gaunt woman whom he had
+     seized by the shoulder. She entered with ungainly struggle like some
+     huge awkward chicken, torn, squawking, out of its coop.
+
+     "Leave me alone! What are you a-doin' of?" she screeched.
+
+     "Why, Susan, what is this?"
+
+     "Well, ma'am, I was comin' in to ask if the visitors was stayin' for
+     lunch when this man jumped out at me."
+
+     "I have been listening to her for the last five minutes, but did not
+     wish to interrupt your most interesting narrative. Just a little
+     wheezy, Susan, are you not? You breathe too heavily for that kind of
+     work."
+
+     Susan turned a sulky but amazed face upon her captor. "Who be you,
+     anyhow, and what right have you a-pullin' me about like this?"
+
+     "It was merely that I wished to ask a question in your presence. Did
+     you, Mrs. Maberley, mention to anyone that you were going to write to
+     me and consult me?"
+
+     "No, Mr. Holmes, I did not."
+
+     "Who posted your letter?"
+
+     "Susan did."
+
+     "Exactly. Now, Susan, to whom was it that you wrote or sent a message
+     to say that your mistress was asking advice from me?"
+
+     "It's a lie. I sent no message."
+
+     "Now, Susan, wheezy people may not live long, you know. It's a wicked
+     thing to tell fibs. Whom did you tell?"
+
+     "Susan!" cried her mistress, "I believe you are a bad, treacherous
+     woman. I remember now that I saw you speaking to someone over the
+     hedge."
+
+     "That was my own business," said the woman sullenly.
+
+     "Suppose I tell you that it was Barney Stockdale to whom you spoke?"
+     said Holmes.
+
+     "Well, if you know, what do you want to ask for?"
+
+     "I was not sure, but I know now. Well now, Susan, it will be worth
+     ten pounds to you if you will tell me who is at the back of Barney."
+
+     "Someone that could lay down a thousand pounds for every ten you have
+     in the world."
+
+     "So, a rich man? No; you smiled--a rich woman. Now we have got so
+     far, you may as well give the name and earn the tenner."
+
+     "I'll see you in hell first."
+
+     "Oh, Susan! Language!"
+
+     "I am clearing out of here. I've had enough of you all. I'll send for
+     my box to-morrow." She flounced for the door.
+
+     "Good-bye, Susan. Paregoric is the stuff... Now," he continued,
+     turning suddenly from lively to severe when the door had closed
+     behind the flushed and angry woman, "this gang means business. Look
+     how close they play the game. Your letter to me had the 10 P. M.
+     postmark. And yet Susan passes the word to Barney. Barney has time to
+     go to his employer and get instructions; he or she--I incline to the
+     latter from Susan's grin when she thought I had blundered--forms a
+     plan. Black Steve is called in, and I am warned off by eleven o'clock
+     next morning. That's quick work, you know."
+
+     "But what do they want?"
+
+     "Yes, that's the question. Who had the house before you?"
+
+     "A retired sea captain called Ferguson."
+
+     "Anything remarkable about him?"
+
+     "Not that ever I heard of."
+
+     "I was wondering whether he could have buried something. Of course,
+     when people bury treasure nowadays they do it in the Post-Office
+     bank. But there are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull
+     world without them. At first I thought of some buried valuable. But
+     why, in that case, should they want your furniture? You don't happen
+     to have a Raphael or a first folio Shakespeare without knowing it?"
+
+     "No, I don't think I have anything rarer than a Crown Derby tea-set."
+
+     "That would hardly justify all this mystery. Besides, why should they
+     not openly state what they want? If they covet your tea-set, they can
+     surely offer a price for it without buying you out, lock, stock, and
+     barrel. No, as I read it, there is something which you do not know
+     that you have, and which you would not give up if you did know."
+
+     "That is how I read it," said I.
+
+     "Dr. Watson agrees, so that settles it."
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, what can it be?"
+
+     "Let us see whether by this purely mental analysis we can get it to a
+     finer point. You have been in this house a year."
+
+     "Nearly two."
+
+     "All the better. During this long period no one wants anything from
+     you. Now suddenly within three or four days you have urgent demands.
+     What would you gather from that?"
+
+     "It can only mean," said I, "that the object, whatever it may be, has
+     only just come into the house."
+
+     "Settled once again," said Holmes. "Now, Mrs. Maberley, has any
+     object just arrived?"
+
+     "No, I have bought nothing new this year."
+
+     "Indeed! That is very remarkable. Well, I think we had best let
+     matters develop a little further until we have clearer data. Is that
+     lawyer of yours a capable man?"
+
+     "Mr. Sutro is most capable."
+
+     "Have you another maid, or was the fair Susan, who has just banged
+     your front door, alone?"
+
+     "I have a young girl."
+
+     "Try and get Sutro to spend a night or two in the house. You might
+     possibly want protection."
+
+     "Against whom?"
+
+     "Who knows? The matter is certainly obscure. If I can't find what
+     they are after, I must approach the matter from the other end and try
+     to get at the principal. Did this house-agent man give any address?"
+
+     "Simply his card and occupation. Haines-Johnson, Auctioneer and
+     Valuer."
+
+     "I don't think we shall find him in the directory. Honest business
+     men don't conceal their place of business. Well, you will let me know
+     any fresh development. I have taken up your case, and you may rely
+     upon it that I shall see it through."
+
+     As we passed through the hall Holmes's eyes, which missed nothing,
+     lighted upon several trunks and cases which were piled in a corner.
+     The labels shone out upon them.
+
+     "'Milano.' 'Lucerne.' These are from Italy."
+
+     "They are poor Douglas's things."
+
+     "You have not unpacked them? How long have you had them?"
+
+     "They arrived last week."
+
+     "But you said--why, surely this might be the missing link. How do we
+     know that there is not something of value there?"
+
+     "There could not possibly be, Mr. Holmes. Poor Douglas had only his
+     pay and a small annuity. What could he have of value?"
+
+     Holmes was lost in thought.
+
+     "Delay no longer, Mrs. Maberley," he said at last. "Have these things
+     taken upstairs to your bedroom. Examine them as soon as possible and
+     see what they contain. I will come to-morrow and hear your report."
+
+     It was quite evident that The Three Gables was under very close
+     surveillance, for as we came round the high hedge at the end of the
+     lane there was the negro prize-fighter standing in the shadow. We
+     came on him quite suddenly, and a grim and menacing figure he looked
+     in that lonely place. Holmes clapped his hand to his pocket.
+
+     "Lookin' for your gun, Masser Holmes?"
+
+     "No, for my scent-bottle, Steve."
+
+     "You are funny, Masser Holmes, ain't you?"
+
+     "It won't be funny for you, Steve, if I get after you. I gave you
+     fair warning this morning."
+
+     "Well, Masser Holmes, I done gone think over what you said, and I
+     don't want no more talk about that affair of Masser Perkins. S'pose I
+     can help you, Masser Holmes, I will."
+
+     "Well, then, tell me who is behind you on this job."
+
+     "So help me the Lord! Masser Holmes, I told you the truth before. I
+     don't know. My boss Barney gives me orders and that's all."
+
+     "Well, just bear in mind, Steve, that the lady in that house, and
+     everything under that roof, is under my protection. Don't forget it."
+
+     "All right, Masser Holmes. I'll remember."
+
+     "I've got him thoroughly frightened for his own skin, Watson," Holmes
+     remarked as we walked on. "I think he would double-cross his employer
+     if he knew who he was. It was lucky I had some knowledge of the
+     Spencer John crowd, and that Steve was one of them. Now, Watson, this
+     is a case for Langdale Pike, and I am going to see him now. When I
+     get back I may be clearer in the matter."
+
+     I saw no more of Holmes during the day, but I could well imagine how
+     he spent it, for Langdale Pike was his human book of reference upon
+     all matters of social scandal. This strange, languid creature spent
+     his waking hours in the bow window of a St. James's Street club and
+     was the receiving-station as well as the transmitter for all the
+     gossip of the metropolis. He made, it was said, a four-figure income
+     by the paragraphs which he contributed every week to the garbage
+     papers which cater to an inquisitive public. If ever, far down in the
+     turbid depths of London life, there was some strange swirl or eddy,
+     it was marked with automatic exactness by this human dial upon the
+     surface. Holmes discreetly helped Langdale to knowledge, and on
+     occasion was helped in turn.
+
+     When I met my friend in his room early next morning, I was conscious
+     from his bearing that all was well, but none the less a most
+     unpleasant surprise was awaiting us. It took the shape of the
+     following telegram:
+
+     Please come out at once. Client's house burgled in the night. Police
+     in possession.
+     Sutro.
+
+     Holmes whistled. "The drama has come to a crisis, and quicker than I
+     had expected. There is a great driving-power at the back of this
+     business, Watson, which does not surprise me after what I have heard.
+     This Sutro, of course, is her lawyer. I made a mistake, I fear, in
+     not asking you to spend the night on guard. This fellow has clearly
+     proved a broken reed. Well, there is nothing for it but another
+     journey to Harrow Weald."
+
+     We found The Three Gables a very different establishment to the
+     orderly household of the previous day. A small group of idlers had
+     assembled at the garden gate, while a couple of constables were
+     examining the windows and the geranium beds. Within we met a gray old
+     gentleman, who introduced himself as the lawyer, together with a
+     bustling, rubicund inspector, who greeted Holmes as an old friend.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, no chance for you in this case, I'm afraid. Just a
+     common, ordinary burglary, and well within the capacity of the poor
+     old police. No experts need apply."
+
+     "I am sure the case is in very good hands," said Holmes. "Merely a
+     common burglary, you say?"
+
+     "Quite so. We know pretty well who the men are and where to find
+     them. It is that gang of Barney Stockdale, with the big nigger in
+     it--they've been seen about here."
+
+     "Excellent! What did they get?"
+
+     "Well, they don't seem to have got much. Mrs. Maberley was
+     chloroformed and the house was-- Ah! here is the lady herself."
+
+     Our friend of yesterday, looking very pale and ill, had entered the
+     room, leaning upon a little maidservant.
+
+     "You gave me good advice, Mr. Holmes," said she, smiling ruefully.
+     "Alas, I did not take it! I did not wish to trouble Mr. Sutro, and so
+     I was unprotected."
+
+     "I only heard of it this morning," the lawyer explained.
+
+     "Mr. Holmes advised me to have some friend in the house. I neglected
+     his advice, and I have paid for it."
+
+     "You look wretchedly ill," said Holmes. "Perhaps you are hardly equal
+     to telling me what occurred."
+
+     "It is all here," said the inspector, tapping a bulky notebook.
+
+     "Still, if the lady is not too exhausted--"
+
+     "There is really so little to tell. I have no doubt that wicked Susan
+     had planned an entrance for them. They must have known the house to
+     an inch. I was conscious for a moment of the chloroform rag which was
+     thrust over my mouth, but I have no notion how long I may have been
+     senseless. When I woke, one man was at the bedside and another was
+     rising with a bundle in his hand from among my son's baggage, which
+     was partially opened and littered over the floor. Before he could get
+     away I sprang up and seized him."
+
+     "You took a big risk," said the inspector.
+
+     "I clung to him, but he shook me off, and the other may have struck
+     me, for I can remember no more. Mary the maid heard the noise and
+     began screaming out of the window. That brought the police, but the
+     rascals had got away."
+
+     "What did they take?"
+
+     "Well, I don't think there is anything of value missing. I am sure
+     there was nothing in my son's trunks."
+
+     "Did the men leave no clue?"
+
+     "There was one sheet of paper which I may have torn from the man that
+     I grasped. It was lying all crumpled on the floor. It is in my son's
+     handwriting."
+
+     "Which means that it is not of much use," said the inspector. "Now if
+     it had been in the burglar's--"
+
+     "Exactly," said Holmes. "What rugged common sense! None the less, I
+     should be curious to see it."
+
+     The inspector drew a folded sheet of foolscap from his pocketbook.
+
+     "I never pass anything, however trifling," said he with some
+     pomposity. "That is my advice to you, Mr. Holmes. In twenty-five
+     years' experience I have learned my lesson. There is always the
+     chance of finger-marks or something."
+
+     Holmes inspected the sheet of paper.
+
+     "What do you make of it, Inspector?"
+
+     "Seems to be the end of some queer novel, so far as I can see."
+
+     "It may certainly prove to be the end of a queer tale," said Holmes.
+     "You have noticed the number on the top of the page. It is two
+     hundred and forty-five. Where are the odd two hundred and forty-four
+     pages?"
+
+     "Well, I suppose the burglars got those. Much good may it do them!"
+
+     "It seems a queer thing to break into a house in order to steal such
+     papers as that. Does it suggest anything to you, Inspector?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, it suggests that in their hurry the rascals just grabbed
+     at what came first to hand. I wish them joy of what they got."
+
+     "Why should they go to my son's things?" asked Mrs. Maberley.
+
+     "Well, they found nothing valuable downstairs, so they tried their
+     luck upstairs. That is how I read it. What do you make of it, Mr.
+     Holmes?"
+
+     "I must think it over, Inspector. Come to the window, Watson." Then,
+     as we stood together, he read over the fragment of paper. It began in
+     the middle of a sentence and ran like this:
+
+     "... face bled considerably from the cuts and blows, but it was
+     nothing to the bleeding of his heart as he saw that lovely face, the
+     face for which he had been prepared to sacrifice his very life,
+     looking out at his agony and humiliation. She smiled--yes, by Heaven!
+     she smiled, like the heartless fiend she was, as he looked up at her.
+     It was at that moment that love died and hate was born. Man must live
+     for something. If it is not for your embrace, my lady, then it shall
+     surely be for your undoing and my complete revenge."
+
+     "Queer grammar!" said Holmes with a smile as he handed the paper back
+     to the inspector. "Did you notice how the 'he' suddenly changed to
+     'my'? The writer was so carried away by his own story that he
+     imagined himself at the supreme moment to be the hero."
+
+     "It seemed mighty poor stuff," said the inspector as he replaced it
+     in his book. "What! are you off, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "I don't think there is anything more for me to do now that the case
+     is in such capable hands. By the way, Mrs. Maberley, did you say you
+     wished to travel?"
+
+     "It has always been my dream, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Where would you like to go--Cairo, Madeira, the Riviera?"
+
+     "Oh, if I had the money I would go round the world."
+
+     "Quite so. Round the world. Well, good-morning. I may drop you a line
+     in the evening." As we passed the window I caught a glimpse of the
+     inspector's smile and shake of the head. "These clever fellows have
+     always a touch of madness." That was what I read in the inspector's
+     smile.
+
+     "Now, Watson, we are at the last lap of our little journey," said
+     Holmes when we were back in the roar of central London once more. "I
+     think we had best clear the matter up at once, and it would be well
+     that you should come with me, for it is safer to have a witness when
+     you are dealing with such a lady as Isadora Klein."
+
+     We had taken a cab and were speeding to some address in Grosvenor
+     Square. Holmes had been sunk in thought, but he roused himself
+     suddenly.
+
+     "By the way, Watson, I suppose you see it all clearly?"
+
+     "No, I can't say that I do. I only gather that we are going to see
+     the lady who is behind all this mischief."
+
+     "Exactly! But does the name Isadora Klein convey nothing to you? She
+     was, of course, the celebrated beauty. There was never a woman to
+     touch her. She is pure Spanish, the real blood of the masterful
+     Conquistadors, and her people have been leaders in Pernambuco for
+     generations. She married the aged German sugar king, Klein, and
+     presently found herself the richest as well as the most lovely widow
+     upon earth. Then there was an interval of adventure when she pleased
+     her own tastes. She had several lovers, and Douglas Maberley, one of
+     the most striking men in London, was one of them. It was by all
+     accounts more than an adventure with him. He was not a society
+     butterfly but a strong, proud man who gave and expected all. But she
+     is the 'belle dame sans merci' of fiction. When her caprice is
+     satisfied the matter is ended, and if the other party in the matter
+     can't take her word for it she knows how to bring it home to him."
+
+     "Then that was his own story--"
+
+     "Ah! you are piecing it together now. I hear that she is about to
+     marry the young Duke of Lomond, who might almost be her son. His
+     Grace's ma might overlook the age, but a big scandal would be a
+     different matter, so it is imperative-- Ah! here we are."
+
+     It was one of the finest corner-houses of the West End. A
+     machine-like footman took up our cards and returned with word that
+     the lady was not at home. "Then we shall wait until she is," said
+     Holmes cheerfully.
+
+     The machine broke down.
+
+     "Not at home means not at home to you," said the footman.
+
+     "Good," Holmes answered. "That means that we shall not have to wait.
+     Kindly give this note to your mistress."
+
+     He scribbled three or four words upon a sheet of his notebook, folded
+     it, and handed it to the man.
+
+     "What did you say, Holmes?" I asked.
+
+     "I simply wrote: 'Shall it be the police, then?' I think that should
+     pass us in."
+
+     It did--with amazing celerity. A minute later we were in an Arabian
+     Nights drawing-room, vast and wonderful, in a half gloom, picked out
+     with an occasional pink electric light. The lady had come, I felt, to
+     that time of life when even the proudest beauty finds the half light
+     more welcome. She rose from a settee as we entered: tall, queenly, a
+     perfect figure, a lovely mask-like face, with two wonderful Spanish
+     eyes which looked murder at us both.
+
+     "What is this intrusion--and this insulting message?" she asked,
+     holding up the slip of paper.
+
+     "I need not explain, madame. I have too much respect for your
+     intelligence to do so--though I confess that intelligence has been
+     surprisingly at fault of late."
+
+     "How so, sir?"
+
+     "By supposing that your hired bullies could frighten me from my work.
+     Surely no man would take up my profession if it were not that danger
+     attracts him. It was you, then, who forced me to examine the case of
+     young Maberley."
+
+     "I have no idea what you are talking about. What have I to do with
+     hired bullies?"
+
+     Holmes turned away wearily.
+
+     "Yes, I have underrated your intelligence. Well, good-afternoon!"
+
+     "Stop! Where are you going?"
+
+     "To Scotland Yard."
+
+     We had not got halfway to the door before she had overtaken us and
+     was holding his arm. She had turned in a moment from steel to velvet.
+
+     "Come and sit down, gentlemen. Let us talk this matter over. I feel
+     that I may be frank with you, Mr. Holmes. You have the feelings of a
+     gentleman. How quick a woman's instinct is to find it out. I will
+     treat you as a friend."
+
+     "I cannot promise to reciprocate, madame. I am not the law, but I
+     represent justice so far as my feeble powers go. I am ready to
+     listen, and then I will tell you how I will act."
+
+     "No doubt it was foolish of me to threaten a brave man like
+     yourself."
+
+     "What was really foolish, madame, is that you have placed yourself in
+     the power of a band of rascals who may blackmail or give you away."
+
+     "No, no! I am not so simple. Since I have promised to be frank, I may
+     say that no one, save Barney Stockdale and Susan, his wife, have the
+     least idea who their employer is. As to them, well, it is not the
+     first--" She smiled and nodded with a charming coquettish intimacy.
+
+     "I see. You've tested them before."
+
+     "They are good hounds who run silent."
+
+     "Such hounds have a way sooner or later of biting the hand that feeds
+     them. They will be arrested for this burglary. The police are already
+     after them."
+
+     "They will take what comes to them. That is what they are paid for. I
+     shall not appear in the matter."
+
+     "Unless I bring you into it."
+
+     "No, no, you would not. You are a gentleman. It is a woman's secret."
+
+     "In the first place, you must give back this manuscript."
+
+     She broke into a ripple of laughter and walked to the fireplace.
+     There was a calcined mass which she broke up with the poker. "Shall I
+     give this back?" she asked. So roguish and exquisite did she look as
+     she stood before us with a challenging smile that I felt of all
+     Holmes's criminals this was the one whom he would find it hardest to
+     face. However, he was immune from sentiment.
+
+     "That seals your fate," he said coldly. "You are very prompt in your
+     actions, madame, but you have overdone it on this occasion."
+
+     She threw the poker down with a clatter.
+
+     "How hard you are!" she cried. "May I tell you the whole story?"
+
+     "I fancy I could tell it to you."
+
+     "But you must look at it with my eyes, Mr. Holmes. You must realize
+     it from the point of view of a woman who sees all her life's ambition
+     about to be ruined at the last moment. Is such a woman to be blamed
+     if she protects herself?"
+
+     "The original sin was yours."
+
+     "Yes, yes! I admit it. He was a dear boy, Douglas, but it so chanced
+     that he could not fit into my plans. He wanted marriage--marriage,
+     Mr. Holmes--with a penniless commoner. Nothing less would serve him.
+     Then he became pertinacious. Because I had given he seemed to think
+     that I still must give, and to him only. It was intolerable. At last
+     I had to make him realize it."
+
+     "By hiring ruffians to beat him under your own window."
+
+     "You do indeed seem to know everything. Well, it is true. Barney and
+     the boys drove him away, and were, I admit, a little rough in doing
+     so. But what did he do then? Could I have believed that a gentleman
+     would do such an act? He wrote a book in which he described his own
+     story. I, of course, was the wolf; he the lamb. It was all there,
+     under different names, of course; but who in all London would have
+     failed to recognize it? What do you say to that, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Well, he was within his rights."
+
+     "It was as if the air of Italy had got into his blood and brought
+     with it the old cruel Italian spirit. He wrote to me and sent me a
+     copy of his book that I might have the torture of anticipation. There
+     were two copies, he said--one for me, one for his publisher."
+
+     "How did you know the publisher's had not reached him?"
+
+     "I knew who his publisher was. It is not his only novel, you know. I
+     found out that he had not heard from Italy. Then came Douglas's
+     sudden death. So long as that other manuscript was in the world there
+     was no safety for me. Of course, it must be among his effects, and
+     these would be returned to his mother. I set the gang at work. One of
+     them got into the house as servant. I wanted to do the thing
+     honestly. I really and truly did. I was ready to buy the house and
+     everything in it. I offered any price she cared to ask. I only tried
+     the other way when everything else had failed. Now, Mr. Holmes,
+     granting that I was too hard on Douglas--and, God knows, I am sorry
+     for it!--what else could I do with my whole future at stake?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "Well, well," said he, "I suppose I shall have to compound a felony
+     as usual. How much does it cost to go round the world in first-class
+     style?"
+
+     The lady stared in amazement.
+
+     "Could it be done on five thousand pounds?"
+
+     "Well, I should think so, indeed!"
+
+     "Very good. I think you will sign me a check for that, and I will see
+     that it comes to Mrs. Maberley. You owe her a little change of air.
+     Meantime, lady"--he wagged a cautionary forefinger--"have a care!
+     Have a care! You can't play with edged tools forever without cutting
+     those dainty hands."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE
+
+     Holmes had read carefully a note which the last post had brought him.
+      Then, with the dry chuckle which was his nearest approach to a
+     laugh, he tossed it over to me.
+
+     "For a mixture of the modern and the mediaeval, of the practical and
+     of the wildly fanciful, I think this is surely the limit," said he. 
+     "What do you make of it, Watson?"
+
+     I read as follows:
+
+     46, Old Jewry,
+     Nov. 19th.
+                                   Re Vampires
+     Sir:
+     Our client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea
+     brokers, of Mincing Lane, has made some inquiry from us in a
+     communication of even date concerning vampires. As our firm
+     specializes entirely upon the assessment of machinery the matter
+     hardly comes within our purview, and we have therefore recommended
+     Mr. Ferguson to call upon you and lay the matter before you. We have
+     not forgotten your successful action in the case of Matilda Briggs.
+     We are, sir,
+     Faithfully yours,
+     Morrison, Morrison, and Dodd.
+     per E. J. C.
+
+     "Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson," said
+     Holmes in a reminiscent voice. "It was a ship which is associated
+     with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet
+     prepared. But what do we know about vampires? Does it come within our
+     purview either? Anything is better than stagnation, but really we
+     seem to have been switched on to a Grimms' fairy tale. Make a long
+     arm, Watson, and see what V has to say."
+
+     I leaned back and took down the great index volume to which he
+     referred. Holmes balanced it on his knee, and his eyes moved slowly
+     and lovingly over the record of old cases, mixed with the accumulated
+     information of a lifetime.
+
+     "Voyage of the Gloria Scott," he read.  "That was a bad business. I
+     have some recollection that you made a record of it, Watson, though I
+     was unable to congratulate you upon the result. Victor Lynch, the
+     forger.  Venomous lizard or gila. Remarkable case, that! Vittoria,
+     the circus belle. Vanderbilt and the Yeggman. Vipers. Vigor, the
+     Hammersmith wonder. Hullo! Hullo! Good old index. You can't beat it.
+     Listen to this, Watson. Vampirism in Hungary. And again, Vampires in
+     Transylvania." He turned over the pages with eagerness, but after a
+     short intent perusal he threw down the great book with a snarl of
+     disappointment.
+
+     "Rubbish, Watson, rubbish! What have we to do with walking corpses
+     who can only be held in their grave by stakes driven through their
+     hearts?  It's pure lunacy."
+
+     "But surely," said I, "the vampire was not necessarily a dead man? A
+     living person might have the habit. I have read, for example, of the
+     old sucking the blood of the young in order to retain their youth."
+
+     "You are right, Watson. It mentions the legend in one of these
+     references. But are we to give serious attention to such things? This
+     agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain.
+     The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply. I fear that we
+     cannot take Mr. Robert Ferguson very seriously. Possibly this note
+     may be from him and may throw some light upon what is worrying him."
+
+     He took up a second letter which had lain unnoticed upon the table
+     while he had been absorbed with the first. This he began to read with
+     a smile of amusement upon his face which gradually faded away into an
+     expression of intense interest and concentration. When he had
+     finished he sat for some little time lost in thought with the letter
+     dangling from his fingers. Finally, with a start, he aroused himself
+     from his reverie.
+
+     "Cheeseman's, Lamberley. Where is Lamberley, Watson?"
+
+     "It is in Sussex, south of Horsham."
+
+     "Not very far, eh? And Cheeseman's?"
+
+     "I know that country, Holmes. It is full of old houses which are
+     named after the men who built them centuries ago. You get Odley's and
+     Harvey's and Carriton's--the folk are forgotten but their names live
+     in their houses.
+
+     "Precisely," said Holmes coldly. It was one of the peculiarities of
+     his proud, self-contained nature that though he docketed any fresh
+     information very quietly and accurately in his brain, he seldom made
+     any acknowledgment to the giver. "I rather fancy we shall know a good
+     deal more about Cheeseman's, Lamberley, before we are through. The
+     letter is, as I had hoped, from Robert Ferguson. By the way, he
+     claims acquaintance with you."
+
+     "With me!"
+
+     "You had better read it."
+
+     He handed the letter across. It was headed with the address quoted.
+
+     Dear Mr. Holmes [it said]:
+     I have been recommended to you by my lawyers, but indeed the matter
+     is so extraordinarily delicate that it is most difficult to discuss.
+     It concerns a friend for whom I am acting. This gentleman married
+     some five years ago a Peruvian lady, the daughter of a Peruvian
+     merchant, whom he had met in connection with the importation of
+     nitrates. The lady was very beautiful, but the fact of her foreign
+     birth and of her alien religion always caused a separation of
+     interests and of feelings between husband and wife, so that after a
+     time his love may have cooled towards her and he may have come to
+     regard their union as a mistake. He felt there were sides of her
+     character which he could never explore or understand. This was the
+     more painful as she was as loving a wife as a man could have--to all
+     appearance absolutely devoted.
+     Now for the point which I will make more plain when we meet.  Indeed,
+     this note is merely to give you a general idea of the situation and
+     to ascertain whether you would care to interest yourself in the
+     matter. The lady began to show some curious traits quite alien to her
+     ordinarily sweet and gentle disposition. The gentleman had been
+     married twice and he had one son by the first wife. This boy was now
+     fifteen, a very charming and affectionate youth, though unhappily
+     injured through an accident in childhood. Twice the wife was caught
+     in the act of assaulting this poor lad in the most unprovoked way.
+     Once she struck him with a stick and left a great weal on his arm.
+     This was a small matter, however, compared with her conduct to her
+     own child, a dear boy just under one year of age. On one occasion
+     about a month ago this child had been left by its nurse for a few
+     minutes. A loud cry from the baby, as of pain, called the nurse back.
+     As she ran into the room she saw her employer, the lady, leaning over
+     the baby and apparently biting his neck. There was a small wound in
+     the neck from which a stream of blood had escaped. The nurse was so
+     horrified that she wished to call the husband, but the lady implored
+     her not to do so and actually gave her five pounds as a price for her
+     silence. No explanation was ever given, and for the moment the matter
+     was passed over.
+     It left, however, a terrible impression upon the nurse's mind, and
+     from that time she began to watch her mistress closely and to keep a
+     closer guard upon the baby, whom she tenderly loved. It seemed to her
+     that even as she watched the mother, so the mother watched her, and
+     that every time she was compelled to leave the baby alone the mother
+     was waiting to get at it. Day and night the nurse covered the child,
+     and day and night the silent, watchful mother seemed to be lying in
+     wait as a wolf waits for a lamb. It must read most incredible to you,
+     and yet I beg you to take it seriously, for a child's life and a
+     man's sanity may depend upon it.
+     At last there came one dreadful day when the facts could no longer be
+     concealed from the husband. The nurse's nerve had given way; she
+     could stand the strain no longer, and she made a clean breast of it
+     all to the man. To him it seemed as wild a tale as it may now seem to
+     you. He knew his wife to be a loving wife, and, save for the assaults
+     upon her stepson, a loving mother. Why, then, should she wound her
+     own dear little baby? He told the nurse that she was dreaming, that
+     her suspicions were those of a lunatic, and that such libels upon her
+     mistress were not to be tolerated.  While they were talking a sudden
+     cry of pain was heard. Nurse and master rushed together to the
+     nursery. Imagine his feelings, Mr. Holmes, as he saw his wife rise
+     from a kneeling position beside the cot and saw blood upon the
+     child's exposed neck and upon the sheet. With a cry of horror, he
+     turned his wife's face to the light and saw blood all round her lips.
+     It was she--she beyond all question--who had drunk the poor baby's
+     blood.
+     So the matter stands. She is now confined to her room. There has been
+     no explanation. The husband is half demented. He knows, and I know,
+     little of vampirism beyond the name. We had thought it was some wild
+     tale of foreign parts. And yet here in the very heart of the English
+     Sussex--well, all this can be discussed with you in the morning. Will
+     you see me? Will you use your great powers in aiding a distracted
+     man? If so, kindly wire to Ferguson, Cheeseman's, Lamberley, and I
+     will be at your rooms by ten o'clock.
+     Yours faithfully,
+     Robert Ferguson.
+     P. S. I believe your friend Watson played Rugby for Blackheath when I
+     was three-quarter for Richmond. It is the only personal introduction
+     which I can give.
+
+     "Of course I remembered him," said I as I laid down the letter. "Big
+     Bob Ferguson, the finest three-quarter Richmond ever had. He was
+     always a good-natured chap. It's like him to be so concerned over a
+     friend's case."
+
+     Holmes looked at me thoughtfully and shook his head.
+
+     "I never get your limits, Watson," said he.  "There are unexplored
+     possibilities about you. Take a wire down, like a good fellow. 'Will
+     examine your case with pleasure.'"
+
+     "Your case!"
+
+     "We must not let him think that this agency is a home for the
+     weak-minded. Of course it is his case. Send him that wire and let the
+     matter rest till morning."
+
+     Promptly at ten o'clock next morning Ferguson strode into our room. I
+     had remembered him as a long, slab-sided man with loose limbs and a
+     fine turn of speed which had carried him round many an opposing back.
+     There is surely nothing in life more painful than to meet the wreck
+     of a fine athlete whom one has known in his prime. His great frame
+     had fallen in, his flaxen hair was scanty, and his shoulders were
+     bowed. I fear that I roused corresponding emotions in him.
+
+     "Hullo, Watson," said he, and his voice was still deep and hearty.
+     "You don't look quite the man you did when I threw you over the ropes
+     into the crowd at the Old Deer Park. I expect I have changed a bit
+     also. But it's this last day or two that has aged me. I see by your
+     telegram, Mr. Holmes, that it is no use my pretending to be anyone's
+     deputy."
+
+     "It is simpler to deal direct," said Holmes.
+
+     "Of course it is. But you can imagine how difficult it is when you
+     are speaking of the one woman whom you are bound to protect and help.
+     What can I do? How am I to go to the police with such a story? And
+     yet the kiddies have got to be protected. Is it madness, Mr. Holmes?
+     Is it something in the blood? Have you any similar case in your
+     experience? For God's sake, give me some advice, for I am at my wit's
+     end."
+
+     "Very naturally, Mr. Ferguson. Now sit here and pull yourself
+     together and give me a few clear answers. I can assure you that I am
+     very far from being at my wit's end, and that I am confident we shall
+     find some solution.  First of all, tell me what steps you have taken.
+     Is your wife still near the children?"
+
+     "We had a dreadful scene. She is a most loving woman, Mr.  Holmes. If
+     ever a woman loved a man with all her heart and soul, she loves me.
+     She was cut to the heart that I should have discovered this horrible,
+     this incredible, secret. She would not even speak. She gave no answer
+     to my reproaches, save to gaze at me with a sort of wild, despairing
+     look in her eyes. Then she rushed to her room and locked herself in. 
+     Since then she has refused to see me. She has a maid who was with her
+     before her marriage, Dolores by name--a friend rather than a servant.
+     She takes her food to her."
+
+     "Then the child is in no immediate danger?"
+
+     "Mrs. Mason, the nurse, has sworn that she will not leave it night or
+     day. I can absolutely trust her. I am more uneasy about poor little
+     Jack, for, as I told you in my note, he has twice been assaulted by
+     her."
+
+     "But never wounded?"
+
+     "No, she struck him savagely. It is the more terrible as he is a poor
+     little inoffensive cripple." Ferguson's gaunt features softened as he
+     spoke of his boy. "You would think that the dear lad's condition
+     would soften anyone's heart. A fall in childhood and a twisted spine,
+     Mr. Holmes. But the dearest, most loving heart within."
+
+     Holmes had picked up the letter of yesterday and was reading it over.
+     "What other inmates are there in your house, Mr. Ferguson?"
+
+     "Two servants who have not been long with us. One stable-hand,
+     Michael, who sleeps in the house. My wife, myself, my boy Jack, baby,
+     Dolores, and Mrs. Mason. That is all."
+
+     "I gather that you did not know your wife well at the time of your
+     marriage?"
+
+     "I had only known her a few weeks."
+
+     "How long had this maid Dolores been with her?"
+
+     "Some years."
+
+     "Then your wife's character would really be better known by Dolores
+     than by you?"
+
+     "Yes, you may say so."
+
+     Holmes made a note.
+
+     "I fancy," said he, "that I may be of more use at Lamberley than
+     here. It is eminently a case for personal investigation. If the lady
+     remains in her room, our presence could not annoy or inconvenience
+     her. Of course, we would stay at the inn."
+
+     Ferguson gave a gesture of relief.
+
+     "It is what I hoped, Mr. Holmes. There is an excellent train at two
+     from Victoria if you could come."
+
+     "Of course we could come. There is a lull at present. I can give you
+     my undivided energies. Watson, of course, comes with us. But there
+     are one or two points upon which I wish to be very sure before I
+     start. This unhappy lady, as I understand it, has appeared to assault
+     both the children, her own baby and your little son?"
+
+     "That is so."
+
+     "But the assaults take different forms, do they not? She has beaten
+     your son."
+
+     "Once with a stick and once very savagely with her hands."
+
+     "Did she give no explanation why she struck him?"
+
+     "None save that she hated him. Again and again she said so."
+
+     "Well, that is not unknown among stepmothers. A posthumous jealousy,
+     we will say. Is the lady jealous by nature?"
+
+     "Yes, she is very jealous--jealous with all the strength of her fiery
+     tropical love."
+
+     "But the boy--he is fifteen, I understand, and probably very
+     developed in mind, since his body has been circumscribed in action.
+     Did he give you no explanation of these assaults?"
+
+     "No, he declared there was no reason."
+
+     "Were they good friends at other times?"
+
+     "No, there was never any love between them."
+
+     "Yet you say he is affectionate?"
+
+     "Never in the world could there be so devoted a son. My life is his
+     life. He is absorbed in what I say or do."
+
+     Once again Holmes made a note. For some time he sat lost in thought.
+
+     "No doubt you and the boy were great comrades before this second
+     marriage. You were thrown very close together, were you not?"
+
+     "Very much so."
+
+     "And the boy, having so affectionate a nature, was devoted, no doubt,
+     to the memory of his mother?"
+
+     "Most devoted."
+
+     "He would certainly seem to be a most interesting lad.  There is one
+     other point about these assaults. Were the strange attacks upon the
+     baby and the assaults upon your son at the same period?"
+
+     "In the first case it was so. It was as if some frenzy had seized
+     her, and she had vented her rage upon both. In the second case it was
+     only Jack who suffered. Mrs. Mason had no complaint to make about the
+     baby."
+
+     "That certainly complicates matters."
+
+     "I don't quite follow you, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Possibly not. One forms provisional theories and waits for time or
+     fuller knowledge to explode them. A bad habit, Mr. Ferguson, but
+     human nature is weak. I fear that your old friend here has given an
+     exaggerated view of my scientific methods. However, I will only say
+     at the present stage that your problem does not appear to me to be
+     insoluble, and that you may expect to find us at Victoria at two
+     o'clock."
+
+     It was evening of a dull, foggy November day when, having left our
+     bags at the Chequers, Lamberley, we drove through the Sussex clay of
+     a long winding lane and finally reached the isolated and ancient
+     farmhouse in which Ferguson dwelt. It was a large, straggling
+     building, very old in the centre, very new at the wings with towering
+     Tudor chimneys and a lichen-spotted, high-pitched roof of Horsham
+     slabs. The doorsteps were worn into curves, and the ancient tiles
+     which lined the porch were marked with the rebus of a cheese and a
+     man after the original builder. Within, the ceilings were corrugated
+     with heavy oaken beams, and the uneven floors sagged into sharp
+     curves. An odour of age and decay pervaded the whole crumbling
+     building.
+
+     There was one very large central room into which Ferguson led us.
+     Here, in a huge old-fashioned fireplace with an iron screen behind it
+     dated 1670, there blazed and spluttered a splendid log fire.
+
+     The room, as I gazed round, was a most singular mixture of dates and
+     of places. The half-panelled walls may well have belonged to the
+     original yeoman farmer of the seventeenth century. They were
+     ornamented, however, on the lower part by a line of well-chosen
+     modern water-colours; while above, where yellow plaster took the
+     place of oak, there was hung a fine collection of South American
+     utensils and weapons, which had been brought, no doubt, by the
+     Peruvian lady upstairs. Holmes rose, with that quick curiosity which
+     sprang from his eager mind, and examined them with some care. He
+     returned with his eyes full of thought.
+
+     "Hullo!" he cried. "Hullo!"
+
+     A spaniel had lain in a basket in the corner. It came slowly forward
+     towards its master, walking with difficulty. Its hind legs moved
+     irregularly and its tail was on the ground. It licked Ferguson's
+     hand.
+
+     "What is it, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "The dog. What's the matter with it?"
+
+     "That's what puzzled the vet. A sort of paralysis.  Spinal
+     meningitis, he thought. But it is passing. He'll be all right
+     soon--won't you, Carlo?"
+
+     A shiver of assent passed through the drooping tail. The dog's
+     mournful eyes passed from one of us to the other. He knew that we
+     were discussing his case.
+
+     "Did it come on suddenly?"
+
+     "In a single night."
+
+     "How long ago?"
+
+     "It may have been four months ago."
+
+     "Very remarkable. Very suggestive."
+
+     "What do you see in it, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "A confirmation of what I had already thought."
+
+     "For God's sake, what do you think, Mr. Holmes? It may be a mere
+     intellectual puzzle to you, but it is life and death to me! My wife a
+     would-be murderer--my child in constant danger! Don't play with me,
+     Mr. Holmes.  It is too terribly serious."
+
+     The big Rugby three-quarter was trembling all over. Holmes put his
+     hand soothingly upon his arm.
+
+     "I fear that there is pain for you, Mr. Ferguson, whatever the
+     solution may be," said he. "I would spare you all I can. I cannot say
+     more for the instant, but before I leave this house I hope I may have
+     something definite."
+
+     "Please God you may! If you will excuse me, gentlemen, I will go up
+     to my wife's room and see if there has been any change."
+
+     He was away some minutes, during which Holmes resumed his examination
+     of the curiosities upon the wall. When our host returned it was clear
+     from his downcast face that he had made no progress. He brought with
+     him a tall, slim, brown-faced girl.
+
+     "The tea is ready, Dolores," said Ferguson.  "See that your mistress
+     has everything she can wish."
+
+     "She verra ill," cried the girl, looking with indignant eyes at her
+     master. "She no ask for food. She verra ill. She need doctor. I
+     frightened stay alone with her without doctor."
+
+     Ferguson looked at me with a question in his eyes.
+
+     "I should be so glad if I could be of use."
+
+     "Would your mistress see Dr. Watson?"
+
+     "I take him. I no ask leave. She needs doctor."
+
+     "Then I'll come with you at once."
+
+     I followed the girl, who was quivering with strong emotion, up the
+     staircase and down an ancient corridor. At the end was an
+     iron-clamped and massive door. It struck me as I looked at it that if
+     Ferguson tried to force his way to his wife he would find it no easy
+     matter. The girl drew a key from her pocket, and the heavy oaken
+     planks creaked upon their old hinges. I passed in and she swiftly
+     followed, fastening the door behind her.
+
+     On the bed a woman was lying who was clearly in a high fever.  She
+     was only half conscious, but as I entered she raised a pair of
+     frightened but beautiful eyes and glared at me in apprehension.
+     Seeing a stranger, she appeared to be relieved and sank back with a
+     sigh upon the pillow. I stepped up to her with a few reassuring
+     words, and she lay still while I took her pulse and temperature. Both
+     were high, and yet my impression was that the condition was rather
+     that of mental and nervous excitement than of any actual seizure.
+
+     "She lie like that one day, two day. I 'fraid she die," said the
+     girl.
+
+     The woman turned her flushed and handsome face towards me.
+
+     "Where is my husband?"
+
+     "He is below and would wish to see you."
+
+     "I will not see him. I will not see him." Then she seemed to wander
+     off into delirium. "A fiend! A fiend! Oh, what shall I do with this
+     devil?"
+
+     "Can I help you in any way?"
+
+     "No. No one can help. It is finished. All is destroyed.  Do what I
+     will, all is destroyed."
+
+     The woman must have some strange delusion. I could not see honest Bob
+     Ferguson in the character of fiend or devil.
+
+     "Madame," I said, "your husband loves you dearly. He is deeply
+     grieved at this happening."
+
+     Again she turned on me those glorious eyes.
+
+     "He loves me. Yes. But do I not love him? Do I not love him even to
+     sacrifice myself rather than break his dear heart? That is how I love
+     him. And yet he could think of me--he could speak of me so."
+
+     "He is full of grief, but he cannot understand."
+
+     "No, he cannot understand. But he should trust."
+
+     "Will you not see him?" I suggested.
+
+     "No, no, I cannot forget those terrible words nor the look upon his
+     face. I will not see him. Go now. You can do nothing for me. Tell him
+     only one thing. I want my child. I have a right to my child. That is
+     the only message I can send him." She turned her face to the wall and
+     would say no more.
+
+     I returned to the room downstairs, where Ferguson and Holmes still
+     sat by the fire. Ferguson listened moodily to my account of the
+     interview.
+
+     "How can I send her the child?" he said. "How do I know what strange
+     impulse might come upon her? How can I ever forget how she rose from
+     beside it with its blood upon her lips?" He shuddered at the
+     recollection.  "The child is safe with Mrs. Mason, and there he must
+     remain."
+
+     A smart maid, the only modern thing which we had seen in the house,
+     had brought in some tea. As she was serving it the door opened and a
+     youth entered the room. He was a remarkable lad, pale-faced and
+     fair-haired, with excitable light blue eyes which blazed into a
+     sudden flame of emotion and joy as they rested upon his father.  He
+     rushed forward and threw his arms round his neck with the abandon of
+     a loving girl.
+
+     "Oh, daddy," he cried, "I did not know that you were due yet. I
+     should have been here to meet you. Oh, I am so glad to see you!"
+
+     Ferguson gently disengaged himself from the embrace with some little
+     show of embarrassment.
+
+     "Dear old chap," said he, patting the flaxen head with a very tender
+     hand. "I came early because my friends, Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson,
+     have been persuaded to come down and spend an evening with us."
+
+     "Is that Mr. Holmes, the detective?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     The youth looked at us with a very penetrating and, as it seemed to
+     me, unfriendly gaze.
+
+     "What about your other child, Mr. Ferguson?" asked Holmes. "Might we
+     make the acquaintance of the baby?"
+
+     "Ask Mrs. Mason to bring baby down," said Ferguson.  The boy went off
+     with a curious, shambling gait which told my surgical eyes that he
+     was suffering from a weak spine. Presently he returned, and behind
+     him came a tall, gaunt woman bearing in her arms a very beautiful
+     child, dark-eyed, golden-haired, a wonderful mixture of the Saxon and
+     the Latin. Ferguson was evidently devoted to it, for he took it into
+     his arms and fondled it most tenderly.
+
+     "Fancy anyone having the heart to hurt him," he muttered as he
+     glanced down at the small, angry red pucker upon the cherub throat.
+
+     It was at this moment that I chanced to glance at Holmes and saw a
+     most singular intentness in his expression. His face was as set as if
+     it had been carved out of old ivory, and his eyes, which had glanced
+     for a moment at father and child, were now fixed with eager curiosity
+     upon something at the other side of the room.  Following his gaze I
+     could only guess that he was looking out through the window at the
+     melancholy, dripping garden. It is true that a shutter had half
+     closed outside and obstructed the view, but none the less it was
+     certainly at the window that Holmes was fixing his concentrated
+     attention. Then he smiled, and his eyes came back to the baby. On its
+     chubby neck there was this small puckered mark. Without speaking,
+     Holmes examined it with care. Finally he shook one of the dimpled
+     fists which waved in front of him.
+
+     "Good-bye, little man. You have made a strange start in life. Nurse,
+     I should wish to have a word with you in private."
+
+     He took her aside and spoke earnestly for a few minutes. I only heard
+     the last words, which were: "Your anxiety will soon, I hope, be set
+     at rest." The woman, who seemed to be a sour, silent kind of
+     creature, withdrew with the child.
+
+     "What is Mrs. Mason like?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Not very prepossessing externally, as you can see, but a heart of
+     gold, and devoted to the child."
+
+     "Do you like her, Jack?" Holmes turned suddenly upon the boy. His
+     expressive mobile face shadowed over, and he shook his head.
+
+     "Jacky has very strong likes and dislikes," said Ferguson, putting
+     his arm round the boy. "Luckily I am one of his likes."
+
+     The boy cooed and nestled his head upon his father's breast. Ferguson
+     gently disengaged him.
+
+     "Run away, little Jacky," said he, and he watched his son with loving
+     eyes until he disappeared. "Now, Mr. Holmes," he continued when the
+     boy was gone, "I really feel that I have brought you on a fool's
+     errand, for what can you possibly do save give me your sympathy? It
+     must be an exceedingly delicate and complex affair from your point of
+     view."
+
+     "It is certainly delicate," said my friend with an amused smile, "but
+     I have not been struck up to now with its complexity. It has been a
+     case for intellectual deduction, but when this original intellectual
+     deduction is confirmed point by point by quite a number of
+     independent incidents, then the subjective becomes objective and we
+     can say confidently that we have reached our goal. I had, in fact,
+     reached it before we left Baker Street, and the rest has merely been
+     observation and confirmation."
+
+     Ferguson put his big hand to his furrowed forehead.
+
+     "For heaven's sake, Holmes," he said hoarsely; "if you can see the
+     truth in this matter, do not keep me in suspense. How do I stand? 
+     What shall I do? I care nothing as to how you have found your facts
+     so long as you have really got them."
+
+     "Certainly I owe you an explanation, and you shall have it. But you
+     will permit me to handle the matter in my own way? Is the lady
+     capable of seeing us, Watson?"
+
+     "She is ill, but she is quite rational."
+
+     "Very good. It is only in her presence that we can clear the matter
+     up. Let us go up to her."
+
+     "She will not see me," cried Ferguson.
+
+     "Oh, yes, she will," said Holmes. He scribbled a few lines upon a
+     sheet of paper. "You at least have the entree, Watson. Will you have
+     the goodness to give the lady this note?"
+
+     I ascended again and handed the note to Dolores, who cautiously
+     opened the door. A minute later I heard a cry from within, a cry in
+     which joy and surprise seemed to be blended. Dolores looked out.
+
+     "She will see them. She will leesten," said she.
+
+     At my summons Ferguson and Holmes came up. As we entered the room
+     Ferguson took a step or two towards his wife, who had raised herself
+     in the bed, but she held out her hand to repulse him. He sank into an
+     armchair, while Holmes seated himself beside him, after bowing to the
+     lady, who looked at him with wide-eyed amazement.
+
+     "I think we can dispense with Dolores," said Holmes.  "Oh, very well,
+     madame, if you would rather she stayed I can see no objection. Now,
+     Mr. Ferguson, I am a busy man with many calls, and my methods have to
+     be short and direct.  The swiftest surgery is the least painful. Let
+     me first say what will ease your mind. Your wife is a very good, a
+     very loving, and a very ill-used woman."
+
+     Ferguson sat up with a cry of joy.
+
+     "Prove that, Mr. Holmes, and I am your debtor forever."
+
+     "I will do so, but in doing so I must wound you deeply in another
+     direction."
+
+     "I care nothing so long as you clear my wife. Everything on earth is
+     insignificant compared to that."
+
+     "Let me tell you, then, the train of reasoning which passed through
+     my mind in Baker Street. The idea of a vampire was to me absurd. Such
+     things do not happen in criminal practice in England. And yet your
+     observation was precise. You had seen the lady rise from beside the
+     child's cot with the blood upon her lips."
+
+     "I did."
+
+     "Did it not occur to you that a bleeding wound may be sucked for some
+     other purpose than to draw the blood from it? Was there not a queen
+     in English history who sucked such a wound to draw poison from it?"
+
+     "Poison!"
+
+     "A South American household. My instinct felt the presence of those
+     weapons upon the wall before my eyes ever saw them. It might have
+     been other poison, but that was what occurred to me. When I saw that
+     little empty quiver beside the small bird-bow, it was just what I
+     expected to see. If the child were pricked with one of those arrows
+     dipped in curare or some other devilish drug, it would mean death if
+     the venom were not sucked out.
+
+     "And the dog! If one were to use such a poison, would one not try it
+     first in order to see that it had not lost its power? I did not
+     foresee the dog, but at least I understand him and he fitted into my
+     reconstruction.
+
+     "Now do you understand? Your wife feared such an attack.  She saw it
+     made and saved the child's life, and yet she shrank from telling you
+     all the truth, for she knew how you loved the boy and feared lest it
+     break your heart."
+
+     "Jacky!"
+
+     "I watched him as you fondled the child just now. His face was
+     clearly reflected in the glass of the window where the shutter formed
+     a background. I saw such jealousy, such cruel hatred, as I have
+     seldom seen in a human face."
+
+     "My Jacky!"
+
+     "You have to face it, Mr. Ferguson. It is the more painful because it
+     is a distorted love, a maniacal exaggerated love for you, and
+     possibly for his dead mother, which has prompted his action. His very
+     soul is consumed with hatred for this splendid child, whose health
+     and beauty are a contrast to his own weakness."
+
+     "Good God! It is incredible!"
+
+     "Have I spoken the truth, madame?"
+
+     The lady was sobbing, with her face buried in the pillows. Now she
+     turned to her husband.
+
+     "How could I tell you, Bob? I felt the blow it would be to you. It
+     was better that I should wait and that it should come from some other
+     lips than mine. When this gentleman, who seems to have powers of
+     magic, wrote that he knew all, I was glad."
+
+     "I think a year at sea would be my prescription for Master Jacky,"
+     said Holmes, rising from his chair. "Only one thing is still clouded,
+     madame. We can quite understand your attacks upon Master Jacky. There
+     is a limit to a mother's patience. But how did you dare to leave the
+     child these last two days?"
+
+     "I had told Mrs. Mason. She knew."
+
+     "Exactly. So I imagined."
+
+     Ferguson was standing by the bed, choking, his hands outstretched and
+     quivering.
+
+     "This, I fancy, is the time for our exit, Watson," said Holmes in a
+     whisper. "If you will take one elbow of the too faithful Dolores, I
+     will take the other. There, now," he added as he closed the door
+     behind him, "I think we may leave them to settle the rest among
+     themselves."
+
+     I have only one further note of this case. It is the letter which
+     Holmes wrote in final answer to that with which the narrative begins.
+     It ran thus:
+
+     Baker Street,
+     Nov. 21st.
+                                   Re Vampires
+     Sir:
+     Referring to your letter of the 19th, I beg to state that I have
+     looked into the inquiry of your client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of
+     Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, and that the
+     matter has been brought to a satisfactory conclusion. With thanks for
+     your recommendation, I am, sir,
+     Faithfully yours,
+     Sherlock Holmes.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GARRIDEBS
+
+     It may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy. It cost one
+     man his reason, it cost me a blood-letting, and it cost yet another
+     man the penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly an element of
+     comedy. Well, you shall judge for yourselves.
+
+     I remember the date very well, for it was in the same month that
+     Holmes refused a knighthood for services which may perhaps some day
+     be described. I only refer to the matter in passing, for in my
+     position of partner and confidant I am obliged to be particularly
+     careful to avoid any indiscretion. I repeat, however, that this
+     enables me to fix the date, which was the latter end of June, 1902,
+     shortly after the conclusion of the South African War. Holmes had
+     spent several days in bed, as was his habit from time to time, but he
+     emerged that morning with a long foolscap document in his hand and a
+     twinkle of amusement in his austere gray eyes.
+
+     "There is a chance for you to make some money, friend Watson," said
+     he. "Have you ever heard the name of Garrideb?"
+
+     I admitted that I had not.
+
+     "Well, if you can lay your hand upon a Garrideb, there's money in
+     it."
+
+     "Why?"
+
+     "Ah, that's a long story--rather a whimsical one, too. I don't think
+     in all our explorations of human complexities we have ever come upon
+     anything more singular. The fellow will be here presently for
+     cross-examination, so I won't open the matter up till he comes. But,
+     meanwhile, that's the name we want."
+
+     The telephone directory lay on the table beside me, and I turned over
+     the pages in a rather hopeless quest. But to my amazement there was
+     this strange name in its due place. I gave a cry of triumph.
+
+     "Here you are, Holmes! Here it is!"
+
+     Holmes took the book from my hand.
+
+     "'Garrideb, N.,' " he read, "'136 Little Ryder Street, W.' Sorry to
+     disappoint you, my dear Watson, but this is the man himself. That is
+     the address upon his letter. We want another to match him."
+
+     Mrs. Hudson had come in with a card upon a tray. I took it up and
+     glanced at it.
+
+     "Why, here it is!" I cried in amazement. "This is a different
+     initial. John Garrideb, Counsellor at Law, Moorville, Kansas, U. S.
+     A."
+
+     Holmes smiled as he looked at the card. "I am afraid you must make
+     yet another effort, Watson," said he. "This gentleman is also in the
+     plot already, though I certainly did not expect to see him this
+     morning. However, he is in a position to tell us a good deal which I
+     want to know."
+
+     A moment later he was in the room. Mr. John Garrideb, Counsellor at
+     Law, was a short, powerful man with the round, fresh, clean-shaven
+     face characteristic of so many American men of affairs. The general
+     effect was chubby and rather childlike, so that one received the
+     impression of quite a young man with a broad set smile upon his face.
+     His eyes, however, were arresting. Seldom in any human head have I
+     seen a pair which bespoke a more intense inward life, so bright were
+     they, so alert, so responsive to every change of thought. His accent
+     was American, but was not accompanied by any eccentricity of speech.
+
+     "Mr. Holmes?" he asked, glancing from one to the other. "Ah, yes!
+     Your pictures are not unlike you, sir, if I may say so. I believe you
+     have had a letter from my namesake, Mr. Nathan Garrideb, have you
+     not?"
+
+     "Pray sit down," said Sherlock Holmes. "We shall, I fancy, have a
+     good deal to discuss." He took up his sheets of foolscap. "You are,
+     of course, the Mr. John Garrideb mentioned in this document. But
+     surely you have been in England some time?"
+
+     "Why do you say that, Mr. Holmes?" I seemed to read sudden suspicion
+     in those expressive eyes.
+
+     "Your whole outfit is English."
+
+     Mr. Garrideb forced a laugh. "I've read of your tricks, Mr. Holmes,
+     but I never thought I would be the subject of them. Where do you read
+     that?"
+
+     "The shoulder cut of your coat, the toes of your boots--could anyone
+     doubt it?"
+
+     "Well, well, I had no idea I was so obvious a Britisher. But business
+     brought me over here some time ago, and so, as you say, my outfit is
+     nearly all London. However, I guess your time is of value, and we did
+     not meet to talk about the cut of my socks. What about getting down
+     to that paper you hold in your hand?"
+
+     Holmes had in some way ruffled our visitor, whose chubby face had
+     assumed a far less amiable expression.
+
+     "Patience! Patience, Mr. Garrideb!" said my friend in a soothing
+     voice. "Dr. Watson would tell you that these little digressions of
+     mine sometimes prove in the end to have some bearing on the matter.
+     But why did Mr. Nathan Garrideb not come with you?"
+
+     "Why did he ever drag you into it at all?" asked our visitor with a
+     sudden outflame of anger. "What in thunder had you to do with it?
+     Here was a bit of professional business between two gentlemen, and
+     one of them must needs call in a detective! I saw him this morning,
+     and he told me this fool-trick he had played me, and that's why I am
+     here. But I feel bad about it, all the same."
+
+     "There was no reflection upon you, Mr. Garrideb. It was simply zeal
+     upon his part to gain your end--an end which is, I understand,
+     equally vital for both of you. He knew that I had means of getting
+     information, and, therefore, it was very natural that he should apply
+     to me."
+
+     Our visitor's angry face gradually cleared.
+
+     "Well, that puts it different," said he. "When I went to see him this
+     morning and he told me he had sent to a detective, I just asked for
+     your address and came right away. I don't want police butting into a
+     private matter. But if you are content just to help us find the man,
+     there can be no harm in that."
+
+     "Well, that is just how it stands," said Holmes. "And now, sir, since
+     you are here, we had best have a clear account from your own lips. My
+     friend here knows nothing of the details."
+
+     Mr. Garrideb surveyed me with not too friendly a gaze.
+
+     "Need he know?" he asked.
+
+     "We usually work together."
+
+     "Well, there's no reason it should be kept a secret. I'll give you
+     the facts as short as I can make them. If you came from Kansas I
+     would not need to explain to you who Alexander Hamilton Garrideb was.
+     He made his money in real estate, and afterwards in the wheat pit at
+     Chicago, but he spent it in buying up as much land as would make one
+     of your counties, lying along the Arkansas River, west of Fort Dodge.
+     It's grazing-land and lumber-land and arable-land and
+     mineralized-land, and just every sort of land that brings dollars to
+     the man that owns it.
+
+     "He had no kith nor kin--or, if he had, I never heard of it. But he
+     took a kind of pride in the queerness of his name. That was what
+     brought us together. I was in the law at Topeka, and one day I had a
+     visit from the old man, and he was tickled to death to meet another
+     man with his own name. It was his pet fad, and he was dead set to
+     find out if there were any more Garridebs in the world. 'Find me
+     another!' said he. I told him I was a busy man and could not spend my
+     life hiking round the world in search of Garridebs. 'None the less,'
+     said he, 'that is just what you will do if things pan out as I
+     planned them.' I thought he was joking, but there was a powerful lot
+     of meaning in the words, as I was soon to discover.
+
+     "For he died within a year of saying them, and he left a will behind
+     him. It was the queerest will that has ever been filed in the State
+     of Kansas. His property was divided into three parts, and I was to
+     have one on condition that I found two Garridebs who would share the
+     remainder. It's five million dollars for each if it is a cent, but we
+     can't lay a finger on it until we all three stand in a row.
+
+     "It was so big a chance that I just let my legal practice slide and I
+     set forth looking for Garridebs. There is not one in the United
+     States. I went through it, sir, with a fine-toothed comb and never a
+     Garrideb could I catch. Then I tried the old country. Sure enough
+     there was the name in the London telephone directory. I went after
+     him two days ago and explained the whole matter to him. But he is a
+     lone man, like myself, with some women relations, but no men. It says
+     three adult men in the will. So you see we still have a vacancy, and
+     if you can help to fill it we will be very ready to pay your
+     charges."
+
+     "Well, Watson," said Holmes with a smile, "I said it was rather
+     whimsical, did I not? I should have thought, sir, that your obvious
+     way was to advertise in the agony columns of the papers."
+
+     "I have done that, Mr. Holmes. No replies."
+
+     "Dear me! Well, it is certainly a most curious little problem. I may
+     take a glance at it in my leisure. By the way, it is curious that you
+     should have come from Topeka. I used to have a correspondent--he is
+     dead now--old Dr. Lysander Starr, who was mayor in 1890."
+
+     "Good old Dr. Starr!" said our visitor. "His name is still honoured.
+     Well, Mr. Holmes, I suppose all we can do is to report to you and let
+     you know how we progress. I reckon you will hear within a day or
+     two." With this assurance our American bowed and departed.
+
+     Holmes had lit his pipe, and he sat for some time with a curious
+     smile upon his face.
+
+     "Well?" I asked at last.
+
+     "I am wondering, Watson--just wondering!"
+
+     "At what?"
+
+     Holmes took his pipe from his lips.
+
+     "I was wondering, Watson, what on earth could be the object of this
+     man in telling us such a rigmarole of lies. I nearly asked him
+     so--for there are times when a brutal frontal attack is the best
+     policy--but I judged it better to let him think he had fooled us.
+     Here is a man with an English coat frayed at the elbow and trousers
+     bagged at the knee with a year's wear, and yet by this document and
+     by his own account he is a provincial American lately landed in
+     London. There have been no advertisements in the agony columns. You
+     know that I miss nothing there. They are my favourite covert for
+     putting up a bird, and I would never have overlooked such a cock
+     pheasant as that. I never knew a Dr. Lysander Starr, of Topeka. Touch
+     him where you would he was false. I think the fellow is really an
+     American, but he has worn his accent smooth with years of London.
+     What is his game, then, and what motive lies behind this preposterous
+     search for Garridebs? It's worth our attention, for, granting that
+     the man is a rascal, he is certainly a complex and ingenious one. We
+     must now find out if our other correspondent is a fraud also. Just
+     ring him up, Watson."
+
+     I did so, and heard a thin, quavering voice at the other end of the
+     line.
+
+     "Yes, yes, I am Mr. Nathan Garrideb. Is Mr. Holmes there? I should
+     very much like to have a word with Mr. Holmes."
+
+     My friend took the instrument and I heard the usual syncopated
+     dialogue.
+
+     "Yes, he has been here. I understand that you don't know him. ... How
+     long? ... Only two days! ... Yes, yes, of course, it is a most
+     captivating prospect. Will you be at home this evening? I suppose
+     your namesake will not be there? ... Very good, we will come then,
+     for I would rather have a chat without him. ... Dr. Watson will come
+     with me. ... I understand from your note that you did not go out
+     often. ... Well, we shall be round about six. You need not mention it
+     to the American lawyer. ... Very good. Good-bye!"
+
+     It was twilight of a lovely spring evening, and even Little Ryder
+     Street, one of the smaller offshoots from the Edgware Road, within a
+     stone-cast of old Tyburn Tree of evil memory, looked golden and
+     wonderful in the slanting rays of the setting sun. The particular
+     house to which we were directed was a large, old-fashioned, Early
+     Georgian edifice, with a flat brick face broken only by two deep bay
+     windows on the ground floor. It was on this ground floor that our
+     client lived, and, indeed, the low windows proved to be the front of
+     the huge room in which he spent his waking hours. Holmes pointed as
+     we passed to the small brass plate which bore the curious name.
+
+     "Up some years, Watson," he remarked, indicating its discoloured
+     surface. "It's his real name, anyhow, and that is something to note."
+
+     The house had a common stair, and there were a number of names
+     painted in the hall, some indicating offices and some private
+     chambers. It was not a collection of residential flats, but rather
+     the abode of Bohemian bachelors. Our client opened the door for us
+     himself and apologized by saying that the woman in charge left at
+     four o'clock. Mr. Nathan Garrideb proved to be a very tall,
+     loose-jointed, round-backed person, gaunt and bald, some sixty-odd
+     years of age. He had a cadaverous face, with the dull dead skin of a
+     man to whom exercise was unknown. Large round spectacles and a small
+     projecting goat's beard combined with his stooping attitude to give
+     him an expression of peering curiosity. The general effect, however,
+     was amiable, though eccentric.
+
+     The room was as curious as its occupant. It looked like a small
+     museum. It was both broad and deep, with cupboards and cabinets all
+     round, crowded with specimens, geological and anatomical. Cases of
+     butterflies and moths flanked each side of the entrance. A large
+     table in the centre was littered with all sorts of debris, while the
+     tall brass tube of a powerful microscope bristled up among them. As I
+     glanced round I was surprised at the universality of the man's
+     interests. Here was a case of ancient coins. There was a cabinet of
+     flint instruments. Behind his central table was a large cupboard of
+     fossil bones. Above was a line of plaster skulls with such names as
+     "Neanderthal," "Heidelberg," "Cro-Magnon" printed beneath them. It
+     was clear that he was a student of many subjects. As he stood in
+     front of us now, he held a piece of chamois leather in his right hand
+     with which he was polishing a coin.
+
+     "Syracusan--of the best period," he explained, holding it up. "They
+     degenerated greatly towards the end. At their best I hold them
+     supreme, though some prefer the Alexandrian school. You will find a
+     chair here, Mr. Holmes. Pray allow me to clear these bones. And you,
+     sir--ah, yes, Dr. Watson--if you would have the goodness to put the
+     Japanese vase to one side. You see round me my little interests in
+     life. My doctor lectures me about never going out, but why should I
+     go out when I have so much to hold me here? I can assure you that the
+     adequate cataloguing of one of those cabinets would take me three
+     good months."
+
+     Holmes looked round him with curiosity.
+
+     "But do you tell me that you never go out?" he said.
+
+     "Now and again I drive down to Sotheby's or Christie's. Otherwise I
+     very seldom leave my room. I am not too strong, and my researches are
+     very absorbing. But you can imagine, Mr. Holmes, what a terrific
+     shock--pleasant but terrific--it was for me when I heard of this
+     unparalleled good fortune. It only needs one more Garrideb to
+     complete the matter, and surely we can find one. I had a brother, but
+     he is dead, and female relatives are disqualified. But there must
+     surely be others in the world. I had heard that you handled strange
+     cases, and that was why I sent to you. Of course, this American
+     gentleman is quite right, and I should have taken his advice first,
+     but I acted for the best."
+
+     "I think you acted very wisely indeed," said Holmes. "But are you
+     really anxious to acquire an estate in America?"
+
+     "Certainly not, sir. Nothing would induce me to leave my collection.
+     But this gentleman has assured me that he will buy me out as soon as
+     we have established our claim. Five million dollars was the sum
+     named. There are a dozen specimens in the market at the present
+     moment which fill gaps in my collection, and which I am unable to
+     purchase for want of a few hundred pounds. Just think what I could do
+     with five million dollars. Why, I have the nucleus of a national
+     collection. I shall be the Hans Sloane of my age."
+
+     His eyes gleamed behind his great spectacles. It was very clear that
+     no pains would be spared by Mr. Nathan Garrideb in finding a
+     namesake.
+
+     "I merely called to make your acquaintance, and there is no reason
+     why I should interrupt your studies," said Holmes. "I prefer to
+     establish personal touch with those with whom I do business. There
+     are few questions I need ask, for I have your very clear narrative in
+     my pocket, and I filled up the blanks when this American gentleman
+     called. I understand that up to this week you were unaware of his
+     existence."
+
+     "That is so. He called last Tuesday."
+
+     "Did he tell you of our interview to-day?"
+
+     "Yes, he came straight back to me. He had been very angry."
+
+     "Why should he be angry?"
+
+     "He seemed to think it was some reflection on his honour. But he was
+     quite cheerful again when he returned."
+
+     "Did he suggest any course of action?"
+
+     "No, sir, he did not."
+
+     "Has he had, or asked for, any money from you?"
+
+     "No, sir, never!"
+
+     "You see no possible object he has in view?"
+
+     "None, except what he states."
+
+     "Did you tell him of our telephone appointment?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, I did."
+
+     Holmes was lost in thought. I could see that he was puzzled.
+
+     "Have you any articles of great value in your collection?"
+
+     "No, sir. I am not a rich man. It is a good collection, but not a
+     very valuable one."
+
+     "You have no fear of burglars?"
+
+     "Not the least."
+
+     "How long have you been in these rooms?"
+
+     "Nearly five years."
+
+     Holmes's cross-examination was interrupted by an imperative knocking
+     at the door. No sooner had our client unlatched it than the American
+     lawyer burst excitedly into the room.
+
+     "Here you are!" he cried, waving a paper over his head. "I thought I
+     should be in time to get you. Mr. Nathan Garrideb, my
+     congratulations! You are a rich man, sir. Our business is happily
+     finished and all is well. As to you, Mr. Holmes, we can only say we
+     are sorry if we have given you any useless trouble."
+
+     He handed over the paper to our client, who stood staring at a marked
+     advertisement. Holmes and I leaned forward and read it over his
+     shoulder. This is how it ran:
+
+                                 Howard Garrideb
+                      Constructor of Agricultural Machinery
+        Binders, reapers, steam and hand plows, drills, harrows, farmers'
+                  carts, buckboards, and all other appliances.
+                          Estimates for Artesian Wells
+                        Apply Grosvenor Buildings, Aston
+
+     "Glorious!" gasped our host. "That makes our third man."
+
+     "I had opened up inquiries in Birmingham," said the American, "and my
+     agent there has sent me this advertisement from a local paper. We
+     must hustle and put the thing through. I have written to this man and
+     told him that you will see him in his office to-morrow afternoon at
+     four o'clock."
+
+     "You want me to see him?"
+
+     "What do you say, Mr. Holmes? Don't you think it would be wiser? Here
+     am I, a wandering American with a wonderful tale. Why should he
+     believe what I tell him? But you are a Britisher with solid
+     references, and he is bound to take notice of what you say. I would
+     go with you if you wished, but I have a very busy day to-morrow, and
+     I could always follow you if you are in any trouble."
+
+     "Well, I have not made such a journey for years."
+
+     "It is nothing, Mr. Garrideb. I have figured out our connections. You
+     leave at twelve and should be there soon after two. Then you can be
+     back the same night. All you have to do is to see this man, explain
+     the matter, and get an affidavit of his existence. By the Lord!" he
+     added hotly, "considering I've come all the way from the centre of
+     America, it is surely little enough if you go a hundred miles in
+     order to put this matter through."
+
+     "Quite so," said Holmes. "I think what this gentleman says is very
+     true."
+
+     Mr. Nathan Garrideb shrugged his shoulders with a disconsolate air.
+     "Well, if you insist I shall go," said he. "It is certainly hard for
+     me to refuse you anything, considering the glory of hope that you
+     have brought into my life."
+
+     "Then that is agreed," said Holmes, "and no doubt you will let me
+     have a report as soon as you can."
+
+     "I'll see to that," said the American. "Well," he added, looking at
+     his watch, "I'll have to get on. I'll call to-morrow, Mr. Nathan, and
+     see you off to Birmingham. Coming my way, Mr. Holmes? Well, then,
+     good-bye, and we may have good news for you to-morrow night."
+
+     I noticed that my friend's face cleared when the American left the
+     room, and the look of thoughtful perplexity had vanished.
+
+     "I wish I could look over your collection, Mr. Garrideb," said he.
+     "In my profession all sorts of odd knowledge comes useful, and this
+     room of yours is a storehouse of it."
+
+     Our client shone with pleasure and his eyes gleamed from behind his
+     big glasses.
+
+     "I had always heard, sir, that you were a very intelligent man," said
+     he. "I could take you round now if you have the time."
+
+     "Unfortunately, I have not. But these specimens are so well labelled
+     and classified that they hardly need your personal explanation. If I
+     should be able to look in to-morrow, I presume that there would be no
+     objection to my glancing over them?"
+
+     "None at all. You are most welcome. The place will, of course, be
+     shut up, but Mrs. Saunders is in the basement up to four o'clock and
+     would let you in with her key."
+
+     Well, I happen to be clear to-morrow afternoon. If you would say a
+     word to Mrs. Saunders it would be quite in order. By the way, who is
+     your house-agent?"
+
+     Our client was amazed at the sudden question.
+
+     "Holloway and Steele, in the Edgware Road. But why?"
+
+     "I am a bit of an archaeologist myself when it comes to houses," said
+     Holmes, laughing. "I was wondering if this was Queen Anne or
+     Georgian."
+
+     "Georgian, beyond doubt."
+
+     "Really. I should have thought a little earlier. However, it is
+     easily ascertained. Well, good-bye, Mr. Garrideb, and may you have
+     every success in your Birmingham journey."
+
+     The house-agent's was close by, but we found that it was closed for
+     the day, so we made our way back to Baker Street. It was not till
+     after dinner that Holmes reverted to the subject.
+
+     "Our little problem draws to a close," said he. "No doubt you have
+     outlined the solution in your own mind."
+
+     "I can make neither head nor tail of it."
+
+     "The head is surely clear enough and the tail we should see
+     to-morrow. Did you notice nothing curious about that advertisement?"
+
+     "I saw that the word 'plough' was misspelt."
+
+     "Oh, you did notice that, did you? Come, Watson, you improve all the
+     time. Yes, it was bad English but good American. The printer had set
+     it up as received. Then the buckboards. That is American also. And
+     artesian wells are commoner with them than with us. It was a typical
+     American advertisement, but purporting to be from an English firm.
+     What do you make of that?"
+
+     "I can only suppose that this American lawyer put it in himself. What
+     his object was I fail to understand."
+
+     "Well, there are alternative explanations. Anyhow, he wanted to get
+     this good old fossil up to Birmingham. That is very clear. I might
+     have told him that he was clearly going on a wild-goose chase, but,
+     on second thoughts, it seemed better to clear the stage by letting
+     him go. To-morrow, Watson--well, to-morrow will speak for itself."
+
+     Holmes was up and out early. When he returned at lunchtime I noticed
+     that his face was very grave.
+
+     "This is a more serious matter than I had expected, Watson," said he.
+     "It is fair to tell you so, though I know it will only be an
+     additional reason to you for running your head into danger. I should
+     know my Watson by now. But there is danger, and you should know it."
+
+     "Well, it is not the first we have shared, Holmes. I hope it may not
+     be the last. What is the particular danger this time?"
+
+     "We are up against a very hard case. I have identified Mr. John
+     Garrideb, Counsellor at Law. He is none other than 'Killer' Evans, of
+     sinister and murderous reputation."
+
+     "I fear I am none the wiser."
+
+     "Ah, it is not part of your profession to carry about a portable
+     Newgate Calendar in your memory. I have been down to see friend
+     Lestrade at the Yard. There may be an occasional want of imaginative
+     intuition down there, but they lead the world for thoroughness and
+     method. I had an idea that we might get on the track of our American
+     friend in their records. Sure enough, I found his chubby face smiling
+     up at me from the rogues' portrait gallery. 'James Winter, alias
+     Morecroft, alias Killer Evans,' was the inscription below." Holmes
+     drew an envelope from his pocket. "I scribbled down a few points from
+     his dossier: Aged forty-four. Native of Chicago. Known to have shot
+     three men in the States. Escaped from penitentiary through political
+     influence. Came to London in 1893. Shot a man over cards in a
+     night-club in the Waterloo Road in January, 1895. Man died, but he
+     was shown to have been the aggressor in the row. Dead man was
+     identified as Rodger Prescott, famous as forger and coiner in
+     Chicago. Killer Evans released in 1901. Has been under police
+     supervision since, but so far as known has led an honest life. Very
+     dangerous man, usually carries arms and is prepared to use them. That
+     is our bird, Watson--a sporting bird, as you must admit."
+
+     "But what is his game?"
+
+     "Well, it begins to define itself. I have been to the house-agent's.
+     Our client, as he told us, has been there five years. It was unlet
+     for a year before then. The previous tenant was a gentleman at large
+     named Waldron. Waldron's appearance was well remembered at the
+     office. He had suddenly vanished and nothing more been heard of him.
+     He was a tall, bearded man with very dark features. Now, Prescott,
+     the man whom Killer Evans had shot, was, according to Scotland Yard,
+     a tall, dark man with a beard. As a working hypothesis, I think we
+     may take it that Prescott, the American criminal, used to live in the
+     very room which our innocent friend now devotes to his museum. So at
+     last we get a link, you see."
+
+     "And the next link?"
+
+     "Well, we must go now and look for that."
+
+     He took a revolver from the drawer and handed it to me.
+
+     "I have my old favourite with me. If our Wild West friend tries to
+     live up to his nickname, we must be ready for him. I'll give you an
+     hour for a siesta, Watson, and then I think it will be time for our
+     Ryder Street adventure."
+
+     It was just four o'clock when we reached the curious apartment of
+     Nathan Garrideb. Mrs. Saunders, the caretaker, was about to leave,
+     but she had no hesitation in admitting us, for the door shut with a
+     spring lock, and Holmes promised to see that all was safe before we
+     left. Shortly afterwards the outer door closed, her bonnet passed the
+     bow window, and we knew that we were alone in the lower floor of the
+     house. Holmes made a rapid examination of the premises. There was one
+     cupboard in a dark corner which stood out a little from the wall. It
+     was behind this that we eventually crouched while Holmes in a whisper
+     outlined his intentions.
+
+     "He wanted to get our amiable friend out of his room--that is very
+     clear, and, as the collector never went out, it took some planning to
+     do it. The whole of this Garrideb invention was apparently for no
+     other end. I must say, Watson, that there is a certain devilish
+     ingenuity about it, even if the queer name of the tenant did give him
+     an opening which he could hardly have expected. He wove his plot with
+     remarkable cunning."
+
+     "But what did he want?"
+
+     "Well, that is what we are here to find out. It has nothing whatever
+     to do with our client, so far as I can read the situation. It is
+     something connected with the man he murdered--the man who may have
+     been his confederate in crime. There is some guilty secret in the
+     room. That is how I read it. At first I thought our friend might have
+     something in his collection more valuable than he knew--something
+     worth the attention of a big criminal. But the fact that Rodger
+     Prescott of evil memory inhabited these rooms points to some deeper
+     reason. Well, Watson, we can but possess our souls in patience and
+     see what the hour may bring."
+
+     That hour was not long in striking. We crouched closer in the shadow
+     as we heard the outer door open and shut. Then came the sharp,
+     metallic snap of a key, and the American was in the room. He closed
+     the door softly behind him, took a sharp glance around him to see
+     that all was safe, threw off his overcoat, and walked up to the
+     central table with the brisk manner of one who knows exactly what he
+     has to do and how to do it. He pushed the table to one side, tore up
+     the square of carpet on which it rested, rolled it completely back,
+     and then, drawing a jemmy from his inside pocket, he knelt down and
+     worked vigorously upon the floor. Presently we heard the sound of
+     sliding boards, and an instant later a square had opened in the
+     planks. Killer Evans struck a match, lit a stump of candle, and
+     vanished from our view.
+
+     Clearly our moment had come. Holmes touched my wrist as a signal, and
+     together we stole across to the open trap-door. Gently as we moved,
+     however, the old floor must have creaked under our feet, for the head
+     of our American, peering anxiously round, emerged suddenly from the
+     open space. His face turned upon us with a glare of baffled rage,
+     which gradually softened into a rather shamefaced grin as he realized
+     that two pistols were pointed at his head.
+
+     "Well, well!" said he coolly as he scrambled to the surface. "I guess
+     you have been one too many for me, Mr. Holmes. Saw through my game, I
+     suppose, and played me for a sucker from the first. Well, sir, I hand
+     it to you; you have me beat and--"
+
+     In an instant he had whisked out a revolver from his breast and had
+     fired two shots. I felt a sudden hot sear as if a red-hot iron had
+     been pressed to my thigh. There was a crash as Holmes's pistol came
+     down on the man's head. I had a vision of him sprawling upon the
+     floor with blood running down his face while Holmes rummaged him for
+     weapons. Then my friend's wiry arms were round me, and he was leading
+     me to a chair.
+
+     "You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!"
+
+     It was worth a wound--it was worth many wounds--to know the depth of
+     loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard
+     eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For
+     the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as
+     of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service
+     culminated in that moment of revelation.
+
+     "It's nothing, Holmes. It's a mere scratch."
+
+     He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-knife.
+
+     "You are right," he cried with an immense sigh of relief. "It is
+     quite superficial." His face set like flint as he glared at our
+     prisoner, who was sitting up with a dazed face. "By the Lord, it is
+     as well for you. If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out
+     of this room alive. Now, sir, what have you to say for yourself?"
+
+     He had nothing to say for himself. He only sat and scowled. I leaned
+     on Holmes's arm, and together we looked down into the small cellar
+     which had been disclosed by the secret flap. It was still illuminated
+     by the candle which Evans had taken down with him. Our eyes fell upon
+     a mass of rusted machinery, great rolls of paper, a litter of
+     bottles, and, neatly arranged upon a small table, a number of neat
+     little bundles.
+
+     "A printing press--a counterfeiter's outfit," said Holmes.
+
+     "Yes, sir," said our prisoner, staggering slowly to his feet and then
+     sinking into the chair. "The greatest counterfeiter London ever saw.
+     That's Prescott's machine, and those bundles on the table are two
+     thousand of Prescott's notes worth a hundred each and fit to pass
+     anywhere. Help yourselves, gentlemen. Call it a deal and let me beat
+     it."
+
+     Holmes laughed.
+
+     "We don't do things like that, Mr. Evans. There is no bolt-hole for
+     you in this country. You shot this man Prescott, did you not?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, and got five years for it, though it was he who pulled on
+     me. Five years--when I should have had a medal the size of a soup
+     plate. No living man could tell a Prescott from a Bank of England,
+     and if I hadn't put him out he would have flooded London with them. I
+     was the only one in the world who knew where he made them. Can you
+     wonder that I wanted to get to the place? And can you wonder that
+     when I found this crazy boob of a bug-hunter with the queer name
+     squatting right on the top of it, and never quitting his room, I had
+     to do the best I could to shift him? Maybe I would have been wiser if
+     I had put him away. It would have been easy enough, but I'm a
+     soft-hearted guy that can't begin shooting unless the other man has a
+     gun also. But say, Mr. Holmes, what have I done wrong, anyhow? I've
+     not used this plant. I've not hurt this old stiff. Where do you get
+     me?"
+
+     "Only attempted murder, so far as I can see," said Holmes. "But
+     that's not our job. They take that at the next stage. What we wanted
+     at present was just your sweet self. Please give the Yard a call,
+     Watson. It won't be entirely unexpected."
+
+     So those were the facts about Killer Evans and his remarkable
+     invention of the three Garridebs. We heard later that our poor old
+     friend never got over the shock of his dissipated dreams. When his
+     castle in the air fell down, it buried him beneath the ruins. He was
+     last heard of at a nursing-home in Brixton. It was a glad day at the
+     Yard when the Prescott outfit was discovered, for, though they knew
+     that it existed, they had never been able, after the death of the
+     man, to find out where it was. Evans had indeed done great service
+     and caused several worthy C. I. D. men to sleep the sounder, for the
+     counterfeiter stands in a class by himself as a public danger. They
+     would willingly have subscribed to that soup-plate medal of which the
+     criminal had spoken, but an unappreciative bench took a less
+     favourable view, and the Killer returned to those shades from which
+     he had just emerged.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           THE PROBLEM OF THOR BRIDGE
+
+     Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox and Co., at Charing Cross,
+     there is a travel-worn and battered tin dispatch-box with my name,
+     John H. Watson, M.D., Late Indian Army, painted upon the lid. It is
+     crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of cases to
+     illustrate the curious problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes had at
+     various times to examine. Some, and not the least interesting, were
+     complete failures, and as such will hardly bear narrating, since no
+     final explanation is forthcoming. A problem without a solution may
+     interest the student, but can hardly fail to annoy the casual reader.
+     Among these unfinished tales is that of Mr. James Phillimore, who,
+     stepping back into his own house to get his umbrella, was never more
+     seen in this world. No less remarkable is that of the cutter Alicia,
+     which sailed one spring morning into a small patch of mist from where
+     she never again emerged, nor was anything further ever heard of
+     herself and her crew. A third case worthy of note is that of Isadora
+     Persano, the well-known journalist and duellist, who was found stark
+     staring mad with a match box in front of him which contained a
+     remarkable worm said to be unknown to science. Apart from these
+     unfathomed cases, there are some which involve the secrets of private
+     families to an extent which would mean consternation in many exalted
+     quarters if it were thought possible that they might find their way
+     into print. I need not say that such a breach of confidence is
+     unthinkable, and that these records will be separated and destroyed
+     now that my friend has time to turn his energies to the matter. There
+     remain a considerable residue of cases of greater or less interest
+     which I might have edited before had I not feared to give the public
+     a surfeit which might react upon the reputation of the man whom above
+     all others I revere. In some I was myself concerned and can speak as
+     an eye-witness, while in others I was either not present or played so
+     small a part that they could only be told as by a third person. The
+     following narrative is drawn from my own experience.
+
+     It was a wild morning in October, and I observed as I was dressing
+     how the last remaining leaves were being whirled from the solitary
+     plane tree which graces the yard behind our house. I descended to
+     breakfast prepared to find my companion in depressed spirits, for,
+     like all great artists, he was easily impressed by his surroundings.
+     On the contrary, I found that he had nearly finished his meal, and
+     that his mood was particularly bright and joyous, with that somewhat
+     sinister cheerfulness which was characteristic of his lighter
+     moments.
+
+     "You have a case, Holmes?" I remarked.
+
+     "The faculty of deduction is certainly contagious, Watson," he
+     answered. "It has enabled you to probe my secret. Yes, I have a case.
+     After a month of trivialities and stagnation the wheels move once
+     more."
+
+     "Might I share it?"
+
+     "There is little to share, but we may discuss it when you have
+     consumed the two hard-boiled eggs with which our new cook has
+     favoured us. Their condition may not be unconnected with the copy of
+     the Family Herald which I observed yesterday upon the hall-table.
+     Even so trivial a matter as cooking an egg demands an attention which
+     is conscious of the passage of time and incompatible with the love
+     romance in that excellent periodical."
+
+     A quarter of an hour later the table had been cleared and we were
+     face to face. He had drawn a letter from his pocket.
+
+     "You have heard of Neil Gibson, the Gold King?" he said.
+
+     "You mean the American Senator?"
+
+     "Well, he was once Senator for some Western state, but is better
+     known as the greatest gold-mining magnate in the world."
+
+     "Yes, I know of him. He has surely lived in England for some time.
+     His name is very familiar."
+
+     "Yes, he bought a considerable estate in Hampshire some five years
+     ago. Possibly you have already heard of the tragic end of his wife?"
+
+     "Of course. I remember it now. That is why the name is familiar. But
+     I really know nothing of the details."
+
+     Holmes waved his hand towards some papers on a chair. "I had no idea
+     that the case was coming my way or I should have had my extracts
+     ready," said he. "The fact is that the problem, though exceedingly
+     sensational, appeared to present no difficulty. The interesting
+     personality of the accused does not obscure the clearness of the
+     evidence. That was the view taken by the coroner's jury and also in
+     the police-court proceedings. It is now referred to the Assizes at
+     Winchester. I fear it is a thankless business. I can discover facts,
+     Watson, but I cannot change them. Unless some entirely new and
+     unexpected ones come to light I do not see what my client can hope
+     for."
+
+     "Your client?"
+
+     "Ah, I forgot I had not told you. I am getting into your involved
+     habit, Watson, of telling a story backward. You had best read this
+     first."
+
+     The letter which he handed to me, written in a bold, masterful hand,
+     ran as follows:
+
+     Claridge's Hotel
+     October 3rd.
+     Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes:
+     I can't see the best woman God ever made go to her death without
+     doing all that is possible to save her. I can't explain things--I
+     can't even try to explain them, but I know beyond all doubt that Miss
+     Dunbar is innocent. You know the facts--who doesn't? It has been the
+     gossip of the country. And never a voice raised for her! It's the
+     damned injustice of it all that makes me crazy. That woman has a
+     heart that wouldn't let her kill a fly. Well, I'll come at eleven
+     to-morrow and see if you can get some ray of light in the dark. Maybe
+     I have a clue and don't know it. Anyhow, all I know and all I have
+     and all I am are for your use if only you can save her. If ever in
+     your life you showed your powers, put them now into this case.
+     Yours faithfully,
+     J. Neil Gibson.
+
+     "There you have it," said Sherlock Holmes, knocking out the ashes of
+     his after-breakfast pipe and slowly refilling it. "That is the
+     gentleman I await. As to the story, you have hardly time to master
+     all these papers, so I must give it to you in a nutshell if you are
+     to take an intelligent interest in the proceedings. This man is the
+     greatest financial power in the world, and a man, as I understand, of
+     most violent and formidable character. He married a wife, the victim
+     of this tragedy, of whom I know nothing save that she was past her
+     prime, which was the more unfortunate as a very attractive governess
+     superintended the education of two young children. These are the
+     three people concerned, and the scene is a grand old manor house, the
+     centre of a historical English state. Then as to the tragedy. The
+     wife was found in the grounds nearly half a mile from the house, late
+     at night, clad in her dinner dress, with a shawl over her shoulders
+     and a revolver bullet through her brain. No weapon was found near her
+     and there was no local clue as to the murder. No weapon near her,
+     Watson--mark that! The crime seems to have been committed late in the
+     evening, and the body was found by a game-keeper about eleven
+     o'clock, when it was examined by the police and by a doctor before
+     being carried up to the house. Is this too condensed, or can you
+     follow it clearly?"
+
+     "It is all very clear. But why suspect the governess?"
+
+     "Well, in the first place there is some very direct evidence. A
+     revolver with one discharged chamber and a calibre which corresponded
+     with the bullet was found on the floor of her wardrobe." His eyes
+     fixed and he repeated in broken words,
+     "On--the--floor--of--her--wardrobe." Then he sank into silence, and I
+     saw that some train of thought had been set moving which I should be
+     foolish to interrupt. Suddenly with a start he emerged into brisk
+     life once more. "Yes, Watson, it was found. Pretty damning, eh? So
+     the two juries thought. Then the dead woman had a note upon her
+     making an appointment at that very place and signed by the governess.
+     How's that? Finally there is the motive. Senator Gibson is an
+     attractive person. If his wife dies, who more likely to succeed her
+     than the young lady who had already by all accounts received pressing
+     attentions from her employer? Love, fortune, power, all depending
+     upon one middle-aged life. Ugly, Watson--very ugly!"
+
+     "Yes, indeed, Holmes."
+
+     "Nor could she prove an alibi. On the contrary, she had to admit that
+     she was down near Thor Bridge--that was the scene of the
+     tragedy--about that hour. She couldn't deny it, for some passing
+     villager had seen her there."
+
+     "That really seems final."
+
+     "And yet, Watson--and yet! This bridge--a single broad span of stone
+     with balustraded sides--carries the drive over the narrowest part of
+     a long, deep, reed-girt sheet of water. Thor Mere it is called. In
+     the mouth of the bridge lay the dead woman. Such are the main facts.
+     But here, if I mistake not, is our client, considerably before his
+     time."
+
+     Billy had opened the door, but the name which he announced was an
+     unexpected one. Mr. Marlow Bates was a stranger to both of us. He was
+     a thin, nervous wisp of a man with frightened eyes and a twitching,
+     hesitating manner--a man whom my own professional eye would judge to
+     be on the brink of an absolute nervous breakdown.
+
+     "You seem agitated, Mr. Bates," said Holmes. "Pray sit down. I fear I
+     can only give you a short time, for I have an appointment at eleven."
+
+     "I know you have," our visitor gasped, shooting out short sentences
+     like a man who is out of breath. "Mr. Gibson is coming. Mr. Gibson is
+     my employer. I am manager of his estate. Mr. Holmes, he is a
+     villain--an infernal villain."
+
+     "Strong language, Mr. Bates."
+
+     "I have to be emphatic, Mr. Holmes, for the time is so limited. I
+     would not have him find me here for the world. He is almost due now.
+     But I was so situated that I could not come earlier. His secretary,
+     Mr. Ferguson, only told me this morning of his appointment with you."
+
+     "And you are his manager?"
+
+     "I have given him notice. In a couple of weeks I shall have shaken
+     off his accursed slavery. A hard man, Mr. Holmes, hard to all about
+     him. Those public charities are a screen to cover his private
+     iniquities. But his wife was his chief victim. He was brutal to
+     her--yes, sir, brutal! How she came by her death I do not know, but I
+     am sure that he had made her life a misery to her. She was a creature
+     of the tropics, a Brazilian by birth, as no doubt you know."
+
+     "No, it had escaped me."
+
+     "Tropical by birth and tropical by nature. A child of the sun and of
+     passion. She had loved him as such women can love, but when her own
+     physical charms had faded--I am told that they once were great--there
+     was nothing to hold him. We all liked her and felt for her and hated
+     him for the way that he treated her. But he is plausible and cunning.
+     That is all I have to say to you. Don't take him at his face value.
+     There is more behind. Now I'll go. No, no, don't detain me! He is
+     almost due."
+
+     With a frightened look at the clock our strange visitor literally ran
+     to the door and disappeared.
+
+     "Well! Well!" said Holmes after an interval of silence. "Mr. Gibson
+     seems to have a nice loyal household. But the warning is a useful
+     one, and now we can only wait till the man himself appears."
+
+     Sharp at the hour we heard a heavy step upon the stairs, and the
+     famous millionaire was shown into the room. As I looked upon him I
+     understood not only the fears and dislike of his manager but also the
+     execrations which so many business rivals have heaped upon his head.
+     If I were a sculptor and desired to idealize the successful man of
+     affairs, iron of nerve and leathery of conscience, I should choose
+     Mr. Neil Gibson as my model. His tall, gaunt, craggy figure had a
+     suggestion of hunger and rapacity. An Abraham Lincoln keyed to base
+     uses instead of high ones would give some idea of the man. His face
+     might have been chiselled in granite, hard-set, craggy, remorseless,
+     with deep lines upon it, the scars of many a crisis. Cold gray eyes,
+     looking shrewdly out from under bristling brows, surveyed us each in
+     turn. He bowed in perfunctory fashion as Holmes mentioned my name,
+     and then with a masterful air of possession he drew a chair up to my
+     companion and seated himself with his bony knees almost touching him.
+
+     "Let me say right here, Mr. Holmes," he began, "that money is nothing
+     to me in this case. You can burn it if it's any use in lighting you
+     to the truth. This woman is innocent and this woman has to be
+     cleared, and it's up to you to do it. Name your figure!"
+
+     "My professional charges are upon a fixed scale," said Holmes coldly.
+     "I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether."
+
+     "Well, if dollars make no difference to you, think of the reputation.
+     If you pull this off every paper in England and America will be
+     booming you. You'll be the talk of two continents."
+
+     "Thank you, Mr. Gibson, I do not think that I am in need of booming.
+     It may surprise you to know that I prefer to work anonymously, and
+     that it is the problem itself which attracts me. But we are wasting
+     time. Let us get down to the facts."
+
+     "I think that you will find all the main ones in the press reports. I
+     don't know that I can add anything which will help you. But if there
+     is anything you would wish more light upon--well, I am here to give
+     it."
+
+     "Well, there is just one point."
+
+     "What is it?"
+
+     "What were the exact relations between you and Miss Dunbar?"
+
+     The Gold King gave a violent start and half rose from his chair. Then
+     his massive calm came back to him.
+
+     "I suppose you are within your rights--and maybe doing your duty--in
+     asking such a question, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "We will agree to suppose so," said Holmes.
+
+     "Then I can assure you that our relations were entirely and always
+     those of an employer towards a young lady whom he never conversed
+     with, or ever saw, save when she was in the company of his children."
+
+     Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+     "I am a rather busy man, Mr. Gibson," said he, "and I have no time or
+     taste for aimless conversations. I wish you good-morning."
+
+     Our visitor had risen also, and his great loose figure towered above
+     Holmes. There was an angry gleam from under those bristling brows and
+     a tinge of colour in the sallow cheeks.
+
+     "What the devil do you mean by this, Mr. Holmes? Do you dismiss my
+     case?"
+
+     "Well, Mr. Gibson, at least I dismiss you. I should have thought my
+     words were plain."
+
+     "Plain enough, but what's at the back of it? Raising the price on me,
+     or afraid to tackle it, or what? I've a right to a plain answer."
+
+     "Well, perhaps you have," said Holmes. "I'll give you one. This case
+     is quite sufficiently complicated to start with without the further
+     difficulty of false information."
+
+     "Meaning that I lie."
+
+     "Well, I was trying to express it as delicately as I could, but if
+     you insist upon the word I will not contradict you."
+
+     I sprang to my feet, for the expression upon the millionaire's face
+     was fiendish in its intensity, and he had raised his great knotted
+     fist. Holmes smiled languidly and reached his hand out for his pipe.
+
+     "Don't be noisy, Mr. Gibson. I find that after breakfast even the
+     smallest argument is unsettling. I suggest that a stroll in the
+     morning air and a little quiet thought will be greatly to your
+     advantage."
+
+     With an effort the Gold King mastered his fury. I could not but
+     admire him, for by a supreme self-command he had turned in a minute
+     from a hot flame of anger to a frigid and contemptuous indifference.
+
+     "Well, it's your choice. I guess you know how to run your own
+     business. I can't make you touch the case against your will. You've
+     done yourself no good this morning, Mr. Holmes, for I have broken
+     stronger men than you. No man ever crossed me and was the better for
+     it."
+
+     "So many have said so, and yet here I am," said Holmes, smiling.
+     "Well, good-morning, Mr. Gibson. You have a good deal yet to learn."
+
+     Our visitor made a noisy exit, but Holmes smoked in imperturbable
+     silence with dreamy eyes fixed upon the ceiling.
+
+     "Any views, Watson?" he asked at last.
+
+     "Well, Holmes, I must confess that when I consider that this is a man
+     who would certainly brush any obstacle from his path, and when I
+     remember that his wife may have been an obstacle and an object of
+     dislike, as that man Bates plainly told us, it seems to me--"
+
+     "Exactly. And to me also."
+
+     "But what were his relations with the governess, and how did you
+     discover them?"
+
+     "Bluff, Watson, bluff! When I considered the passionate,
+     unconventional, unbusinesslike tone of his letter and contrasted it
+     with his self-contained manner and appearance, it was pretty clear
+     that there was some deep emotion which centred upon the accused woman
+     rather than upon the victim. We've got to understand the exact
+     relations of those three people if we are to reach the truth. You saw
+     the frontal attack which I made upon him, and how imperturbably he
+     received it. Then I bluffed him by giving him the impression that I
+     was absolutely certain, when in reality I was only extremely
+     suspicious."
+
+     "Perhaps he will come back?"
+
+     "He is sure to come back. He must come back. He can't leave it where
+     it is. Ha! isn't that a ring? Yes, there is his footstep. Well, Mr.
+     Gibson, I was just saying to Dr. Watson that you were somewhat
+     overdue."
+
+     The Gold King had reentered the room in a more chastened mood than he
+     had left it. His wounded pride still showed in his resentful eyes,
+     but his common sense had shown him that he must yield if he would
+     attain his end.
+
+     "I've been thinking it over, Mr. Holmes, and I feel that I have been
+     hasty in taking your remarks amiss. You are justified in getting down
+     to the facts, whatever they may be, and I think the more of you for
+     it. I can assure you, however, that the relations between Miss Dunbar
+     and me don't really touch this case."
+
+     "That is for me to decide, is it not?"
+
+     "Yes, I guess that is so. You're like a surgeon who wants every
+     symptom before he can give his diagnosis."
+
+     "Exactly. That expresses it. And it is only a patient who has an
+     object in deceiving his surgeon who would conceal the facts of his
+     case."
+
+     "That may be so, but you will admit, Mr. Holmes, that most men would
+     shy off a bit when they are asked point-blank what their relations
+     with a woman may be--if there is really some serious feeling in the
+     case. I guess most men have a little private reserve of their own in
+     some corner of their souls where they don't welcome intruders. And
+     you burst suddenly into it. But the object excuses you, since it was
+     to try and save her. Well, the stakes are down and the reserve open,
+     and you can explore where you will. What is it you want?"
+
+     "The truth."
+
+     The Gold King paused for a moment as one who marshals his thoughts.
+     His grim, deep-lined face had become even sadder and more grave.
+
+     "I can give it to you in a very few words, Mr. Holmes," said he at
+     last. "There are some things that are painful as well as difficult to
+     say, so I won't go deeper than is needful. I met my wife when I was
+     gold-hunting in Brazil. Maria Pinto was the daughter of a government
+     official at Manaos, and she was very beautiful. I was young and
+     ardent in those days, but even now, as I look back with colder blood
+     and a more critical eye, I can see that she was rare and wonderful in
+     her beauty. It was a deep rich nature, too, passionate,
+     whole-hearted, tropical, ill-balanced, very different from the
+     American women whom I had known. Well, to make a long story short, I
+     loved her and I married her. It was only when the romance had
+     passed--and it lingered for years--that I realized that we had
+     nothing--absolutely nothing--in common. My love faded. If hers had
+     faded also it might have been easier. But you know the wonderful way
+     of women! Do what I might, nothing could turn her from me. If I have
+     been harsh to her, even brutal as some have said, it has been because
+     I knew that if I could kill her love, or if it turned to hate, it
+     would be easier for both of us. But nothing changed her. She adored
+     me in those English woods as she had adored me twenty years ago on
+     the banks of the Amazon. Do what I might, she was as devoted as ever.
+
+     "Then came Miss Grace Dunbar. She answered our advertisement and
+     became governess to our two children. Perhaps you have seen her
+     portrait in the papers. The whole world has proclaimed that she also
+     is a very beautiful woman. Now, I make no pretence to be more moral
+     than my neighbours, and I will admit to you that I could not live
+     under the same roof with such a woman and in daily contact with her
+     without feeling a passionate regard for her. Do you blame me, Mr.
+     Holmes?"
+
+     "I do not blame you for feeling it. I should blame you if you
+     expressed it, since this young lady was in a sense under your
+     protection."
+
+     "Well, maybe so," said the millionaire, though for a moment the
+     reproof had brought the old angry gleam into his eyes. "I'm not
+     pretending to be any better than I am. I guess all my life I've been
+     a man that reached out his hand for what he wanted, and I never
+     wanted anything more than the love and possession of that woman. I
+     told her so."
+
+     "Oh, you did, did you?"
+
+     Holmes could look very formidable when he was moved.
+
+     "I said to her that if I could marry her I would, but that it was out
+     of my power. I said that money was no object and that all I could do
+     to make her happy and comfortable would be done."
+
+     "Very generous, I am sure," said Holmes with a sneer.
+
+     "See here, Mr. Holmes. I came to you on a question of evidence, not
+     on a question of morals. I'm not asking for your criticism."
+
+     "It is only for the young lady's sake that I touch your case at all,"
+     said Holmes sternly. "I don't know that anything she is accused of is
+     really worse than what you have yourself admitted, that you have
+     tried to ruin a defenceless girl who was under your roof. Some of you
+     rich men have to be taught that all the world cannot be bribed into
+     condoning your offences."
+
+     To my surprise the Gold King took the reproof with equanimity.
+
+     "That's how I feel myself about it now. I thank God that my plans did
+     not work out as I intended. She would have none of it, and she wanted
+     to leave the house instantly."
+
+     "Why did she not?"
+
+     "Well, in the first place, others were dependent upon her, and it was
+     no light matter for her to let them all down by sacrificing her
+     living. When I had sworn--as I did--that she should never be molested
+     again, she consented to remain. But there was another reason. She
+     knew the influence she had over me, and that it was stronger than any
+     other influence in the world. She wanted to use it for good."
+
+     "How?"
+
+     "Well, she knew something of my affairs. They are large, Mr.
+     Holmes--large beyond the belief of an ordinary man. I can make or
+     break--and it is usually break. It wasn't individuals only. It was
+     communities, cities, even nations. Business is a hard game, and the
+     weak go to the wall. I played the game for all it was worth. I never
+     squealed myself, and I never cared if the other fellow squealed. But
+     she saw it different. I guess she was right. She believed and said
+     that a fortune for one man that was more than he needed should not be
+     built on ten thousand ruined men who were left without the means of
+     life. That was how she saw it, and I guess she could see past the
+     dollars to something that was more lasting. She found that I listened
+     to what she said, and she believed she was serving the world by
+     influencing my actions. So she stayed--and then this came along."
+
+     "Can you throw any light upon that?"
+
+     The Gold King paused for a minute or more, his head sunk in his
+     hands, lost in deep thought.
+
+     "It's very black against her. I can't deny that. And women lead an
+     inward life and may do things beyond the judgment of a man. At first
+     I was so rattled and taken aback that I was ready to think she had
+     been led away in some extraordinary fashion that was clean against
+     her usual nature. One explanation came into my head. I give it to
+     you, Mr. Holmes, for what it is worth. There is no doubt that my wife
+     was bitterly jealous. There is a soul-jealousy that can be as frantic
+     as any body-jealousy, and though my wife had no cause--and I think
+     she understood this--for the latter, she was aware that this English
+     girl exerted an influence upon my mind and my acts that she herself
+     never had. It was an influence for good, but that did not mend the
+     matter. She was crazy with hatred, and the heat of the Amazon was
+     always in her blood. She might have planned to murder Miss Dunbar--or
+     we will say to threaten her with a gun and so frighten her into
+     leaving us. Then there might have been a scuffle and the gun gone off
+     and shot the woman who held it."
+
+     "That possibility had already occurred to me," said Holmes. "Indeed,
+     it is the only obvious alternative to deliberate murder."
+
+     "But she utterly denies it."
+
+     "Well, that is not final--is it? One can understand that a woman
+     placed in so awful a position might hurry home still in her
+     bewilderment holding the revolver. She might even throw it down among
+     her clothes, hardly knowing what she was doing, and when it was found
+     she might try to lie her way out by a total denial, since all
+     explanation was impossible. What is against such a supposition?"
+
+     "Miss Dunbar herself."
+
+     "Well, perhaps."
+
+     Holmes looked at his watch. "I have no doubt we can get the necessary
+     permits this morning and reach Winchester by the evening train. When
+     I have seen this young lady it is very possible that I may be of more
+     use to you in the matter, though I cannot promise that my conclusions
+     will necessarily be such as you desire."
+
+     There was some delay in the official pass, and instead of reaching
+     Winchester that day we went down to Thor Place, the Hampshire estate
+     of Mr. Neil Gibson. He did not accompany us himself, but we had the
+     address of Sergeant Coventry, of the local police, who had first
+     examined into the affair. He was a tall, thin, cadaverous man, with a
+     secretive and mysterious manner which conveyed the idea that he knew
+     or suspected a very great deal more than he dared say. He had a
+     trick, too, of suddenly sinking his voice to a whisper as if he had
+     come upon something of vital importance, though the information was
+     usually commonplace enough. Behind these tricks of manner he soon
+     showed himself to be a decent, honest fellow who was not too proud to
+     admit that he was out of his depth and would welcome any help.
+
+     "Anyhow, I'd rather have you than Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes," said
+     he. "If the Yard gets called into a case, then the local loses all
+     credit for success and may be blamed for failure. Now, you play
+     straight, so I've heard."
+
+     "I need not appear in the matter at all," said Holmes to the evident
+     relief of our melancholy acquaintance. "If I can clear it up I don't
+     ask to have my name mentioned."
+
+     "Well, it's very handsome of you, I am sure. And your friend, Dr.
+     Watson, can be trusted, I know. Now, Mr. Holmes, as we walk down to
+     the place there is one question I should like to ask you. I'd breathe
+     it to no soul but you." He looked round as though he hardly dare
+     utter the words. "Don't you think there might be a case against Mr.
+     Neil Gibson himself?"
+
+     "I have been considering that."
+
+     "You've not seen Miss Dunbar. She is a wonderful fine woman in every
+     way. He may well have wished his wife out of the road. And these
+     Americans are readier with pistols than our folk are. It was his
+     pistol, you know."
+
+     "Was that clearly made out?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. It was one of a pair that he had."
+
+     "One of a pair? Where is the other?"
+
+     "Well, the gentleman has a lot of firearms of one sort and another.
+     We never quite matched that particular pistol--but the box was made
+     for two."
+
+     "If it was one of a pair you should surely be able to match it."
+
+     "Well, we have them all laid out at the house if you would care to
+     look them over."
+
+     "Later, perhaps. I think we will walk down together and have a look
+     at the scene of the tragedy."
+
+     This conversation had taken place in the little front room of
+     Sergeant Coventry's humble cottage which served as the local
+     police-station. A walk of half a mile or so across a wind-swept
+     heath, all gold and bronze with the fading ferns, brought us to a
+     side-gate opening into the grounds of the Thor Place estate. A path
+     led us through the pheasant preserves, and then from a clearing we
+     saw the widespread, half-timbered house, half Tudor and half
+     Georgian, upon the crest of the hill. Beside us there was a long,
+     reedy pool, constricted in the centre where the main carriage drive
+     passed over a stone bridge, but swelling into small lakes on either
+     side. Our guide paused at the mouth of this bridge, and he pointed to
+     the ground.
+
+     "That was where Mrs. Gibson's body lay. I marked it by that stone."
+
+     "I understand that you were there before it was moved?"
+
+     "Yes, they sent for me at once."
+
+     "Who did?"
+
+     "Mr. Gibson himself. The moment the alarm was given and he had rushed
+     down with others from the house, he insisted that nothing should be
+     moved until the police should arrive."
+
+     "That was sensible. I gathered from the newspaper report that the
+     shot was fired from close quarters."
+
+     "Yes, sir, very close."
+
+     "Near the right temple?"
+
+     "Just behind it, sir."
+
+     "How did the body lie?"
+
+     "On the back, sir. No trace of a struggle. No marks. No weapon. The
+     short note from Miss Dunbar was clutched in her left hand."
+
+     "Clutched, you say?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, we could hardly open the fingers."
+
+     "That is of great importance. It excludes the idea that anyone could
+     have placed the note there after death in order to furnish a false
+     clue. Dear me! The note, as I remember, was quite short:
+
+     "I will be at Thor Bridge at nine o'clock.
+     "G. Dunbar.
+
+     "Was that not so?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "Did Miss Dunbar admit writing it?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "What was her explanation?"
+
+     "Her defence was reserved for the Assizes. She would say nothing."
+
+     "The problem is certainly a very interesting one. The point of the
+     letter is very obscure, is it not?"
+
+     "Well, sir," said the guide, "it seemed, if I may be so bold as to
+     say so, the only really clear point in the whole case."
+
+     Holmes shook his head.
+
+     "Granting that the letter is genuine and was really written, it was
+     certainly received some time before--say one hour or two. Why, then,
+     was this lady still clasping it in her left hand? Why should she
+     carry it so carefully? She did not need to refer to it in the
+     interview. Does it not seem remarkable?"
+
+     "Well, sir, as you put it, perhaps it does."
+
+     "I think I should like to sit quietly for a few minutes and think it
+     out." He seated himself upon the stone ledge of the bridge, and I
+     could see his quick gray eyes darting their questioning glances in
+     every direction. Suddenly he sprang up again and ran across to the
+     opposite parapet, whipped his lens from his pocket, and began to
+     examine the stonework.
+
+     "This is curious," said he.
+
+     "Yes, sir, we saw the chip on the ledge. I expect it's been done by
+     some passer-by."
+
+     The stonework was gray, but at this one point it showed white for a
+     space not larger than a sixpence. When examined closely one could see
+     that the surface was chipped as by a sharp blow.
+
+     "It took some violence to do that," said Holmes thoughtfully. With
+     his cane he struck the ledge several times without leaving a mark.
+     "Yes, it was a hard knock. In a curious place, too. It was not from
+     above but from below, for you see that it is on the lower edge of the
+     parapet."
+
+     "But it is at least fifteen feet from the body."
+
+     "Yes, it is fifteen feet from the body. It may have nothing to do
+     with the matter, but it is a point worth noting. I do not think that
+     we have anything more to learn here. There were no footsteps, you
+     say?"
+
+     "The ground was iron hard, sir. There were no traces at all."
+
+     "Then we can go. We will go up to the house first and look over these
+     weapons of which you speak. Then we shall get on to Winchester, for I
+     should desire to see Miss Dunbar before we go farther."
+
+     Mr. Neil Gibson had not returned from town, but we saw in the house
+     the neurotic Mr. Bates who had called upon us in the morning. He
+     showed us with a sinister relish the formidable array of firearms of
+     various shapes and sizes which his employer had accumulated in the
+     course of an adventurous life.
+
+     "Mr. Gibson has his enemies, as anyone would expect who knew him and
+     his methods," said he. "He sleeps with a loaded revolver in the
+     drawer beside his bed. He is a man of violence, sir, and there are
+     times when all of us are afraid of him. I am sure that the poor lady
+     who has passed was often terrified."
+
+     "Did you ever witness physical violence towards her?"
+
+     "No, I cannot say that. But I have heard words which were nearly as
+     bad--words of cold, cutting contempt, even before the servants."
+
+     "Our millionaire does not seem to shine in private life," remarked
+     Holmes as we made our way to the station. "Well, Watson, we have come
+     on a good many facts, some of them new ones, and yet I seem some way
+     from my conclusion. In spite of the very evident dislike which Mr.
+     Bates has to his employer, I gather from him that when the alarm came
+     he was undoubtedly in his library. Dinner was over at 8.30 and all
+     was normal up to then. It is true that the alarm was somewhat late in
+     the evening, but the tragedy certainly occurred about the hour named
+     in the note. There is no evidence at all that Mr. Gibson had been out
+     of doors since his return from town at five o'clock. On the other
+     hand, Miss Dunbar, as I understand it, admits that she had made an
+     appointment to meet Mrs. Gibson at the bridge. Beyond this she would
+     say nothing, as her lawyer had advised her to reserve her defence. We
+     have several very vital questions to ask that young lady, and my mind
+     will not be easy until we have seen her. I must confess that the case
+     would seem to me to be very black against her if it were not for one
+     thing."
+
+     "And what is that, Holmes?"
+
+     "The finding of the pistol in her wardrobe."
+
+     "Dear me, Holmes!" I cried, "that seemed to me to be the most damning
+     incident of all."
+
+     "Not so, Watson. It had struck me even at my first perfunctory
+     reading as very strange, and now that I am in closer touch with the
+     case it is my only firm ground for hope. We must look for
+     consistency. Where there is a want of it we must suspect deception."
+
+     "I hardly follow you."
+
+     "Well now, Watson, suppose for a moment that we visualize you in the
+     character of a woman who, in a cold, premeditated fashion, is about
+     to get rid of a rival. You have planned it. A note has been written.
+     The victim has come. You have your weapon. The crime is done. It has
+     been workmanlike and complete. Do you tell me that after carrying out
+     so crafty a crime you would now ruin your reputation as a criminal by
+     forgetting to fling your weapon into those adjacent reed-beds which
+     would forever cover it, but you must needs carry it carefully home
+     and put it in your own wardrobe, the very first place that would be
+     searched? Your best friends would hardly call you a schemer, Watson,
+     and yet I could not picture you doing anything so crude as that."
+
+     "In the excitement of the moment--"
+
+     "No, no, Watson, I will not admit that it is possible. Where a crime
+     is coolly premeditated, then the means of covering it are coolly
+     premeditated also. I hope, therefore, that we are in the presence of
+     a serious misconception."
+
+     "But there is so much to explain."
+
+     "Well, we shall set about explaining it. When once your point of view
+     is changed, the very thing which was so damning becomes a clue to the
+     truth. For example, there is this revolver. Miss Dunbar disclaims all
+     knowledge of it. On our new theory she is speaking truth when she
+     says so. Therefore, it was placed in her wardrobe. Who placed it
+     there? Someone who wished to incriminate her. Was not that person the
+     actual criminal? You see how we come at once upon a most fruitful
+     line of inquiry."
+
+     We were compelled to spend the night at Winchester, as the
+     formalities had not yet been completed, but next morning, in the
+     company of Mr. Joyce Cummings, the rising barrister who was entrusted
+     with the defence, we were allowed to see the young lady in her cell.
+     I had expected from all that we had heard to see a beautiful woman,
+     but I can never forget the effect which Miss Dunbar produced upon me.
+     It was no wonder that even the masterful millionaire had found in her
+     something more powerful than himself--something which could control
+     and guide him. One felt, too, as one looked at the strong, clear-cut,
+     and yet sensitive face, that even should she be capable of some
+     impetuous deed, none the less there was an innate nobility of
+     character which would make her influence always for the good. She was
+     a brunette, tall, with a noble figure and commanding presence, but
+     her dark eyes had in them the appealing, helpless expression of the
+     hunted creature who feels the nets around it, but can see no way out
+     from the toils. Now, as she realized the presence and the help of my
+     famous friend, there came a touch of colour in her wan cheeks and a
+     light of hope began to glimmer in the glance which she turned upon
+     us.
+
+     "Perhaps Mr. Neil Gibson has told you something of what occurred
+     between us?" she asked in a low, agitated voice.
+
+     "Yes," Holmes answered, "you need not pain yourself by entering into
+     that part of the story. After seeing you, I am prepared to accept Mr.
+     Gibson's statement both as to the influence which you had over him
+     and as to the innocence of your relations with him. But why was the
+     whole situation not brought out in court?"
+
+     "It seemed to me incredible that such a charge could be sustained. I
+     thought that if we waited the whole thing must clear itself up
+     without our being compelled to enter into painful details of the
+     inner life of the family. But I understand that far from clearing it
+     has become even more serious."
+
+     "My dear young lady," cried Holmes earnestly, "I beg you to have no
+     illusions upon the point. Mr. Cummings here would assure you that all
+     the cards are at present against us, and that we must do everything
+     that is possible if we are to win clear. It would be a cruel
+     deception to pretend that you are not in very great danger. Give me
+     all the help you can, then, to get at the truth."
+
+     "I will conceal nothing."
+
+     "Tell us, then, of your true relations with Mr. Gibson's wife."
+
+     "She hated me, Mr. Holmes. She hated me with all the fervour of her
+     tropical nature. She was a woman who would do nothing by halves, and
+     the measure of her love for her husband was the measure also of her
+     hatred for me. It is probable that she misunderstood our relations. I
+     would not wish to wrong her, but she loved so vividly in a physical
+     sense that she could hardly understand the mental, and even
+     spiritual, tie which held her husband to me, or imagine that it was
+     only my desire to influence his power to good ends which kept me
+     under his roof. I can see now that I was wrong. Nothing could justify
+     me in remaining where I was a cause of unhappiness, and yet it is
+     certain that the unhappiness would have remained even if I had left
+     the house."
+
+     "Now, Miss Dunbar," said Holmes, "I beg you to tell us exactly what
+     occurred that evening."
+
+     "I can tell you the truth so far as I know it, Mr. Holmes, but I am
+     in a position to prove nothing, and there are points--the most vital
+     points--which I can neither explain nor can I imagine any
+     explanation."
+
+     "If you will find the facts, perhaps others may find the
+     explanation."
+
+     "With regard, then, to my presence at Thor Bridge that night, I
+     received a note from Mrs. Gibson in the morning. It lay on the table
+     of the schoolroom, and it may have been left there by her own hand.
+     It implored me to see her there after dinner, said she had something
+     important to say to me, and asked me to leave an answer on the
+     sundial in the garden, as she desired no one to be in our confidence.
+     I saw no reason for such secrecy, but I did as she asked, accepting
+     the appointment. She asked me to destroy her note and I burned it in
+     the schoolroom grate. She was very much afraid of her husband, who
+     treated her with a harshness for which I frequently reproached him,
+     and I could only imagine that she acted in this way because she did
+     not wish him to know of our interview."
+
+     "Yet she kept your reply very carefully?"
+
+     "Yes. I was surprised to hear that she had it in her hand when she
+     died."
+
+     "Well, what happened then?"
+
+     "I went down as I had promised. When I reached the bridge she was
+     waiting for me. Never did I realize till that moment how this poor
+     creature hated me. She was like a mad woman--indeed, I think she was
+     a mad woman, subtly mad with the deep power of deception which insane
+     people may have. How else could she have met me with unconcern every
+     day and yet had so raging a hatred of me in her heart? I will not say
+     what she said. She poured her whole wild fury out in burning and
+     horrible words. I did not even answer--I could not. It was dreadful
+     to see her. I put my hands to my ears and rushed away. When I left
+     her she was standing, still shrieking out her curses at me, in the
+     mouth of the bridge."
+
+     "Where she was afterwards found?"
+
+     "Within a few yards from the spot."
+
+     "And yet, presuming that she met her death shortly after you left
+     her, you heard no shot?"
+
+     "No, I heard nothing. But, indeed, Mr. Holmes, I was so agitated and
+     horrified by this terrible outbreak that I rushed to get back to the
+     peace of my own room, and I was incapable of noticing anything which
+     happened."
+
+     "You say that you returned to your room. Did you leave it again
+     before next morning?"
+
+     "Yes, when the alarm came that the poor creature had met her death I
+     ran out with the others."
+
+     "Did you see Mr. Gibson?"
+
+     "Yes, he had just returned from the bridge when I saw him. He had
+     sent for the doctor and the police."
+
+     "Did he seem to you much perturbed?"
+
+     "Mr. Gibson is a very strong, self-contained man. I do not think that
+     he would ever show his emotions on the surface. But I, who knew him
+     so well, could see that he was deeply concerned."
+
+     "Then we come to the all-important point. This pistol that was found
+     in your room. Had you ever seen it before?"
+
+     "Never, I swear it."
+
+     "When was it found?"
+
+     "Next morning, when the police made their search."
+
+     "Among your clothes?"
+
+     "Yes, on the floor of my wardrobe under my dresses."
+
+     "You could not guess how long it had been there?"
+
+     "It had not been there the morning before."
+
+     "How do you know?"
+
+     "Because I tidied out the wardrobe."
+
+     "That is final. Then someone came into your room and placed the
+     pistol there in order to inculpate you."
+
+     "It must have been so."
+
+     "And when?"
+
+     "It could only have been at meal-time, or else at the hours when I
+     would be in the schoolroom with the children."
+
+     "As you were when you got the note?"
+
+     "Yes, from that time onward for the whole morning."
+
+     "Thank you, Miss Dunbar. Is there any other point which could help me
+     in the investigation?"
+
+     "I can think of none."
+
+     "There was some sign of violence on the stonework of the bridge--a
+     perfectly fresh chip just opposite the body. Could you suggest any
+     possible explanation of that?"
+
+     "Surely it must be a mere coincidence."
+
+     "Curious, Miss Dunbar, very curious. Why should it appear at the very
+     time of the tragedy, and why at the very place?"
+
+     "But what could have caused it? Only great violence could have such
+     an effect."
+
+     Holmes did not answer. His pale, eager face had suddenly assumed that
+     tense, far-away expression which I had learned to associate with the
+     supreme manifestations of his genius. So evident was the crisis in
+     his mind that none of us dared to speak, and we sat, barrister,
+     prisoner, and myself, watching him in a concentrated and absorbed
+     silence. Suddenly he sprang from his chair, vibrating with nervous
+     energy and the pressing need for action.
+
+     "Come, Watson, come!" he cried.
+
+     "What is it, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Never mind, my dear lady. You will hear from me, Mr. Cummings. With
+     the help of the god of justice I will give you a case which will make
+     England ring. You will get news by to-morrow, Miss Dunbar, and
+     meanwhile take my assurance that the clouds are lifting and that I
+     have every hope that the light of truth is breaking through."
+
+     It was not a long journey from Winchester to Thor Place, but it was
+     long to me in my impatience, while for Holmes it was evident that it
+     seemed endless; for, in his nervous restlessness, he could not sit
+     still, but paced the carriage or drummed with his long, sensitive
+     fingers upon the cushions beside him. Suddenly, however, as we neared
+     our destination he seated himself opposite to me--we had a
+     first-class carriage to ourselves--and laying a hand upon each of my
+     knees he looked into my eyes with the peculiarly mischievous gaze
+     which was characteristic of his more imp-like moods.
+
+     "Watson," said he, "I have some recollection that you go armed upon
+     these excursions of ours."
+
+     It was as well for him that I did so, for he took little care for his
+     own safety when his mind was once absorbed by a problem, so that more
+     than once my revolver had been a good friend in need. I reminded him
+     of the fact.
+
+     "Yes, yes, I am a little absent-minded in such matters. But have you
+     your revolver on you?"
+
+     I produced it from my hip-pocket, a short, handy, but very
+     serviceable little weapon. He undid the catch, shook out the
+     cartridges, and examined it with care.
+
+     "It's heavy--remarkably heavy," said he.
+
+     "Yes, it is a solid bit of work."
+
+     He mused over it for a minute.
+
+     "Do you know, Watson," said he, "I believe your revolver is going to
+     have a very intimate connection with the mystery which we are
+     investigating."
+
+     "My dear Holmes, you are joking."
+
+     "No, Watson, I am very serious. There is a test before us. If the
+     test comes off, all will be clear. And the test will depend upon the
+     conduct of this little weapon. One cartridge out. Now we will replace
+     the other five and put on the safety-catch. So! That increases the
+     weight and makes it a better reproduction."
+
+     I had no glimmer of what was in his mind, nor did he enlighten me,
+     but sat lost in thought until we pulled up in the little Hampshire
+     station. We secured a ramshackle trap, and in a quarter of an hour
+     were at the house of our confidential friend, the sergeant.
+
+     "A clue, Mr. Holmes? What is it?"
+
+     "It all depends upon the behaviour of Dr. Watson's revolver," said my
+     friend. "Here it is. Now, officer, can you give me ten yards of
+     string?"
+
+     The village shop provided a ball of stout twine.
+
+     "I think that this is all we will need," said Holmes. "Now, if you
+     please, we will get off on what I hope is the last stage of our
+     journey."
+
+     The sun was setting and turning the rolling Hampshire moor into a
+     wonderful autumnal panorama. The sergeant, with many critical and
+     incredulous glances, which showed his deep doubts of the sanity of my
+     companion, lurched along beside us. As we approached the scene of the
+     crime I could see that my friend under all his habitual coolness was
+     in truth deeply agitated.
+
+     "Yes," he said in answer to my remark, "you have seen me miss my mark
+     before, Watson. I have an instinct for such things, and yet it has
+     sometimes played me false. It seemed a certainty when first it
+     flashed across my mind in the cell at Winchester, but one drawback of
+     an active mind is that one can always conceive alternative
+     explanations which would make our scent a false one. And yet--and
+     yet-- Well, Watson, we can but try."
+
+     As he walked he had firmly tied one end of the string to the handle
+     of the revolver. We had now reached the scene of the tragedy. With
+     great care he marked out under the guidance of the policeman the
+     exact spot where the body had been stretched. He then hunted among
+     the heather and the ferns until he found a considerable stone. This
+     he secured to the other end of his line of string, and he hung it
+     over the parapet of the bridge so that it swung clear above the
+     water. He then stood on the fatal spot, some distance from the edge
+     of the bridge, with my revolver in his hand, the string being taut
+     between the weapon and the heavy stone on the farther side.
+
+     "Now for it!" he cried.
+
+     At the words he raised the pistol to his head, and then let go his
+     grip. In an instant it had been whisked away by the weight of the
+     stone, had struck with a sharp crack against the parapet, and had
+     vanished over the side into the water. It had hardly gone before
+     Holmes was kneeling beside the stonework, and a joyous cry showed
+     that he had found what he expected.
+
+     "Was there ever a more exact demonstration?" he cried. "See, Watson,
+     your revolver has solved the problem!" As he spoke he pointed to a
+     second chip of the exact size and shape of the first which had
+     appeared on the under edge of the stone balustrade.
+
+     "We'll stay at the inn to-night," he continued as he rose and faced
+     the astonished sergeant. "You will, of course, get a grappling-hook
+     and you will easily restore my friend's revolver. You will also find
+     beside it the revolver, string and weight with which this vindictive
+     woman attempted to disguise her own crime and to fasten a charge of
+     murder upon an innocent victim. You can let Mr. Gibson know that I
+     will see him in the morning, when steps can be taken for Miss
+     Dunbar's vindication."
+
+     Late that evening, as we sat together smoking our pipes in the
+     village inn, Holmes gave me a brief review of what had passed.
+
+     "I fear, Watson," said he, "that you will not improve any reputation
+     which I may have acquired by adding the case of the Thor Bridge
+     mystery to your annals. I have been sluggish in mind and wanting in
+     that mixture of imagination and reality which is the basis of my art.
+     I confess that the chip in the stonework was a sufficient clue to
+     suggest the true solution, and that I blame myself for not having
+     attained it sooner.
+
+     "It must be admitted that the workings of this unhappy woman's mind
+     were deep and subtle, so that it was no very simple matter to unravel
+     her plot. I do not think that in our adventures we have ever come
+     across a stranger example of what perverted love can bring about.
+     Whether Miss Dunbar was her rival in a physical or in a merely mental
+     sense seems to have been equally unforgivable in her eyes. No doubt
+     she blamed this innocent lady for all those harsh dealings and unkind
+     words with which her husband tried to repel her too demonstrative
+     affection. Her first resolution was to end her own life. Her second
+     was to do it in such a way as to involve her victim in a fate which
+     was worse far than any sudden death could be.
+
+     "We can follow the various steps quite clearly, and they show a
+     remarkable subtlety of mind. A note was extracted very cleverly from
+     Miss Dunbar which would make it appear that she had chosen the scene
+     of the crime. In her anxiety that it should be discovered she
+     somewhat overdid it by holding it in her hand to the last. This alone
+     should have excited my suspicions earlier than it did.
+
+     "Then she took one of her husband's revolvers--there was, as you saw,
+     an arsenal in the house--and kept it for her own use. A similar one
+     she concealed that morning in Miss Dunbar's wardrobe after
+     discharging one barrel, which she could easily do in the woods
+     without attracting attention. She then went down to the bridge where
+     she had contrived this exceedingly ingenious method for getting rid
+     of her weapon. When Miss Dunbar appeared she used her last breath in
+     pouring out her hatred, and then, when she was out of hearing,
+     carried out her terrible purpose. Every link is now in its place and
+     the chain is complete. The papers may ask why the mere was not
+     dragged in the first instance, but it is easy to be wise after the
+     event, and in any case the expanse of a reed-filled lake is no easy
+     matter to drag unless you have a clear perception of what you are
+     looking for and where. Well, Watson, we have helped a remarkable
+     woman, and also a formidable man. Should they in the future join
+     their forces, as seems not unlikely, the financial world may find
+     that Mr. Neil Gibson has learned something in that schoolroom of
+     sorrow where our earthly lessons are taught."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURE OF THE CREEPING MAN
+
+     Mr. Sherlock Holmes was always of opinion that I should publish the
+     singular facts connected with Professor Presbury, if only to dispel
+     once for all the ugly rumours which some twenty years ago agitated
+     the university and were echoed in the learned societies of London.
+     There were, however, certain obstacles in the way, and the true
+     history of this curious case remained entombed in the tin box which
+     contains so many records of my friend's adventures. Now we have at
+     last obtained permission to ventilate the facts which formed one of
+     the very last cases handled by Holmes before his retirement from
+     practice. Even now a certain reticence and discretion have to be
+     observed in laying the matter before the public.
+
+     It was one Sunday evening early in September of the year 1903 that I
+     received one of Holmes's laconic messages:
+
+     Come at once if convenient--if inconvenient come all the same.
+     S. H.
+
+     The relations between us in those latter days were peculiar. He was a
+     man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits, and I had become one
+     of them. As an institution I was like the violin, the shag tobacco,
+     the old black pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less
+     excusable. When it was a case of active work and a comrade was needed
+     upon whose nerve he could place some reliance, my role was obvious.
+     But apart from this I had uses. I was a whetstone for his mind. I
+     stimulated him. He liked to think aloud in my presence. His remarks
+     could hardly be said to be made to me--many of them would have been
+     as appropriately addressed to his bedstead--but none the less, having
+     formed the habit, it had become in some way helpful that I should
+     register and interject. If I irritated him by a certain methodical
+     slowness in my mentality, that irritation served only to make his own
+     flame-like intuitions and impressions flash up the more vividly and
+     swiftly. Such was my humble role in our alliance.
+
+     When I arrived at Baker Street I found him huddled up in his armchair
+     with updrawn knees, his pipe in his mouth and his brow furrowed with
+     thought. It was clear that he was in the throes of some vexatious
+     problem. With a wave of his hand he indicated my old armchair, but
+     otherwise for half an hour he gave no sign that he was aware of my
+     presence. Then with a start he seemed to come from his reverie, and
+     with his usual whimsical smile he greeted me back to what had once
+     been my home.
+
+     "You will excuse a certain abstraction of mind, my dear Watson," said
+     he. "Some curious facts have been submitted to me within the last
+     twenty-four hours, and they in turn have given rise to some
+     speculations of a more general character. I have serious thoughts of
+     writing a small monograph upon the uses of dogs in the work of the
+     detective."
+
+     "But surely, Holmes, this has been explored," said I.
+     "Bloodhounds--sleuth-hounds--"
+
+     "No, no, Watson, that side of the matter is, of course, obvious. But
+     there is another which is far more subtle. You may recollect that in
+     the case which you, in your sensational way, coupled with the Copper
+     Beeches, I was able, by watching the mind of the child, to form a
+     deduction as to the criminal habits of the very smug and respectable
+     father."
+
+     "Yes, I remember it well."
+
+     "My line of thoughts about dogs is analogous. A dog reflects the
+     family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad
+     dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous
+     people have dangerous ones. And their passing moods may reflect the
+     passing moods of others."
+
+     I shook my head. "Surely, Holmes, this is a little far-fetched," said
+     I.
+
+     He had refilled his pipe and resumed his seat, taking no notice of my
+     comment.
+
+     "The practical application of what I have said is very close to the
+     problem which I am investigating. It is a tangled skein, you
+     understand, and I am looking for a loose end. One possible loose end
+     lies in the question: Why does Professor Presbury's wolfhound, Roy,
+     endeavour to bite him?"
+
+     I sank back in my chair in some disappointment. Was it for so trivial
+     a question as this that I had been summoned from my work? Holmes
+     glanced across at me.
+
+     "The same old Watson!" said he. "You never learn that the gravest
+     issues may depend upon the smallest things. But is it not on the face
+     of it strange that a staid, elderly philosopher--you've heard of
+     Presbury, of course, the famous Camford physiologist?--that such a
+     man, whose friend has been his devoted wolfhound, should now have
+     been twice attacked by his own dog? What do you make of it?"
+
+     "The dog is ill."
+
+     "Well, that has to be considered. But he attacks no one else, nor
+     does he apparently molest his master, save on very special occasions.
+     Curious, Watson--very curious. But young Mr. Bennett is before his
+     time if that is his ring. I had hoped to have a longer chat with you
+     before he came."
+
+     There was a quick step on the stairs, a sharp tap at the door, and a
+     moment later the new client presented himself. He was a tall,
+     handsome youth about thirty, well dressed and elegant, but with
+     something in his bearing which suggested the shyness of the student
+     rather than the self-possession of the man of the world. He shook
+     hands with Holmes, and then looked with some surprise at me.
+
+     "This matter is very delicate, Mr. Holmes," he said. "Consider the
+     relation in which I stand to Professor Presbury both privately and
+     publicly. I really can hardly justify myself if I speak before any
+     third person."
+
+     "Have no fear, Mr. Bennett. Dr. Watson is the very soul of
+     discretion, and I can assure you that this is a matter in which I am
+     very likely to need an assistant."
+
+     "As you like, Mr. Holmes. You will, I am sure, understand my having
+     some reserves in the matter."
+
+     "You will appreciate it, Watson, when I tell you that this gentleman,
+     Mr. Trevor Bennett, is professional assistant to the great scientist,
+     lives under his roof, and is engaged to his only daughter. Certainly
+     we must agree that the professor has every claim upon his loyalty and
+     devotion. But it may best be shown by taking the necessary steps to
+     clear up this strange mystery."
+
+     "I hope so, Mr. Holmes. That is my one object. Does Dr. Watson know
+     the situation?"
+
+     "I have not had time to explain it."
+
+     "Then perhaps I had better go over the ground again before explaining
+     some fresh developments."
+
+     "I will do so myself," said Holmes, "in order to show that I have the
+     events in their due order. The professor, Watson, is a man of
+     European reputation. His life has been academic. There has never been
+     a breath of scandal. He is a widower with one daughter, Edith. He is,
+     I gather, a man of very virile and positive, one might almost say
+     combative, character. So the matter stood until a very few months
+     ago.
+
+     "Then the current of his life was broken. He is sixty-one years of
+     age, but he became engaged to the daughter of Professor Morphy, his
+     colleague in the chair of comparative anatomy. It was not, as I
+     understand, the reasoned courting of an elderly man but rather the
+     passionate frenzy of youth, for no one could have shown himself a
+     more devoted lover. The lady, Alice Morphy, was a very perfect girl
+     both in mind and body, so that there was every excuse for the
+     professor's infatuation. None the less, it did not meet with full
+     approval in his own family."
+
+     "We thought it rather excessive," said our visitor.
+
+     "Exactly. Excessive and a little violent and unnatural. Professor
+     Presbury was rich, however, and there was no objection upon the part
+     of the father. The daughter, however, had other views, and there were
+     already several candidates for her hand, who, if they were less
+     eligible from a worldly point of view, were at least more of an age.
+     The girl seemed to like the professor in spite of his eccentricities.
+     It was only age which stood in the way.
+
+     "About this time a little mystery suddenly clouded the normal routine
+     of the professor's life. He did what he had never done before. He
+     left home and gave no indication where he was going. He was away a
+     fortnight and returned looking rather travel-worn. He made no
+     allusion to where he had been, although he was usually the frankest
+     of men. It chanced, however, that our client here, Mr. Bennett,
+     received a letter from a fellow-student in Prague, who said that he
+     was glad to have seen Professor Presbury there, although he had not
+     been able to talk to him. Only in this way did his own household
+     learn where he had been.
+
+     "Now comes the point. From that time onward a curious change came
+     over the professor. He became furtive and sly. Those around him had
+     always the feeling that he was not the man that they had known, but
+     that he was under some shadow which had darkened his higher
+     qualities. His intellect was not affected. His lectures were as
+     brilliant as ever. But always there was something new, something
+     sinister and unexpected. His daughter, who was devoted to him, tried
+     again and again to resume the old relations and to penetrate this
+     mask which her father seemed to have put on. You, sir, as I
+     understand, did the same--but all was in vain. And now, Mr. Bennett,
+     tell in your own words the incident of the letters."
+
+     "You must understand, Dr. Watson, that the professor had no secrets
+     from me. If I were his son or his younger brother I could not have
+     more completely enjoyed his confidence. As his secretary I handled
+     every paper which came to him, and I opened and subdivided his
+     letters. Shortly after his return all this was changed. He told me
+     that certain letters might come to him from London which would be
+     marked by a cross under the stamp. These were to be set aside for his
+     own eyes only. I may say that several of these did pass through my
+     hands, that they had the E. C. mark, and were in an illiterate
+     handwriting. If he answered them at all the answers did not pass
+     through my hands nor into the letter-basket in which our
+     correspondence was collected."
+
+     "And the box," said Holmes.
+
+     "Ah, yes, the box. The professor brought back a little wooden box
+     from his travels. It was the one thing which suggested a Continental
+     tour, for it was one of those quaint carved things which one
+     associates with Germany. This he placed in his instrument cupboard.
+     One day, in looking for a canula, I took up the box. To my surprise
+     he was very angry, and reproved me in words which were quite savage
+     for my curiosity. It was the first time such a thing had happened,
+     and I was deeply hurt. I endeavoured to explain that it was a mere
+     accident that I had touched the box, but all the evening I was
+     conscious that he looked at me harshly and that the incident was
+     rankling in his mind." Mr. Bennett drew a little diary book from his
+     pocket. "That was on July 2d," said he.
+
+     "You are certainly an admirable witness," said Holmes. "I may need
+     some of these dates which you have noted."
+
+     "I learned method among other things from my great teacher. From the
+     time that I observed abnormality in his behaviour I felt that it was
+     my duty to study his case. Thus I have it here that it was on that
+     very day, July 2d, that Roy attacked the professor as he came from
+     his study into the hall. Again, on July 11th, there was a scene of
+     the same sort, and then I have a note of yet another upon July 20th.
+     After that we had to banish Roy to the stables. He was a dear,
+     affectionate animal--but I fear I weary you."
+
+     Mr. Bennett spoke in a tone of reproach, for it was very clear that
+     Holmes was not listening. His face was rigid and his eyes gazed
+     abstractedly at the ceiling. With an effort he recovered himself.
+
+     "Singular! Most singular!" he murmured. "These details were new to
+     me, Mr. Bennett. I think we have now fairly gone over the old ground,
+     have we not? But you spoke of some fresh developments."
+
+     The pleasant, open face of our visitor clouded over, shadowed by some
+     grim remembrance. "What I speak of occurred the night before last,"
+     said he. "I was lying awake about two in the morning, when I was
+     aware of a dull muffled sound coming from the passage. I opened my
+     door and peeped out. I should explain that the professor sleeps at
+     the end of the passage--"
+
+     "The date being--?" asked Holmes.
+
+     Our visitor was clearly annoyed at so irrelevant an interruption.
+
+     "I have said, sir, that it was the night before last--that is,
+     September 4th."
+
+     Holmes nodded and smiled.
+
+     "Pray continue," said he.
+
+     "He sleeps at the end of the passage and would have to pass my door
+     in order to reach the staircase. It was a really terrifying
+     experience, Mr. Holmes. I think that I am as strong-nerved as my
+     neighbours, but I was shaken by what I saw. The passage was dark save
+     that one window halfway along it threw a patch of light. I could see
+     that something was coming along the passage, something dark and
+     crouching. Then suddenly it emerged into the light, and I saw that it
+     was he. He was crawling, Mr. Holmes--crawling! He was not quite on
+     his hands and knees. I should rather say on his hands and feet, with
+     his face sunk between his hands. Yet he seemed to move with ease. I
+     was so paralyzed by the sight that it was not until he had reached my
+     door that I was able to step forward and ask if I could assist him.
+     His answer was extraordinary. He sprang up, spat out some atrocious
+     word at me, and hurried on past me, and down the staircase. I waited
+     about for an hour, but he did not come back. It must have been
+     daylight before he regained his room."
+
+     "Well, Watson, what make you of that?" asked Holmes with the air of
+     the pathologist who presents a rare specimen.
+
+     "Lumbago, possibly. I have known a severe attack make a man walk in
+     just such a way, and nothing would be more trying to the temper."
+
+     "Good, Watson! You always keep us flat-footed on the ground. But we
+     can hardly accept lumbago, since he was able to stand erect in a
+     moment."
+
+     "He was never better in health," said Bennett. "In fact, he is
+     stronger than I have known him for years. But there are the facts,
+     Mr. Holmes. It is not a case in which we can consult the police, and
+     yet we are utterly at our wit's end as to what to do, and we feel in
+     some strange way that we are drifting towards disaster. Edith--Miss
+     Presbury--feels as I do, that we cannot wait passively any longer."
+
+     "It is certainly a very curious and suggestive case. What do you
+     think, Watson?"
+
+     "Speaking as a medical man," said I, "it appears to be a case for an
+     alienist. The old gentleman's cerebral processes were disturbed by
+     the love affair. He made a journey abroad in the hope of breaking
+     himself of the passion. His letters and the box may be connected with
+     some other private transaction--a loan, perhaps, or share
+     certificates, which are in the box."
+
+     "And the wolfhound no doubt disapproved of the financial bargain. No,
+     no, Watson, there is more in it than this. Now, I can only suggest--"
+
+     What Sherlock Holmes was about to suggest will never be known, for at
+     this moment the door opened and a young lady was shown into the room.
+     As she appeared Mr. Bennett sprang up with a cry and ran forward with
+     his hands out to meet those which she had herself outstretched.
+
+     "Edith, dear! Nothing the matter, I hope?"
+
+     "I felt I must follow you. Oh, Jack, I have been so dreadfully
+     frightened! It is awful to be there alone."
+
+     "Mr. Holmes, this is the young lady I spoke of. This is my fiancee."
+
+     "We were gradually coming to that conclusion, were we not, Watson?"
+     Holmes answered with a smile. "I take it, Miss Presbury, that there
+     is some fresh development in the case, and that you thought we should
+     know?"
+
+     Our new visitor, a bright, handsome girl of a conventional English
+     type, smiled back at Holmes as she seated herself beside Mr. Bennett.
+
+     "When I found Mr. Bennett had left his hotel I thought I should
+     probably find him here. Of course, he had told me that he would
+     consult you. But, oh, Mr. Holmes, can you do nothing for my poor
+     father?"
+
+     "I have hopes, Miss Presbury, but the case is still obscure. Perhaps
+     what you have to say may throw some fresh light upon it."
+
+     "It was last night, Mr. Holmes. He had been very strange all day. I
+     am sure that there are times when he has no recollection of what he
+     does. He lives as in a strange dream. Yesterday was such a day. It
+     was not my father with whom I lived. His outward shell was there, but
+     it was not really he."
+
+     "Tell me what happened."
+
+     "I was awakened in the night by the dog barking most furiously. Poor
+     Roy, he is chained now near the stable. I may say that I always sleep
+     with my door locked; for, as Jack--as Mr. Bennett--will tell you, we
+     all have a feeling of impending danger. My room is on the second
+     floor. It happened that the blind was up in my window, and there was
+     bright moonlight outside. As I lay with my eyes fixed upon the square
+     of light, listening to the frenzied barkings of the dog, I was amazed
+     to see my father's face looking in at me. Mr. Holmes, I nearly died
+     of surprise and horror. There it was pressed against the window-pane,
+     and one hand seemed to be raised as if to push up the window. If that
+     window had opened, I think I should have gone mad. It was no
+     delusion, Mr. Holmes. Don't deceive yourself by thinking so. I dare
+     say it was twenty seconds or so that I lay paralyzed and watched the
+     face. Then it vanished, but I could not--I could not spring out of
+     bed and look out after it. I lay cold and shivering till morning. At
+     breakfast he was sharp and fierce in manner, and made no allusion to
+     the adventure of the night. Neither did I, but I gave an excuse for
+     coming to town--and here I am."
+
+     Holmes looked thoroughly surprised at Miss Presbury's narrative.
+
+     "My dear young lady, you say that your room is on the second floor.
+     Is there a long ladder in the garden?"
+
+     "No, Mr. Holmes, that is the amazing part of it. There is no possible
+     way of reaching the window--and yet he was there."
+
+     "The date being September 5th," said Holmes. "That certainly
+     complicates matters."
+
+     It was the young lady's turn to look surprised. "This is the second
+     time that you have alluded to the date, Mr. Holmes," said Bennett.
+     "Is it possible that it has any bearing upon the case?"
+
+     "It is possible--very possible--and yet I have not my full material
+     at present."
+
+     "Possibly you are thinking of the connection between insanity and
+     phases of the moon?"
+
+     "No, I assure you. It was quite a different line of thought. Possibly
+     you can leave your notebook with me, and I will check the dates. Now
+     I think, Watson, that our line of action is perfectly clear. This
+     young lady has informed us--and I have the greatest confidence in her
+     intuition--that her father remembers little or nothing which occurs
+     upon certain dates. We will therefore call upon him as if he had
+     given us an appointment upon such a date. He will put it down to his
+     own lack of memory. Thus we will open our campaign by having a good
+     close view of him."
+
+     "That is excellent," said Mr. Bennett. "I warn you, however, that the
+     professor is irascible and violent at times."
+
+     Holmes smiled. "There are reasons why we should come at once--very
+     cogent reasons if my theories hold good. To-morrow, Mr. Bennett, will
+     certainly see us in Camford. There is, if I remember right, an inn
+     called the Chequers where the port used to be above mediocrity and
+     the linen was above reproach. I think, Watson, that our lot for the
+     next few days might lie in less pleasant places."
+
+     Monday morning found us on our way to the famous university town--an
+     easy effort on the part of Holmes, who had no roots to pull up, but
+     one which involved frantic planning and hurrying on my part, as my
+     practice was by this time not inconsiderable. Holmes made no allusion
+     to the case until after we had deposited our suitcases at the ancient
+     hostel of which he had spoken.
+
+     "I think, Watson, that we can catch the professor just before lunch.
+     He lectures at eleven and should have an interval at home."
+
+     "What possible excuse have we for calling?"
+
+     Holmes glanced at his notebook.
+
+     "There was a period of excitement upon August 26th. We will assume
+     that he is a little hazy as to what he does at such times. If we
+     insist that we are there by appointment I think he will hardly
+     venture to contradict us. Have you the effrontery necessary to put it
+     through?"
+
+     "We can but try."
+
+     "Excellent, Watson! Compound of the Busy Bee and Excelsior. We can
+     but try--the motto of the firm. A friendly native will surely guide
+     us."
+
+     Such a one on the back of a smart hansom swept us past a row of
+     ancient colleges and, finally turning into a tree-lined drive, pulled
+     up at the door of a charming house, girt round with lawns and covered
+     with purple wisteria. Professor Presbury was certainly surrounded
+     with every sign not only of comfort but of luxury. Even as we pulled
+     up, a grizzled head appeared at the front window, and we were aware
+     of a pair of keen eyes from under shaggy brows which surveyed us
+     through large horn glasses. A moment later we were actually in his
+     sanctum, and the mysterious scientist, whose vagaries had brought us
+     from London, was standing before us. There was certainly no sign of
+     eccentricity either in his manner or appearance, for he was a portly,
+     large-featured man, grave, tall, and frock-coated, with the dignity
+     of bearing which a lecturer needs. His eyes were his most remarkable
+     feature, keen, observant, and clever to the verge of cunning.
+
+     He looked at our cards. "Pray sit down, gentlemen. What can I do for
+     you?"
+
+     Mr. Holmes smiled amiably.
+
+     "It was the question which I was about to put to you, Professor."
+
+     "To me, sir!"
+
+     "Possibly there is some mistake. I heard through a second person that
+     Professor Presbury of Camford had need of my services."
+
+     "Oh, indeed!" It seemed to me that there was a malicious sparkle in
+     the intense gray eyes. "You heard that, did you? May I ask the name
+     of your informant?"
+
+     "I am sorry, Professor, but the matter was rather confidential. If I
+     have made a mistake there is no harm done. I can only express my
+     regret."
+
+     "Not at all. I should wish to go further into this matter. It
+     interests me. Have you any scrap of writing, any letter or telegram,
+     to bear out your assertion?"
+
+     "No, I have not."
+
+     "I presume that you do not go so far as to assert that I summoned
+     you?"
+
+     "I would rather answer no questions," said Holmes.
+
+     "No, I dare say not," said the professor with asperity. "However,
+     that particular one can be answered very easily without your aid."
+
+     He walked across the room to the bell. Our London friend, Mr.
+     Bennett, answered the call.
+
+     "Come in, Mr. Bennett. These two gentlemen have come from London
+     under the impression that they have been summoned. You handle all my
+     correspondence. Have you a note of anything going to a person named
+     Holmes?"
+
+     "No, sir," Bennett answered with a flush.
+
+     "That is conclusive," said the professor, glaring angrily at my
+     companion. "Now, sir"--he leaned forward with his two hands upon the
+     table--"it seems to me that your position is a very questionable
+     one."
+
+     Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "I can only repeat that I am sorry that we have made a needless
+     intrusion."
+
+     "Hardly enough, Mr. Holmes!" the old man cried in a high screaming
+     voice, with extraordinary malignancy upon his face. He got between us
+     and the door as he spoke, and he shook his two hands at us with
+     furious passion. "You can hardly get out of it so easily as that."
+     His face was convulsed, and he grinned and gibbered at us in his
+     senseless rage. I am convinced that we should have had to fight our
+     way out of the room if Mr. Bennett had not intervened.
+
+     "My dear Professor," he cried, "consider your position! Consider the
+     scandal at the university! Mr. Holmes is a well-known man. You cannot
+     possibly treat him with such discourtesy."
+
+     Sulkily our host--if I may call him so--cleared the path to the door.
+     We were glad to find ourselves outside the house and in the quiet of
+     the tree-lined drive. Holmes seemed greatly amused by the episode.
+
+     "Our learned friend's nerves are somewhat out of order," said he.
+     "Perhaps our intrusion was a little crude, and yet we have gained
+     that personal contact which I desired. But, dear me, Watson, he is
+     surely at our heels. The villain still pursues us."
+
+     There were the sounds of running feet behind, but it was, to my
+     relief, not the formidable professor but his assistant who appeared
+     round the curve of the drive. He came panting up to us.
+
+     "I am so sorry, Mr. Holmes. I wished to apologize."
+
+     "My dear sir, there is no need. It is all in the way of professional
+     experience."
+
+     "I have never seen him in a more dangerous mood. But he grows more
+     sinister. You can understand now why his daughter and I are alarmed.
+     And yet his mind is perfectly clear."
+
+     "Too clear!" said Holmes. "That was my miscalculation. It is evident
+     that his memory is much more reliable than I had thought. By the way,
+     can we, before we go, see the window of Miss Presbury's room?"
+
+     Mr. Bennett pushed his way through some shrubs, and we had a view of
+     the side of the house.
+
+     "It is there. The second on the left."
+
+     "Dear me, it seems hardly accessible. And yet you will observe that
+     there is a creeper below and a water-pipe above which give some
+     foothold."
+
+     "I could not climb it myself," said Mr. Bennett.
+
+     "Very likely. It would certainly be a dangerous exploit for any
+     normal man."
+
+     "There was one other thing I wish to tell you, Mr. Holmes. I have the
+     address of the man in London to whom the professor writes. He seems
+     to have written this morning, and I got it from his blotting-paper.
+     It is an ignoble position for a trusted secretary, but what else can
+     I do?"
+
+     Holmes glanced at the paper and put it into his pocket.
+
+     "Dorak--a curious name. Slavonic, I imagine. Well, it is an important
+     link in the chain. We return to London this afternoon, Mr. Bennett. I
+     see no good purpose to be served by our remaining. We cannot arrest
+     the professor because he has done no crime, nor can we place him
+     under constraint, for he cannot be proved to be mad. No action is as
+     yet possible."
+
+     "Then what on earth are we to do?"
+
+     "A little patience, Mr. Bennett. Things will soon develop. Unless I
+     am mistaken, next Tuesday may mark a crisis. Certainly we shall be in
+     Camford on that day. Meanwhile, the general position is undeniably
+     unpleasant, and if Miss Presbury can prolong her visit--"
+
+     "That is easy."
+
+     "Then let her stay till we can assure her that all danger is past.
+     Meanwhile, let him have his way and do not cross him. So long as he
+     is in a good humour all is well."
+
+     "There he is!" said Bennett in a startled whisper. Looking between
+     the branches we saw the tall, erect figure emerge from the hall door
+     and look around him. He stood leaning forward, his hands swinging
+     straight before him, his head turning from side to side. The
+     secretary with a last wave slipped off among the trees, and we saw
+     him presently rejoin his employer, the two entering the house
+     together in what seemed to be animated and even excited conversation.
+
+     "I expect the old gentleman has been putting two and two together,"
+     said Holmes as we walked hotelward. "He struck me as having a
+     particularly clear and logical brain from the little I saw of him.
+     Explosive, no doubt, but then from his point of view he has something
+     to explode about if detectives are put on his track and he suspects
+     his own household of doing it. I rather fancy that friend Bennett is
+     in for an uncomfortable time."
+
+     Holmes stopped at a post-office and sent off a telegram on our way.
+     The answer reached us in the evening, and he tossed it across to me.
+
+     Have visited the Commercial Road and seen Dorak. Suave person,
+     Bohemian, elderly. Keeps large general store.
+     Mercer.
+
+     "Mercer is since your time," said Holmes. "He is my general utility
+     man who looks up routine business. It was important to know something
+     of the man with whom our professor was so secretly corresponding. His
+     nationality connects up with the Prague visit."
+
+     "Thank goodness that something connects with something," said I. "At
+     present we seem to be faced by a long series of inexplicable
+     incidents with no bearing upon each other. For example, what possible
+     connection can there be between an angry wolfhound and a visit to
+     Bohemia, or either of them with a man crawling down a passage at
+     night? As to your dates, that is the biggest mystification of all."
+
+     Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands. We were, I may say, seated in the
+     old sitting-room of the ancient hotel, with a bottle of the famous
+     vintage of which Holmes had spoken on the table between us.
+
+     "Well, now, let us take the dates first," said he, his finger-tips
+     together and his manner as if he were addressing a class. "This
+     excellent young man's diary shows that there was trouble upon July
+     2d, and from then onward it seems to have been at nine-day intervals,
+     with, so far as I remember, only one exception. Thus the last
+     outbreak upon Friday was on September 3d, which also falls into the
+     series, as did August 26th, which preceded it. The thing is beyond
+     coincidence."
+
+     I was forced to agree.
+
+     "Let us, then, form the provisional theory that every nine days the
+     professor takes some strong drug which has a passing but highly
+     poisonous effect. His naturally violent nature is intensified by it.
+     He learned to take this drug while he was in Prague, and is now
+     supplied with it by a Bohemian intermediary in London. This all hangs
+     together, Watson!"
+
+     "But the dog, the face at the window, the creeping man in the
+     passage?"
+
+     "Well, well, we have made a beginning. I should not expect any fresh
+     developments until next Tuesday. In the meantime we can only keep in
+     touch with friend Bennett and enjoy the amenities of this charming
+     town."
+
+     In the morning Mr. Bennett slipped round to bring us the latest
+     report. As Holmes had imagined, times had not been easy with him.
+     Without exactly accusing him of being responsible for our presence,
+     the professor had been very rough and rude in his speech, and
+     evidently felt some strong grievance. This morning he was quite
+     himself again, however, and had delivered his usual brilliant lecture
+     to a crowded class. "Apart from his queer fits," said Bennett, "he
+     has actually more energy and vitality than I can ever remember, nor
+     was his brain ever clearer. But it's not he--it's never the man whom
+     we have known."
+
+     "I don't think you have anything to fear now for a week at least,"
+     Holmes answered. "I am a busy man, and Dr. Watson has his patients to
+     attend to. Let us agree that we meet here at this hour next Tuesday,
+     and I shall be surprised if before we leave you again we are not able
+     to explain, even if we cannot perhaps put an end to, your troubles.
+     Meanwhile, keep us posted in what occurs."
+
+     I saw nothing of my friend for the next few days, but on the
+     following Monday evening I had a short note asking me to meet him
+     next day at the train. From what he told me as we travelled up to
+     Camford all was well, the peace of the professor's house had been
+     unruffled, and his own conduct perfectly normal. This also was the
+     report which was given us by Mr. Bennett himself when he called upon
+     us that evening at our old quarters in the Chequers. "He heard from
+     his London correspondent to-day. There was a letter and there was a
+     small packet, each with the cross under the stamp which warned me not
+     to touch them. There has been nothing else."
+
+     "That may prove quite enough," said Holmes grimly. "Now, Mr. Bennett,
+     we shall, I think, come to some conclusion to-night. If my deductions
+     are correct we should have an opportunity of bringing matters to a
+     head. In order to do so it is necessary to hold the professor under
+     observation. I would suggest, therefore, that you remain awake and on
+     the lookout. Should you hear him pass your door, do not interrupt
+     him, but follow him as discreetly as you can. Dr. Watson and I will
+     not be far off. By the way, where is the key of that little box of
+     which you spoke?"
+
+     "Upon his watch-chain."
+
+     "I fancy our researches must lie in that direction. At the worst the
+     lock should not be very formidable. Have you any other able-bodied
+     man on the premises?"
+
+     "There is the coachman, Macphail."
+
+     "Where does he sleep?"
+
+     "Over the stables."
+
+     "We might possibly want him. Well, we can do no more until we see how
+     things develop. Good-bye--but I expect that we shall see you before
+     morning."
+
+     It was nearly midnight before we took our station among some bushes
+     immediately opposite the hall door of the professor. It was a fine
+     night, but chilly, and we were glad of our warm overcoats. There was
+     a breeze, and clouds were scudding across the sky, obscuring from
+     time to time the half-moon. It would have been a dismal vigil were it
+     not for the expectation and excitement which carried us along, and
+     the assurance of my comrade that we had probably reached the end of
+     the strange sequence of events which had engaged our attention.
+
+     "If the cycle of nine days holds good then we shall have the
+     professor at his worst to-night," said Holmes. "The fact that these
+     strange symptoms began after his visit to Prague, that he is in
+     secret correspondence with a Bohemian dealer in London, who
+     presumably represents someone in Prague, and that he received a
+     packet from him this very day, all point in one direction. What he
+     takes and why he takes it are still beyond our ken, but that it
+     emanates in some way from Prague is clear enough. He takes it under
+     definite directions which regulate this ninth-day system, which was
+     the first point which attracted my attention. But his symptoms are
+     most remarkable. Did you observe his knuckles?"
+
+     I had to confess that I did not.
+
+     "Thick and horny in a way which is quite new in my experience. Always
+     look at the hands first, Watson. Then cuffs, trouser-knees, and
+     boots. Very curious knuckles which can only be explained by the mode
+     of progression observed by--" Holmes paused and suddenly clapped his
+     hand to his forehead. "Oh, Watson, Watson, what a fool I have been!
+     It seems incredible, and yet it must be true. All points in one
+     direction. How could I miss seeing the connection of ideas? Those
+     knuckles--how could I have passed those knuckles? And the dog! And
+     the ivy! It's surely time that I disappeared into that little farm of
+     my dreams. Look out, Watson! Here he is! We shall have the chance of
+     seeing for ourselves."
+
+     The hall door had slowly opened, and against the lamplit background
+     we saw the tall figure of Professor Presbury. He was clad in his
+     dressing-gown. As he stood outlined in the doorway he was erect but
+     leaning forward with dangling arms, as when we saw him last.
+
+     Now he stepped forward into the drive, and an extraordinary change
+     came over him. He sank down into a crouching position and moved along
+     upon his hands and feet, skipping every now and then as if he were
+     overflowing with energy and vitality. He moved along the face of the
+     house and then round the corner. As he disappeared Bennett slipped
+     through the hall door and softly followed him.
+
+     "Come, Watson, come!" cried Holmes, and we stole as softly as we
+     could through the bushes until we had gained a spot whence we could
+     see the other side of the house, which was bathed in the light of the
+     half-moon. The professor was clearly visible crouching at the foot of
+     the ivy-covered wall. As we watched him he suddenly began with
+     incredible agility to ascend it. From branch to branch he sprang,
+     sure of foot and firm of grasp, climbing apparently in mere joy at
+     his own powers, with no definite object in view. With his
+     dressing-gown flapping on each side of him, he looked like some huge
+     bat glued against the side of his own house, a great square dark
+     patch upon the moonlit wall. Presently he tired of this amusement,
+     and, dropping from branch to branch, he squatted down into the old
+     attitude and moved towards the stables, creeping along in the same
+     strange way as before. The wolfhound was out now, barking furiously,
+     and more excited than ever when it actually caught sight of its
+     master. It was straining on its chain and quivering with eagerness
+     and rage. The professor squatted down very deliberately just out of
+     reach of the hound and began to provoke it in every possible way. He
+     took handfuls of pebbles from the drive and threw them in the dog's
+     face, prodded him with a stick which he had picked up, flicked his
+     hands about only a few inches from the gaping mouth, and endeavoured
+     in every way to increase the animal's fury, which was already beyond
+     all control. In all our adventures I do not know that I have ever
+     seen a more strange sight than this impassive and still dignified
+     figure crouching frog-like upon the ground and goading to a wilder
+     exhibition of passion the maddened hound, which ramped and raged in
+     front of him, by all manner of ingenious and calculated cruelty.
+
+     And then in a moment it happened! It was not the chain that broke,
+     but it was the collar that slipped, for it had been made for a
+     thick-necked Newfoundland. We heard the rattle of falling metal, and
+     the next instant dog and man were rolling on the ground together, the
+     one roaring in rage, the other screaming in a strange shrill falsetto
+     of terror. It was a very narrow thing for the professor's life. The
+     savage creature had him fairly by the throat, its fangs had bitten
+     deep, and he was senseless before we could reach them and drag the
+     two apart. It might have been a dangerous task for us, but Bennett's
+     voice and presence brought the great wolfhound instantly to reason.
+     The uproar had brought the sleepy and astonished coachman from his
+     room above the stables. "I'm not surprised," said he, shaking his
+     head. "I've seen him at it before. I knew the dog would get him
+     sooner or later."
+
+     The hound was secured, and together we carried the professor up to
+     his room, where Bennett, who had a medical degree, helped me to dress
+     his torn throat. The sharp teeth had passed dangerously near the
+     carotid artery, and the haemorrhage was serious. In half an hour the
+     danger was past, I had given the patient an injection of morphia, and
+     he had sunk into deep sleep. Then, and only then, were we able to
+     look at each other and to take stock of the situation.
+
+     "I think a first-class surgeon should see him," said I.
+
+     "For God's sake, no!" cried Bennett. "At present the scandal is
+     confined to our own household. It is safe with us. If it gets beyond
+     these walls it will never stop. Consider his position at the
+     university, his European reputation, the feelings of his daughter."
+
+     "Quite so," said Holmes. "I think it may be quite possible to keep
+     the matter to ourselves, and also to prevent its recurrence now that
+     we have a free hand. The key from the watch-chain, Mr. Bennett.
+     Macphail will guard the patient and let us know if there is any
+     change. Let us see what we can find in the professor's mysterious
+     box."
+
+     There was not much, but there was enough--an empty phial, another
+     nearly full, a hypodermic syringe, several letters in a crabbed,
+     foreign hand. The marks on the envelopes showed that they were those
+     which had disturbed the routine of the secretary, and each was dated
+     from the Commercial Road and signed "A. Dorak." They were mere
+     invoices to say that a fresh bottle was being sent to Professor
+     Presbury, or receipt to acknowledge money. There was one other
+     envelope, however, in a more educated hand and bearing the Austrian
+     stamp with the postmark of Prague. "Here we have our material!" cried
+     Holmes as he tore out the enclosure.
+
+     Honoured Colleague [it ran]:
+     Since your esteemed visit I have thought much of your case, and
+     though in your circumstances there are some special reasons for the
+     treatment, I would none the less enjoin caution, as my results have
+     shown that it is not without danger of a kind.
+     It is possible that the serum of anthropoid would have been better. I
+     have, as I explained to you, used black-faced langur because a
+     specimen was accessible. Langur is, of course, a crawler and climber,
+     while anthropoid walks erect and is in all ways nearer.
+     I beg you to take every possible precaution that there be no
+     premature revelation of the process. I have one other client in
+     England, and Dorak is my agent for both.
+     Weekly reports will oblige.
+     Yours with high esteem,
+     H. Lowenstein.
+
+     Lowenstein! The name brought back to me the memory of some snippet
+     from a newspaper which spoke of an obscure scientist who was striving
+     in some unknown way for the secret of rejuvenescence and the elixir
+     of life. Lowenstein of Prague! Lowenstein with the wondrous
+     strength-giving serum, tabooed by the profession because he refused
+     to reveal its source. In a few words I said what I remembered.
+     Bennett had taken a manual of zoology from the shelves. "'Langur,'"
+     he read, "'the great black-faced monkey of the Himalayan slopes,
+     biggest and most human of climbing monkeys.' Many details are added.
+     Well, thanks to you, Mr. Holmes, it is very clear that we have traced
+     the evil to its source."
+
+     "The real source," said Holmes, "lies, of course, in that untimely
+     love affair which gave our impetuous professor the idea that he could
+     only gain his wish by turning himself into a younger man. When one
+     tries to rise above Nature one is liable to fall below it. The
+     highest type of man may revert to the animal if he leaves the
+     straight road of destiny." He sat musing for a little with the phial
+     in his hand, looking at the clear liquid within. "When I have written
+     to this man and told him that I hold him criminally responsible for
+     the poisons which he circulates, we will have no more trouble. But it
+     may recur. Others may find a better way. There is danger there--a
+     very real danger to humanity. Consider, Watson, that the material,
+     the sensual, the worldly would all prolong their worthless lives. The
+     spiritual would not avoid the call to something higher. It would be
+     the survival of the least fit. What sort of cesspool may not our poor
+     world become?" Suddenly the dreamer disappeared, and Holmes, the man
+     of action, sprang from his chair. "I think there is nothing more to
+     be said, Mr. Bennett. The various incidents will now fit themselves
+     easily into the general scheme. The dog, of course, was aware of the
+     change far more quickly than you. His smell would insure that. It was
+     the monkey, not the professor, whom Roy attacked, just as it was the
+     monkey who teased Roy. Climbing was a joy to the creature, and it was
+     a mere chance, I take it, that the pastime brought him to the young
+     lady's window. There is an early train to town, Watson, but I think
+     we shall just have time for a cup of tea at the Chequers before we
+     catch it."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURE OF THE LION'S MANE
+
+     It is a most singular thing that a problem which was certainly as
+     abstruse and unusual as any which I have faced in my long
+     professional career should have come to me after my retirement, and
+     be brought, as it were, to my very door. It occurred after my
+     withdrawal to my little Sussex home, when I had given myself up
+     entirely to that soothing life of Nature for which I had so often
+     yearned during the long years spent amid the gloom of London. At this
+     period of my life the good Watson had passed almost beyond my ken. An
+     occasional week-end visit was the most that I ever saw of him. Thus I
+     must act as my own chronicler. Ah! had he but been with me, how much
+     he might have made of so wonderful a happening and of my eventual
+     triumph against every difficulty! As it is, however, I must needs
+     tell my tale in my own plain way, showing by my words each step upon
+     the difficult road which lay before me as I searched for the mystery
+     of the Lion's Mane.
+
+     My villa is situated upon the southern slope of the downs, commanding
+     a great view of the Channel. At this point the coast-line is entirely
+     of chalk cliffs, which can only be descended by a single, long,
+     tortuous path, which is steep and slippery. At the bottom of the path
+     lie a hundred yards of pebbles and shingle, even when the tide is at
+     full. Here and there, however, there are curves and hollows which
+     make splendid swimming-pools filled afresh with each flow. This
+     admirable beach extends for some miles in each direction, save only
+     at one point where the little cove and village of Fulworth break the
+     line.
+
+     My house is lonely. I, my old housekeeper, and my bees have the
+     estate all to ourselves. Half a mile off, however, is Harold
+     Stackhurst's well-known coaching establishment, The Gables, quite a
+     large place, which contains some score of young fellows preparing for
+     various professions, with a staff of several masters. Stackhurst
+     himself was a well-known rowing Blue in his day, and an excellent
+     all-round scholar. He and I were always friendly from the day I came
+     to the coast, and he was the one man who was on such terms with me
+     that we could drop in on each other in the evenings without an
+     invitation.
+
+     Towards the end of July, 1907, there was a severe gale, the wind
+     blowing up-channel, heaping the seas to the base of the cliffs and
+     leaving a lagoon at the turn of the tide. On the morning of which I
+     speak the wind had abated, and all Nature was newly washed and fresh.
+     It was impossible to work upon so delightful a day, and I strolled
+     out before breakfast to enjoy the exquisite air. I walked along the
+     cliff path which led to the steep descent to the beach. As I walked I
+     heard a shout behind me, and there was Harold Stackhurst waving his
+     hand in cheery greeting.
+
+     "What a morning, Mr. Holmes! I thought I should see you out."
+
+     "Going for a swim, I see."
+
+     "At your old tricks again," he laughed, patting his bulging pocket.
+     "Yes. McPherson started early, and I expect I may find him there."
+
+     Fitzroy McPherson was the science master, a fine upstanding young
+     fellow whose life had been crippled by heart trouble following
+     rheumatic fever. He was a natural athlete, however, and excelled in
+     every game which did not throw too great a strain upon him. Summer
+     and winter he went for his swim, and, as I am a swimmer myself, I
+     have often joined him.
+
+     At this moment we saw the man himself. His head showed above the edge
+     of the cliff where the path ends. Then his whole figure appeared at
+     the top, staggering like a drunken man. The next instant he threw up
+     his hands and, with a terrible cry, fell upon his face. Stackhurst
+     and I rushed forward--it may have been fifty yards--and turned him on
+     his back. He was obviously dying. Those glazed sunken eyes and
+     dreadful livid cheeks could mean nothing else. One glimmer of life
+     came into his face for an instant, and he uttered two or three words
+     with an eager air of warning. They were slurred and indistinct, but
+     to my ear the last of them, which burst in a shriek from his lips,
+     were "the Lion's Mane." It was utterly irrelevant and unintelligible,
+     and yet I could twist the sound into no other sense. Then he half
+     raised himself from the ground, threw his arms into the air, and fell
+     forward on his side. He was dead.
+
+     My companion was paralyzed by the sudden horror of it, but I, as may
+     well be imagined, had every sense on the alert. And I had need, for
+     it was speedily evident that we were in the presence of an
+     extraordinary case. The man was dressed only in his Burberry
+     overcoat, his trousers, and an unlaced pair of canvas shoes. As he
+     fell over, his Burberry, which had been simply thrown round his
+     shoulders, slipped off, exposing his trunk. We stared at it in
+     amazement. His back was covered with dark red lines as though he had
+     been terribly flogged by a thin wire scourge. The instrument with
+     which this punishment had been inflicted was clearly flexible, for
+     the long, angry weals curved round his shoulders and ribs. There was
+     blood dripping down his chin, for he had bitten through his lower lip
+     in the paroxysm of his agony. His drawn and distorted face told how
+     terrible that agony had been.
+
+     I was kneeling and Stackhurst standing by the body when a shadow fell
+     across us, and we found that Ian Murdoch was by our side. Murdoch was
+     the mathematical coach at the establishment, a tall, dark, thin man,
+     so taciturn and aloof that none can be said to have been his friend.
+     He seemed to live in some high, abstract region of surds and conic
+     sections, with little to connect him with ordinary life. He was
+     looked upon as an oddity by the students, and would have been their
+     butt, but there was some strange outlandish blood in the man, which
+     showed itself not only in his coal-black eyes and swarthy face but
+     also in occasional outbreaks of temper, which could only be described
+     as ferocious. On one occasion, being plagued by a little dog
+     belonging to McPherson, he had caught the creature up and hurled it
+     through the plate-glass window, an action for which Stackhurst would
+     certainly have given him his dismissal had he not been a very
+     valuable teacher. Such was the strange complex man who now appeared
+     beside us. He seemed to be honestly shocked at the sight before him,
+     though the incident of the dog may show that there was no great
+     sympathy between the dead man and himself.
+
+     "Poor fellow! Poor fellow! What can I do? How can I help?"
+
+     "Were you with him? Can you tell us what has happened?"
+
+     "No, no, I was late this morning. I was not on the beach at all. I
+     have come straight from The Gables. What can I do?"
+
+     "You can hurry to the police-station at Fulworth. Report the matter
+     at once."
+
+     Without a word he made off at top speed, and I proceeded to take the
+     matter in hand, while Stackhurst, dazed at this tragedy, remained by
+     the body. My first task naturally was to note who was on the beach.
+     From the top of the path I could see the whole sweep of it, and it
+     was absolutely deserted save that two or three dark figures could be
+     seen far away moving towards the village of Fulworth. Having
+     satisfied myself upon this point, I walked slowly down the path.
+     There was clay or soft marl mixed with the chalk, and every here and
+     there I saw the same footstep, both ascending and descending. No one
+     else had gone down to the beach by this track that morning. At one
+     place I observed the print of an open hand with the fingers towards
+     the incline. This could only mean that poor McPherson had fallen as
+     he ascended. There were rounded depressions, too, which suggested
+     that he had come down upon his knees more than once. At the bottom of
+     the path was the considerable lagoon left by the retreating tide. At
+     the side of it McPherson had undressed, for there lay his towel on a
+     rock. It was folded and dry, so that it would seem that, after all,
+     he had never entered the water. Once or twice as I hunted round amid
+     the hard shingle I came on little patches of sand where the print of
+     his canvas shoe, and also of his naked foot, could be seen. The
+     latter fact proved that he had made all ready to bathe, though the
+     towel indicated that he had not actually done so.
+
+     And here was the problem clearly defined--as strange a one as had
+     ever confronted me. The man had not been on the beach more than a
+     quarter of an hour at the most. Stackhurst had followed him from The
+     Gables, so there could be no doubt about that. He had gone to bathe
+     and had stripped, as the naked footsteps showed. Then he had suddenly
+     huddled on his clothes again--they were all dishevelled and
+     unfastened--and he had returned without bathing, or at any rate
+     without drying himself. And the reason for his change of purpose had
+     been that he had been scourged in some savage, inhuman fashion,
+     tortured until he bit his lip through in his agony, and was left with
+     only strength enough to crawl away and to die. Who had done this
+     barbarous deed? There were, it is true, small grottos and caves in
+     the base of the cliffs, but the low sun shone directly into them, and
+     there was no place for concealment. Then, again, there were those
+     distant figures on the beach. They seemed too far away to have been
+     connected with the crime, and the broad lagoon in which McPherson had
+     intended to bathe lay between him and them, lapping up to the rocks.
+     On the sea two or three fishing-boats were at no great distance.
+     Their occupants might be examined at our leisure. There were several
+     roads for inquiry, but none which led to any very obvious goal.
+
+     When I at last returned to the body I found that a little group of
+     wondering folk had gathered round it. Stackhurst was, of course,
+     still there, and Ian Murdoch had just arrived with Anderson, the
+     village constable, a big, ginger-moustached man of the slow, solid
+     Sussex breed--a breed which covers much good sense under a heavy,
+     silent exterior. He listened to everything, took note of all we said,
+     and finally drew me aside.
+
+     "I'd be glad of your advice, Mr. Holmes. This is a big thing for me
+     to handle, and I'll hear of it from Lewes if I go wrong."
+
+     I advised him to send for his immediate superior, and for a doctor;
+     also to allow nothing to be moved, and as few fresh footmarks as
+     possible to be made, until they came. In the meantime I searched the
+     dead man's pockets. There were his handkerchief, a large knife, and a
+     small folding card-case. From this projected a slip of paper, which I
+     unfolded and handed to the constable. There was written on it in a
+     scrawling, feminine hand:
+
+     I will be there, you may be sure.
+     Maudie.
+
+     It read like a love affair, an assignation, though when and where
+     were a blank. The constable replaced it in the card-case and returned
+     it with the other things to the pockets of the Burberry. Then, as
+     nothing more suggested itself, I walked back to my house for
+     breakfast, having first arranged that the base of the cliffs should
+     be thoroughly searched.
+
+     Stackhurst was round in an hour or two to tell me that the body had
+     been removed to The Gables, where the inquest would be held. He
+     brought with him some serious and definite news. As I expected,
+     nothing had been found in the small caves below the cliff, but he had
+     examined the papers in McPherson's desk, and there were several which
+     showed an intimate correspondence with a certain Miss Maud Bellamy,
+     of Fulworth. We had then established the identity of the writer of
+     the note.
+
+     "The police have the letters," he explained. "I could not bring them.
+     But there is no doubt that it was a serious love affair. I see no
+     reason, however, to connect it with that horrible happening save,
+     indeed, that the lady had made an appointment with him."
+
+     "But hardly at a bathing-pool which all of you were in the habit of
+     using," I remarked.
+
+     "It is mere chance," said he, "that several of the students were not
+     with McPherson."
+
+     "Was it mere chance?"
+
+     Stackhurst knit his brows in thought.
+
+     "Ian Murdoch held them back," said he. "He would insist upon some
+     algebraic demonstration before breakfast. Poor chap, he is dreadfully
+     cut up about it all."
+
+     "And yet I gather that they were not friends."
+
+     "At one time they were not. But for a year or more Murdoch has been
+     as near to McPherson as he ever could be to anyone. He is not of a
+     very sympathetic disposition by nature."
+
+     "So I understand. I seem to remember your telling me once about a
+     quarrel over the ill-usage of a dog."
+
+     "That blew over all right."
+
+     "But left some vindictive feeling, perhaps."
+
+     "No, no, I am sure they were real friends."
+
+     "Well, then, we must explore the matter of the girl. Do you know
+     her?"
+
+     "Everyone knows her. She is the beauty of the neighbourhood--a real
+     beauty, Holmes, who would draw attention everywhere. I knew that
+     McPherson was attracted by her, but I had no notion that it had gone
+     so far as these letters would seem to indicate."
+
+     "But who is she?"
+
+     "She is the daughter of old Tom Bellamy, who owns all the boats and
+     bathing-cots at Fulworth. He was a fisherman to start with, but is
+     now a man of some substance. He and his son William run the
+     business."
+
+     "Shall we walk into Fulworth and see them?"
+
+     "On what pretext?"
+
+     "Oh, we can easily find a pretext. After all, this poor man did not
+     ill-use himself in this outrageous way. Some human hand was on the
+     handle of that scourge, if indeed it was a scourge which inflicted
+     the injuries. His circle of acquaintances in this lonely place was
+     surely limited. Let us follow it up in every direction and we can
+     hardly fail to come upon the motive, which in turn should lead us to
+     the criminal."
+
+     It would have been a pleasant walk across the thyme-scented downs had
+     our minds not been poisoned by the tragedy we had witnessed. The
+     village of Fulworth lies in a hollow curving in a semicircle round
+     the bay. Behind the old-fashioned hamlet several modern houses have
+     been built upon the rising ground. It was to one of these that
+     Stackhurst guided me.
+
+     "That's The Haven, as Bellamy called it. The one with the corner
+     tower and slate roof. Not bad for a man who started with nothing
+     but-- By Jove, look at that!"
+
+     The garden gate of The Haven had opened and a man had emerged. There
+     was no mistaking that tall, angular, straggling figure. It was Ian
+     Murdoch, the mathematician. A moment later we confronted him upon the
+     road.
+
+     "Hullo!" said Stackhurst. The man nodded, gave us a sideways glance
+     from his curious dark eyes, and would have passed us, but his
+     principal pulled him up.
+
+     "What were you doing there?" he asked.
+
+     Murdoch's face flushed with anger. "I am your subordinate, sir, under
+     your roof. I am not aware that I owe you any account of my private
+     actions."
+
+     Stackhurst's nerves were near the surface after all he had endured.
+     Otherwise, perhaps, he would have waited. Now he lost his temper
+     completely.
+
+     "In the circumstances your answer is pure impertinence, Mr. Murdoch."
+
+     "Your own question might perhaps come under the same heading."
+
+     "This is not the first time that I have had to overlook your
+     insubordinate ways. It will certainly be the last. You will kindly
+     make fresh arrangements for your future as speedily as you can."
+
+     "I had intended to do so. I have lost to-day the only person who made
+     The Gables habitable."
+
+     He strode off upon his way, while Stackhurst, with angry eyes, stood
+     glaring after him. "Is he not an impossible, intolerable man?" he
+     cried.
+
+     The one thing that impressed itself forcibly upon my mind was that
+     Mr. Ian Murdoch was taking the first chance to open a path of escape
+     from the scene of the crime. Suspicion, vague and nebulous, was now
+     beginning to take outline in my mind. Perhaps the visit to the
+     Bellamys might throw some further light upon the matter. Stackhurst
+     pulled himself together, and we went forward to the house.
+
+     Mr. Bellamy proved to be a middle-aged man with a flaming red beard.
+     He seemed to be in a very angry mood, and his face was soon as florid
+     as his hair.
+
+     "No, sir, I do not desire any particulars. My son here"--indicating a
+     powerful young man, with a heavy, sullen face, in the corner of the
+     sitting-room--"is of one mind with me that Mr. McPherson's attentions
+     to Maud were insulting. Yes, sir, the word 'marriage' was never
+     mentioned, and yet there were letters and meetings, and a great deal
+     more of which neither of us could approve. She has no mother, and we
+     are her only guardians. We are determined--"
+
+     But the words were taken from his mouth by the appearance of the lady
+     herself. There was no gainsaying that she would have graced any
+     assembly in the world. Who could have imagined that so rare a flower
+     would grow from such a root and in such an atmosphere? Women have
+     seldom been an attraction to me, for my brain has always governed my
+     heart, but I could not look upon her perfect clear-cut face, with all
+     the soft freshness of the downlands in her delicate colouring,
+     without realizing that no young man would cross her path unscathed.
+     Such was the girl who had pushed open the door and stood now,
+     wide-eyed and intense, in front of Harold Stackhurst.
+
+     "I know already that Fitzroy is dead," she said. "Do not be afraid to
+     tell me the particulars."
+
+     "This other gentleman of yours let us know the news," explained the
+     father.
+
+     "There is no reason why my sister should be brought into the matter,"
+     growled the younger man.
+
+     The sister turned a sharp, fierce look upon him. "This is my
+     business, William. Kindly leave me to manage it in my own way. By all
+     accounts there has been a crime committed. If I can help to show who
+     did it, it is the least I can do for him who is gone."
+
+     She listened to a short account from my companion, with a composed
+     concentration which showed me that she possessed strong character as
+     well as great beauty. Maud Bellamy will always remain in my memory as
+     a most complete and remarkable woman. It seems that she already knew
+     me by sight, for she turned to me at the end.
+
+     "Bring them to justice, Mr. Holmes. You have my sympathy and my help,
+     whoever they may be." It seemed to me that she glanced defiantly at
+     her father and brother as she spoke.
+
+     "Thank you," said I. "I value a woman's instinct in such matters. You
+     use the word 'they.' You think that more than one was concerned?"
+
+     "I knew Mr. McPherson well enough to be aware that he was a brave and
+     a strong man. No single person could ever have inflicted such an
+     outrage upon him."
+
+     "Might I have one word with you alone?"
+
+     "I tell you, Maud, not to mix yourself up in the matter," cried her
+     father angrily.
+
+     She looked at me helplessly. "What can I do?"
+
+     "The whole world will know the facts presently, so there can be no
+     harm if I discuss them here," said I. "I should have preferred
+     privacy, but if your father will not allow it he must share the
+     deliberations." Then I spoke of the note which had been found in the
+     dead man's pocket. "It is sure to be produced at the inquest. May I
+     ask you to throw any light upon it that you can?"
+
+     "I see no reason for mystery," she answered. "We were engaged to be
+     married, and we only kept it secret because Fitzroy's uncle, who is
+     very old and said to be dying, might have disinherited him if he had
+     married against his wish. There was no other reason."
+
+     "You could have told us," growled Mr. Bellamy.
+
+     "So I would, father, if you had ever shown sympathy."
+
+     "I object to my girl picking up with men outside her own station."
+
+     "It was your prejudice against him which prevented us from telling
+     you. As to this appointment"--she fumbled in her dress and produced a
+     crumpled note--"it was in answer to this."
+
+     Dearest [ran the message]:
+     The old place on the beach just after sunset on Tuesday. It is the
+     only time I can get away.
+     F. M.
+
+     "Tuesday was to-day, and I had meant to meet him to-night."
+
+     I turned over the paper. "This never came by post. How did you get
+     it?"
+
+     "I would rather not answer that question. It has really nothing to do
+     with the matter which you are investigating. But anything which bears
+     upon that I will most freely answer."
+
+     She was as good as her word, but there was nothing which was helpful
+     in our investigation. She had no reason to think that her fiance had
+     any hidden enemy, but she admitted that she had had several warm
+     admirers.
+
+     "May I ask if Mr. Ian Murdoch was one of them?"
+
+     She blushed and seemed confused.
+
+     "There was a time when I thought he was. But that was all changed
+     when he understood the relations between Fitzroy and myself."
+
+     Again the shadow round this strange man seemed to me to be taking
+     more definite shape. His record must be examined. His rooms must be
+     privately searched. Stackhurst was a willing collaborator, for in his
+     mind also suspicions were forming. We returned from our visit to The
+     Haven with the hope that one free end of this tangled skein was
+     already in our hands.
+
+     A week passed. The inquest had thrown no light upon the matter and
+     had been adjourned for further evidence. Stackhurst had made discreet
+     inquiry about his subordinate, and there had been a superficial
+     search of his room, but without result. Personally, I had gone over
+     the whole ground again, both physically and mentally, but with no new
+     conclusions. In all my chronicles the reader will find no case which
+     brought me so completely to the limit of my powers. Even my
+     imagination could conceive no solution to the mystery. And then there
+     came the incident of the dog.
+
+     It was my old housekeeper who heard of it first by that strange
+     wireless by which such people collect the news of the countryside.
+
+     "Sad story this, sir, about Mr. McPherson's dog," said she one
+     evening.
+
+     I do not encourage such conversations, but the words arrested my
+     attention.
+
+     "What of Mr. McPherson's dog?"
+
+     "Dead, sir. Died of grief for its master."
+
+     "Who told you this?"
+
+     "Why, sir, everyone is talking of it. It took on terrible, and has
+     eaten nothing for a week. Then to-day two of the young gentlemen from
+     The Gables found it dead--down on the beach, sir, at the very place
+     where its master met his end."
+
+     "At the very place." The words stood out clear in my memory. Some dim
+     perception that the matter was vital rose in my mind. That the dog
+     should die was after the beautiful, faithful nature of dogs. But "in
+     the very place"! Why should this lonely beach be fatal to it? Was it
+     possible that it also had been sacrificed to some revengeful feud?
+     Was it possible--? Yes, the perception was dim, but already something
+     was building up in my mind. In a few minutes I was on my way to The
+     Gables, where I found Stackhurst in his study. At my request he sent
+     for Sudbury and Blount, the two students who had found the dog.
+
+     "Yes, it lay on the very edge of the pool," said one of them. "It
+     must have followed the trail of its dead master."
+
+     I saw the faithful little creature, an Airedale terrier, laid out
+     upon the mat in the hall. The body was stiff and rigid, the eyes
+     projecting, and the limbs contorted. There was agony in every line of
+     it.
+
+     From The Gables I walked down to the bathing-pool. The sun had sunk
+     and the shadow of the great cliff lay black across the water, which
+     glimmered dully like a sheet of lead. The place was deserted and
+     there was no sign of life save for two sea-birds circling and
+     screaming overhead. In the fading light I could dimly make out the
+     little dog's spoor upon the sand round the very rock on which his
+     master's towel had been laid. For a long time I stood in deep
+     meditation while the shadows grew darker around me. My mind was
+     filled with racing thoughts. You have known what it was to be in a
+     nightmare in which you feel that there is some all-important thing
+     for which you search and which you know is there, though it remains
+     forever just beyond your reach. That was how I felt that evening as I
+     stood alone by that place of death. Then at last I turned and walked
+     slowly homeward.
+
+     I had just reached the top of the path when it came to me. Like a
+     flash, I remembered the thing for which I had so eagerly and vainly
+     grasped. You will know, or Watson has written in vain, that I hold a
+     vast store of out-of-the-way knowledge without scientific system, but
+     very available for the needs of my work. My mind is like a crowded
+     box-room with packets of all sorts stowed away therein--so many that
+     I may well have but a vague perception of what was there. I had known
+     that there was something which might bear upon this matter. It was
+     still vague, but at least I knew how I could make it clear. It was
+     monstrous, incredible, and yet it was always a possibility. I would
+     test it to the full.
+
+     There is a great garret in my little house which is stuffed with
+     books. It was into this that I plunged and rummaged for an hour. At
+     the end of that time I emerged with a little chocolate and silver
+     volume. Eagerly I turned up the chapter of which I had a dim
+     remembrance. Yes, it was indeed a far-fetched and unlikely
+     proposition, and yet I could not be at rest until I had made sure if
+     it might, indeed, be so. It was late when I retired, with my mind
+     eagerly awaiting the work of the morrow.
+
+     But that work met with an annoying interruption. I had hardly
+     swallowed my early cup of tea and was starting for the beach when I
+     had a call from Inspector Bardle of the Sussex Constabulary--a
+     steady, solid, bovine man with thoughtful eyes, which looked at me
+     now with a very troubled expression.
+
+     "I know your immense experience, sir," said he. "This is quite
+     unofficial, of course, and need go no farther. But I am fairly up
+     against it in this McPherson case. The question is, shall I make an
+     arrest, or shall I not?"
+
+     "Meaning Mr. Ian Murdoch?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. There is really no one else when you come to think of it.
+     That's the advantage of this solitude. We narrow it down to a very
+     small compass. If he did not do it, then who did?"
+
+     "What have you against him?"
+
+     He had gleaned along the same furrows as I had. There was Murdoch's
+     character and the mystery which seemed to hang round the man. His
+     furious bursts of temper, as shown in the incident of the dog. The
+     fact that he had quarrelled with McPherson in the past, and that
+     there was some reason to think that he might have resented his
+     attentions to Miss Bellamy. He had all my points, but no fresh ones,
+     save that Murdoch seemed to be making every preparation for
+     departure.
+
+     "What would my position be if I let him slip away with all this
+     evidence against him?" The burly, phlegmatic man was sorely troubled
+     in his mind.
+
+     "Consider," I said, "all the essential gaps in your case. On the
+     morning of the crime he can surely prove an alibi. He had been with
+     his scholars till the last moment, and within a few minutes of
+     McPherson's appearance he came upon us from behind. Then bear in mind
+     the absolute impossibility that he could single-handed have inflicted
+     this outrage upon a man quite as strong as himself. Finally, there is
+     this question of the instrument with which these injuries were
+     inflicted."
+
+     "What could it be but a scourge or flexible whip of some sort?"
+
+     "Have you examined the marks?" I asked.
+
+     "I have seen them. So has the doctor."
+
+     "But I have examined them very carefully with a lens. They have
+     peculiarities."
+
+     "What are they, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     I stepped to my bureau and brought out an enlarged photograph. "This
+     is my method in such cases," I explained.
+
+     "You certainly do things thoroughly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "I should hardly be what I am if I did not. Now let us consider this
+     weal which extends round the right shoulder. Do you observe nothing
+     remarkable?"
+
+     "I can't say I do."
+
+     "Surely it is evident that it is unequal in its intensity. There is a
+     dot of extravasated blood here, and another there. There are similar
+     indications in this other weal down here. What can that mean?"
+
+     "I have no idea. Have you?"
+
+     "Perhaps I have. Perhaps I haven't. I may be able to say more soon.
+     Anything which will define what made that mark will bring us a long
+     way towards the criminal."
+
+     "It is, of course, an absurd idea," said the policeman, "but if a
+     red-hot net of wire had been laid across the back, then these better
+     marked points would represent where the meshes crossed each other."
+
+     "A most ingenious comparison. Or shall we say a very stiff
+     cat-o'-nine-tails with small hard knots upon it?"
+
+     "By Jove, Mr. Holmes, I think you have hit it."
+
+     "Or there may be some very different cause, Mr. Bardle. But your case
+     is far too weak for an arrest. Besides, we have those last words--the
+     'Lion's Mane.'"
+
+     "I have wondered whether Ian--"
+
+     "Yes, I have considered that. If the second word had borne any
+     resemblance to Murdoch--but it did not. He gave it almost in a
+     shriek. I am sure that it was 'Mane.'"
+
+     "Have you no alternative, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Perhaps I have. But I do not care to discuss it until there is
+     something more solid to discuss."
+
+     "And when will that be?"
+
+     "In an hour--possibly less."
+
+     The inspector rubbed his chin and looked at me with dubious eyes.
+
+     "I wish I could see what was in your mind, Mr. Holmes. Perhaps it's
+     those fishing-boats."
+
+     "No, no, they were too far out."
+
+     "Well, then, is it Bellamy and that big son of his? They were not too
+     sweet upon Mr. McPherson. Could they have done him a mischief?"
+
+     "No, no, you won't draw me until I am ready," said I with a smile.
+     "Now, Inspector, we each have our own work to do. Perhaps if you were
+     to meet me here at midday--"
+
+     So far we had got when there came the tremendous interruption which
+     was the beginning of the end.
+
+     My outer door was flung open, there were blundering footsteps in the
+     passage, and Ian Murdoch staggered into the room, pallid,
+     dishevelled, his clothes in wild disorder, clawing with his bony
+     hands at the furniture to hold himself erect. "Brandy! Brandy!" he
+     gasped, and fell groaning upon the sofa.
+
+     He was not alone. Behind him came Stackhurst, hatless and panting,
+     almost as distrait as his companion.
+
+     "Yes, yes, brandy!" he cried. "The man is at his last gasp. It was
+     all I could do to bring him here. He fainted twice upon the way."
+
+     Half a tumbler of the raw spirit brought about a wondrous change. He
+     pushed himself up on one arm and swung his coat from his shoulders.
+     "For God's sake, oil, opium, morphia!" he cried. "Anything to ease
+     this infernal agony!"
+
+     The inspector and I cried out at the sight. There, crisscrossed upon
+     the man's naked shoulder, was the same strange reticulated pattern of
+     red, inflamed lines which had been the death-mark of Fitzroy
+     McPherson.
+
+     The pain was evidently terrible and was more than local, for the
+     sufferer's breathing would stop for a time, his face would turn
+     black, and then with loud gasps he would clap his hand to his heart,
+     while his brow dropped beads of sweat. At any moment he might die.
+     More and more brandy was poured down his throat, each fresh dose
+     bringing him back to life. Pads of cotton-wool soaked in salad-oil
+     seemed to take the agony from the strange wounds. At last his head
+     fell heavily upon the cushion. Exhausted Nature had taken refuge in
+     its last storehouse of vitality. It was half a sleep and half a
+     faint, but at least it was ease from pain.
+
+     To question him had been impossible, but the moment we were assured
+     of his condition Stackhurst turned upon me.
+
+     "My God!" he cried, "what is it, Holmes? What is it?"
+
+     "Where did you find him?"
+
+     "Down on the beach. Exactly where poor McPherson met his end. If this
+     man's heart had been weak as McPherson's was, he would not be here
+     now. More than once I thought he was gone as I brought him up. It was
+     too far to The Gables, so I made for you."
+
+     "Did you see him on the beach?"
+
+     "I was walking on the cliff when I heard his cry. He was at the edge
+     of the water, reeling about like a drunken man. I ran down, threw
+     some clothes about him, and brought him up. For heaven's sake,
+     Holmes, use all the powers you have and spare no pains to lift the
+     curse from this place, for life is becoming unendurable. Can you,
+     with all your world-wide reputation, do nothing for us?"
+
+     "I think I can, Stackhurst. Come with me now! And you, Inspector,
+     come along! We will see if we cannot deliver this murderer into your
+     hands."
+
+     Leaving the unconscious man in the charge of my housekeeper, we all
+     three went down to the deadly lagoon. On the shingle there was piled
+     a little heap of towels and clothes left by the stricken man. Slowly
+     I walked round the edge of the water, my comrades in Indian file
+     behind me. Most of the pool was quite shallow, but under the cliff
+     where the beach was hollowed out it was four or five feet deep. It
+     was to this part that a swimmer would naturally go, for it formed a
+     beautiful pellucid green pool as clear as crystal. A line of rocks
+     lay above it at the base of the cliff, and along this I led the way,
+     peering eagerly into the depths beneath me. I had reached the deepest
+     and stillest pool when my eyes caught that for which they were
+     searching, and I burst into a shout of triumph.
+
+     "Cyanea!" I cried. "Cyanea! Behold the Lion's Mane!"
+
+     The strange object at which I pointed did indeed look like a tangled
+     mass torn from the mane of a lion. It lay upon a rocky shelf some
+     three feet under the water, a curious waving, vibrating, hairy
+     creature with streaks of silver among its yellow tresses. It pulsated
+     with a slow, heavy dilation and contraction.
+
+     "It has done mischief enough. Its day is over!" I cried. "Help me,
+     Stackhurst! Let us end the murderer forever."
+
+     There was a big boulder just above the ledge, and we pushed it until
+     it fell with a tremendous splash into the water. When the ripples had
+     cleared we saw that it had settled upon the ledge below. One flapping
+     edge of yellow membrane showed that our victim was beneath it. A
+     thick oily scum oozed out from below the stone and stained the water
+     round, rising slowly to the surface.
+
+     "Well, this gets me!" cried the inspector. "What was it, Mr. Holmes?
+     I'm born and bred in these parts, but I never saw such a thing. It
+     don't belong to Sussex."
+
+     "Just as well for Sussex," I remarked. "It may have been the
+     southwest gale that brought it up. Come back to my house, both of
+     you, and I will give you the terrible experience of one who has good
+     reason to remember his own meeting with the same peril of the seas."
+
+     When we reached my study we found that Murdoch was so far recovered
+     that he could sit up. He was dazed in mind, and every now and then
+     was shaken by a paroxysm of pain. In broken words he explained that
+     he had no notion what had occurred to him, save that terrific pangs
+     had suddenly shot through him, and that it had taken all his
+     fortitude to reach the bank.
+
+     "Here is a book," I said, taking up the little volume, "which first
+     brought light into what might have been forever dark. It is Out of
+     Doors, by the famous observer, J. G. Wood. Wood himself very nearly
+     perished from contact with this vile creature, so he wrote with a
+     very full knowledge. Cyanea capillata is the miscreant's full name,
+     and he can be as dangerous to life as, and far more painful than, the
+     bite of the cobra. Let me briefly give this extract.
+
+     "If the bather should see a loose roundish mass of tawny membranes
+     and fibres, something like very large handfuls of lion's mane and
+     silver paper, let him beware, for this is the fearful stinger, Cyanea
+     capillata.
+
+     Could our sinister acquaintance be more clearly described?
+
+     "He goes on to tell of his own encounter with one when swimming off
+     the coast of Kent. He found that the creature radiated almost
+     invisible filaments to the distance of fifty feet, and that anyone
+     within that circumference from the deadly centre was in danger of
+     death. Even at a distance the effect upon Wood was almost fatal.
+
+     "The multitudinous threads caused light scarlet lines upon the skin
+     which on closer examination resolved into minute dots or pustules,
+     each dot charged as it were with a red-hot needle making its way
+     through the nerves.
+
+     "The local pain was, as he explains, the least part of the exquisite
+     torment.
+
+     "Pangs shot through the chest, causing me to fall as if struck by a
+     bullet. The pulsation would cease, and then the heart would give six
+     or seven leaps as if it would force its way through the chest.
+
+     "It nearly killed him, although he had only been exposed to it in the
+     disturbed ocean and not in the narrow calm waters of a bathing-pool.
+     He says that he could hardly recognize himself afterwards, so white,
+     wrinkled and shrivelled was his face. He gulped down brandy, a whole
+     bottleful, and it seems to have saved his life. There is the book,
+     Inspector. I leave it with you, and you cannot doubt that it contains
+     a full explanation of the tragedy of poor McPherson."
+
+     "And incidentally exonerates me," remarked Ian Murdoch with a wry
+     smile. "I do not blame you, Inspector, nor you, Mr. Holmes, for your
+     suspicions were natural. I feel that on the very eve of my arrest I
+     have only cleared myself by sharing the fate of my poor friend."
+
+     "No, Mr. Murdoch. I was already upon the track, and had I been out as
+     early as I intended I might well have saved you from this terrific
+     experience."
+
+     "But how did you know, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for
+     trifles. That phrase 'the Lion's Mane' haunted my mind. I knew that I
+     had seen it somewhere in an unexpected context. You have seen that it
+     does describe the creature. I have no doubt that it was floating on
+     the water when McPherson saw it, and that this phrase was the only
+     one by which he could convey to us a warning as to the creature which
+     had been his death."
+
+     "Then I, at least, am cleared," said Murdoch, rising slowly to his
+     feet. "There are one or two words of explanation which I should give,
+     for I know the direction in which your inquiries have run. It is true
+     that I loved this lady, but from the day when she chose my friend
+     McPherson my one desire was to help her to happiness. I was well
+     content to stand aside and act as their go-between. Often I carried
+     their messages, and it was because I was in their confidence and
+     because she was so dear to me that I hastened to tell her of my
+     friend's death, lest someone should forestall me in a more sudden and
+     heartless manner. She would not tell you, sir, of our relations lest
+     you should disapprove and I might suffer. But with your leave I must
+     try to get back to The Gables, for my bed will be very welcome."
+
+     Stackhurst held out his hand. "Our nerves have all been at
+     concert-pitch," said he. "Forgive what is past, Murdoch. We shall
+     understand each other better in the future." They passed out together
+     with their arms linked in friendly fashion. The inspector remained,
+     staring at me in silence with his ox-like eyes.
+
+     "Well, you've done it!" he cried at last. "I had read of you, but I
+     never believed it. It's wonderful!"
+
+     I was forced to shake my head. To accept such praise was to lower
+     one's own standards.
+
+     "I was slow at the outset--culpably slow. Had the body been found in
+     the water I could hardly have missed it. It was the towel which
+     misled me. The poor fellow had never thought to dry himself, and so I
+     in turn was led to believe that he had never been in the water. Why,
+     then, should the attack of any water creature suggest itself to me?
+     That was where I went astray. Well, well, Inspector, I often ventured
+     to chaff you gentlemen of the police force, but Cyanea capillata very
+     nearly avenged Scotland Yard."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE VEILED LODGER
+
+     When one considers that Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practice
+     for twenty-three years, and that during seventeen of these I was
+     allowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings, it
+     will be clear that I have a mass of material at my command. The
+     problem has always been not to find but to choose. There is the long
+     row of year-books which fill a shelf, and there are the
+     dispatch-cases filled with documents, a perfect quarry for the
+     student not only of crime but of the social and official scandals of
+     the late Victorian era. Concerning these latter, I may say that the
+     writers of agonized letters, who beg that the honour of their
+     families or the reputation of famous forebears may not be touched,
+     have nothing to fear. The discretion and high sense of professional
+     honour which have always distinguished my friend are still at work in
+     the choice of these memoirs, and no confidence will be abused. I
+     deprecate, however, in the strongest way the attempts which have been
+     made lately to get at and to destroy these papers. The source of
+     these outrages is known, and if they are repeated I have Mr. Holmes's
+     authority for saying that the whole story concerning the politician,
+     the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant will be given to the
+     public. There is at least one reader who will understand.
+
+     It is not reasonable to suppose that every one of these cases gave
+     Holmes the opportunity of showing those curious gifts of instinct and
+     observation which I have endeavoured to set forth in these memoirs.
+     Sometimes he had with much effort to pick the fruit, sometimes it
+     fell easily into his lap. But the most terrible human tragedies were
+     often involved in those cases which brought him the fewest personal
+     opportunities, and it is one of these which I now desire to record.
+     In telling it, I have made a slight change of name and place, but
+     otherwise the facts are as stated.
+
+     One forenoon--it was late in 1896--I received a hurried note from
+     Holmes asking for my attendance. When I arrived I found him seated in
+     a smoke-laden atmosphere, with an elderly, motherly woman of the
+     buxom landlady type in the corresponding chair in front of him.
+
+     "This is Mrs. Merrilow, of South Brixton," said my friend with a wave
+     of the hand. "Mrs. Merrilow does not object to tobacco, Watson, if
+     you wish to indulge your filthy habits. Mrs. Merrilow has an
+     interesting story to tell which may well lead to further developments
+     in which your presence may be useful."
+
+     "Anything I can do--"
+
+     "You will understand, Mrs. Merrilow, that if I come to Mrs. Ronder I
+     should prefer to have a witness. You will make her understand that
+     before we arrive."
+
+     "Lord bless you, Mr. Holmes," said our visitor, "she is that anxious
+     to see you that you might bring the whole parish at your heels!"
+
+     "Then we shall come early in the afternoon. Let us see that we have
+     our facts correct before we start. If we go over them it will help
+     Dr. Watson to understand the situation. You say that Mrs. Ronder has
+     been your lodger for seven years and that you have only once seen her
+     face."
+
+     "And I wish to God I had not!" said Mrs. Merrilow.
+
+     "It was, I understand, terribly mutilated."
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, you would hardly say it was a face at all. That's
+     how it looked. Our milkman got a glimpse of her once peeping out of
+     the upper window, and he dropped his tin and the milk all over the
+     front garden. That is the kind of face it is. When I saw her--I
+     happened on her unawares--she covered up quick, and then she said,
+     'Now, Mrs. Merrilow, you know at last why it is that I never raise my
+     veil.'"
+
+     "Do you know anything about her history?"
+
+     "Nothing at all."
+
+     "Did she give references when she came?"
+
+     "No, sir, but she gave hard cash, and plenty of it. A quarter's rent
+     right down on the table in advance and no arguing about terms. In
+     these times a poor woman like me can't afford to turn down a chance
+     like that."
+
+     "Did she give any reason for choosing your house?"
+
+     "Mine stands well back from the road and is more private than most.
+     Then, again, I only take the one, and I have no family of my own. I
+     reckon she had tried others and found that mine suited her best. It's
+     privacy she is after, and she is ready to pay for it."
+
+     "You say that she never showed her face from first to last save on
+     the one accidental occasion. Well, it is a very remarkable story,
+     most remarkable, and I don't wonder that you want it examined."
+
+     "I don't, Mr. Holmes. I am quite satisfied so long as I get my rent.
+     You could not have a quieter lodger, or one who gives less trouble."
+
+     "Then what has brought matters to a head?"
+
+     "Her health, Mr. Holmes. She seems to be wasting away. And there's
+     something terrible on her mind. 'Murder!' she cries. 'Murder!' And
+     once I heard her: 'You cruel beast! You monster!' she cried. It was
+     in the night, and it fair rang through the house and sent the shivers
+     through me. So I went to her in the morning. 'Mrs. Ronder,' I says,
+     'if you have anything that is troubling your soul, there's the
+     clergy,' I says, 'and there's the police. Between them you should get
+     some help.' 'For God's sake, not the police!' says she, 'and the
+     clergy can't change what is past. And yet,' she says, 'it would ease
+     my mind if someone knew the truth before I died.' 'Well,' says I, 'if
+     you won't have the regulars, there is this detective man what we read
+     about'--beggin' your pardon, Mr. Holmes. And she, she fair jumped at
+     it. 'That's the man,' says she. 'I wonder I never thought of it
+     before. Bring him here, Mrs. Merrilow, and if he won't come, tell him
+     I am the wife of Ronder's wild beast show. Say that, and give him the
+     name Abbas Parva. Here it is as she wrote it, Abbas Parva. 'That will
+     bring him if he's the man I think he is.'"
+
+     "And it will, too," remarked Holmes. "Very good, Mrs. Merrilow. I
+     should like to have a little chat with Dr. Watson. That will carry us
+     till lunch-time. About three o'clock you may expect to see us at your
+     house in Brixton."
+
+     Our visitor had no sooner waddled out of the room--no other verb can
+     describe Mrs. Merrilow's method of progression--than Sherlock Holmes
+     threw himself with fierce energy upon the pile of commonplace books
+     in the corner. For a few minutes there was a constant swish of the
+     leaves, and then with a grunt of satisfaction he came upon what he
+     sought. So excited was he that he did not rise, but sat upon the
+     floor like some strange Buddha, with crossed legs, the huge books all
+     round him, and one open upon his knees.
+
+     "The case worried me at the time, Watson. Here are my marginal notes
+     to prove it. I confess that I could make nothing of it. And yet I was
+     convinced that the coroner was wrong. Have you no recollection of the
+     Abbas Parva tragedy?"
+
+     "None, Holmes."
+
+     "And yet you were with me then. But certainly my own impression was
+     very superficial. For there was nothing to go by, and none of the
+     parties had engaged my services. Perhaps you would care to read the
+     papers?"
+
+     "Could you not give me the points?"
+
+     "That is very easily done. It will probably come back to your memory
+     as I talk. Ronder, of course, was a household word. He was the rival
+     of Wombwell, and of Sanger, one of the greatest showmen of his day.
+     There is evidence, however, that he took to drink, and that both he
+     and his show were on the down grade at the time of the great tragedy.
+     The caravan had halted for the night at Abbas Parva, which is a small
+     village in Berkshire, when this horror occurred. They were on their
+     way to Wimbledon, travelling by road, and they were simply camping
+     and not exhibiting, as the place is so small a one that it would not
+     have paid them to open.
+
+     "They had among their exhibits a very fine North African lion. Sahara
+     King was its name, and it was the habit, both of Ronder and his wife,
+     to give exhibitions inside its cage. Here, you see, is a photograph
+     of the performance by which you will perceive that Ronder was a huge
+     porcine person and that his wife was a very magnificent woman. It was
+     deposed at the inquest that there had been some signs that the lion
+     was dangerous, but, as usual, familiarity begat contempt, and no
+     notice was taken of the fact.
+
+     "It was usual for either Ronder or his wife to feed the lion at
+     night. Sometimes one went, sometimes both, but they never allowed
+     anyone else to do it, for they believed that so long as they were the
+     food-carriers he would regard them as benefactors and would never
+     molest them. On this particular night, seven years ago, they both
+     went, and a very terrible happening followed, the details of which
+     have never been made clear.
+
+     "It seems that the whole camp was roused near midnight by the roars
+     of the animal and the screams of the woman. The different grooms and
+     employees rushed from their tents, carrying lanterns, and by their
+     light an awful sight was revealed. Ronder lay, with the back of his
+     head crushed in and deep claw-marks across his scalp, some ten yards
+     from the cage, which was open. Close to the door of the cage lay Mrs.
+     Ronder upon her back, with the creature squatting and snarling above
+     her. It had torn her face in such a fashion that it was never thought
+     that she could live. Several of the circus men, headed by Leonardo,
+     the strong man, and Griggs, the clown, drove the creature off with
+     poles, upon which it sprang back into the cage and was at once locked
+     in. How it had got loose was a mystery. It was conjectured that the
+     pair intended to enter the cage, but that when the door was loosed
+     the creature bounded out upon them. There was no other point of
+     interest in the evidence save that the woman in a delirium of agony
+     kept screaming, 'Coward! Coward!' as she was carried back to the van
+     in which they lived. It was six months before she was fit to give
+     evidence, but the inquest was duly held, with the obvious verdict of
+     death from misadventure."
+
+     "What alternative could be conceived?" said I.
+
+     "You may well say so. And yet there were one or two points which
+     worried young Edmunds, of the Berkshire Constabulary. A smart lad
+     that! He was sent later to Allahabad. That was how I came into the
+     matter, for he dropped in and smoked a pipe or two over it."
+
+     "A thin, yellow-haired man?"
+
+     "Exactly. I was sure you would pick up the trail presently."
+
+     "But what worried him?"
+
+     "Well, we were both worried. It was so deucedly difficult to
+     reconstruct the affair. Look at it from the lion's point of view. He
+     is liberated. What does he do? He takes half a dozen bounds forward,
+     which brings him to Ronder. Ronder turns to fly--the claw-marks were
+     on the back of his head--but the lion strikes him down. Then, instead
+     of bounding on and escaping, he returns to the woman, who was close
+     to the cage, and he knocks her over and chews her face up. Then,
+     again, those cries of hers would seem to imply that her husband had
+     in some way failed her. What could the poor devil have done to help
+     her? You see the difficulty?"
+
+     "Quite."
+
+     "And then there was another thing. It comes back to me now as I think
+     it over. There was some evidence that just at the time the lion
+     roared and the woman screamed, a man began shouting in terror."
+
+     "This man Ronder, no doubt."
+
+     "Well, if his skull was smashed in you would hardly expect to hear
+     from him again. There were at least two witnesses who spoke of the
+     cries of a man being mingled with those of a woman."
+
+     "I should think the whole camp was crying out by then. As to the
+     other points, I think I could suggest a solution."
+
+     "I should be glad to consider it."
+
+     "The two were together, ten yards from the cage, when the lion got
+     loose. The man turned and was struck down. The woman conceived the
+     idea of getting into the cage and shutting the door. It was her only
+     refuge. She made for it, and just as she reached it the beast bounded
+     after her and knocked her over. She was angry with her husband for
+     having encouraged the beast's rage by turning. If they had faced it
+     they might have cowed it. Hence her cries of 'Coward!'"
+
+     "Brilliant, Watson! Only one flaw in your diamond."
+
+     "What is the flaw, Holmes?"
+
+     "If they were both ten paces from the cage, how came the beast to get
+     loose?"
+
+     "Is it possible that they had some enemy who loosed it?"
+
+     "And why should it attack them savagely when it was in the habit of
+     playing with them, and doing tricks with them inside the cage?"
+
+     "Possibly the same enemy had done something to enrage it."
+
+     Holmes looked thoughtful and remained in silence for some moments.
+
+     "Well, Watson, there is this to be said for your theory. Ronder was a
+     man of many enemies. Edmunds told me that in his cups he was
+     horrible. A huge bully of a man, he cursed and slashed at everyone
+     who came in his way. I expect those cries about a monster, of which
+     our visitor has spoken, were nocturnal reminiscences of the dear
+     departed. However, our speculations are futile until we have all the
+     facts. There is a cold partridge on the sideboard, Watson, and a
+     bottle of Montrachet. Let us renew our energies before we make a
+     fresh call upon them."
+
+     When our hansom deposited us at the house of Mrs. Merrilow, we found
+     that plump lady blocking up the open door of her humble but retired
+     abode. It was very clear that her chief preoccupation was lest she
+     should lose a valuable lodger, and she implored us, before showing us
+     up, to say and do nothing which could lead to so undesirable an end.
+     Then, having reassured her, we followed her up the straight, badly
+     carpeted staircase and were shown into the room of the mysterious
+     lodger.
+
+     It was a close, musty, ill-ventilated place, as might be expected,
+     since its inmate seldom left it. From keeping beasts in a cage, the
+     woman seemed, by some retribution of fate, to have become herself a
+     beast in a cage. She sat now in a broken armchair in the shadowy
+     corner of the room. Long years of inaction had coarsened the lines of
+     her figure, but at some period it must have been beautiful, and was
+     still full and voluptuous. A thick dark veil covered her face, but it
+     was cut off close at her upper lip and disclosed a perfectly shaped
+     mouth and a delicately rounded chin. I could well conceive that she
+     had indeed been a very remarkable woman. Her voice, too, was well
+     modulated and pleasing.
+
+     "My name is not unfamiliar to you, Mr. Holmes," said she. "I thought
+     that it would bring you."
+
+     "That is so, madam, though I do not know how you are aware that I was
+     interested in your case."
+
+     "I learned it when I had recovered my health and was examined by Mr.
+     Edmunds, the county detective. I fear I lied to him. Perhaps it would
+     have been wiser had I told the truth."
+
+     "It is usually wiser to tell the truth. But why did you lie to him?"
+
+     "Because the fate of someone else depended upon it. I know that he
+     was a very worthless being, and yet I would not have his destruction
+     upon my conscience. We had been so close--so close!"
+
+     "But has this impediment been removed?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. The person that I allude to is dead."
+
+     "Then why should you not now tell the police anything you know?"
+
+     "Because there is another person to be considered. That other person
+     is myself. I could not stand the scandal and publicity which would
+     come from a police examination. I have not long to live, but I wish
+     to die undisturbed. And yet I wanted to find one man of judgment to
+     whom I could tell my terrible story, so that when I am gone all might
+     be understood."
+
+     "You compliment me, madam. At the same time, I am a responsible
+     person. I do not promise you that when you have spoken I may not
+     myself think it my duty to refer the case to the police."
+
+     "I think not, Mr. Holmes. I know your character and methods too well,
+     for I have followed your work for some years. Reading is the only
+     pleasure which fate has left me, and I miss little which passes in
+     the world. But in any case, I will take my chance of the use which
+     you may make of my tragedy. It will ease my mind to tell it."
+
+     "My friend and I would be glad to hear it."
+
+     The woman rose and took from a drawer the photograph of a man. He was
+     clearly a professional acrobat, a man of magnificent physique, taken
+     with his huge arms folded across his swollen chest and a smile
+     breaking from under his heavy moustache--the self-satisfied smile of
+     the man of many conquests.
+
+     "That is Leonardo," she said.
+
+     "Leonardo, the strong man, who gave evidence?"
+
+     "The same. And this--this is my husband."
+
+     It was a dreadful face--a human pig, or rather a human wild boar, for
+     it was formidable in its bestiality. One could imagine that vile
+     mouth champing and foaming in its rage, and one could conceive those
+     small, vicious eyes darting pure malignancy as they looked forth upon
+     the world. Ruffian, bully, beast--it was all written on that
+     heavy-jowled face.
+
+     "Those two pictures will help you, gentlemen, to understand the
+     story. I was a poor circus girl brought up on the sawdust, and doing
+     springs through the hoop before I was ten. When I became a woman this
+     man loved me, if such lust as his can be called love, and in an evil
+     moment I became his wife. From that day I was in hell, and he the
+     devil who tormented me. There was no one in the show who did not know
+     of his treatment. He deserted me for others. He tied me down and
+     lashed me with his riding-whip when I complained. They all pitied me
+     and they all loathed him, but what could they do? They feared him,
+     one and all. For he was terrible at all times, and murderous when he
+     was drunk. Again and again he was had up for assault, and for cruelty
+     to the beasts, but he had plenty of money and the fines were nothing
+     to him. The best men all left us, and the show began to go downhill.
+     It was only Leonardo and I who kept it up--with little Jimmy Griggs,
+     the clown. Poor devil, he had not much to be funny about, but he did
+     what he could to hold things together.
+
+     "Then Leonardo came more and more into my life. You see what he was
+     like. I know now the poor spirit that was hidden in that splendid
+     body, but compared to my husband he seemed like the angel Gabriel. He
+     pitied me and helped me, till at last our intimacy turned to
+     love--deep, deep, passionate love, such love as I had dreamed of but
+     never hoped to feel. My husband suspected it, but I think that he was
+     a coward as well as a bully, and that Leonardo was the one man that
+     he was afraid of. He took revenge in his own way by torturing me more
+     than ever. One night my cries brought Leonardo to the door of our
+     van. We were near tragedy that night, and soon my lover and I
+     understood that it could not be avoided. My husband was not fit to
+     live. We planned that he should die.
+
+     "Leonardo had a clever, scheming brain. It was he who planned it. I
+     do not say that to blame him, for I was ready to go with him every
+     inch of the way. But I should never have had the wit to think of such
+     a plan. We made a club--Leonardo made it--and in the leaden head he
+     fastened five long steel nails, the points outward, with just such a
+     spread as the lion's paw. This was to give my husband his death-blow,
+     and yet to leave the evidence that it was the lion which we would
+     loose who had done the deed.
+
+     "It was a pitch-dark night when my husband and I went down, as was
+     our custom, to feed the beast. We carried with us the raw meat in a
+     zinc pail. Leonardo was waiting at the corner of the big van which we
+     should have to pass before we reached the cage. He was too slow, and
+     we walked past him before he could strike, but he followed us on
+     tiptoe and I heard the crash as the club smashed my husband's skull.
+     My heart leaped with joy at the sound. I sprang forward, and I undid
+     the catch which held the door of the great lion's cage.
+
+     "And then the terrible thing happened. You may have heard how quick
+     these creatures are to scent human blood, and how it excites them.
+     Some strange instinct had told the creature in one instant that a
+     human being had been slain. As I slipped the bars it bounded out and
+     was on me in an instant. Leonardo could have saved me. If he had
+     rushed forward and struck the beast with his club he might have cowed
+     it. But the man lost his nerve. I heard him shout in his terror, and
+     then I saw him turn and fly. At the same instant the teeth of the
+     lion met in my face. Its hot, filthy breath had already poisoned me
+     and I was hardly conscious of pain. With the palms of my hands I
+     tried to push the great steaming, blood-stained jaws away from me,
+     and I screamed for help. I was conscious that the camp was stirring,
+     and then dimly I remembered a group of men. Leonardo, Griggs, and
+     others, dragging me from under the creature's paws. That was my last
+     memory, Mr. Holmes, for many a weary month. When I came to myself and
+     saw myself in the mirror, I cursed that lion--oh, how I cursed
+     him!--not because he had torn away my beauty but because he had not
+     torn away my life. I had but one desire, Mr. Holmes, and I had enough
+     money to gratify it. It was that I should cover myself so that my
+     poor face should be seen by none, and that I should dwell where none
+     whom I had ever known should find me. That was all that was left to
+     me to do--and that is what I have done. A poor wounded beast that has
+     crawled into its hole to die--that is the end of Eugenia Ronder."
+
+     We sat in silence for some time after the unhappy woman had told her
+     story. Then Holmes stretched out his long arm and patted her hand
+     with such a show of sympathy as I had seldom known him to exhibit.
+
+     "Poor girl!" he said. "Poor girl! The ways of fate are indeed hard to
+     understand. If there is not some compensation hereafter, then the
+     world is a cruel jest. But what of this man Leonardo?"
+
+     "I never saw him or heard from him again. Perhaps I have been wrong
+     to feel so bitterly against him. He might as soon have loved one of
+     the freaks whom we carried round the country as the thing which the
+     lion had left. But a woman's love is not so easily set aside. He had
+     left me under the beast's claws, he had deserted me in my need, and
+     yet I could not bring myself to give him to the gallows. For myself,
+     I cared nothing what became of me. What could be more dreadful than
+     my actual life? But I stood between Leonardo and his fate."
+
+     "And he is dead?"
+
+     "He was drowned last month when bathing near Margate. I saw his death
+     in the paper."
+
+     "And what did he do with this five-clawed club, which is the most
+     singular and ingenious part of all your story?"
+
+     "I cannot tell, Mr. Holmes. There is a chalk-pit by the camp, with a
+     deep green pool at the base of it. Perhaps in the depths of that
+     pool--"
+
+     "Well, well, it is of little consequence now. The case is closed."
+
+     "Yes," said the woman, "the case is closed."
+
+     We had risen to go, but there was something in the woman's voice
+     which arrested Holmes's attention. He turned swiftly upon her.
+
+     "Your life is not your own," he said. "Keep your hands off it."
+
+     "What use is it to anyone?"
+
+     "How can you tell? The example of patient suffering is in itself the
+     most precious of all lessons to an impatient world."
+
+     The woman's answer was a terrible one. She raised her veil and
+     stepped forward into the light.
+
+     "I wonder if you would bear it," she said.
+
+     It was horrible. No words can describe the framework of a face when
+     the face itself is gone. Two living and beautiful brown eyes looking
+     sadly out from that grisly ruin did but make the view more awful.
+     Holmes held up his hand in a gesture of pity and protest, and
+     together we left the room.
+
+     Two days later, when I called upon my friend, he pointed with some
+     pride to a small blue bottle upon his mantelpiece. I picked it up.
+     There was a red poison label. A pleasant almondy odour rose when I
+     opened it.
+
+     "Prussic acid?" said I.
+
+     "Exactly. It came by post. 'I send you my temptation. I will follow
+     your advice.' That was the message. I think, Watson, we can guess the
+     name of the brave woman who sent it."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE ADVENTURE OF SHOSCOMBE OLD PLACE
+
+     Sherlock Holmes had been bending for a long time over a low-power
+     microscope. Now he straightened himself up and looked round at me in
+     triumph.
+
+     "It is glue, Watson," said he. "Unquestionably it is glue. Have a
+     look at these scattered objects in the field!"
+
+     I stooped to the eyepiece and focussed for my vision.
+
+     "Those hairs are threads from a tweed coat. The irregular gray masses
+     are dust. There are epithelial scales on the left. Those brown blobs
+     in the centre are undoubtedly glue."
+
+     "Well," I said, laughing, "I am prepared to take your word for it.
+     Does anything depend upon it?"
+
+     "It is a very fine demonstration," he answered. "In the St. Pancras
+     case you may remember that a cap was found beside the dead policeman.
+     The accused man denies that it is his. But he is a picture-frame
+     maker who habitually handles glue."
+
+     "Is it one of your cases?"
+
+     "No; my friend, Merivale, of the Yard, asked me to look into the
+     case. Since I ran down that coiner by the zinc and copper filings in
+     the seam of his cuff they have begun to realize the importance of the
+     microscope." He looked impatiently at his watch. "I had a new client
+     calling, but he is overdue. By the way, Watson, you know something of
+     racing?"
+
+     "I ought to. I pay for it with about half my wound pension."
+
+     "Then I'll make you my 'Handy Guide to the Turf.' What about Sir
+     Robert Norberton? Does the name recall anything?"
+
+     "Well, I should say so. He lives at Shoscombe Old Place, and I know
+     it well, for my summer quarters were down there once. Norberton
+     nearly came within your province once."
+
+     "How was that?"
+
+     "It was when he horsewhipped Sam Brewer, the well-known Curzon Street
+     money-lender, on Newmarket Heath. He nearly killed the man."
+
+     "Ah, he sounds interesting! Does he often indulge in that way?"
+
+     "Well, he has the name of being a dangerous man. He is about the most
+     daredevil rider in England--second in the Grand National a few years
+     back. He is one of those men who have overshot their true generation.
+     He should have been a buck in the days of the Regency--a boxer, an
+     athlete, a plunger on the turf, a lover of fair ladies, and, by all
+     account, so far down Queer Street that he may never find his way back
+     again."
+
+     "Capital, Watson! A thumb-nail sketch. I seem to know the man. Now,
+     can you give me some idea of Shoscombe Old Place?"
+
+     "Only that it is in the centre of Shoscombe Park, and that the famous
+     Shoscombe stud and training quarters are to be found there."
+
+     "And the head trainer," said Holmes, "is John Mason. You need not
+     look surprised at my knowledge, Watson, for this is a letter from him
+     which I am unfolding. But let us have some more about Shoscombe. I
+     seem to have struck a rich vein."
+
+     "There are the Shoscombe spaniels," said I. "You hear of them at
+     every dog show. The most exclusive breed in England. They are the
+     special pride of the lady of Shoscombe Old Place."
+
+     "Sir Robert Norberton's wife, I presume!"
+
+     "Sir Robert has never married. Just as well, I think, considering his
+     prospects. He lives with his widowed sister, Lady Beatrice Falder."
+
+     "You mean that she lives with him?"
+
+     "No, no. The place belonged to her late husband, Sir James. Norberton
+     has no claim on it at all. It is only a life interest and reverts to
+     her husband's brother. Meantime, she draws the rents every year."
+
+     "And brother Robert, I suppose, spends the said rents?"
+
+     "That is about the size of it. He is a devil of a fellow and must
+     lead her a most uneasy life. Yet I have heard that she is devoted to
+     him. But what is amiss at Shoscombe?"
+
+     "Ah, that is just what I want to know. And here, I expect, is the man
+     who can tell us."
+
+     The door had opened and the page had shown in a tall, clean-shaven
+     man with the firm, austere expression which is only seen upon those
+     who have to control horses or boys. Mr. John Mason had many of both
+     under his sway, and he looked equal to the task. He bowed with cold
+     self-possession and seated himself upon the chair to which Holmes had
+     waved him.
+
+     "You had my note, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Yes, but it explained nothing."
+
+     "It was too delicate a thing for me to put the details on paper. And
+     too complicated. It was only face to face I could do it."
+
+     "Well, we are at your disposal."
+
+     "First of all, Mr. Holmes, I think that my employer, Sir Robert, has
+     gone mad."
+
+     Holmes raised his eyebrows. "This is Baker Street, not Harley
+     Street," said he. "But why do you say so?"
+
+     "Well, sir, when a man does one queer thing, or two queer things,
+     there may be a meaning to it, but when everything he does is queer,
+     then you begin to wonder. I believe Shoscombe Prince and the Derby
+     have turned his brain."
+
+     "That is a colt you are running?"
+
+     "The best in England, Mr. Holmes. I should know, if anyone does. Now,
+     I'll be plain with you, for I know you are gentlemen of honour and
+     that it won't go beyond the room. Sir Robert has got to win this
+     Derby. He's up to the neck, and it's his last chance. Everything he
+     could raise or borrow is on the horse--and at fine odds, too! You can
+     get forties now, but it was nearer the hundred when he began to back
+     him."
+
+     "But how is that if the horse is so good?"
+
+     "The public don't know how good he is. Sir Robert has been too clever
+     for the touts. He has the Prince's half-brother out for spins. You
+     can't tell 'em apart. But there are two lengths in a furlong between
+     them when it comes to a gallop. He thinks of nothing but the horse
+     and the race. His whole life is on it. He's holding off the Jews till
+     then. If the Prince fails him he is done."
+
+     "It seems a rather desperate gamble, but where does the madness come
+     in?"
+
+     "Well, first of all, you have only to look at him. I don't believe he
+     sleeps at night. He is down at the stables at all hours. His eyes are
+     wild. It has all been too much for his nerves. Then there is his
+     conduct to Lady Beatrice!"
+
+     "Ah! What is that?"
+
+     "They have always been the best of friends. They had the same tastes,
+     the two of them, and she loved the horses as much as he did. Every
+     day at the same hour she would drive down to see them--and, above
+     all, she loved the Prince. He would prick up his ears when he heard
+     the wheels on the gravel, and he would trot out each morning to the
+     carriage to get his lump of sugar. But that's all over now."
+
+     "Why?"
+
+     "Well, she seems to have lost all interest in the horses. For a week
+     now she has driven past the stables with never so much as
+     'Good-morning'!"
+
+     "You think there has been a quarrel?"
+
+     "And a bitter, savage, spiteful quarrel at that. Why else would he
+     give away her pet spaniel that she loved as if he were her child? He
+     gave it a few days ago to old Barnes, what keeps the Green Dragon,
+     three miles off, at Crendall."
+
+     "That certainly did seem strange."
+
+     "Of course, with her weak heart and dropsy one couldn't expect that
+     she could get about with him, but he spent two hours every evening in
+     her room. He might well do what he could, for she has been a rare
+     good friend to him. But that's all over, too. He never goes near her.
+     And she takes it to heart. She is brooding and sulky and drinking,
+     Mr. Holmes--drinking like a fish."
+
+     "Did she drink before this estrangement?"
+
+     "Well, she took her glass, but now it is often a whole bottle of an
+     evening. So Stephens, the butler, told me. It's all changed, Mr.
+     Holmes, and there is something damned rotten about it. But then,
+     again, what is master doing down at the old church crypt at night?
+     And who is the man that meets him there?"
+
+     Holmes rubbed his hands.
+
+     "Go on, Mr. Mason. You get more and more interesting."
+
+     "It was the butler who saw him go. Twelve o'clock at night and
+     raining hard. So next night I was up at the house and, sure enough,
+     master was off again. Stephens and I went after him, but it was jumpy
+     work, for it would have been a bad job if he had seen us. He's a
+     terrible man with his fists if he gets started, and no respecter of
+     persons. So we were shy of getting too near, but we marked him down
+     all right. It was the haunted crypt that he was making for, and there
+     was a man waiting for him there."
+
+     "What is this haunted crypt?"
+
+     "Well, sir, there is an old ruined chapel in the park. It is so old
+     that nobody could fix its date. And under it there's a crypt which
+     has a bad name among us. It's a dark, damp, lonely place by day, but
+     there are few in that county that would have the nerve to go near it
+     at night. But master's not afraid. He never feared anything in his
+     life. But what is he doing there in the night-time?"
+
+     "Wait a bit!" said Holmes. "You say there is another man there. It
+     must be one of your own stablemen, or someone from the house! Surely
+     you have only to spot who it is and question him?"
+
+     "It's no one I know."
+
+     "How can you say that?"
+
+     "Because I have seen him, Mr. Holmes. It was on that second night.
+     Sir Robert turned and passed us--me and Stephens, quaking in the
+     bushes like two bunny-rabbits, for there was a bit of moon that
+     night. But we could hear the other moving about behind. We were not
+     afraid of him. So we up when Sir Robert was gone and pretended we
+     were just having a walk like in the moonlight, and so we came right
+     on him as casual and innocent as you please. 'Hullo, mate! who may
+     you be?' says I. I guess he had not heard us coming, so he looked
+     over his shoulder with a face as if he had seen the devil coming out
+     of hell. He let out a yell, and away he went as hard as he could lick
+     it in the darkness. He could run!--I'll give him that. In a minute he
+     was out of sight and hearing, and who he was, or what he was, we
+     never found."
+
+     "But you saw him clearly in the moonlight?"
+
+     "Yes, I would swear to his yellow face--a mean dog, I should say.
+     What could he have in common with Sir Robert?"
+
+     Holmes sat for some time lost in thought.
+
+     "Who keeps Lady Beatrice Falder company?" he asked at last.
+
+     "There is her maid, Carrie Evans. She has been with her this five
+     years."
+
+     "And is, no doubt, devoted?"
+
+     Mr. Mason shuffled uncomfortably.
+
+     "She's devoted enough," he answered at last. "But I won't say to
+     whom."
+
+     "Ah!" said Holmes.
+
+     "I can't tell tales out of school."
+
+     "I quite understand, Mr. Mason. Of course, the situation is clear
+     enough. From Dr. Watson's description of Sir Robert I can realize
+     that no woman is safe from him. Don't you think the quarrel between
+     brother and sister may lie there?"
+
+     "Well, the scandal has been pretty clear for a long time."
+
+     "But she may not have seen it before. Let us suppose that she has
+     suddenly found it out. She wants to get rid of the woman. Her brother
+     will not permit it. The invalid, with her weak heart and inability to
+     get about, has no means of enforcing her will. The hated maid is
+     still tied to her. The lady refuses to speak, sulks, takes to drink.
+     Sir Robert in his anger takes her pet spaniel away from her. Does not
+     all this hang together?"
+
+     "Well, it might do--so far as it goes."
+
+     "Exactly! As far as it goes. How would all that bear upon the visits
+     by night to the old crypt? We can't fit that into our plot."
+
+     "No, sir, and there is something more that I can't fit in. Why should
+     Sir Robert want to dig up a dead body?"
+
+     Holmes sat up abruptly.
+
+     "We only found it out yesterday--after I had written to you.
+     Yesterday Sir Robert had gone to London, so Stephens and I went down
+     to the crypt. It was all in order, sir, except that in one corner was
+     a bit of a human body."
+
+     "You informed the police, I suppose?"
+
+     Our visitor smiled grimly.
+
+     "Well, sir, I think it would hardly interest them. It was just the
+     head and a few bones of a mummy. It may have been a thousand years
+     old. But it wasn't there before. That I'll swear, and so will
+     Stephens. It had been stowed away in a corner and covered over with a
+     board, but that corner had always been empty before."
+
+     "What did you do with it?"
+
+     "Well, we just left it there."
+
+     "That was wise. You say Sir Robert was away yesterday. Has he
+     returned?"
+
+     "We expect him back to-day."
+
+     "When did Sir Robert give away his sister's dog?"
+
+     "It was just a week ago to-day. The creature was howling outside the
+     old well-house, and Sir Robert was in one of his tantrums that
+     morning. He caught it up, and I thought he would have killed it. Then
+     he gave it to Sandy Bain, the jockey, and told him to take the dog to
+     old Barnes at the Green Dragon, for he never wished to see it again."
+
+     Holmes sat for some time in silent thought. He had lit the oldest and
+     foulest of his pipes.
+
+     "I am not clear yet what you want me to do in this matter, Mr.
+     Mason," he said at last. "Can't you make it more definite?"
+
+     "Perhaps this will make it more definite, Mr. Holmes," said our
+     visitor.
+
+     He took a paper from his pocket, and, unwrapping it carefully, he
+     exposed a charred fragment of bone.
+
+     Holmes examined it with interest.
+
+     "Where did you get it?"
+
+     "There is a central heating furnace in the cellar under Lady
+     Beatrice's room. It's been off for some time, but Sir Robert
+     complained of cold and had it on again. Harvey runs it--he's one of
+     my lads. This very morning he came to me with this which he found
+     raking out the cinders. He didn't like the look of it."
+
+     "Nor do I," said Holmes. "What do you make of it, Watson?"
+
+     It was burned to a black cinder, but there could be no question as to
+     its anatomical significance.
+
+     "It's the upper condyle of a human femur," said I.
+
+     "Exactly!" Holmes had become very serious. "When does this lad tend
+     to the furnace?"
+
+     "He makes it up every evening and then leaves it."
+
+     "Then anyone could visit it during the night?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "Can you enter it from outside?"
+
+     "There is one door from outside. There is another which leads up by a
+     stair to the passage in which Lady Beatrice's room is situated."
+
+     "These are deep waters, Mr. Mason; deep and rather dirty. You say
+     that Sir Robert was not at home last night?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "Then, whoever was burning bones, it was not he."
+
+     "That's true, sir."
+
+     "What is the name of that inn you spoke of?"
+
+     "The Green Dragon."
+
+     "Is there good fishing in that part of Berkshire?" The honest trainer
+     showed very clearly upon his face that he was convinced that yet
+     another lunatic had come into his harassed life.
+
+     "Well, sir, I've heard there are trout in the mill-stream and pike in
+     the Hall lake."
+
+     "That's good enough. Watson and I are famous fishermen--are we not,
+     Watson? You may address us in future at the Green Dragon. We should
+     reach it to-night. I need not say that we don't want to see you, Mr.
+     Mason, but a note will reach us, and no doubt I could find you if I
+     want you. When we have gone a little farther into the matter I will
+     let you have a considered opinion."
+
+     Thus it was that on a bright May evening Holmes and I found ourselves
+     alone in a first-class carriage and bound for the little
+     "halt-on-demand" station of Shoscombe. The rack above us was covered
+     with a formidable litter of rods, reels, and baskets. On reaching our
+     destination a short drive took us to an old-fashioned tavern, where a
+     sporting host, Josiah Barnes, entered eagerly into our plans for the
+     extirpation of the fish of the neighbourhood.
+
+     "What about the Hall lake and the chance of a pike?" said Holmes.
+
+     The face of the innkeeper clouded.
+
+     "That wouldn't do, sir. You might chance to find yourself in the lake
+     before you were through."
+
+     "How's that, then?"
+
+     "It's Sir Robert, sir. He's terrible jealous of touts. If you two
+     strangers were as near his training quarters as that he'd be after
+     you as sure as fate. He ain't taking no chances, Sir Robert ain't."
+
+     "I've heard he has a horse entered for the Derby."
+
+     "Yes, and a good colt, too. He carries all our money for the race,
+     and all Sir Robert's into the bargain. By the way"--he looked at us
+     with thoughtful eyes--"I suppose you ain't on the turf yourselves?"
+
+     "No, indeed. Just two weary Londoners who badly need some good
+     Berkshire air."
+
+     "Well, you are in the right place for that. There is a deal of it
+     lying about. But mind what I have told you about Sir Robert. He's the
+     sort that strikes first and speaks afterwards. Keep clear of the
+     park."
+
+     "Surely, Mr. Barnes! We certainly shall. By the way, that was a most
+     beautiful spaniel that was whining in the hall."
+
+     "I should say it was. That was the real Shoscombe breed. There ain't
+     a better in England."
+
+     "I am a dog-fancier myself," said Holmes. "Now, if it is a fair
+     question, what would a prize dog like that cost?"
+
+     "More than I could pay, sir. It was Sir Robert himself who gave me
+     this one. That's why I have to keep it on a lead. It would be off to
+     the Hall in a jiffy if I gave it its head."
+
+     "We are getting some cards in our hand, Watson," said Holmes when the
+     landlord had left us. "It's not an easy one to play, but we may see
+     our way in a day or two. By the way, Sir Robert is still in London, I
+     hear. We might, perhaps, enter the sacred domain to-night without
+     fear of bodily assault. There are one or two points on which I should
+     like reassurance."
+
+     "Have you any theory, Holmes?"
+
+     "Only this, Watson, that something happened a week or so ago which
+     has cut deep into the life of the Shoscombe household. What is that
+     something? We can only guess at it from its effects. They seem to be
+     of a curiously mixed character. But that should surely help us. It is
+     only the colourless, uneventful case which is hopeless.
+
+     "Let us consider our data. The brother no longer visits the beloved
+     invalid sister. He gives away her favourite dog. Her dog, Watson!
+     Does that suggest nothing to you?"
+
+     "Nothing but the brother's spite."
+
+     "Well, it might be so. Or--well, there is an alternative. Now to
+     continue our review of the situation from the time that the quarrel,
+     if there is a quarrel, began. The lady keeps her room, alters her
+     habits, is not seen save when she drives out with her maid, refuses
+     to stop at the stables to greet her favourite horse, and apparently
+     takes to drink. That covers the case, does it not?"
+
+     "Save for the business in the crypt."
+
+     "That is another line of thought. There are two, and I beg you will
+     not tangle them. Line A, which concerns Lady Beatrice, has a vaguely
+     sinister flavour, has it not?"
+
+     "I can make nothing of it."
+
+     "Well, now, let us take up line B, which concerns Sir Robert. He is
+     mad keen upon winning the Derby. He is in the hands of the Jews, and
+     may at any moment be sold up and his racing stables seized by his
+     creditors. He is a daring and desperate man. He derives his income
+     from his sister. His sister's maid is his willing tool. So far we
+     seem to be on fairly safe ground, do we not?"
+
+     "But the crypt?"
+
+     "Ah, yes, the crypt! Let us suppose, Watson--it is merely a
+     scandalous supposition, a hypothesis put forward for argument's
+     sake--that Sir Robert has done away with his sister."
+
+     "My dear Holmes, it is out of the question."
+
+     "Very possibly, Watson. Sir Robert is a man of an honourable stock.
+     But you do occasionally find a carrion crow among the eagles. Let us
+     for a moment argue upon this supposition. He could not fly the
+     country until he had realized his fortune, and that fortune could
+     only be realized by bringing off this coup with Shoscombe Prince.
+     Therefore, he has still to stand his ground. To do this he would have
+     to dispose of the body of his victim, and he would also have to find
+     a substitute who would impersonate her. With the maid as his
+     confidante that would not be impossible. The woman's body might be
+     conveyed to the crypt, which is a place so seldom visited, and it
+     might be secretly destroyed at night in the furnace, leaving behind
+     it such evidence as we have already seen. What say you to that,
+     Watson?"
+
+     "Well, it is all possible if you grant the original monstrous
+     supposition."
+
+     "I think that there is a small experiment which we may try to-morrow,
+     Watson, in order to throw some light on the matter. Meanwhile, if we
+     mean to keep up our characters, I suggest that we have our host in
+     for a glass of his own wine and hold some high converse upon eels and
+     dace, which seems to be the straight road to his affections. We may
+     chance to come upon some useful local gossip in the process."
+
+     In the morning Holmes discovered that we had come without our
+     spoon-bait for jack, which absolved us from fishing for the day.
+     About eleven o'clock we started for a walk, and he obtained leave to
+     take the black spaniel with us.
+
+     "This is the place," said he as we came to two high park gates with
+     heraldic griffins towering above them. "About midday, Mr. Barnes
+     informs me, the old lady takes a drive, and the carriage must slow
+     down while the gates are opened. When it comes through, and before it
+     gathers speed, I want you, Watson, to stop the coachman with some
+     question. Never mind me. I shall stand behind this holly-bush and see
+     what I can see."
+
+     It was not a long vigil. Within a quarter of an hour we saw the big
+     open yellow barouche coming down the long avenue, with two splendid,
+     high-stepping gray carriage horses in the shafts. Holmes crouched
+     behind his bush with the dog. I stood unconcernedly swinging a cane
+     in the roadway. A keeper ran out and the gates swung open.
+
+     The carriage had slowed to a walk, and I was able to get a good look
+     at the occupants. A highly coloured young woman with flaxen hair and
+     impudent eyes sat on the left. At her right was an elderly person
+     with rounded back and a huddle of shawls about her face and shoulders
+     which proclaimed the invalid. When the horses reached the highroad I
+     held up my hand with an authoritative gesture, and as the coachman
+     pulled up I inquired if Sir Robert was at Shoscombe Old Place.
+
+     At the same moment Holmes stepped out and released the spaniel. With
+     a joyous cry it dashed forward to the carriage and sprang upon the
+     step. Then in a moment its eager greeting changed to furious rage,
+     and it snapped at the black skirt above it.
+
+     "Drive on! Drive on!" shrieked a harsh voice. The coachman lashed the
+     horses, and we were left standing in the roadway.
+
+     "Well, Watson, that's done it," said Holmes as he fastened the lead
+     to the neck of the excited spaniel. "He thought it was his mistress,
+     and he found it was a stranger. Dogs don't make mistakes."
+
+     "But it was the voice of a man!" I cried.
+
+     "Exactly! We have added one card to our hand, Watson, but it needs
+     careful playing, all the same."
+
+     My companion seemed to have no further plans for the day, and we did
+     actually use our fishing tackle in the mill-stream, with the result
+     that we had a dish of trout for our supper. It was only after that
+     meal that Holmes showed signs of renewed activity. Once more we found
+     ourselves upon the same road as in the morning, which led us to the
+     park gates. A tall, dark figure was awaiting us there, who proved to
+     be our London acquaintance, Mr. John Mason, the trainer.
+
+     "Good-evening, gentlemen," said he. "I got your note, Mr. Holmes. Sir
+     Robert has not returned yet, but I hear that he is expected
+     to-night."
+
+     "How far is this crypt from the house?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "A good quarter of a mile."
+
+     "Then I think we can disregard him altogether."
+
+     "I can't afford to do that, Mr. Holmes. The moment he arrives he will
+     want to see me to get the last news of Shoscombe Prince."
+
+     "I see! In that case we must work without you, Mr. Mason. You can
+     show us the crypt and then leave us."
+
+     It was pitch-dark and without a moon, but Mason led us over the
+     grass-lands until a dark mass loomed up in front of us which proved
+     to be the ancient chapel. We entered the broken gap which was once
+     the porch, and our guide, stumbling among heaps of loose masonry,
+     picked his way to the corner of the building, where a steep stair led
+     down into the crypt. Striking a match, he illuminated the melancholy
+     place--dismal and evil-smelling, with ancient crumbling walls of
+     rough-hewn stone, and piles of coffins, some of lead and some of
+     stone, extending upon one side right up to the arched and groined
+     roof which lost itself in the shadows above our heads. Holmes had lit
+     his lantern, which shot a tiny tunnel of vivid yellow light upon the
+     mournful scene. Its rays were reflected back from the coffin-plates,
+     many of them adorned with the griffin and coronet of this old family
+     which carried its honours even to the gate of Death.
+
+     "You spoke of some bones, Mr. Mason. Could you show them before you
+     go?"
+
+     "They are here in this corner." The trainer strode across and then
+     stood in silent surprise as our light was turned upon the place.
+     "They are gone," said he.
+
+     "So I expected," said Holmes, chuckling. "I fancy the ashes of them
+     might even now be found in that oven which had already consumed a
+     part."
+
+     "But why in the world would anyone want to burn the bones of a man
+     who has been dead a thousand years?" asked John Mason.
+
+     "That is what we are here to find out," said Holmes. "It may mean a
+     long search, and we need not detain you. I fancy that we shall get
+     our solution before morning."
+
+     When John Mason had left us, Holmes set to work making a very careful
+     examination of the graves, ranging from a very ancient one, which
+     appeared to be Saxon, in the centre, through a long line of Norman
+     Hugos and Odos, until we reached the Sir William and Sir Denis Falder
+     of the eighteenth century. It was an hour or more before Holmes came
+     to a leaden coffin standing on end before the entrance to the vault.
+     I heard his little cry of satisfaction and was aware from his hurried
+     but purposeful movements that he had reached a goal. With his lens he
+     was eagerly examining the edges of the heavy lid. Then he drew from
+     his pocket a short jemmy, a box-opener, which he thrust into a chink,
+     levering back the whole front, which seemed to be secured by only a
+     couple of clamps. There was a rending, tearing sound as it gave way,
+     but it had hardly hinged back and partly revealed the contents before
+     we had an unforeseen interruption.
+
+     Someone was walking in the chapel above. It was the firm, rapid step
+     of one who came with a definite purpose and knew well the ground upon
+     which he walked. A light streamed down the stairs, and an instant
+     later the man who bore it was framed in the Gothic archway. He was a
+     terrible figure, huge in stature and fierce in manner. A large
+     stable-lantern which he held in front of him shone upward upon a
+     strong, heavily moustached face and angry eyes, which glared round
+     him into every recess of the vault, finally fixing themselves with a
+     deadly stare upon my companion and myself.
+
+     "Who the devil are you?" he thundered. "And what are you doing upon
+     my property?" Then, as Holmes returned no answer, he took a couple of
+     steps forward and raised a heavy stick which he carried. "Do you hear
+     me?" he cried. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" His cudgel
+     quivered in the air.
+
+     But instead of shrinking Holmes advanced to meet him.
+
+     "I also have a question to ask you, Sir Robert," he said in his
+     sternest tone. "Who is this? And what is it doing here?"
+
+     He turned and tore open the coffin-lid behind him. In the glare of
+     the lantern I saw a body swathed in a sheet from head to foot, with
+     dreadful, witch-like features, all nose and chin, projecting at one
+     end, the dim, glazed eyes staring from a discoloured and crumbling
+     face.
+
+     The baronet had staggered back with a cry and supported himself
+     against a stone sarcophagus.
+
+     "How came you to know of this?" he cried. And then, with some return
+     of his truculent manner: "What business is it of yours?"
+
+     "My name is Sherlock Holmes," said my companion. "Possibly it is
+     familiar to you. In any case, my business is that of every other good
+     citizen--to uphold the law. It seems to me that you have much to
+     answer for."
+
+     Sir Robert glared for a moment, but Holmes's quiet voice and cool,
+     assured manner had their effect.
+
+     "'Fore God, Mr. Holmes, it's all right," said he. "Appearances are
+     against me, I'll admit, but I could act no otherwise."
+
+     "I should be happy to think so, but I fear your explanations must be
+     before the police."
+
+     Sir Robert shrugged his broad shoulders.
+
+     "Well, if it must be, it must. Come up to the house and you can judge
+     for yourself how the matter stands."
+
+     A quarter of an hour later we found ourselves in what I judge, from
+     the lines of polished barrels behind glass covers, to be the gun-room
+     of the old house. It was comfortably furnished, and here Sir Robert
+     left us for a few moments. When he returned he had two companions
+     with him; the one, the florid young woman whom we had seen in the
+     carriage; the other, a small rat-faced man with a disagreeably
+     furtive manner. These two wore an appearance of utter bewilderment,
+     which showed that the baronet had not yet had time to explain to them
+     the turn events had taken.
+
+     "There," said Sir Robert with a wave of his hand, "are Mr. and Mrs.
+     Norlett. Mrs. Norlett, under her maiden name of Evans, has for some
+     years been my sister's confidential maid. I have brought them here
+     because I feel that my best course is to explain the true position to
+     you, and they are the two people upon earth who can substantiate what
+     I say."
+
+     "Is this necessary, Sir Robert? Have you thought what you are doing?"
+     cried the woman.
+
+     "As to me, I entirely disclaim all responsibility," said her husband.
+
+     Sir Robert gave him a glance of contempt. "I will take all
+     responsibility," said he. "Now, Mr. Holmes, listen to a plain
+     statement of the facts.
+
+     "You have clearly gone pretty deeply into my affairs or I should not
+     have found you where I did. Therefore, you know already, in all
+     probability, that I am running a dark horse for the Derby and that
+     everything depends upon my success. If I win, all is easy. If I
+     lose--well, I dare not think of that!"
+
+     "I understand the position," said Holmes.
+
+     "I am dependent upon my sister, Lady Beatrice, for everything. But it
+     is well known that her interest in the estate is for her own life
+     only. For myself, I am deeply in the hands of the Jews. I have always
+     known that if my sister were to die my creditors would be on to my
+     estate like a flock of vultures. Everything would be seized--my
+     stables, my horses--everything. Well, Mr. Holmes, my sister did die
+     just a week ago."
+
+     "And you told no one!"
+
+     "What could I do? Absolute ruin faced me. If I could stave things off
+     for three weeks all would be well. Her maid's husband--this man
+     here--is an actor. It came into our heads--it came into my head--that
+     he could for that short period personate my sister. It was but a case
+     of appearing daily in the carriage, for no one need enter her room
+     save the maid. It was not difficult to arrange. My sister died of the
+     dropsy which had long afflicted her."
+
+     "That will be for a coroner to decide."
+
+     "Her doctor would certify that for months her symptoms have
+     threatened such an end."
+
+     "Well, what did you do?"
+
+     "The body could not remain there. On the first night Norlett and I
+     carried it out to the old well-house, which is now never used. We
+     were followed, however, by her pet spaniel, which yapped continually
+     at the door, so I felt some safer place was needed. I got rid of the
+     spaniel, and we carried the body to the crypt of the church. There
+     was no indignity or irreverence, Mr. Holmes. I do not feel that I
+     have wronged the dead."
+
+     "Your conduct seems to me inexcusable, Sir Robert."
+
+     The baronet shook his head impatiently. "It is easy to preach," said
+     he. "Perhaps you would have felt differently if you had been in my
+     position. One cannot see all one's hopes and all one's plans
+     shattered at the last moment and make no effort to save them. It
+     seemed to me that it would be no unworthy resting-place if we put her
+     for the time in one of the coffins of her husband's ancestors lying
+     in what is still consecrated ground. We opened such a coffin, removed
+     the contents, and placed her as you have seen her. As to the old
+     relics which we took out, we could not leave them on the floor of the
+     crypt. Norlett and I removed them, and he descended at night and
+     burned them in the central furnace. There is my story, Mr. Holmes,
+     though how you forced my hand so that I have to tell it is more than
+     I can say."
+
+     Holmes sat for some time lost in thought.
+
+     "There is one flaw in your narrative, Sir Robert," he said at last.
+     "Your bets on the race, and therefore your hopes for the future,
+     would hold good even if your creditors seized your estate."
+
+     "The horse would be part of the estate. What do they care for my
+     bets? As likely as not they would not run him at all. My chief
+     creditor is, unhappily, my most bitter enemy--a rascally fellow, Sam
+     Brewer, whom I was once compelled to horsewhip on Newmarket Heath. Do
+     you suppose that he would try to save me?"
+
+     "Well, Sir Robert," said Holmes, rising, "this matter must, of
+     course, be referred to the police. It was my duty to bring the facts
+     to light, and there I must leave it. As to the morality or decency of
+     your conduct, it is not for me to express an opinion. It is nearly
+     midnight, Watson, and I think we may make our way back to our humble
+     abode."
+
+     It is generally known now that this singular episode ended upon a
+     happier note than Sir Robert's actions deserved. Shoscombe Prince did
+     win the Derby, the sporting owner did net eighty thousand pounds in
+     bets, and the creditors did hold their hand until the race was over,
+     when they were paid in full, and enough was left to reestablish Sir
+     Robert in a fair position in life. Both police and coroner took a
+     lenient view of the transaction, and beyond a mild censure for the
+     delay in registering the lady's decease, the lucky owner got away
+     scatheless from this strange incident in a career which has now
+     outlived its shadows and promises to end in an honoured old age.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     THE ADVENTURE OF THE RETIRED COLOURMAN
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was in a melancholy and philosophic mood that
+     morning. His alert practical nature was subject to such reactions.
+
+     "Did you see him?" he asked.
+
+     "You mean the old fellow who has just gone out?"
+
+     "Precisely."
+
+     "Yes, I met him at the door."
+
+     "What did you think of him?"
+
+     "A pathetic, futile, broken creature."
+
+     "Exactly, Watson. Pathetic and futile. But is not all life pathetic
+     and futile? Is not his story a microcosm of the whole? We reach. We
+     grasp. And what is left in our hands at the end? A shadow. Or worse
+     than a shadow--misery."
+
+     "Is he one of your clients?"
+
+     "Well, I suppose I may call him so. He has been sent on by the Yard.
+     Just as medical men occasionally send their incurables to a quack.
+     They argue that they can do nothing more, and that whatever happens
+     the patient can be no worse than he is."
+
+     "What is the matter?"
+
+     Holmes took a rather soiled card from the table. "Josiah Amberley. He
+     says he was junior partner of Brickfall and Amberley, who are
+     manufacturers of artistic materials. You will see their names upon
+     paint-boxes. He made his little pile, retired from business at the
+     age of sixty-one, bought a house at Lewisham, and settled down to
+     rest after a life of ceaseless grind. One would think his future was
+     tolerably assured."
+
+     "Yes, indeed."
+
+     Holmes glanced over some notes which he had scribbled upon the back
+     of an envelope.
+
+     "Retired in 1896, Watson. Early in 1897 he married a woman twenty
+     years younger than himself--a good-looking woman, too, if the
+     photograph does not flatter. A competence, a wife, leisure--it seemed
+     a straight road which lay before him. And yet within two years he is,
+     as you have seen, as broken and miserable a creature as crawls
+     beneath the sun."
+
+     "But what has happened?"
+
+     "The old story, Watson. A treacherous friend and a fickle wife. It
+     would appear that Amberley has one hobby in life, and it is chess.
+     Not far from him at Lewisham there lives a young doctor who is also a
+     chess-player. I have noted his name as Dr. Ray Ernest. Ernest was
+     frequently in the house, and an intimacy between him and Mrs.
+     Amberley was a natural sequence, for you must admit that our
+     unfortunate client has few outward graces, whatever his inner virtues
+     may be. The couple went off together last week--destination untraced.
+     What is more, the faithless spouse carried off the old man's deed-box
+     as her personal luggage with a good part of his life's savings
+     within. Can we find the lady? Can we save the money? A commonplace
+     problem so far as it has developed, and yet a vital one for Josiah
+     Amberley."
+
+     "What will you do about it?"
+
+     "Well, the immediate question, my dear Watson, happens to be, What
+     will you do?--if you will be good enough to understudy me. You know
+     that I am preoccupied with this case of the two Coptic Patriarchs,
+     which should come to a head to-day. I really have not time to go out
+     to Lewisham, and yet evidence taken on the spot has a special value.
+     The old fellow was quite insistent that I should go, but I explained
+     my difficulty. He is prepared to meet a representative."
+
+     "By all means," I answered. "I confess I don't see that I can be of
+     much service, but I am willing to do my best." And so it was that on
+     a summer afternoon I set forth to Lewisham, little dreaming that
+     within a week the affair in which I was engaging would be the eager
+     debate of all England.
+
+     It was late that evening before I returned to Baker Street and gave
+     an account of my mission. Holmes lay with his gaunt figure stretched
+     in his deep chair, his pipe curling forth slow wreaths of acrid
+     tobacco, while his eyelids drooped over his eyes so lazily that he
+     might almost have been asleep were it not that at any halt or
+     questionable passage of my narrative they half lifted, and two gray
+     eyes, as bright and keen as rapiers, transfixed me with their
+     searching glance.
+
+     "The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house," I explained.
+     "I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious
+     patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know
+     that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary
+     suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of
+     ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high
+     sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of
+     wall--"
+
+     "Cut out the poetry, Watson," said Holmes severely. "I note that it
+     was a high brick wall."
+
+     "Exactly. I should not have known which was The Haven had I not asked
+     a lounger who was smoking in the street. I have a reason for
+     mentioning him. He was a tall, dark, heavily moustached, rather
+     military-looking man. He nodded in answer to my inquiry and gave me a
+     curiously questioning glance, which came back to my memory a little
+     later.
+
+     "I had hardly entered the gateway before I saw Mr. Amberley coming
+     down the drive. I only had a glimpse of him this morning, and he
+     certainly gave me the impression of a strange creature, but when I
+     saw him in full light his appearance was even more abnormal."
+
+     "I have, of course, studied it, and yet I should be interested to
+     have your impression," said Holmes.
+
+     "He seemed to me like a man who was literally bowed down by care. His
+     back was curved as though he carried a heavy burden. Yet he was not
+     the weakling that I had at first imagined, for his shoulders and
+     chest have the framework of a giant, though his figure tapers away
+     into a pair of spindled legs."
+
+     "Left shoe wrinkled, right one smooth."
+
+     "I did not observe that."
+
+     "No, you wouldn't. I spotted his artificial limb. But proceed."
+
+     "I was struck by the snaky locks of grizzled hair which curled from
+     under his old straw hat, and his face with its fierce, eager
+     expression and the deeply lined features."
+
+     "Very good, Watson. What did he say?"
+
+     "He began pouring out the story of his grievances. We walked down the
+     drive together, and of course I took a good look round. I have never
+     seen a worse-kept place. The garden was all running to seed, giving
+     me an impression of wild neglect in which the plants had been allowed
+     to find the way of Nature rather than of art. How any decent woman
+     could have tolerated such a state of things, I don't know. The house,
+     too, was slatternly to the last degree, but the poor man seemed
+     himself to be aware of it and to be trying to remedy it, for a great
+     pot of green paint stood in the centre of the hall, and he was
+     carrying a thick brush in his left hand. He had been working on the
+     woodwork.
+
+     "He took me into his dingy sanctum, and we had a long chat. Of
+     course, he was disappointed that you had not come yourself. 'I hardly
+     expected,' he said, 'that so humble an individual as myself,
+     especially after my heavy financial loss, could obtain the complete
+     attention of so famous a man as Mr. Sherlock Holmes.'
+
+     "I assured him that the financial question did not arise. 'No, of
+     course, it is art for art's sake with him,' said he, 'but even on the
+     artistic side of crime he might have found something here to study.
+     And human nature, Dr. Watson--the black ingratitude of it all! When
+     did I ever refuse one of her requests? Was ever a woman so pampered?
+     And that young man--he might have been my own son. He had the run of
+     my house. And yet see how they have treated me! Oh, Dr. Watson, it is
+     a dreadful, dreadful world!'
+
+     "That was the burden of his song for an hour or more. He had, it
+     seems, no suspicion of an intrigue. They lived alone save for a woman
+     who comes in by the day and leaves every evening at six. On that
+     particular evening old Amberley, wishing to give his wife a treat,
+     had taken two upper circle seats at the Haymarket Theatre. At the
+     last moment she had complained of a headache and had refused to go.
+     He had gone alone. There seemed to be no doubt about the fact, for he
+     produced the unused ticket which he had taken for his wife."
+
+     "That is remarkable--most remarkable," said Holmes, whose interest in
+     the case seemed to be rising. "Pray continue, Watson. I find your
+     narrative most arresting. Did you personally examine this ticket? You
+     did not, perchance, take the number?"
+
+     "It so happens that I did," I answered with some pride. "It chanced
+     to be my old school number, thirty-one, and so is stuck in my head."
+
+     "Excellent, Watson! His seat, then, was either thirty or thirty-two."
+
+     "Quite so," I answered with some mystification. "And on B row."
+
+     "That is most satisfactory. What else did he tell you?"
+
+     "He showed me his strong-room, as he called it. It really is a
+     strong-room--like a bank--with iron door and shutter--burglar-proof,
+     as he claimed. However, the woman seems to have had a duplicate key,
+     and between them they had carried off some seven thousand pounds'
+     worth of cash and securities."
+
+     "Securities! How could they dispose of those?"
+
+     "He said that he had given the police a list and that he hoped they
+     would be unsaleable. He had got back from the theatre about midnight
+     and found the place plundered, the door and window open, and the
+     fugitives gone. There was no letter or message, nor has he heard a
+     word since. He at once gave the alarm to the police."
+
+     Holmes brooded for some minutes.
+
+     "You say he was painting. What was he painting?"
+
+     "Well, he was painting the passage. But he had already painted the
+     door and woodwork of this room I spoke of."
+
+     "Does it not strike you as a strange occupation in the
+     circumstances?"
+
+     "'One must do something to ease an aching heart.' That was his own
+     explanation. It was eccentric, no doubt, but he is clearly an
+     eccentric man. He tore up one of his wife's photographs in my
+     presence--tore it up furiously in a tempest of passion. 'I never wish
+     to see her damned face again,' he shrieked."
+
+     "Anything more, Watson?"
+
+     "Yes, one thing which struck me more than anything else. I had driven
+     to the Blackheath Station and had caught my train there when, just as
+     it was starting, I saw a man dart into the carriage next to my own.
+     You know that I have a quick eye for faces, Holmes. It was
+     undoubtedly the tall, dark man whom I had addressed in the street. I
+     saw him once more at London Bridge, and then I lost him in the crowd.
+     But I am convinced that he was following me."
+
+     "No doubt! No doubt!" said Holmes. "A tall, dark, heavily moustached
+     man, you say, with gray-tinted sun-glasses?"
+
+     "Holmes, you are a wizard. I did not say so, but he had gray-tinted
+     sun-glasses."
+
+     "And a Masonic tie-pin?"
+
+     "Holmes!"
+
+     "Quite simple, my dear Watson. But let us get down to what is
+     practical. I must admit to you that the case, which seemed to me to
+     be so absurdly simple as to be hardly worth my notice, is rapidly
+     assuming a very different aspect. It is true that though in your
+     mission you have missed everything of importance, yet even those
+     things which have obtruded themselves upon your notice give rise to
+     serious thought."
+
+     "What have I missed?"
+
+     "Don't be hurt, my dear fellow. You know that I am quite impersonal.
+     No one else would have done better. Some possibly not so well. But
+     clearly you have missed some vital points. What is the opinion of the
+     neighbours about this man Amberley and his wife? That surely is of
+     importance. What of Dr. Ernest? Was he the gay Lothario one would
+     expect? With your natural advantages, Watson, every lady is your
+     helper and accomplice. What about the girl at the post-office, or the
+     wife of the greengrocer? I can picture you whispering soft nothings
+     with the young lady at the Blue Anchor, and receiving hard somethings
+     in exchange. All this you have left undone."
+
+     "It can still be done."
+
+     "It has been done. Thanks to the telephone and the help of the Yard,
+     I can usually get my essentials without leaving this room. As a
+     matter of fact, my information confirms the man's story. He has the
+     local repute of being a miser as well as a harsh and exacting
+     husband. That he had a large sum of money in that strong-room of his
+     is certain. So also is it that young Dr. Ernest, an unmarried man,
+     played chess with Amberley, and probably played the fool with his
+     wife. All this seems plain sailing, and one would think that there
+     was no more to be said--and yet!--and yet!"
+
+     "Where lies the difficulty?"
+
+     "In my imagination, perhaps. Well, leave it there, Watson. Let us
+     escape from this weary workaday world by the side door of music.
+     Carina sings to-night at the Albert Hall, and we still have time to
+     dress, dine, and enjoy."
+
+     In the morning I was up betimes, but some toast crumbs and two empty
+     egg-shells told me that my companion was earlier still. I found a
+     scribbled note upon the table.
+
+     Dear Watson:
+     There are one or two points of contact which I should wish to
+     establish with Mr. Josiah Amberley. When I have done so we can
+     dismiss the case--or not. I would only ask you to be on hand about
+     three o'clock, as I conceive it possible that I may want you.
+     S. H.
+
+     I saw nothing of Holmes all day, but at the hour named he returned,
+     grave, preoccupied, and aloof. At such times it was wiser to leave
+     him to himself.
+
+     "Has Amberley been here yet?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Ah! I am expecting him."
+
+     He was not disappointed, for presently the old fellow arrived with a
+     very worried and puzzled expression upon his austere face.
+
+     "I've had a telegram, Mr. Holmes. I can make nothing of it." He
+     handed it over, and Holmes read it aloud.
+
+     "Come at once without fail. Can give you information as to your
+     recent loss.
+     "Elman.
+     "The Vicarage.
+
+     "Dispatched at 2.10 from Little Purlington," said Holmes. "Little
+     Purlington is in Essex, I believe, not far from Frinton. Well, of
+     course you will start at once. This is evidently from a responsible
+     person, the vicar of the place. Where is my Crockford? Yes, here we
+     have him: 'J. C. Elman, M. A., Living of Moosmoor cum Little
+     Purlington.' Look up the trains, Watson."
+
+     "There is one at 5.20 from Liverpool Street."
+
+     "Excellent. You had best go with him, Watson. He may need help or
+     advice. Clearly we have come to a crisis in this affair."
+
+     But our client seemed by no means eager to start.
+
+     "It's perfectly absurd, Mr. Holmes," he said. "What can this man
+     possibly know of what has occurred? It is waste of time and money."
+
+     "He would not have telegraphed to you if he did not know something.
+     Wire at once that you are coming."
+
+     "I don't think I shall go."
+
+     Holmes assumed his sternest aspect.
+
+     "It would make the worst possible impression both on the police and
+     upon myself, Mr. Amberley, if when so obvious a clue arose you should
+     refuse to follow it up. We should feel that you were not really in
+     earnest in this investigation."
+
+     Our client seemed horrified at the suggestion.
+
+     "Why, of course I shall go if you look at it in that way," said he.
+     "On the face of it, it seems absurd to suppose that this person knows
+     anything, but if you think--"
+
+     "I do think," said Holmes with emphasis, and so we were launched upon
+     our journey. Holmes took me aside before we left the room and gave me
+     one word of counsel, which showed that he considered the matter to be
+     of importance. "Whatever you do, see that he really does go," said
+     he. "Should he break away or return, get to the nearest telephone
+     exchange and send the single word 'Bolted.' I will arrange here that
+     it shall reach me wherever I am."
+
+     Little Purlington is not an easy place to reach, for it is on a
+     branch line. My remembrance of the journey is not a pleasant one, for
+     the weather was hot, the train slow, and my companion sullen and
+     silent, hardly talking at all save to make an occasional sardonic
+     remark as to the futility of our proceedings. When we at last reached
+     the little station it was a two-mile drive before we came to the
+     Vicarage, where a big, solemn, rather pompous clergyman received us
+     in his study. Our telegram lay before him.
+
+     "Well, gentlemen," he asked, "what can I do for you?"
+
+     "We came," I explained, "in answer to your wire."
+
+     "My wire! I sent no wire."
+
+     "I mean the wire which you sent to Mr. Josiah Amberley about his wife
+     and his money."
+
+     "If this is a joke, sir, it is a very questionable one," said the
+     vicar angrily. "I have never heard of the gentleman you name, and I
+     have not sent a wire to anyone."
+
+     Our client and I looked at each other in amazement.
+
+     "Perhaps there is some mistake," said I; "are there perhaps two
+     vicarages? Here is the wire itself, signed Elman and dated from the
+     Vicarage."
+
+     "There is only one vicarage, sir, and only one vicar, and this wire
+     is a scandalous forgery, the origin of which shall certainly be
+     investigated by the police. Meanwhile, I can see no possible object
+     in prolonging this interview."
+
+     So Mr. Amberley and I found ourselves on the roadside in what seemed
+     to me to be the most primitive village in England. We made for the
+     telegraph office, but it was already closed. There was a telephone,
+     however, at the little Railway Arms, and by it I got into touch with
+     Holmes, who shared in our amazement at the result of our journey.
+
+     "Most singular!" said the distant voice. "Most remarkable! I much
+     fear, my dear Watson, that there is no return train to-night. I have
+     unwittingly condemned you to the horrors of a country inn. However,
+     there is always Nature, Watson--Nature and Josiah Amberley--you can
+     be in close commune with both." I heard his dry chuckle as he turned
+     away.
+
+     It was soon apparent to me that my companion's reputation as a miser
+     was not undeserved. He had grumbled at the expense of the journey,
+     had insisted upon travelling third-class, and was now clamorous in
+     his objections to the hotel bill. Next morning, when we did at last
+     arrive in London, it was hard to say which of us was in the worse
+     humour.
+
+     "You had best take Baker Street as we pass," said I. "Mr. Holmes may
+     have some fresh instructions."
+
+     "If they are not worth more than the last ones they are not of much
+     use, " said Amberley with a malevolent scowl. None the less, he kept
+     me company. I had already warned Holmes by telegram of the hour of
+     our arrival, but we found a message waiting that he was at Lewisham
+     and would expect us there. That was a surprise, but an even greater
+     one was to find that he was not alone in the sitting-room of our
+     client. A stern-looking, impassive man sat beside him, a dark man
+     with gray-tinted glasses and a large Masonic pin projecting from his
+     tie.
+
+     "This is my friend Mr. Barker," said Holmes. "He has been interesting
+     himself also in your business, Mr. Josiah Amberley, though we have
+     been working independently. But we both have the same question to ask
+     you!"
+
+     Mr. Amberley sat down heavily. He sensed impending danger. I read it
+     in his straining eyes and his twitching features.
+
+     "What is the question, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Only this: What did you do with the bodies?"
+
+     The man sprang to his feet with a hoarse scream. He clawed into the
+     air with his bony hands. His mouth was open, and for the instant he
+     looked like some horrible bird of prey. In a flash we got a glimpse
+     of the real Josiah Amberley, a misshapen demon with a soul as
+     distorted as his body. As he fell back into his chair he clapped his
+     hand to his lips as if to stifle a cough. Holmes sprang at his throat
+     like a tiger and twisted his face towards the ground. A white pellet
+     fell from between his gasping lips.
+
+     "No short cuts, Josiah Amberley. Things must be done decently and in
+     order. What about it, Barker?"
+
+     "I have a cab at the door," said our taciturn companion.
+
+     "It is only a few hundred yards to the station. We will go together.
+     You can stay here, Watson. I shall be back within half an hour."
+
+     The old colourman had the strength of a lion in that great trunk of
+     his, but he was helpless in the hands of the two experienced
+     man-handlers. Wriggling and twisting he was dragged to the waiting
+     cab, and I was left to my solitary vigil in the ill-omened house. In
+     less time than he had named, however, Holmes was back, in company
+     with a smart young police inspector.
+
+     "I've left Barker to look after the formalities," said Holmes. "You
+     had not met Barker, Watson. He is my hated rival upon the Surrey
+     shore. When you said a tall dark man it was not difficult for me to
+     complete the picture. He has several good cases to his credit, has he
+     not, Inspector?"
+
+     "He has certainly interfered several times," the inspector answered
+     with reserve.
+
+     "His methods are irregular, no doubt, like my own. The irregulars are
+     useful sometimes, you know. You, for example, with your compulsory
+     warning about whatever he said being used against him, could never
+     have bluffed this rascal into what is virtually a confession."
+
+     "Perhaps not. But we get there all the same, Mr. Holmes. Don't
+     imagine that we had not formed our own views of this case, and that
+     we would not have laid our hands on our man. You will excuse us for
+     feeling sore when you jump in with methods which we cannot use, and
+     so rob us of the credit."
+
+     "There shall be no such robbery, MacKinnon. I assure you that I
+     efface myself from now onward, and as to Barker, he has done nothing
+     save what I told him."
+
+     The inspector seemed considerably relieved.
+
+     "That is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes. Praise or blame can matter
+     little to you, but it is very different to us when the newspapers
+     begin to ask questions."
+
+     "Quite so. But they are pretty sure to ask questions anyhow, so it
+     would be as well to have answers. What will you say, for example,
+     when the intelligent and enterprising reporter asks you what the
+     exact points were which aroused your suspicion, and finally gave you
+     a certain conviction as to the real facts?"
+
+     The inspector looked puzzled.
+
+     "We don't seem to have got any real facts yet, Mr. Holmes. You say
+     that the prisoner, in the presence of three witnesses, practically
+     confessed by trying to commit suicide, that he had murdered his wife
+     and her lover. What other facts have you?"
+
+     "Have you arranged for a search?"
+
+     "There are three constables on their way."
+
+     "Then you will soon get the clearest fact of all. The bodies cannot
+     be far away. Try the cellars and the garden. It should not take long
+     to dig up the likely places. This house is older than the
+     water-pipes. There must be a disused well somewhere. Try your luck
+     there."
+
+     "But how did you know of it, and how was it done?"
+
+     "I'll show you first how it was done, and then I will give the
+     explanation which is due to you, and even more to my long-suffering
+     friend here, who has been invaluable throughout. But, first, I would
+     give you an insight into this man's mentality. It is a very unusual
+     one--so much so that I think his destination is more likely to be
+     Broadmoor than the scaffold. He has, to a high degree, the sort of
+     mind which one associates with the mediaeval Italian nature rather
+     than with the modern Briton. He was a miserable miser who made his
+     wife so wretched by his niggardly ways that she was a ready prey for
+     any adventurer. Such a one came upon the scene in the person of this
+     chess-playing doctor. Amberley excelled at chess--one mark, Watson,
+     of a scheming mind. Like all misers, he was a jealous man, and his
+     jealousy became a frantic mania. Rightly or wrongly, he suspected an
+     intrigue. He determined to have his revenge, and he planned it with
+     diabolical cleverness. Come here!"
+
+     Holmes led us along the passage with as much certainty as if he had
+     lived in the house and halted at the open door of the strong-room.
+
+     "Pooh! What an awful smell of paint!" cried the inspector.
+
+     "That was our first clue," said Holmes. "You can thank Dr. Watson's
+     observation for that, though he failed to draw the inference. It set
+     my foot upon the trail. Why should this man at such a time be filling
+     his house with strong odours? Obviously, to cover some other smell
+     which he wished to conceal--some guilty smell which would suggest
+     suspicions. Then came the idea of a room such as you see here with
+     iron door and shutter--a hermetically sealed room. Put those two
+     facts together, and whither do they lead? I could only determine that
+     by examining the house myself. I was already certain that the case
+     was serious, for I had examined the box-office chart at the Haymarket
+     Theatre--another of Dr. Watson's bull's-eyes--and ascertained that
+     neither B thirty nor thirty-two of the upper circle had been occupied
+     that night. Therefore, Amberley had not been to the theatre, and his
+     alibi fell to the ground. He made a bad slip when he allowed my
+     astute friend to notice the number of the seat taken for his wife.
+     The question now arose how I might be able to examine the house. I
+     sent an agent to the most impossible village I could think of, and
+     summoned my man to it at such an hour that he could not possibly get
+     back. To prevent any miscarriage, Dr. Watson accompanied him. The
+     good vicar's name I took, of course, out of my Crockford. Do I make
+     it all clear to you?"
+
+     "It is masterly," said the inspector in an awed voice.
+
+     "There being no fear of interruption I proceeded to burgle the house.
+     Burglary has always been an alternative profession had I cared to
+     adopt it, and I have little doubt that I should have come to the
+     front. Observe what I found. You see the gas-pipe along the skirting
+     here. Very good. It rises in the angle of the wall, and there is a
+     tap here in the corner. The pipe runs out into the strong-room, as
+     you can see, and ends in that plaster rose in the centre of the
+     ceiling, where it is concealed by the ornamentation. That end is wide
+     open. At any moment by turning the outside tap the room could be
+     flooded with gas. With door and shutter closed and the tap full on I
+     would not give two minutes of conscious sensation to anyone shut up
+     in that little chamber. By what devilish device he decoyed them there
+     I do not know, but once inside the door they were at his mercy."
+
+     The inspector examined the pipe with interest. "One of our officers
+     mentioned the smell of gas," said he, "but of course the window and
+     door were open then, and the paint--or some of it--was already about.
+     He had begun the work of painting the day before, according to his
+     story. But what next, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Well, then came an incident which was rather unexpected to myself. I
+     was slipping through the pantry window in the early dawn when I felt
+     a hand inside my collar, and a voice said: 'Now, you rascal, what are
+     you doing in there?' When I could twist my head round I looked into
+     the tinted spectacles of my friend and rival, Mr. Barker. It was a
+     curious foregathering and set us both smiling. It seems that he had
+     been engaged by Dr. Ray Ernest's family to make some investigations
+     and had come to the same conclusion as to foul play. He had watched
+     the house for some days and had spotted Dr. Watson as one of the
+     obviously suspicious characters who had called there. He could hardly
+     arrest Watson, but when he saw a man actually climbing out of the
+     pantry window there came a limit to his restraint. Of course, I told
+     him how matters stood and we continued the case together."
+
+     "Why him? Why not us?"
+
+     "Because it was in my mind to put that little test which answered so
+     admirably. I fear you would not have gone so far."
+
+     The inspector smiled.
+
+     "Well, maybe not. I understand that I have your word, Mr. Holmes,
+     that you step right out of the case now and that you turn all your
+     results over to us."
+
+     "Certainly, that is always my custom."
+
+     "Well, in the name of the force I thank you. It seems a clear case,
+     as you put it, and there can't be much difficulty over the bodies."
+
+     "I'll show you a grim little bit of evidence," said Holmes, "and I am
+     sure Amberley himself never observed it. You'll get results,
+     Inspector, by always putting yourself in the other fellow's place,
+     and thinking what you would do yourself. It takes some imagination,
+     but it pays. Now, we will suppose that you were shut up in this
+     little room, had not two minutes to live, but wanted to get even with
+     the fiend who was probably mocking at you from the other side of the
+     door. What would you do?"
+
+     "Write a message."
+
+     "Exactly. You would like to tell people how you died. No use writing
+     on paper. That would be seen. If you wrote on the wall someone might
+     rest upon it. Now, look here! Just above the skirting is scribbled
+     with a purple indelible pencil: 'We we--' That's all."
+
+     "What do you make of that?"
+
+     "Well, it's only a foot above the ground. The poor devil was on the
+     floor dying when he wrote it. He lost his senses before he could
+     finish."
+
+     "He was writing, 'We were murdered.'"
+
+     "That's how I read it. If you find an indelible pencil on the body--"
+
+     "We'll look out for it, you may be sure. But those securities?
+     Clearly there was no robbery at all. And yet he did possess those
+     bonds. We verified that."
+
+     "You may be sure he has them hidden in a safe place. When the whole
+     elopement had passed into history, he would suddenly discover them
+     and announce that the guilty couple had relented and sent back the
+     plunder or had dropped it on the way."
+
+     "You certainly seem to have met every difficulty," said the
+     inspector. "Of course, he was bound to call us in, but why he should
+     have gone to you I can't understand."
+
+     "Pure swank!" Holmes answered. "He felt so clever and so sure of
+     himself that he imagined no one could touch him. He could say to any
+     suspicious neighbour, 'Look at the steps I have taken. I have
+     consulted not only the police but even Sherlock Holmes.'"
+
+     The inspector laughed.
+
+     "We must forgive you your 'even,' Mr. Holmes," said he, "it's as
+     workmanlike a job as I can remember."
+
+     A couple of days later my friend tossed across to me a copy of the
+     bi-weekly North Surrey Observer. Under a series of flaming headlines,
+     which began with "The Haven Horror" and ended with "Brilliant Police
+     Investigation," there was a packed column of print which gave the
+     first consecutive account of the affair. The concluding paragraph is
+     typical of the whole. It ran thus:
+
+     The remarkable acumen by which Inspector MacKinnon deduced from the
+     smell of paint that some other smell, that of gas, for example, might
+     be concealed; the bold deduction that the strong-room might also be
+     the death-chamber, and the subsequent inquiry which led to the
+     discovery of the bodies in a disused well, cleverly concealed by a
+     dog-kennel, should live in the history of crime as a standing example
+     of the intelligence of our professional detectives.
+
+     "Well, well, MacKinnon is a good fellow," said Holmes with a tolerant
+     smile. "You can file it in our archives, Watson. Some day the true
+     story may be told."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+     ----------
+     This text is provided to you "as-is" without any warranty. No
+     warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, are made to you as to
+     the text or any medium it may be on, including but not limited to
+     warranties of merchantablity or fitness for a particular purpose.
+
+     This text was formatted from various free ASCII and HTML variants.
+     See http://sherlock-holm.es for an electronic form of this text and
+     additional information about it.
+
+     This text comes from the collection's version 3.1.
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+                                  HIS LAST BOW
+
+                               Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+                                Table of contents
+
+               Preface
+               The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
+               The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
+               The Adventure of the Red Circle
+               The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
+               The Adventure of the Dying Detective
+               The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
+               The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
+               His Last Bow
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                     PREFACE
+
+     The friends of Mr. Sherlock Holmes will be glad to learn that he is
+     still alive and well, though somewhat crippled by occasional attacks
+     of rheumatism. He has, for many years, lived in a small farm upon the
+     downs five miles from Eastbourne, where his time is divided between
+     philosophy and agriculture. During this period of rest he has refused
+     the most princely offers to take up various cases, having determined
+     that his retirement was a permanent one. The approach of the German
+     war caused him, however, to lay his remarkable combination of
+     intellectual and practical activity at the disposal of the
+     government, with historical results which are recounted in His Last
+     Bow. Several previous experiences which have lain long in my
+     portfolio have been added to His Last Bow so as to complete the
+     volume.
+
+
+             John H. Watson, M. D.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         THE ADVENTURE OF WISTERIA LODGE
+
+
+
+
+
+                                Table of contents
+        The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles
+        The Tiger of San Pedro
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+          CHAPTER I
+          The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles
+
+
+     I find it recorded in my notebook that it was a bleak and windy day
+     towards the end of March in the year 1892.  Holmes had received a
+     telegram while we sat at our lunch, and he had scribbled a reply.  He
+     made no remark, but the matter remained in his thoughts, for he stood
+     in front of the fire afterwards with a thoughtful face, smoking his
+     pipe, and casting an occasional glance at the message. Suddenly he
+     turned upon me with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
+
+     "I suppose, Watson, we must look upon you as a man of letters," said
+     he. "How do you define the word 'grotesque'?"
+
+     "Strange--remarkable," I suggested.
+
+     He shook his head at my definition.
+
+     "There is surely something more than that," said he; "some underlying
+     suggestion of the tragic and the terrible.  If you cast your mind
+     back to some of those narratives with which you have afflicted a
+     long-suffering public, you will recognize how often the grotesque has
+     deepened into the criminal.  Think of that little affair of the
+     red-headed men.  That was grotesque enough in the outset, and yet it
+     ended in a desperate attempt at robbery.  Or, again, there was that
+     most grotesque affair of the five orange pips, which let straight to
+     a murderous conspiracy. The word puts me on the alert."
+
+     "Have you it there?" I asked.
+
+     He read the telegram aloud.
+
+     "Have just had most incredible and grotesque experience. May I
+     consult you?
+     "Scott Eccles,
+     "Post Office, Charing Cross."
+
+     "Man or woman?" I asked.
+
+     "Oh, man, of course. No woman would ever send a reply-paid telegram.
+     She would have come."
+
+     "Will you see him?"
+
+     "My dear Watson, you know how bored I have been since we locked up
+     Colonel Carruthers. My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself
+     to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it
+     was built. Life is commonplace, the papers are sterile; audacity and
+     romance seem to have passed forever from the criminal world. Can you
+     ask me, then, whether I am ready to look into any new problem,
+     however trivial it may prove? But here, unless I am mistaken, is our
+     client."
+
+     A measured step was heard upon the stairs, and a moment later a
+     stout, tall, gray-whiskered and solemnly respectable person was
+     ushered into the room.  His life history was written in his heavy
+     features and pompous manner.  From his spats to his gold-rimmed
+     spectacles he was a Conservative, a churchman, a good citizen,
+     orthodox and conventional to the last degree. But some amazing
+     experience had disturbed his native composure and left its traces in
+     his bristling hair, his flushed, angry cheeks, and his flurried,
+     excited manner. He plunged instantly into his business.
+
+     "I have had a most singular and unpleasant experience, Mr. Holmes,"
+     said he. "Never in my life have I been placed in such a situation. It
+     is most improper--most outrageous. I must insist upon some
+     explanation." He swelled and puffed in his anger.
+
+     "Pray sit down, Mr. Scott Eccles," said Holmes in a soothing voice.
+     "May I ask, in the first place, why you came to me at all?"
+
+     "Well, sir, it did not appear to be a matter which concerned the
+     police, and yet, when you have heard the facts, you must admit that I
+     could not leave it where it was. Private detectives are a class with
+     whom I have absolutely no sympathy, but none the less, having heard
+     your name--"
+
+     "Quite so.  But, in the second place, why did you not come at once?"
+
+     "What do you mean?"
+
+     Holmes glanced at his watch.
+
+     "It is a quarter-past two," he said. "Your telegram was dispatched
+     about one. But no one can glance at your toilet and attire without
+     seeing that your disturbance dates from the moment of your waking."
+
+     Our client smoothed down his unbrushed hair and felt his unshaven
+     chin.
+
+     "You are right, Mr. Holmes. I never gave a thought to my toilet. I
+     was only too glad to get out of such a house. But I have been running
+     round making inquiries before I came to you. I went to the house
+     agents, you know, and they said that Mr. Garcia's rent was paid up
+     all right and that everything was in order at Wisteria Lodge."
+
+     "Come, come, sir," said Holmes, laughing. "You are like my friend,
+     Dr. Watson, who has a bad habit of telling his stories wrong end
+     foremost. Please arrange your thoughts and let me know, in their due
+     sequence, exactly what those events are which have sent you out
+     unbrushed and unkempt, with dress boots and waistcoat buttoned awry,
+     in search of advice and assistance."
+
+     Our client looked down with a rueful face at his own unconventional
+     appearance.
+
+     "I'm sure it must look very bad, Mr. Holmes, and I am not aware that
+     in my whole life such a thing has ever happened before. But will tell
+     you the whole queer business, and when I have done so you will admit,
+     I am sure, that there has been enough to excuse me."
+
+     But his narrative was nipped in the bud. There was a bustle outside,
+     and Mrs. Hudson opened the door to usher in two robust and
+     official-looking individuals, one of whom was well known to us as
+     Inspector Gregson of Scotland Yard, an energetic, gallant, and,
+     within his limitations, a capable officer. He shook hands with Holmes
+     and introduced his comrade as Inspector Baynes, of the Surrey
+     Constabulary.
+
+     "We are hunting together, Mr. Holmes, and our trail lay in this
+     direction." He turned his bulldog eyes upon our visitor. "Are you Mr.
+     John Scott Eccles, of Popham House, Lee?"
+
+     "I am."
+
+     "We have been following you about all the morning."
+
+     "You traced him through the telegram, no doubt," said Holmes. 
+
+     "Exactly, Mr. Holmes. We picked up the scent at Charing Cross
+     Post-Office and came on here."
+
+     "But why do you follow me? What do you want?"
+
+     "We wish a statement, Mr. Scott Eccles, as to the events which let up
+     to the death last night of Mr. Aloysius Garcia, of Wisteria Lodge,
+     near Esher."
+
+     Our client had sat up with staring eyes and every tinge of colour
+     struck from his astonished face.
+
+     "Dead?  Did you say he was dead?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, he is dead."
+
+     "But how?  An accident?"
+
+     "Murder, if ever there was one upon earth."
+
+     "Good God! This is awful! You don't mean--you don't mean that I am
+     suspected?"
+
+     "A letter of yours was found in the dead man's pocket, and we know by
+     it that you had planned to pass last night at his house."
+
+     "So I did."
+
+     "Oh, you did, did you?"
+
+     Out came the official notebook.
+
+     "Wait a bit, Gregson," said Sherlock Holmes. "All you desire is a
+     plain statement, is it not?"
+
+     "And it is my duty to warn Mr. Scott Eccles that it may be used
+     against him."
+
+     "Mr. Eccles was going to tell us about it when you entered the room.
+     I think, Watson, a brandy and soda would do him no harm. Now, sir, I
+     suggest that you take no notice of this addition to your audience,
+     and that you proceed with your narrative exactly as you would have
+     done had you never been interrupted."
+
+     Our visitor had gulped off the brandy and the colour had returned to
+     his face.  With a dubious glance at the inspector's notebook, he
+     plunged at once into his extraordinary statement.
+
+     "I am a bachelor," said he, "and being of a sociable turn I cultivate
+     a large number of friends. Among these are the family of a retired
+     brewer called Melville, living at Abermarle Mansion, Kensington. It
+     was at his table that I met some weeks ago a young fellow named
+     Garcia. He was, I understood, of Spanish descent and connected in
+     some way with the embassy. He spoke perfect English, was pleasing in
+     his manners, and as good-looking a man as ever I saw in my life.
+
+     "In some way we struck up quite a friendship, this young fellow and
+     I. He seemed to take a fancy to me from the first, and within two
+     days of our meeting he came to see me at Lee. One thing led to
+     another, and it ended in his inviting me out to spend a few days at
+     his house, Wisteria Lodge, between Esher and Oxshott. Yesterday
+     evening I went to Esher to fulfil this engagement.
+
+     "He had described his household to me before I went there. He lived
+     with a faithful servant, a countryman of his own, who looked after
+     all his needs. This fellow could speak English and did his
+     housekeeping for him. Then there was a wonderful cook, he said, a
+     half-breed whom he had picked up in his travels, who could serve an
+     excellent dinner. I remember that he remarked what a queer household
+     it was to find in the heart of Surrey, and that I agreed with him,
+     though it has proved a good deal queerer than I thought.
+
+     "I drove to the place--about two miles on the south side of Esher.
+     The house was a fair-sized one, standing back from the road, with a
+     curving drive which was banked with high evergreen shrubs. It was an
+     old, tumbledown building in a crazy state of disrepair. When the trap
+     pulled up on the grass-grown drive in front of the blotched and
+     weather-stained door, I had doubts as to my wisdom in visiting a man
+     whom I knew so slightly. He opened the door himself, however, and
+     greeted me with a great show of cordiality. I was handed over to the
+     manservant, a melancholy, swarthy individual, who led the way, my bag
+     in his hand, to my bedroom. The whole place was depressing. Our
+     dinner was tête-à-tête, and though my host did his best to be
+     entertaining, his thoughts seemed to continually wander, and he
+     talked so vaguely and wildly that I could hardly understand him. He
+     continually drummed his fingers on the table, gnawed his nails, and
+     gave other signs of nervous impatience. The dinner itself was neither
+     well served nor well cooked, and the gloomy presence of the taciturn
+     servant did not help to enliven us. I can assure you that many times
+     in the course of the evening I wished that I could invent some excuse
+     which would take me back to Lee.
+
+     "One thing comes back to my memory which may have a bearing upon the
+     business that you two gentlemen are investigating. I thought nothing
+     of it at the time. Near the end of dinner a note was handed in by the
+     servant. I noticed that after my host had read it he seemed even more
+     distrait and strange than before. He gave up all pretence at
+     conversation and sat, smoking endless cigarettes, lost in his own
+     thoughts, but he made no remark as to the contents. About eleven I
+     was glad to go to bed. Some time later Garcia looked in at my
+     door--the room was dark at the time--and asked me if I had rung. I
+     said that I had not. He apologized for having disturbed me so late,
+     saying that it was nearly one o'clock. I dropped off after this and
+     slept soundly all night.
+
+     "And now I come to the amazing part of my tale. When I woke it was
+     broad daylight. I glanced at my watch, and the time was nearly nine.
+     I had particularly asked to be called at eight, so I was very much
+     astonished at this forgetfulness. I sprang up and rang for the
+     servant. There was no response. I rang again and again, with the same
+     result. Then I came to the conclusion that the bell was out of order.
+     I huddled on my clothes and hurried downstairs in an exceedingly bad
+     temper to order some hot water. You can imagine my surprise when I
+     found that there was no one there. I shouted in the hall. There was
+     no answer. Then I ran from room to room. All were deserted. My host
+     had shown me which was his bedroom the night before, so I knocked at
+     the door. No reply. I turned the handle and walked in. The room was
+     empty, and the bed had never been slept in. He had gone with the
+     rest. The foreign host, the foreign footman, the foreign cook, all
+     had vanished in the night! That was the end of my visit to Wisteria
+     Lodge."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was rubbing his hands and chuckling as he added this
+     bizarre incident to his collection of strange episodes.
+
+     "Your experience is, so far as I know, perfectly unique," said he.
+     "May I ask, sir, what you did then?"
+
+     "I was furious. My first idea was that I had been the victim of some
+     absurd practical joke. I packed my things, banged the hall door
+     behind me, and set off for Esher, with my bag in my hand. I called at
+     Allan Brothers', the chief land agents in the village, and found that
+     it was from this firm that the villa had been rented. It struck me
+     that the whole proceeding could hardly be for the purpose of making a
+     fool of me, and that the main objet must be to get out of the rent.
+     It is late in March, so quarter-day is at hand. But this theory would
+     not work. The agent was obliged to me for my warning, but told me
+     that the rent had been paid in advance. Then I made my way to town
+     and called at the Spanish embassy. The man was unknown there. After
+     this I went to see Melville, at whose house I had first met Garcia,
+     but I found that he really knew rather less about him than I did.
+     Finally when I got your reply to my wire I came out to you, since I
+     gather that you are a person who gives advice in difficult cases. But
+     now, Mr. Inspector, I understand, from what you said when you entered
+     the room, that you can carry the story on, and that some tragedy had
+     occurred. I can assure you that every word I have said is the truth,
+     and that, outside of what I have told you, I know absolutely nothing
+     about the fate of this man. My only desire is to help the law in
+     every possible way."
+
+     "I am sure of it, Mr. Scott Eccles--I am sure of it," said Inspector
+     Gregson in a very amiable tone. "I am bound to say that everything
+     which you have said agrees very closely with the facts as they have
+     come to our notice. For example, there was that note which arrived
+     during dinner. Did you chance to observe what became of it?"
+
+     "Yes, I did. Garcia rolled it up and threw it into the fire."
+
+     "What do you say to that, Mr. Baynes?"
+
+     The country detective was a stout, puffy, red man, whose face was
+     only redeemed from grossness by two extraordinarily bright eyes,
+     almost hidden behind the heavy creases of cheek and brow. With a slow
+     smile he drew a folded and discoloured scrap of paper from his
+     pocket.
+
+     "It was a dog-grate, Mr. Holmes, and he overpitched it. I picked this
+     out unburned from the back of it."
+
+     Holmes smiled his appreciation.
+
+     "You must have examined the house very carefully to find a single
+     pellet of paper."
+
+     "I did, Mr. Holmes. It's my way. Shall I read it, Mr. Gregson?"
+
+     The Londoner nodded.
+
+     "The note is written upon ordinary cream-laid paper without
+     watermark. It is a quarter-sheet. The paper is cut off in two snips
+     with a short-bladed scissors. It has been folded over three times and
+     sealed with purple wax, put on hurriedly and pressed down with some
+     flat oval object. It is addressed to Mr. Garcia, Wisteria Lodge. It
+     says:
+
+     "Our own colours, green and white. Green open, white shut. Main
+     stair, first corridor, seventh right, green baize. Godspeed.
+     D.
+
+     "It is a woman's writing, done with a sharp-pointed pen, but the
+     address is either done with another pen or by someone else. It is
+     thicker and bolder, as you see."
+
+     "A very remarkable note," said Holmes, glancing it over. "I must
+     compliment you, Mr. Baynes, upon your attention to detail in your
+     examination of it. A few trifling points might perhaps be added. The
+     oval seal is undoubtedly a plain sleeve-link--what else is of such a
+     shape? The scissors were bent nail scissors. Short as the two snips
+     are, you can distinctly see the same slight curve in each."
+
+     The country detective chuckled.
+
+     "I thought I had squeezed all the juice out of it, but I see there
+     was a little over," he said. "I'm bound to say that I make nothing of
+     the note except that there was something on hand, and that a woman,
+     as usual, was at the bottom of it."
+
+     Mr. Scott Eccles had fidgeted in his seat during this conversation.
+
+     "I am glad you found the note, since it corroborates my story," said
+     he. "But I beg to point out that I have not yet heard what has
+     happened to Mr. Garcia, nor what has become of his household."
+
+     "As to Garcia," said Gregson, "that is easily answered. He was found
+     dead this morning upon Oxshott Common, nearly a mile from his home.
+     His head had been smashed to pulp by heavy blows of a sandbag or some
+     such instrument, which had crushed rather than wounded. It is a
+     lonely corner, and there is no house within a quarter of a mile of
+     the spot. He had apparently been struck down first from behind, but
+     his assailant had gone on beating him long after he was dead. It was
+     a most furious assault. There are no footsteps nor any clue to the
+     criminals."
+
+     "Robbed?"
+
+     "No, there was no attempt at robbery."
+
+     "This is very painful--very painful and terrible," said Mr. Scott
+     Eccles in a querulous voice, "but it is really uncommonly hard on me.
+     I had nothing to do with my host going off upon a nocturnal excursion
+     and meeting so sad an end. How do I come to be mixed up with the
+     case?"
+
+     "Very simply, sir," Inspector Baynes answered. "The only document
+     found in the pocket of the deceased was a letter from you saying that
+     you would be with him on the night of his death. It was the envelope
+     of this letter which gave us the dead man's name and address. It was
+     after nine this morning when we reached his house and found neither
+     you nor anyone else inside it. I wired to Mr. Gregson to run you down
+     in London while I examined Wisteria Lodge. Then I came into town,
+     joined Mr. Gregson, and here we are."
+
+     "I think now," said Gregson, rising, "we had best put this matter
+     into an official shape. You will come round with us to the station,
+     Mr. Scott Eccles, and let us have your statement in writing."
+
+     "Certainly, I will come at once. But I retain your services, Mr.
+     Holmes. I desire you to spare no expense and no pains to get at the
+     truth."
+
+     My friend turned to the country inspector.
+
+     "I suppose that you have no objection to my collaborating with you,
+     Mr. Baynes?"
+
+     "Highly honoured, sir, I am sure."
+
+     "You appear to have been very prompt and businesslike in all that you
+     have done. Was there any clue, may I ask, as to the exact hour that
+     the man met his death?"
+
+     "He had been there since one o'clock. There was rain about that time,
+     and his death had certainly been before the rain."
+
+     "But that is perfectly impossible, Mr. Baynes," cried our client.
+     "His voice is unmistakable. I could swear to it that it was he who
+     addressed me in my bedroom at that very hour."
+
+     "Remarkable, but by no means impossible," said Holmes, smiling.
+
+     "You have a clue?" asked Gregson.
+
+     "On the face of it the case is not a very complex one, though it
+     certainly presents some novel and interesting features. A further
+     knowledge of facts is necessary before I would venture to give a
+     final and definite opinion. By the way, Mr. Baynes, did you find
+     anything remarkable besides this note in your examination of the
+     house?"
+
+     The detective looked at my friend in a singular way.
+
+     "There were," said he, "one or two very remarkable things. Perhaps
+     when I have finished at the police-station you would care to come out
+     and give me your opinion of them."
+
+     "In am entirely at your service," said Sherlock Holmes, ringing the
+     bell. "You will show these gentlemen out, Mrs. Hudson, and kindly
+     send the boy with this telegram. He is to pay a five-shilling reply."
+
+     We sat for some time in silence after our visitors had left. Holmes
+     smoked hard, with his browns drawn down over his keen eyes, and his
+     head thrust forward in the eager way characteristic of the man.
+
+     "Well, Watson," he asked, turning suddenly upon me, "what do you make
+     of it?"
+
+     "I can make nothing of this mystification of Scott Eccles."
+
+     "But the crime?"
+
+     "Well, taken with the disappearance of the man's companions, I should
+     say that they were in some way concerned in the murder and had fled
+     from justice."
+
+     "That is certainly a possible point of view. On the face of it you
+     must admit, however, that it is very strange that his two servants
+     should have been in a conspiracy against him and should have attacked
+     him on the one night when he had a guest. They had him alone at their
+     mercy every other night in the week."
+
+     "Then why did they fly?"
+
+     "Quite so. Why did they fly? There is a big fact. Another big fact is
+     the remarkable experience of our client, Scott Eccles. Now, my dear
+     Watson, is it beyond the limits of human ingenuity to furnish an
+     explanation which would cover both of these big facts? If it were one
+     which would also admit of the mysterious note with its very curious
+     phraseology, why, then it would be worth accepting as a temporary
+     hypothesis. If the fresh facts which come to our knowledge all fit
+     themselves into the scheme, then our hypothesis may gradually become
+     a solution."
+
+     "But what is our hypothesis?"
+
+     Holmes leaned back in his chair with half-closed eyes.
+
+     "You must admit, my dear Watson, that the idea of a joke is
+     impossible. There were grave events afoot, as the sequel showed, and
+     the coaxing of Scott Eccles to Wisteria Lodge had some connection
+     with them."
+
+     "But what possible connection?"
+
+     "Let us take it link by link. There is, on the face of it, something
+     unnatural about this strange and sudden friendship between the young
+     Spaniard and Scott Eccles. It was the former who forced the pace. He
+     called upon Eccles at the other end of London on the very day after
+     he first met him, and he kept in close touch with him until he got
+     him down to Esher. Now, what did he want with Eccles? What could
+     Eccles supply? I see no charm in the man. He is not particulary
+     intelligent--not a man likely to be congenial to a quick-witted
+     Latin. Why, then, was he picked out from all the other people whom
+     Garcia met as particularly suited to his purpose? Has he any one
+     outstanding quality? I say that he has. He is the very type of
+     conventional British respectability, and the very man as a witness to
+     impress another Briton. You saw yourself how neither of the
+     inspectors dreamed of questioning his statement, extraordinary as it
+     was."
+
+     "But what was he to witness?"
+
+     "Nothing, as things turned out, but everything had they gone another
+     way. That is how I read the matter."
+
+     "I see, he might have proved an alibi."
+
+     "Exactly, my dear Watson; he might have proved an alibi. We will
+     suppose, for argument's sake, that the household of Wisteria Lodge
+     are confederates in some design. The attempt, whatever it may be, is
+     to come off, we will say, before one o'clock. By some juggling of the
+     clocks it is quite possible that they may have got Scott Eccles to
+     bed earlier than he thought, but in any case it is likely that when
+     Garcia went out of his way to tell him that it was one it was really
+     not more than twelve. If Garcia could do whatever he had to do and be
+     back by the hour mentioned he had evidently a powerful reply to any
+     accusation. Here was this irreproachable Englishman ready to swear in
+     any court of law that the accused was in the house all the time. It
+     was an insurance against the worst."
+
+     "Yes, yes, I see that. But how about the disappearance of the
+     others?"
+
+     "I have not all my facts yet, but I do not think there are any
+     insuperable difficulties. Still, it is an error to argue in front of
+     your data. You find yourself insensibly twisting them round to fit
+     your theories."
+
+     "And the message?"
+
+     "How did it run? 'Our own colours, green and white.' Sounds like
+     racing. 'Green open, white shut.' That is clearly a signal. 'Main
+     stair, first corridor, seventh right, green baize.' This is an
+     assignation. We may find a jealous husband at the bottom of it all.
+     It was clearly a dangerous quest. She would not have said 'Godspeed'
+     had it not been so. 'D'--that should be a guide."
+
+     "The man was a Spaniard. I suggest that 'D' stands for Dolores, a
+     common female name in Spain."
+
+     "Good, Watson, very good--but quite inadmissable. A Spaniard would
+     write to a Spaniard in Spanish. The writer of this note is certainly
+     English. Well, we can only possess our soul in patience until this
+     excellent inspector come back for us. Meanwhile we can thank our
+     lucky fate which has rescued us for a few short hours from the
+     insufferable fatigues of idleness."
+
+     An answer had arrived to Holmes's telegram before our Surrey officer
+     had returned. Holmes read it and was about to place it in his
+     notebook when he caught a glimpse of my expectant face. He tossed it
+     across with a laugh.
+
+     "We are moving in exalted circles," said he.
+
+     The telegram was a list of names and addresses:
+
+     Lord Harringby, The Dingle; Sir George Ffolliott, Oxshott Towers; Mr.
+     Hynes Hynes, J.P., Purdley Place; Mr. James Baker Williams, Forton
+     Old Hall; Mr. Henderson, High Gable; Rev. Joshua Stone, Nether
+     Walsling.
+     "This is a very obvious way of limiting our field of operations,"
+     said Holmes. "No doubt Baynes, with his methodical mind, has already
+     adopted some similar plan."
+
+     "I don't quite understand."
+
+     "Well, my dear fellow, we have already arrived at the conclusion that
+     the massage received by Garcia at dinner was an appointment or an
+     assignation. Now, if the obvious reading of it is correct, and in
+     order to keep the tryst one has to ascend a main stair and seek the
+     seventh door in a corridor, it is perfectly clear that the house is a
+     very large one. It is equally certain that this house cannot be more
+     than a mile or two from Oxshott, since Garcia was walking in that
+     direction and hoped, according to my reading of the facts, to be back
+     in Wisteria Lodge in time to avail himself of an alibi, which would
+     only be valid up to one o'clock. As the number of large houses close
+     to Oxshott must be limited, I adopted the obvious method of sending
+     to the agents mentioned by Scott Eccles and obtaining a list of them.
+     Here they are in this telegram, and the other end of our tangled
+     skein must lie among them."
+
+     It was nearly six o'clock before we found ourselves in the pretty
+     Surrey village of Esher, with Inspector Baynes as our companion.
+
+     Holmes and I had taken things for the night, and found comfortable
+     quarters at the Bull. Finally we set out in the company of the
+     detective on our visit to Wisteria Lodge. It was a cold, dark March
+     evening, with a sharp wind and a fine rain beating upon our faces, a
+     fit setting for the wild common over which our road passed and the
+     tragic goal to which it led us.
+
+
+
+
+
+          CHAPTER II
+          The Tiger of San Pedro
+
+
+     A cold and melancholy walk of a couple of miles brought us to a high
+     wooden gate, which opened into a gloomy avenue of chestnuts. The
+     curved and shadowed drive led us to a low, dark house, pitch-black
+     against a slate-coloured sky. From the front window upon the left of
+     the door there peeped a glimmer of a feeble light.
+
+     "There's a constable in possession," said Baynes. "I'll knock at the
+     window." He stepped across the grass plot and tapped with his hand on
+     the pane. Through the fogged glass I dimly saw a man spring up from a
+     chair beside the fire, and heard a sharp cry from within the room. An
+     instant later a white-faced, hard-breathing policeman had opened the
+     door, the candle wavering in his trembling hand.
+
+     "What's the matter, Walters?" asked Baynes sharply.
+
+     The man mopped his forehead with his handkerchief and agave a long
+     sigh of relief.
+
+     "I am glad you have come, sir. It has been a long evening, and I
+     don't think my nerve is as good as it was."
+
+     "Your nerve, Walters? I should not have thought you had a nerve in
+     your body."
+
+     "Well, sir, it's this lonely, silent house and the queer thing in the
+     kitchen. Then when you tapped at the window I thought it had come
+     again."
+
+     "That what had come again?"
+
+     "The devil, sir, for all I know. It was at the window."
+
+     "What was at the window, and when?"
+
+     "It was just about two hours ago. The light was just fading. I was
+     sitting reading in the chair. I don't know what made me look up, but
+     there was a face looking in at me through the lower pane. Lord, sir,
+     what a face it was! I'll see it in my dreams."
+
+     "Tut, tut, Walters. This is not talk for a police-constable."
+
+     "I know, sir, I know; but it shook me, sir, and there's no use to
+     deny it. It wasn't black, sir, nor was it white, nor any colour that
+     I know but a kind of queer shade like clay with a splash of milk in
+     it. Then there was the size of it--it was twice yours, sir. And the
+     look of it--the great staring goggle eyes, and the line of white
+     teeth like a hungry beast. I tell you, sir, I couldn't move a finger,
+     nor get my breath, till it whisked away and was gone. Out I ran and
+     through the shrubbery, but thank God there was no one there."
+
+     "If I didn't know you were a good man, Walters, I should put a black
+     mark against you for this. If it were the devil himself a constable
+     on duty should never thank God that he could not lay his hands upon
+     him. I suppose the whole thing is not a vision and a touch of
+     nerves?"
+
+     "That, at least, is very easily settled," said Holmes, lighting his
+     little pocket lantern. "Yes," he reported, after a short examination
+     of the grass bed, "a number twelve shoe, I should say. If he was all
+     on the same scale as his foot he must certainly have been a giant."
+
+     "What became of him?"
+
+     "He seems to have broken through the shrubbery and made for the
+     road."
+
+     "Well," said the inspector with a grave and thoughtful face, "whoever
+     he may have been, and whatever he may have wanted, he's gone for the
+     present, and we have more immediate things to attend to. Now, Mr.
+     Holmes, with your permission, I will show you round the house."
+
+     The various bedrooms and sitting-rooms had yielded nothing to a
+     careful search. Apparently the tenants had brought little or nothing
+     with them, and all the furniture down to the smallest details had
+     been taken over with the house. A good deal of clothing with the
+     stamp of Marx and Co., High Holborn, had been left behind.
+     Telegraphic inquiries had been already made which showed that Marx
+     knew nothing of his customer save that he was a good payer. Odds and
+     ends, some pipes, a few novels, two of them in Spanish, and
+     old-fashioned pinfire revolver, and a guitar were among the personal
+     property.
+
+     "Nothing in all this," said Baynes, stalking, candle in hand, from
+     room to room. "But now, Mr. Holmes, I invite your attention to the
+     kitchen."
+
+     It was a gloomy, high-ceilinged room at the back of the house, with a
+     straw litter in one corner, which served apparently as a bed for the
+     cook. The table was piled with half-eaten dishes and dirty plates,
+     the debris of last night's dinner.
+
+     "Look at this," said Baynes. "What do you make of it?"
+
+     He held up his candle before an extraordinary object which stood at
+     the back of the dresser. It was so wrinkled and shrunken and withered
+     that it was difficult to say what it might have been. One could but
+     say that it was black and leathery and that it bore some resemblance
+     to a dwarfish, human figure. At first, as I examined it, I thought
+     that it was a mummified negro baby, and then it seemed a very twisted
+     and ancient monkey. Finally I was left in doubt as to whether it was
+     animal or human. A double band of white shells were strung round the
+     centre of it.
+
+     "Very interesting--very interesting, indeed!" said Holmes, peering at
+     this sinister relic. "Anything more?"
+
+     In silence Baynes led the way to the sink and held forward his
+     candle. The limbs and body of some large, white bird, torn savagely
+     to pieces with the feathers still on, were littered all over it.
+     Holmes pointed to the wattles on the severed head.
+
+     "A white cock," said he. "Most interesting! It is really a very
+     curious case."
+
+     But Mr. Baynes had kept his most sinister exhibit to the last. From
+     under the sink he drew a zinc pail which contained a quantity of
+     blood. Then from the table he took a platter heaped with small pieces
+     of charred bone.
+
+     "Something has been killed and something has been burned. We raked
+     all these out of the fire. We had a doctor in this morning. He says
+     that they are not human."
+
+     Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands.
+
+     "I must congratulate you, Inspector, on handling so distinctive and
+     instructive a case. Your powers, if I may say so without offence,
+     seem superior to your opportunities."
+
+     Inspector Baynes's small eyes twinkled with pleasure.
+
+     "You're right, Mr. Holmes. We stagnate in the provinces. A case of
+     this sort gives a man a chance, and I hope that I shall take it. What
+     do you make of these bones?"
+
+     "A lamb, I should say, or a kid."
+
+     "And the white cock?"
+
+     "Curious, Mr. Baynes, very curious. I should say almost unique."
+
+     "Yes, sir, there must have been some very strange people with some
+     very strange ways in this house. One of them is dead. Did his
+     companions follow him and kill him? If they did we should have them,
+     for every port is watched. But my own views are different. Yes, sir,
+     my own views are very different."
+
+     "You have a theory then?"
+
+     "And I'll work it myself, Mr. Holmes. It's only due to my own credit
+     to do so. Your name is made, but I have still to make mine. I should
+     be glad to be able to say afterwards that I had solved it without
+     your help."
+
+     Holmes laughed good-humoredly.
+
+     "Well, well, Inspector," said he. "Do you follow your path and I will
+     follow mine. My results are always very much at your service if you
+     care to apply to me for them. I think that I have seen all that I
+     wish in this house, and that my time may be more profitably employed
+     elsewhere. Au revoir and good luck!"
+
+     I could tell by numerous subtle signs, which might have been lost
+     upon anyone but myself, that Holmes was on a hot scent. As impassive
+     as ever to the casual observer, there were none the less a subdued
+     eagerness and suggestion of tension in his brightened eyes and
+     brisker manner which assured me that the game was afoot. After his
+     habit he said nothing, and after mine I asked no questions.
+     Sufficient for me to share the sport and lend my humble help to the
+     capture without distracting that intent brain with needless
+     interruption. All would come round to me in due time.
+
+     I waited, therefore--but to my ever-deepening disappointment I waited
+     in vain. Day succeeded day, and my friend took no step forward. One
+     morning he spent in town, and I learned from a casual reference that
+     he had visited the British Museum. Save for this one excursion, he
+     spent his days in long and often solitary walks, or in chatting with
+     a number of village gossips whose acquaintance he had cultivated.
+
+     "I'm sure, Watson, a week in the country will be invaluable to you,"
+     he remarked. "It is very pleasant to see the first green shoots upon
+     the hedges and the catkins on the hazels once again. With a spud, a
+     tin box, and an elementary book on botany, there are instructive days
+     to be spent." He prowled about with this equipment himself, but it
+     was a poor show of plants which he would bring back of an evening.
+
+     Occasionally in our rambles we came across Inspector Baynes. His fat,
+     red face wreathed itself in smiles and his small eyes glittered as he
+     greeted my companion. He said little about the case, but from that
+     little we gathered that he also was not dissatisfied at the course of
+     events. I must admit, however, that I was somewhat surprised when,
+     some five days after the crime, I opened my morning paper to find in
+     large letters:
+
+                               The Oxshott Mystery
+                                   a solution
+                           Arrest of Supposed Assassin
+
+     Holmes sprang in his chair as if he had been stung when I read the
+     headlines.
+
+     "By Jove!" he cried. "You don't mean that Baynes has got him?"
+
+     "Apparently," said I as I read the following report:
+
+     "Great excitement was caused in Esher and the neighbouring district
+     when it was learned late last night that an arrest had been effected
+     in connection with the Oxshott murder. It will be remembered that Mr.
+     Garcia, of Wisteria Lodge, was found dead on Oxshott Common, his body
+     showing signs of extreme violence, and that on the same night his
+     servant and his cook fled, which appeared to show their participation
+     in the crime. It was suggested, but never proved, that the deceased
+     gentleman may have had valuables in the house, and that their
+     abstraction was the motive of the crime. Every effort was made by
+     Inspector Baynes, who has the case in hand, to ascertain the hiding
+     place of the fugitives, and he had good reason to believe that they
+     had not gone far but were lurking in some retreat which had been
+     already prepared. It was certain from the first, however, that they
+     would eventually be detected, as the cook, from the evidence of one
+     or two tradespeople who have caught a glimpse of him through the
+     window, was a man of most remarkable appearance--being a huge and
+     hideous mulatto, with yellowish features of a pronounced negroid
+     type. This man has been seen since the crime, for he was detected and
+     pursued by Constable Walters on the same evening, when he had the
+     audacity to revisit Wisteria Lodge. Inspector Baynes, considering
+     that such a visit must have some purpose in view and was likely,
+     therefore, to be repeated, abandoned the house but left an ambuscade
+     in the shrubbery. The man walked into the trap and was captured last
+     night after a struggle in which Constable Downing was badly bitten by
+     the savage. We understand that when the prison is brought before the
+     magistrates a remand will be applied for by the police, and that
+     great developments are hoped from his capture."
+
+     "Really we must see Baynes at once," cried Holmes, picking up his
+     hat. "We will just catch him before he starts." We hurried down the
+     village street and found, as we had expected, that the inspector was
+     just leaving his lodgings.
+
+     "You've seen the paper, Mr. Holmes?" he asked, holding one out to us.
+
+     "Yes, Baynes, I've seen it. Pray don't think it a liberty if I give
+     you a word of friendly warning."
+
+     "Of warning, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "I have looked into this case with some care, and I am not convinced
+     that you are on the right lines. I don't want you to commit yourself
+     too far unless you are sure."
+
+     "You're very kind, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "I assure you I speak for your good."
+
+     It seemed to me that something like a wink quivered for an instant
+     over one of Mr. Baynes's tiny eyes.
+
+     "We agreed to work on our own lines, Mr. Holmes. That's what I am
+     doing."
+
+     "Oh, very good," said Holmes. "Don't blame me."
+
+     "No, sir; I believe you mean well by me. But we all have our own
+     systems, Mr. Holmes. You have yours, and maybe I have mine."
+
+     "Let us say no more about it."
+
+     "You're welcome always to my news. This fellow is a perfect savage,
+     as strong as a cart-horse and as fierce as the devil. He chewed
+     Downing's thumb nearly off before they could master him. He hardly
+     speaks a word of English, and we can get nothing out of him but
+     grunts."
+
+     "And you think you have evidence that he murdered his late master?"
+
+     "I didn't say so, Mr. Holmes; I didn't say so. We all have our little
+     ways. You try yours and I will try mine. That's the agreement."
+
+     Holmes shrugged his shoulders as we walked away together. "I can't
+     make the man out. He seems to be riding for a fall. Well, as he says,
+     we must each try our own way and see what comes of it. But there's
+     something in Inspector Baynes which I can't quite understand."
+
+     "Just sit down in that chair, Watson," said Sherlock Holmes when we
+     had returned to our apartment at the Bull. "I want to put you in
+     touch with the situation, as I may need your help to-night. Let me
+     show you the evolution of this case so far as I have been able to
+     follow it. Simple as it has been in its leading features, it has none
+     the less presented surprising difficulties in the way of an arrest.
+     There are gaps in that direction which we have still to fill.
+
+     "We will go back to the note which was handed in to Garcia upon the
+     evening of his death. We may put aside this idea of Baynes's that
+     Garcia's servants were concerned in the matter. The proof of this
+     lies in the fact that it was he who had arranged for the presence of
+     Scott Eccles, which could only have been done for the purpose of an
+     alibi. It was Garcia, then, who had an enterprise, and apparently a
+     criminal enterprise, in hand that night in the course of which he met
+     his death. I say 'criminal' because only a man with a criminal
+     enterprise desires to establish an alibi. Who, then, is most likely
+     to have taken his life? Surely the person against whom the criminal
+     enterprise was directed. So far it seems to me that we are on safe
+     ground.
+
+     "We can now see a reason for the disappearance of Garcia's household.
+     They were all confederates in the same unknown crime. If it came off
+     when Garcia returned, any possible suspicion would be warded off by
+     the Englishman's evidence, and all would be well. But the attempt was
+     a dangerous one, and if Garcia did not return by a certain hour it
+     was probable that his own life had been sacrificed. It had been
+     arranged, therefore, that in such a case his two subordinates were to
+     make for some prearranged spot where they could escape investigation
+     and be in a position afterwards to renew their attempt. That would
+     fully explain the facts, would it not?"
+
+     The whole inexplicable tangle seemed to straighten out before me. I
+     wondered, as I always did, how it had not been obvious to me before.
+
+     "But why should one servant return?"
+
+     "We can imagine that in the confusion of flight something precious,
+     something which he could not bear to part with, had been left behind.
+     That would explain his persistence, would it not?"
+
+     "Well, what is the next step?"
+
+     "The next step is the note received by Garcia at the dinner. It
+     indicates a confederate at the other end. Now, where was the other
+     end? I have already shown you that it could only lie in some large
+     house, and that the number of large houses is limited. My first days
+     in this village were devoted to a series of walks in which in the
+     intervals of my botanical researches I made a reconnaissance of all
+     the large houses and an examination of the family history of the
+     occupants. One house, and only one, riveted my attention. It is the
+     famous old Jacobean grange of High Gable, one mile on the farther
+     side of Oxshott, and less than half a mile from the scene of the
+     tragedy. The other mansions belonged to prosaic and respectable
+     people who live far aloof from romance. But Mr. Henderson, of High
+     Gable, was by all accounts a curious man to whom curious adventures
+     might befall. I concentrated my attention, therefore, upon him and
+     his household.
+
+     "A singular set of people, Watson--the man himself the most singular
+     of them all. I managed to see him on a plausible pretext, but I
+     seemed to read in his dark, deepset, brooding eyes that he was
+     perfectly aware of my true business. He is a man of fifty, strong,
+     active, with iron-gray hair, great bunched black eyebrows, the step
+     of a deer and the air of an emperor--a fierce, masterful man, with a
+     red-hot spirit behind his parchment face. He is either a foreigner or
+     has lived long in the tropics, for he is yellow and sapless, but
+     tough as whipcord. His friend and secretary, Mr. Lucas, is
+     undoubtedly a foreigner, chocolate brown, wily, suave, and catlike,
+     with a poisonous gentleness of speech. You see, Watson, we have come
+     already upon two sets of foreigners--one at Wisteria Lodge and one at
+     High Gable--so our gaps are beginning to close.
+
+     "These two men, close and confidential friends, are the centre of the
+     household; but there is one other person who for our immediate
+     purpose may be even more important. Henderson has two children--girls
+     of eleven and thirteen. Their governess is a Miss Burnet, an
+     Englishwoman of forty or thereabouts. There is also one confidential
+     manservant. This little group forms the real family, for their travel
+     about together, and Henderson is a great traveller, always on the
+     move. It is only within the last weeks that he has returned, after a
+     year's absence, to High Gable. I may add that he is enormously rich,
+     and whatever his whims may be he can very easily satisfy them. For
+     the rest, his house is full of butlers, footmen, maidservants, and
+     the usual overfed, underworked staff of a large English country
+     house.
+
+     "So much I learned partly from village gossip and partly from my own
+     observation. There are no better instruments than discharged servants
+     with a grievance, and I was lucky enough to find one. I call it luck,
+     but it would not have come my way had I not been looking out for it.
+     As Baynes remarks, we all have our systems. It was my system which
+     enabled me to find John Warner, late gardener of High Gable, sacked
+     in a moment of temper by his imperious employer. He in turn had
+     friends among the indoor servants who unite in their fear and dislike
+     of their master. So I had my key to the secrets of the establishment.
+
+     "Curious people, Watson! I don't pretend to understand it all yet,
+     but very curious people anyway. It's a double-winged house, and the
+     servants live on one side, the family on the other. There's no link
+     between the two save for Henderson's own servant, who serves the
+     family's meals. Everything is carried to a certain door, which forms
+     the one connection. Governess and children hardly go out at all,
+     except into the garden. Henderson never by any chance walks alone.
+     His dark secretary is like his shadow. The gossip among the servants
+     is that their master is terribly afraid of something. 'Sold his soul
+     to the devil in exchange for money,' says Warner, 'and expects his
+     creditor to come up and claim his own.' Where they came from, or who
+     they are, nobody has an idea. They are very violent. Twice Henderson
+     has lashed at folk with his dog-whip, and only his long purse and
+     heavy compensation have kept him out of the courts.
+
+     "Well, now, Watson, let us judge the situation by this new
+     information. We may take it that the letter came out of this strange
+     household and was an invitation to Garcia to carry out some attempt
+     which had already been planned. Who wrote the note? It was someone
+     within the citadel, and it was a woman. Who then but Miss Burnet, the
+     governess? All our reasoning seems to point that way. At any rate, we
+     may take it as a hypothesis and see what consequences it would
+     entail. I may add that Miss Burnet's age and character make it
+     certain that my first idea that there might be a love interest in our
+     story is out of the question.
+
+     "If she wrote the note she was presumably the friend and confederate
+     of Garcia. What, then, might she be expected to do if she heard of
+     his death? If he met it in some nefarious enterprise her lips might
+     be sealed. Still, in her heart, she must retain bitterness and hatred
+     against those who had killed him and would presumably help so far as
+     she could to have revenge upon them. Could we see her, then and try
+     to use her? That was my first thought. But now we come to a sinister
+     fact. Miss Burnet has not been seen by any human eye since the night
+     of the murder. From that evening she has utterly vanished. Is she
+     alive? Has she perhaps met her end on the same night as the friend
+     whom she had summoned? Or is she merely a prisoner? There is the
+     point which we still have to decide.
+
+     "You will appreciate the difficulty of the situation, Watson. There
+     is nothing upon which we can apply for a warrant. Our whole scheme
+     might seem fantastic if laid before a magistrate. The woman's
+     disappearance counts for nothing, since in that extraordinary
+     household any member of it might be invisible for a week. And yet she
+     may at the present moment be in danger of her life. All I can do is
+     to watch the house and leave my agent, Warner, on guard at the gates.
+     We can't let such a situation continue. If the law can do nothing we
+     must take the risk ourselves."
+
+     "What do you suggest?"
+
+     "I know which is her room.  It is accessible from the top of an
+     outhouse.  My suggestion is that you and I go to-night and see if we
+     can strike at the very heart of the mystery."
+
+     It was not, I must confess, a very alluring prospect. The old house
+     with its atmosphere of murder, the singular and formidable
+     inhabitants, the unknown dangers of the approach, and the fact that
+     we were putting ourselves legally in a false position all combined to
+     damp my ardour. But there was something in the ice-cold reasoning of
+     Holmes which made it impossible to shrink from any adventure which he
+     might recommend. One knew that thus, and only thus, could a solution
+     be found. I clasped his hand in silence, and the die was cast.
+
+     But it was not destined that our investigation should have so
+     adventurous an ending. It was about five o'clock, and the shadows of
+     the March evening were beginning to fall, when an excited rustic
+     rushed into our room.
+
+     "They've gone, Mr. Holmes. They went by the last train. The lady
+     broke away, and I've got her in a cab downstairs."
+
+     "Excellent, Warner!" cried Holmes, springing to his feet. "Watson,
+     the gaps are closing rapidly."
+
+     In the cab was a woman, half-collapsed from nervous exhaustion. She
+     bore upon her aquiline and emaciated face the traces of some recent
+     tragedy. Her head hung listlessly upon her breast, but as she raised
+     it and turned her dull eyes upon us I saw that her pupils were dark
+     dots in the centre of the broad gray iris. She was drugged with
+     opium.
+
+     "I watched at the gate, same as you advised, Mr. Holmes," said our
+     emissary, the discharged gardener. "When the carriage came out I
+     followed it to the station. She was like one walking in her sleep,
+     but when they tried to get her into the train she came to life and
+     struggled. They pushed her into the carriage. She fought her way out
+     again. I took her part, got her into a cab, and here we are. I shan't
+     forget the face at the carriage window as I led her away. I'd have a
+     short life if he had his way--the black-eyed, scowling, yellow
+     devil."
+
+     We carried her upstairs, laid her on the sofa, and a couple of cups
+     of the strongest coffee soon cleared her brain from the mists of the
+     drug. Baynes had been summoned by Holmes, and the situation rapidly
+     explained to him.
+
+     "Why, sir, you've got me the very evidence I want," said the
+     inspector warmly, shaking my friend by the hand. "I was on the same
+     scent as you from the first."
+
+     "What! You were after Henderson?"
+
+     "Why, Mr. Holmes, when you were crawling in the shrubbery at High
+     Gable I was up one of the trees in the plantation and saw you down
+     below. It was just who would get his evidence first."
+
+     "Then why did you arrest the mulatto?"
+
+     Baynes chuckled.
+
+     "I was sure Henderson, as he calls himself, felt that he was
+     suspected, and that he would lie low and make no move so long as he
+     thought he was in any danger. I arrested the wrong man to make him
+     believe that our eyes were off him. I knew he would be likely to
+     clear off then and give us a chance of getting at Miss Burnet."
+
+     Holmes laid his hand upon the inspector's shoulder.
+
+     "You will rise high in your profession. You have instinct and
+     intuition," said he.
+
+     Baynes flushed with pleasure.
+
+     "I've had a plain-clothes man waiting at the station all the week.
+     Wherever the High Gable folk go he will keep them in sight. But he
+     must have been hard put to it when Miss Burnet broke away. However,
+     your man picked her up, and it all ends well. We can't arrest without
+     her evidence, that is clear, so the sooner we get a statement the
+     better."
+
+     "Every minute she gets stronger," said Holmes, glancing at the
+     governess. "But tell me, Baynes, who is this man Henderson?"
+
+     "Henderson," the inspector answered, "is Don Murillo, once called the
+     Tiger of San Pedro."
+
+     The Tiger of San Pedro! The whole history of the man came back to me
+     in a flash. He had made his name as the most lewd and bloodthirsty
+     tyrant that had ever governed any country with a pretence to
+     civilization. Strong, fearless, and energetic, he had sufficient
+     virtue to enable him to impose his odious vices upon a cowering
+     people for ten or twelve years. His name was a terror through all
+     Central America. At the end of that time there was a universal rising
+     against him. But he was as cunning as he was cruel, and at the first
+     whisper of coming trouble he had secretly conveyed his treasures
+     aboard a ship which was manned by devoted adherents. It was an empty
+     palace which was stormed by the insurgents next day. The dictator,
+     his two children, his secretary, and his wealth had all escaped them.
+     From that moment he had vanished from the world, and his identity had
+     been a frequent subject for comment in the European press.
+
+     "Yes, sir, Don Murillo, the Tiger of San Pedro," said Baynes. "If you
+     look it up you will find that the San Pedro colours are green and
+     white, same as in the note, Mr. Holmes. Henderson he called himself,
+     but I traced him back, Paris and Rome and Madrid to Barcelona, where
+     his ship came in in '86. They've been looking for him all the time
+     for their revenge, but it is only now that they have begun to find
+     him out."
+
+     "They discovered him a year ago," said Miss Burnet, who had sat up
+     and was now intently following the conversation. "Once already his
+     life has been attempted, but some evil spirit shielded him. Now,
+     again, it is the noble, chivalrous Garcia who has fallen, while the
+     monster goes safe. But another will come, and yet another, until some
+     day justice will be done; that is as certain as the rise of
+     to-morrow's sun." Her thin hands clenched, and her worn face blanched
+     with the passion of her hatred.
+
+     "But how come you into this matter, Miss Burnet?" asked Holmes. "How
+     can an English lady join in such a murderous affair?"
+
+     "I join in it because there is no other way in the world by which
+     justice can be gained. What does the law of England care for the
+     rivers of blood shed years ago in San Pedro, or for the shipload of
+     treasure which this man has stolen? To you they are like crimes
+     committed in some other planet. But we know. We have learned the
+     truth in sorrow and in suffering. To us there is no fiend in hell
+     like Juan Murillo, and no peace in life while his victims still cry
+     for vengeance."
+
+     "No doubt," said Holmes, "he was as you say. I have heard that he was
+     atrocious. But how are you affected?"
+
+     "I will tell you it all. This villain's policy was to murder, on one
+     pretext or another, every man who showed such promise that he might
+     in time come to be a dangerous rival. My husband--yes, my real name
+     is Signora Victor Durando--was the San Pedro minister in London. He
+     met me and married me there. A nobler man never lived upon earth.
+     Unhappily, Murillo heard of his excellence, recalled him on some
+     pretext, and had him shot. With a premonition of his fate he had
+     refused to take me with him. His estates were confiscated, and I was
+     left with a pittance and a broken heart.
+
+     "Then came the downfall of the tyrant. He escaped as you have just
+     described. But the many whose lives he had ruined, whose nearest and
+     dearest had suffered torture and death at his hands, would not let
+     the matter rest. They banded themselves into a society which should
+     never be dissolved until the work was done. It was my part after we
+     had discovered in the transformed Henderson the fallen despot, to
+     attach myself to his household and keep the others in touch with his
+     movements. This I was able to do by securing the position of
+     governess in his family. He little knew that the woman who faced him
+     at every meal was the woman whose husband he had hurried at an hour's
+     notice into eternity. I smiled on him, did my duty to his children,
+     and bided my time. An attempt was made in Paris and failed. We
+     zig-zagged swiftly here and there over Europe to throw off the
+     pursuers and finally returned to this house, which he had taken upon
+     his first arrival in England.
+
+     "But here also the ministers of justice were waiting. Knowing that he
+     would return there, Garcia, who is the son of the former highest
+     dignitary in San Pedro, was waiting with two trusty companions of
+     humble station, all three fired with the same reasons for revenge. He
+     could do little during the day, for Murillo took every precaution and
+     never went out save with his satellite Lucas, or Lopez as he was
+     known in the days of his greatness. At night, however, he slept
+     alone, and the avenger might find him. On a certain evening, which
+     had been prearranged, I sent my friend final instructions, for the
+     man was forever on the alert and continually changed his room. I was
+     to see that the doors were open and the signal of a green or white
+     light in a window which faced the drive was to give notice if all was
+     safe or if the attempt had better be postponed.
+
+     "But everything went wrong with us. In some way I had excited the
+     suspicion of Lopez, the secretary. He crept up behind me and sprang
+     upon me just as I had finished the note. He and his master dragged me
+     to my room and held judgment upon me as a convicted traitress. Then
+     and there they would have plunged their knives into me could they
+     have seen how to escape the consequences of the deed. Finally, after
+     much debate, they concluded that my murder was too dangerous. But
+     they determined to get rid forever of Garcia. They had gagged me, and
+     Murillo twisted my arm round until I gave him the address. I swear
+     that he might have twisted it off had I understood what it would mean
+     to Garcia. Lopez addressed the note which I had written, sealed it
+     with his sleeve-link, and sent it by the hand of the servant, Jose.
+     How they murdered him I do not know, save that it was Murillo's hand
+     who struck him down, for Lopez had remained to guard me. I believe he
+     must have waited among the gorse bushes through which the path winds
+     and struck him down as he passed. At first they were of a mind to let
+     him enter the house and to kill him as a detected burglar; but they
+     argued that if they were mixed up in an inquiry their own identity
+     would at once be publicly disclosed and they would be open to further
+     attacks. With the death of Garcia, the pursuit might cease, since
+     such a death might frighten others from the task.
+
+     "All would now have been well for them had it not been for my
+     knowledge of what they had done. I have no doubt that there were
+     times when my life hung in the balance. I was confined to my room,
+     terrorized by the most horrible threats, cruelly ill-used to break my
+     spirit--see this stab on my shoulder and the bruises from end to end
+     of my arms--and a gag was thrust into my mouth on the one occasion
+     when I tried to call from the window. For five days this cruel
+     imprisonment continued, with hardly enough food to hold body and soul
+     together. This afternoon a good lunch was brought me, but the moment
+     after I took it I knew that I had been drugged. In a sort of dream I
+     remember being half-led, half-carried to the carriage; in the same
+     state I was conveyed to the train. Only then, when the wheels were
+     almost moving, did I suddenly realize that my liberty lay in my own
+     hands. I sprang out, they tried to drag me back, and had it not been
+     for the help of this good man, who led me to the cab, I should never
+     had broken away. Now, thank God, I am beyond their power forever."
+
+     We had all listened intently to this remarkable statement. It was
+     Holmes who broke the silence.
+
+     "Our difficulties are not over," he remarked, shaking his head. "Our
+     police work ends, but our legal work begins."
+
+     "Exactly," said I. "A plausible lawyer could make it out as an act of
+     self-defence. There may be a hundred crimes in the background, but it
+     is only on this one that they can be tried."
+
+     "Come, come," said Baynes cheerily, "I think better of the law than
+     that. Self-defence is one thing. To entice a man in cold blood with
+     the object of murdering him is another, whatever danger you may fear
+     from him. No, no, we shall all be justified when we see the tenants
+     of High Gable at the next Guildford Assizes."
+
+     It is a matter of history, however, that a little time was still to
+     elapse before the Tiger of San Pedro should meet with his deserts.
+     Wily and bold, he and his companion threw their pursuer off their
+     track by entering a lodging-house in Edmonton Street and leaving by
+     the back-gate into Curzon Square. From that day they were seen no
+     more in England. Some six months afterwards the Marquess of Montalva
+     and Signor Rulli, his secretary, were both murdered in their rooms at
+     the Hotel Escurial at Madrid. The crime was ascribed to Nihilism, and
+     the murderers were never arrested. Inspector Baynes visited us at
+     Baker Street with a printed description of the dark face of the
+     secretary, and of the masterful features, the magnetic black eyes,
+     and the tufted brows of his master. We could not doubt that justice,
+     if belated, had come at last.
+
+     "A chaotic case, my dear Watson," said Holmes over an evening pipe.
+     "It will not be possible for you to present in that compact form
+     which is dear to your heart. It covers two continents, concerns two
+     groups of mysterious persons, and is further complicated by the
+     highly respectable presence of our friend, Scott Eccles, whose
+     inclusion shows me that the deceased Garcia had a scheming mind and a
+     well-developed instinct of self-preservation. It is remarkable only
+     for the fact that amid a perfect jungle of possibilities we, with our
+     worthy collaborator, the inspector, have kept our close hold on the
+     essentials and so been guided along the crooked and winding path. Is
+     there any point which is not quite clear to you?"
+
+     "The object of the mulatto cook's return?"
+
+     "I think that the strange creature in the kitchen may account for it.
+     The man was a primitive savage from the backwoods of San Pedro, and
+     this was his fetish. When his companion and he had fled to some
+     prearranged retreat--already occupied, no doubt by a confederate--the
+     companion had persuaded him to leave so compromising an article of
+     furniture. But the mulatto's heart was with it, and he was driven
+     back to it next day, when, on reconnoitering through the window, he
+     found policeman Walters in possession. He waited three days longer,
+     and then his piety or his superstition drove him to try once more.
+     Inspector Baynes, who, with his usual astuteness, had minimized the
+     incident before me, had really recognized its importance and had left
+     a trap into which the creature walked. Any other point, Watson?"
+
+     "The torn bird, the pail of blood, the charred bones, all the mystery
+     of that weird kitchen?"
+
+     Holmes smiled as he turned up an entry in his note-book.
+
+     "I spent a morning in the British Museum reading up on that and other
+     points. Here is a quotation from Eckermann's Voodooism and the
+     Negroid Religions:
+
+     "'The true voodoo-worshipper attempts nothing of importance without
+     certain sacrifices which are intended to propitiate his unclean gods.
+     In extreme cases these rites take the form of human sacrifices
+     followed by cannibalism. The more usual victims are a white cock,
+     which is plucked in pieces alive, or a black goat, whose throat is
+     cut and body burned.'
+
+     "So you see our savage friend was very orthodox in his ritual. It is
+     grotesque, Watson," Holmes added, as he slowly fastened his notebook,
+     "but, as I have had occasion to remark, there is but one step from
+     the grotesque to the horrible."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE CARDBOARD BOX
+
+     In choosing a few typical cases which illustrate the remarkable
+     mental qualities of my friend, Sherlock Holmes, I have endeavoured,
+     as far as possible, to select those which presented the minimum of
+     sensationalism, while offering a fair field for his talents. It is,
+     however, unfortunately impossible entirely to separate the
+     sensational from the criminal, and a chronicler is left in the
+     dilemma that he must either sacrifice details which are essential to
+     his statement and so give a false impression of the problem, or he
+     must use matter which chance, and not choice, has provided him with.
+     With this short preface I shall turn to my notes of what proved to be
+     a strange, though a peculiarly terrible, chain of events.
+
+     It was a blazing hot day in August. Baker Street was like an oven,
+     and the glare of the sunlight upon the yellow brickwork of the house
+     across the road was painful to the eye. It was hard to believe that
+     these were the same walls which loomed so gloomily through the fogs
+     of winter. Our blinds were half-drawn, and Holmes lay curled upon the
+     sofa, reading and re-reading a letter which he had received by the
+     morning post. For myself, my term of service in India had trained me
+     to stand heat better than cold, and a thermometer at ninety was no
+     hardship. But the morning paper was uninteresting. Parliament had
+     risen. Everybody was out of town, and I yearned for the glades of the
+     New Forest or the shingle of Southsea. A depleted bank account had
+     caused me to postpone my holiday, and as to my companion, neither the
+     country nor the sea presented the slightest attraction to him. He
+     loved to lie in the very center of five millions of people, with his
+     filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to
+     every little rumour or suspicion of unsolved crime. Appreciation of
+     nature found no place among his many gifts, and his only change was
+     when he turned his mind from the evil-doer of the town to track down
+     his brother of the country.
+
+     Finding that Holmes was too absorbed for conversation I had tossed
+     side the barren paper, and leaning back in my chair I fell into a
+     brown study. Suddenly my companion's voice broke in upon my thoughts:
+
+     "You are right, Watson," said he. "It does seem a most preposterous
+     way of settling a dispute."
+
+     "Most preposterous!" I exclaimed, and then suddenly realizing how he
+     had echoed the inmost thought of my soul, I sat up in my chair and
+     stared at him in blank amazement.
+
+     "What is this, Holmes?" I cried. "This is beyond anything which I
+     could have imagined."
+
+     He laughed heartily at my perplexity.
+
+     "You remember," said he, "that some little time ago when I read you
+     the passage in one of Poe's sketches in which a close reasoner
+     follows the unspoken thoughts of his companion, you were inclined to
+     treat the matter as a mere tour-de-force of the author. On my
+     remarking that I was constantly in the habit of doing the same thing
+     you expressed incredulity."
+
+     "Oh, no!"
+
+     "Perhaps not with your tongue, my dear Watson, but certainly with
+     your eyebrows. So when I saw you throw down your paper and enter upon
+     a train of thought, I was very happy to have the opportunity of
+     reading it off, and eventually of breaking into it, as a proof that I
+     had been in rapport with you."
+
+     But I was still far from satisfied. "In the example which you read to
+     me," said I, "the reasoner drew his conclusions from the actions of
+     the man whom he observed. If I remember right, he stumbled over a
+     heap of stones, looked up at the stars, and so on. But I have been
+     seated quietly in my chair, and what clues can I have given you?"
+
+     "You do yourself an injustice. The features are given to man as the
+     means by which he shall express his emotions, and yours are faithful
+     servants."
+
+     "Do you mean to say that you read my train of thoughts from my
+     features?"
+
+     "Your features and especially your eyes. Perhaps you cannot yourself
+     recall how your reverie commenced?"
+
+     "No, I cannot."
+
+     "Then I will tell you. After throwing down your paper, which was the
+     action which drew my attention to you, you sat for half a minute with
+     a vacant expression. Then your eyes fixed themselves upon your newly
+     framed picture of General Gordon, and I saw by the alteration in your
+     face that a train of thought had been started. But it did not lead
+     very far. Your eyes flashed across to the unframed portrait of Henry
+     Ward Beecher which stands upon the top of your books. Then you
+     glanced up at the wall, and of course your meaning was obvious. You
+     were thinking that if the portrait were framed it would just cover
+     that bare space and correspond with Gordon's picture there."
+
+     "You have followed me wonderfully!" I exclaimed.
+
+     "So far I could hardly have gone astray. But now your thoughts went
+     back to Beecher, and you looked hard across as if you were studying
+     the character in his features. Then your eyes ceased to pucker, but
+     you continued to look across, and your face was thoughtful. You were
+     recalling the incidents of Beecher's career. I was well aware that
+     you could not do this without thinking of the mission which he
+     undertook on behalf of the North at the time of the Civil War, for I
+     remember your expressing your passionate indignation at the way in
+     which he was received by the more turbulent of our people. You felt
+     so strongly about it that I knew you could not think of Beecher
+     without thinking of that also. When a moment later I saw your eyes
+     wander away from the picture, I suspected that your mind had now
+     turned to the Civil War, and when I observed that your lips set, your
+     eyes sparkled, and your hands clenched I was positive that you were
+     indeed thinking of the gallantry which was shown by both sides in
+     that desperate struggle. But then, again, your face grew sadder, you
+     shook your head. You were dwelling upon the sadness and horror and
+     useless waste of life. Your hand stole towards your own old wound and
+     a smile quivered on your lips, which showed me that the ridiculous
+     side of this method of settling international questions had forced
+     itself upon your mind. At this point I agreed with you that it was
+     preposterous and was glad to find that all my deductions had been
+     correct."
+
+     "Absolutely!" said I. "And now that you have explained it, I confess
+     that I am as amazed as before."
+
+     "It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you. I should not
+     have intruded it upon your attention had you not shown some
+     incredulity the other day. But I have in my hands here a little
+     problem which may prove to be more difficult of solution than my
+     small essay in thought reading. Have you observed in the paper a
+     short paragraph referring to the remarkable contents of a packet sent
+     through the post to Miss Cushing, of Cross Street, Croydon?"
+
+     "No, I saw nothing."
+
+     "Ah! then you must have overlooked it. Just toss it over to me. Here
+     it is, under the financial column. Perhaps you would be good enough
+     to read it aloud."
+
+     I picked up the paper which he had thrown back to me and read the
+     paragraph indicated. It was headed, "A Gruesome Packet."
+
+     "Miss Susan Cushing, living at Cross Street, Croydon, has been made
+     the victim of what must be regarded as a peculiarly revolting
+     practical joke unless some more sinister meaning should prove to be
+     attached to the incident. At two o'clock yesterday afternoon a small
+     packet, wrapped in brown paper, was handed in by the postman. A
+     cardboard box was inside, which was filled with coarse salt. On
+     emptying this, Miss Cushing was horrified to find two human ears,
+     apparently quite freshly severed. The box had been sent by parcel
+     post from Belfast upon the morning before. There is no indication as
+     to the sender, and the matter is the more mysterious as Miss Cushing,
+     who is a maiden lady of fifty, has led a most retired life, and has
+     so few acquaintances or correspondents that it is a rare event for
+     her to receive anything through the post. Some years ago, however,
+     when she resided at Penge, she let apartments in her house to three
+     young medical students, whom she was obliged to get rid of on account
+     of their noisy and irregular habits. The police are of opinion that
+     this outrage may have been perpetrated upon Miss Cushing by these
+     youths, who owed her a grudge and who hoped to frighten her by
+     sending her these relics of the dissecting-rooms. Some probability is
+     lent to the theory by the fact that one of these students came from
+     the north of Ireland, and, to the best of Miss Cushing's belief, from
+     Belfast. In the meantime, the matter is being actively investigated,
+     Mr. Lestrade, one of the very smartest of our detective officers,
+     being in charge of the case."
+
+     "So much for the Daily Chronicle," said Holmes as I finished reading.
+     "Now for our friend Lestrade. I had a note from him this morning, in
+     which he says:
+
+     "I think that this case is very much in your line. We have every hope
+     of clearing the matter up, but we find a little difficulty in getting
+     anything to work upon. We have, of course, wired to the Belfast
+     post-office, but a large number of parcels were handed in upon that
+     day, and they have no means of identifying this particular one, or of
+     remembering the sender. The box is a half-pound box of honeydew
+     tobacco and does not help us in any way. The medical student theory
+     still appears to me to be the most feasible, but if you should have a
+     few hours to spare I should be very happy to see you out here. I
+     shall be either at the house or in the police-station all day.
+
+     "What say you, Watson? Can you rise superior to the heat and run down
+     to Croydon with me on the off chance of a case for your annals?"
+
+     "I was longing for something to do."
+
+     "You shall have it then. Ring for our boots and tell them to order a
+     cab. I'll be back in a moment when I have changed my dressing-gown
+     and filled my cigar-case."
+
+     A shower of rain fell while we were in the train, and the heat was
+     far less oppressive in Croydon than in town. Holmes had sent on a
+     wire, so that Lestrade, as wiry, as dapper, and as ferret-like as
+     ever, was waiting for us at the station. A walk of five minutes took
+     us to Cross Street, where Miss Cushing resided.
+
+     It was a very long street of two-story brick houses, neat and prim,
+     with whitened stone steps and little groups of aproned women
+     gossiping at the doors. Halfway down, Lestrade stopped and tapped at
+     a door, which was opened by a small servant girl. Miss Cushing was
+     sitting in the front room, into which we were ushered. She was a
+     placid-faced woman, with large, gentle eyes, and grizzled hair
+     curving down over her temples on each side. A worked antimacassar lay
+     upon her lap and a basket of coloured silks stood upon a stool beside
+     her.
+
+     "They are in the outhouse, those dreadful things," said she as
+     Lestrade entered. "I wish that you would take them away altogether."
+
+     "So I shall, Miss Cushing. I only kept them here until my friend, Mr.
+     Holmes, should have seen them in your presence."
+
+     "Why in my presence, sir?"
+
+     "In case he wished to ask any questions."
+
+     "What is the use of asking me questions when I tell you I know
+     nothing whatever about it?"
+
+     "Quite so, madam," said Holmes in his soothing way. "I have no doubt
+     that you have been annoyed more than enough already over this
+     business."
+
+     "Indeed I have, sir. I am a quiet woman and live a retired life. It
+     is something new for me to see my name in the papers and to find the
+     police in my house. I won't have those things in here, Mr. Lestrade.
+     If you wish to see them you must go to the outhouse."
+
+     It was a small shed in the narrow garden which ran behind the house.
+     Lestrade went in and brought out a yellow cardboard box, with a piece
+     of brown paper and some string. There was a bench at the end of the
+     path, and we all sat down while Homes examined one by one, the
+     articles which Lestrade had handed to him.
+
+     "The string is exceedingly interesting," he remarked, holding it up
+     to the light and sniffing at it. "What do you make of this string,
+     Lestrade?"
+
+     "It has been tarred."
+
+     "Precisely. It is a piece of tarred twine. You have also, no doubt,
+     remarked that Miss Cushing has cut the cord with a scissors, as can
+     be seen by the double fray on each side. This is of importance."
+
+     "I cannot see the importance," said Lestrade.
+
+     "The importance lies in the fact that the knot is left intact, and
+     that this knot is of a peculiar character."
+
+     "It is very neatly tied. I had already made a note of that effect,"
+     said Lestrade complacently.
+
+     "So much for the string, then," said Holmes, smiling, "now for the
+     box wrapper. Brown paper, with a distinct smell of coffee. What, did
+     you not observe it? I think there can be no doubt of it. Address
+     printed in rather straggling characters: 'Miss S. Cushing, Cross
+     Street, Croydon.' Done with a broad-pointed pen, probably a J, and
+     with very inferior ink. The word 'Croydon' has been originally
+     spelled with an 'i', which has been changed to 'y'. The parcel was
+     directed, then, by a man--the printing is distinctly masculine--of
+     limited education and unacquainted with the town of Croydon. So far,
+     so good! The box is a yellow, half-pound honeydew box, with nothing
+     distinctive save two thumb marks at the left bottom corner. It is
+     filled with rough salt of the quality used for preserving hides and
+     other of the coarser commercial purposes. And embedded in it are
+     these very singular enclosures."
+
+     He took out the two ears as he spoke, and laying a board across his
+     knee he examined them minutely, while Lestrade and I, bending forward
+     on each side of him, glanced alternately at these dreadful relics and
+     at the thoughtful, eager face of our companion. Finally he returned
+     them to the box once more and sat for a while in deep meditation.
+
+     "You have observed, of course," said he at last, "that the ears are
+     not a pair."
+
+     "Yes, I have noticed that. But if this were the practical joke of
+     some students from the dissecting-rooms, it would be as easy for them
+     to send two odd ears as a pair."
+
+     "Precisely. But this is not a practical joke."
+
+     "You are sure of it?"
+
+     "The presumption is strongly against it. Bodies in the
+     dissecting-rooms are injected with preservative fluid. These ears
+     bear no signs of this. They are fresh, too. They have been cut off
+     with a blunt instrument, which would hardly happen if a student had
+     done it. Again, carbolic or rectified spirits would be the
+     preservatives which would suggest themselves to the medical mind,
+     certainly not rough salt. I repeat that there is no practical joke
+     here, but that we are investigating a serious crime."
+
+     A vague thrill ran through me as I listened to my companion's words
+     and saw the stern gravity which had hardened his features. This
+     brutal preliminary seemed to shadow forth some strange and
+     inexplicable horror in the background. Lestrade, however, shook his
+     head like a man who is only half convinced.
+
+     "There are objections to the joke theory, no doubt," said he, "but
+     there are much stronger reasons against the other. We know that this
+     woman has led a most quiet and respectable life at Penge and here for
+     the last twenty years. She has hardly been away from her home for a
+     day during that time. Why on earth, then, should any criminal send
+     her the proofs of his guilt, especially as, unless she is a most
+     consummate actress, she understands quite as little of the matter as
+     we do?"
+
+     "That is the problem which we have to solve," Holmes answered, "and
+     for my part I shall set about it by presuming that my reasoning is
+     correct, and that a double murder has been committed. One of these
+     ears is a woman's, small, finely formed, and pierced for an earring.
+     The other is a man's, sun-burned, discoloured, and also pierced for
+     an earring. These two people are presumably dead, or we should have
+     heard their story before now. To-day is Friday. The packet was posted
+     on Thursday morning. The tragedy, then, occurred on Wednesday or
+     Tuesday, or earlier. If the two people were murdered, who but their
+     murderer would have sent this sign of his work to Miss Cushing? We
+     may take it that the sender of the packet is the man whom we want.
+     But he must have some strong reason for sending Miss Cushing this
+     packet. What reason then? It must have been to tell her that the deed
+     was done; or to pain her, perhaps. But in that case she knows who it
+     is. Does she know? I doubt it. If she knew, why should she call the
+     police in? She might have buried the ears, and no one would have been
+     the wiser. That is what she would have done if she had wished to
+     shield the criminal. But if she does not wish to shield him she would
+     give his name. There is a tangle here which needs straightening out."
+     He had been talking in a high, quick voice, staring blankly up over
+     the garden fence, but now he sprang briskly to his feet and walked
+     towards the house.
+
+     "I have a few questions to ask Miss Cushing," said he.
+
+     "In that case I may leave you here," said Lestrade, "for I have
+     another small business on hand. I think that I have nothing further
+     to learn from Miss Cushing. You will find me at the police-station."
+
+     "We shall look in on our way to the train," answered Holmes. A moment
+     later he and I were back in the front room, where the impassive lady
+     was still quietly working away at her antimacassar. She put it down
+     on her lap as we entered and looked at us with her frank, searching
+     blue eyes.
+
+     "I am convinced, sir," she said, "that this matter is a mistake, and
+     that the parcel was never meant for me at all. I have said this
+     several times to the gentlemen from Scotland Yard, but he simply
+     laughs at me. I have not an enemy in the world, as far as I know, so
+     why should anyone play me such a trick?"
+
+     "I am coming to be of the same opinion, Miss Cushing," said Holmes,
+     taking a seat beside her. "I think that it is more than probable--"
+     He paused, and I was surprised, on glancing round to see that he was
+     staring with singular intentness at the lady's profile. Surprise and
+     satisfaction were both for an instant to be read upon his eager face,
+     though when she glanced round to find out the cause of his silence he
+     had become as demure as ever. I stared hard myself at her flat,
+     grizzled hair, her trim cap, her little gilt earrings, her placid
+     features; but I could see nothing which could account for my
+     companion's evident excitement.
+
+     "There were one or two questions--"
+
+     "Oh, I am weary of questions!" cried Miss Cushing impatiently.
+
+     "You have two sisters, I believe."
+
+     "How could you know that?"
+
+     "I observed the very instant that I entered the room that you have a
+     portrait group of three ladies upon the mantelpiece, one of whom is
+     undoubtedly yourself, while the others are so exceedingly like you
+     that there could be no doubt of the relationship."
+
+     "Yes, you are quite right. Those are my sisters, Sarah and Mary."
+
+     "And here at my elbow is another portrait, taken at Liverpool, of
+     your younger sister, in the company of a man who appears to be a
+     steward by his uniform. I observe that she was unmarried at the
+     time."
+
+     "You are very quick at observing."
+
+     "That is my trade."
+
+     "Well, you are quite right.  But she was married to Mr. Browner a few
+     days afterwards. He was on the South American line when that was
+     taken, but he was so fond of her that he couldn't abide to leave her
+     for so long, and he got into the Liverpool and London boats."
+
+     "Ah, the Conqueror, perhaps?"
+
+     "No, the May Day, when last I heard. Jim came down here to see me
+     once. That was before he broke the pledge; but afterwards he would
+     always take drink when he was ashore, and a little drink would send
+     him stark, staring mad. Ah! it was a bad day that ever he took a
+     glass in his hand again. First he dropped me, then he quarrelled with
+     Sarah, and now that Mary has stopped writing we don't know how things
+     are going with them."
+
+     It was evident that Miss Cushing had come upon a subject on which she
+     felt very deeply. Like most people who lead a lonely life, she was
+     shy at first, but ended by becoming extremely communicative. She told
+     us many details about her brother-in-law the steward, and then
+     wandering off on the subject of her former lodgers, the medical
+     students, she gave us a long account of their delinquencies, with
+     their names and those of their hospitals. Holmes listened attentively
+     to everything, throwing in a question from time to time.
+
+     "About your second sister, Sarah," said he. "I wonder, since you are
+     both maiden ladies, that you do not keep house together."
+
+     "Ah! you don't know Sarah's temper or you would wonder no more. I
+     tried it when I came to Croydon, and we kept on until about two
+     months ago, when we had to part. I don't want to say a word against
+     my own sister, but she was always meddlesome and hard to please, was
+     Sarah."
+
+     "You say that she quarrelled with your Liverpool relations."
+
+     "Yes, and they were the best of friends at one time. Why, she went up
+     there to live in order to be near them. And now she has no word hard
+     enough for Jim Browner. The last six months that she was here she
+     would speak of nothing but his drinking and his ways. He had caught
+     her meddling, I suspect, and given her a bit of his mind, and that
+     was the start of it."
+
+     "Thank you, Miss Cushing," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Your
+     sister Sarah lives, I think you said, at New Street, Wallington?
+     Good-bye, and I am very sorry that you should have been troubled over
+     a case with which, as you say, you have nothing whatever to do."
+
+     There was a cab passing as we came out, and Holmes hailed it.
+
+     "How far to Wallington?" he asked.
+
+     "Only about a mile, sir."
+
+     "Very good. Jump in, Watson. We must strike while the iron is hot.
+     Simple as the case is, there have been one or two very instructive
+     details in connection with it. Just pull up at a telegraph office as
+     you pass, cabby."
+
+     Holmes sent off a short wire and for the rest of the drive lay back
+     in the cab, with his hat tilted over his nose to keep the sun from
+     his face. Our drive pulled up at a house which was not unlike the one
+     which we had just quitted. My companion ordered him to wait, and had
+     his hand upon the knocker, when the door opened and a grave young
+     gentleman in black, with a very shiny hat, appeared on the step.
+
+     "Is Miss Cushing at home?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Miss Sarah Cushing is extremely ill," said he. "She has been
+     suffering since yesterday from brain symptoms of great severity. As
+     her medical adviser, I cannot possibly take the responsibility of
+     allowing anyone to see her. I should recommend you to call again in
+     ten days." He drew on his gloves, closed the door, and marched off
+     down the street.
+
+     "Well, if we can't we can't," said Holmes, cheerfully.
+
+     "Perhaps she could not or would not have told you much."
+
+     "I did not wish her to tell me anything. I only wanted to look at
+     her. However, I think that I have got all that I want. Drive us to
+     some decent hotel, cabby, where we may have some lunch, and
+     afterwards we shall drop down upon friend Lestrade at the
+     police-station."
+
+     We had a pleasant little meal together, during which Holmes would
+     talk about nothing but violins, narrating with great exultation how
+     he had purchased his own Stradivarius, which was worth at least five
+     hundred guineas, at a Jew broker's in Tottenham Court Road for
+     fifty-five shillings. This led him to Paganini, and we sat for an
+     hour over a bottle of claret while he told me anecdote after anecdote
+     of that extraordinary man. The afternoon was far advanced and the hot
+     glare had softened into a mellow glow before we found ourselves at
+     the police-station. Lestrade was waiting for us at the door.
+
+     "A telegram for you, Mr. Holmes," said he.
+
+     "Ha! It is the answer!" He tore it open, glanced his eyes over it,
+     and crumpled it into his pocket. "That's all right," said he.
+
+     "Have you found out anything?"
+
+     "I have found out everything!"
+
+     "What!" Lestrade stared at him in amazement. "You are joking."
+
+     "I was never more serious in my life. A shocking crime has been
+     committed, and I think I have now laid bare every detail of it."
+
+     "And the criminal?"
+
+     Holmes scribbled a few words upon the back of one of his visiting
+     cards and threw it over to Lestrade.
+
+     "That is the name," he said. "You cannot effect an arrest until
+     to-morrow night at the earliest. I should prefer that you do not
+     mention my name at all in connection with the case, as I choose to be
+     only associated with those crimes which present some difficulty in
+     their solution. Come on, Watson." We strode off together to the
+     station, leaving Lestrade still staring with a delighted face at the
+     card which Holmes had thrown him.
+
+     "The case," said Sherlock Holmes as we chatted over or cigars that
+     night in our rooms at Baker Street, "is one where, as in the
+     investigations which you have chronicled under the names of 'A Study
+     in Scarlet' and of 'The Sign of Four,' we have been compelled to
+     reason backward from effects to causes. I have written to Lestrade
+     asking him to supply us with the details which are now wanting, and
+     which he will only get after he had secured his man. That he may be
+     safely trusted to do, for although he is absolutely devoid of reason,
+     he is as tenacious as a bulldog when he once understands what he has
+     to do, and indeed, it is just this tenacity which has brought him to
+     the top at Scotland Yard."
+
+     "Your case is not complete, then?" I asked.
+
+     "It is fairly complete in essentials. We know who the author of the
+     revolting business is, although one of the victims still escapes us.
+     Of course, you have formed your own conclusions."
+
+     "I presume that this Jim Browner, the steward of a Liverpool boat, is
+     the man whom you suspect?"
+
+     "Oh! it is more than a suspicion."
+
+     "And yet I cannot see anything save very vague indications."
+
+     "On the contrary, to my mind nothing could be more clear. Let me run
+     over the principal steps. We approached the case, you remember, with
+     an absolutely blank mind, which is always an advantage. We had formed
+     no theories. We were simply there to observe and to draw inferences
+     from our observations. What did we see first? A very placid and
+     respectable lady, who seemed quite innocent of any secret, and a
+     portrait which showed me that she had two younger sisters. It
+     instantly flashed across my mind that the box might have been meant
+     for one of these. I set the idea aside as one which could be
+     disproved or confirmed at our leisure. Then we went to the garden, as
+     you remember, and we saw the very singular contents of the little
+     yellow box.
+
+     "The string was of the quality which is used by sail-makers aboard
+     ship, and at once a whiff of the sea was perceptible in our
+     investigation. When I observed that the knot was one which is popular
+     with sailors, that the parcel had been posted at a port, and that the
+     male ear was pierced for an earring which is so much more common
+     among sailors than landsmen, I was quite certain that all the actors
+     in the tragedy were to be found among our seafaring classes.
+
+     "When I came to examine the address of the packet I observed that it
+     was to Miss S. Cushing. Now, the oldest sister would, of course, be
+     Miss Cushing, and although her initial was 'S' it might belong to one
+     of the others as well. In that case we should have to commence our
+     investigation from a fresh basis altogether. I therefore went into
+     the house with the intention of clearing up this point. I was about
+     to assure Miss Cushing that I was convinced that a mistake had been
+     made when you may remember that I came suddenly to a stop. The fact
+     was that I had just seen something which filled me with surprise and
+     at the same time narrowed the field of our inquiry immensely.
+
+     "As a medical man, you are aware, Watson, that there is no part of
+     the body which varies so much as the human ear. Each ear is as a rule
+     quite distinctive and differs from all other ones. In last year's
+     Anthropological Journal you will find two short monographs from my
+     pen upon the subject. I had, therefore, examined the ears in the box
+     with the eyes of an expert and had carefully noted their anatomical
+     peculiarities. Imagine my surprise, then, when on looking at Miss
+     Cushing I perceived that her ear corresponded exactly with the female
+     ear which I had just inspected. The matter was entirely beyond
+     coincidence. There was the same shortening of the pinna, the same
+     broad curve of the upper lobe, the same convolution of the inner
+     cartilage. In all essentials it was the same ear.
+
+     "In the first place, her sister's name was Sarah, and her address had
+     until recently been the same, so that it was quite obvious how the
+     mistake had occurred and for whom the packet was meant. Then we heard
+     of this steward, married to the third sister, and learned that he had
+     at one time been so intimate with Miss Sarah that she had actually
+     gone up to Liverpool to be near the Browners, but a quarrel had
+     afterwards divided them. This quarrel had put a stop to all
+     communications for some months, so that if Browner had occasion to
+     address a packet to Miss Sarah, he would undoubtedly have done so to
+     her old address.
+
+     "And now the matter had begun to straighten itself out wonderfully.
+     We had learned of the existence of this steward, an impulsive man, of
+     strong passions--you remember that he threw up what must have been a
+     very superior berth in order to be nearer to his wife--subject, too,
+     to occasional fits of hard drinking. We had reason to believe that
+     his wife had been murdered, and that a man--presumably a seafaring
+     man--had been murdered at the same time. Jealousy, of course, at once
+     suggests itself as the motive for the crime. And why should these
+     proofs of the deed be sent to Miss Sarah Cushing? Probably because
+     during her residence in Liverpool she had some hand in bringing about
+     the events which led to the tragedy. You will observe that this line
+     of boats call at Belfast, Dublin, and Waterford; so that, presuming
+     that Browner had committed the deed and had embarked at once upon his
+     steamer, the May Day, Belfast would be the first place at which he
+     could post his terrible packet.
+
+     "A second solution was at this stage obviously possible, and although
+     I thought it exceedingly unlikely, I was determined to elucidate it
+     before going further. An unsuccessful lover might have killed Mr. and
+     Mrs. Browner, and the male ear might have belonged to the husband.
+     There were many grave objections to this theory, but it was
+     conceivable. I therefore sent off a telegram to my friend Algar, of
+     the Liverpool force, and asked him to find out if Mrs. Browner were
+     at home, and if Browner had departed in the May Day. Then we went on
+     to Wallington to visit Miss Sarah.
+
+     "I was curious, in the first place, to see how far the family ear had
+     been reproduced in her. Then, of course, she might give us very
+     important information, but I was not sanguine that she would. She
+     must have heard of the business the day before, since all Croydon was
+     ringing with it, and she alone could have understood for whom the
+     packet was meant. If she had been willing to help justice she would
+     probably have communicated with the police already. However, it was
+     clearly our duty to see her, so we went. We found that the news of
+     the arrival of the packet--for her illness dated from that time--had
+     such an effect upon her as to bring on brain fever. It was clearer
+     than ever that she understood its full significance, but equally
+     clear that we should have to wait some time for any assistance from
+     her.
+
+     "However, we were really independent of her help. Our answers were
+     waiting for us at the police-station, where I had directed Algar to
+     send them. Nothing could be more conclusive. Mrs. Browner's house had
+     been closed for more than three days, and the neighbours were of
+     opinion that she had gone south to see her relatives. It had been
+     ascertained at the shipping offices that Browner had left aboard of
+     the May Day, and I calculate that she is due in the Thames tomorrow
+     night. When he arrives he will be met by the obtuse but resolute
+     Lestrade, and I have no doubt that we shall have all our details
+     filled in."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was not disappointed in his expectations. Two days
+     later he received a bulky envelope, which contained a short note from
+     the detective, and a typewritten document, which covered several
+     pages of foolscap.
+
+     "Lestrade has got him all right," said Holmes, glancing up at me.
+     "Perhaps it would interest you to hear what he says.
+
+     "My dear Mr. Holmes:
+     "In accordance with the scheme which we had formed in order to test
+     our theories" ["the 'we' is rather fine, Watson, is it not?"] "I went
+     down to the Albert Dock yesterday at 6 p.m., and boarded the S.S. May
+     Day, belonging to the Liverpool, Dublin, and London Steam Packet
+     Company. On inquiry, I found that there was a steward on board of the
+     name of James Browner and that he had acted during the voyage in such
+     an extraordinary manner that the captain had been compelled to
+     relieve him of his duties. On descending to his berth, I found him
+     seated upon a chest with his head sunk upon his hands, rocking
+     himself to and fro. He is a big, powerful chap, clean-shaven, and
+     very swarthy--something like Aldrige, who helped us in the bogus
+     laundry affair. He jumped up when he heard my business, and I had my
+     whistle to my lips to call a couple of river police, who were round
+     the corner, but he seemed to have no heart in him, and he held out
+     his hands quietly enough for the darbies. We brought him along to the
+     cells, and his box as well, for we thought there might be something
+     incriminating; but, bar a big sharp knife such as most sailors have,
+     we got nothing for our trouble. However, we find that we shall want
+     no more evidence, for on being brought before the inspector at the
+     station he asked leave to make a statement, which was, of course,
+     taken down, just as he made it, by our shorthand man. We had three
+     copies typewritten, one of which I enclose. The affair proves, as I
+     always thought it would, to be an extremely simple one, but I am
+     obliged to you for assisting me in my investigation. With kind
+     regards,
+     "Yours very truly,
+     "G. Lestrade.
+
+     "Hum! The investigation really was a very simple one," remarked
+     Holmes, "but I don't think it struck him in that light when he first
+     called us in. However, let us see what Jim Browner has to say for
+     himself. This is his statement as made before Inspector Montgomery at
+     the Shadwell Police Station, and it has the advantage of being
+     verbatim."
+
+     "'Have I anything to say? Yes, I have a deal to say. I have to make a
+     clean breast of it all. You can hang me, or you can leave me alone. I
+     don't care a plug which you do. I tell you I've not shut an eye in
+     sleep since I did it, and I don't believe I ever will again until I
+     get past all waking. Sometimes it's his face, but most generally it's
+     hers. I'm never without one or the other before me. He looks frowning
+     and black-like, but she has a kind o' surprise upon her face. Ay, the
+     white lamb, she might well be surprised when she read death on a face
+     that had seldom looked anything but love upon her before.
+
+     "'But it was Sarah's fault, and may the curse of a broken man put a
+     blight on her and set the blood rotting in her veins! It's not that I
+     want to clear myself. I know that I went back to drink, like the
+     beast that I was. But she would have forgiven me; she would have
+     stuck as close to me as a rope to a block if that woman had never
+     darkened our door. For Sarah Cushing loved me--that's the root of the
+     business--she loved me until all her love turned to poisonous hate
+     when she knew that I thought more of my wife's footmark in the mud
+     than I did of her whole body and soul.
+
+     "'There were three sisters altogether. The old one was just a good
+     woman, the second was a devil, and the third was an angel. Sarah was
+     thirty-three, and Mary was twenty-nine when I married. We were just
+     as happy as the day was long when we set up house together, and in
+     all Liverpool there was no better woman than my Mary. And then we
+     asked Sarah up for a week, and the week grew into a month, and one
+     thing led to another, until she was just one of ourselves.
+
+     "'I was blue ribbon at that time, and we were putting a little money
+     by, and all was as bright as a new dollar. My God, whoever would have
+     thought that it could have come to this? Whoever would have dreamed
+     it?
+
+     "'I used to be home for the week-ends very often, and sometimes if
+     the ship were held back for cargo I would have a whole week at a
+     time, and in this way I saw a deal of my sister-in-law, Sarah. She
+     was a fine tall woman, black and quick and fierce, with a proud way
+     of carrying her head, and a glint from her eye like a spark from a
+     flint. But when little Mary was there I had never a thought of her,
+     and that I swear as I hope for God's mercy.
+
+     "'It had seemed to me sometimes that she liked to be alone with me,
+     or to coax me out for a walk with her, but I had never thought
+     anything of that. But one evening my eyes were opened. I had come up
+     from the ship and found my wife out, but Sarah at home. "Where's
+     Mary?" I asked. "Oh, she has gone to pay some accounts." I was
+     impatient and paced up and down the room. "Can't you be happy for
+     five minutes without Mary, Jim?" says she. "It's a bad compliment to
+     me that you can't be contented with my society for so short a time."
+     "That's all right, my lass," said I, putting out my hand towards her
+     in a kindly way, but she had it in both hers in an instant, and they
+     burned as if they were in a fever. I looked into her eyes and I read
+     it all there. There was no need for her to speak, nor for me either.
+     I frowned and drew my hand away. Then she stood by my side in silence
+     for a bit, and then put up her hand and patted me on the shoulder.
+     "Steady old Jim!" said she, and with a kind o' mocking laugh, she ran
+     out of the room.
+
+     "'Well, from that time Sarah hated me with her whole heart and soul,
+     and she is a woman who can hate, too. I was a fool to let her go on
+     biding with us--a besotted fool--but I never said a word to Mary, for
+     I knew it would grieve her. Things went on much as before, but after
+     a time I began to find that there was a bit of a change in Mary
+     herself. She had always been so trusting and so innocent, but now she
+     became queer and suspicious, wanting to know where I had been and
+     what I had been doing, and whom my letters were from, and what I had
+     in my pockets, and a thousand such follies. Day by day she grew
+     queerer and more irritable, and we had ceaseless rows about nothing.
+     I was fairly puzzled by it all. Sarah avoided me now, but she and
+     Mary were just inseparable. I can see now how she was plotting and
+     scheming and poisoning my wife's mind against me, but I was such a
+     blind beetle that I could not understand it at the time. Then I broke
+     my blue ribbon and began to drink again, but I think I should not
+     have done it if Mary had been the same as ever. She had some reason
+     to be disgusted with me now, and the gap between us began to be wider
+     and wider. And then this Alec Fairbairn chipped in, and things became
+     a thousand times blacker.
+
+     "'It was to see Sarah that he came to my house first, but soon it was
+     to see us, for he was a man with winning ways, and he made friends
+     wherever he went. He was a dashing, swaggering chap, smart and
+     curled, who had seen half the world and could talk of what he had
+     seen. He was good company, I won't deny it, and he had wonderful
+     polite ways with him for a sailor man, so that I think there must
+     have been a time when he knew more of the poop than the forecastle.
+     For a month he was in and out of my house, and never once did it
+     cross my mind that harm might come of his soft, tricky ways. And then
+     at last something made me suspect, and from that day my peace was
+     gone forever.
+
+     "'It was only a little thing, too. I had come into the parlour
+     unexpected, and as I walked in at the door I saw a light of welcome
+     on my wife's face. But as she saw who it was it faded again, and she
+     turned away with a look of disappointment. That was enough for me.
+     There was no one but Alec Fairbairn whose step she could have
+     mistaken for mine. If I could have seen him then I should have killed
+     him, for I have always been like a madman when my temper gets loose.
+     Mary saw the devil's light in my eyes, and she ran forward with her
+     hands on my sleeve. "Don't, Jim, don't!" says she. "Where's Sarah?" I
+     asked. "In the kitchen," says she. "Sarah," says I as I went in,
+     "this man Fairbairn is never to darken my door again." "Why not?"
+     says she. "Because I order it." "Oh!" says she, "if my friends are
+     not good enough for this house, then I am not good enough for it
+     either." "You can do what you like," says I, "but if Fairbairn shows
+     his face here again I'll send you one of his ears for a keepsake."
+     She was frightened by my face, I think, for she never answered a
+     word, and the same evening she left my house.
+
+     "'Well, I don't know now whether it was pure devilry on the part of
+     this woman, or whether she thought that she could turn me against my
+     wife by encouraging her to misbehave. Anyway, she took a house just
+     two streets off and let lodgings to sailors. Fairbairn used to stay
+     there, and Mary would go round to have tea with her sister and him.
+     How often she went I don't know, but I followed her one day, and as I
+     broke in at the door Fairbairn got away over the back garden wall,
+     like the cowardly skunk that he was. I swore to my wife that I would
+     kill her if I found her in his company again, and I led her back with
+     me, sobbing and trembling, and as white as a piece of paper. There
+     was no trace of love between us any longer. I could see that she
+     hated me and feared me, and when the thought of it drove me to drink,
+     then she despised me as well.
+
+     "'Well, Sarah found that she could not make a living in Liverpool, so
+     she went back, as I understand, to live with her sister in Croydon,
+     and things jogged on much the same as ever at home. And then came
+     this week and all the misery and ruin.
+
+     "'It was in this way. We had gone on the May Day for a round voyage
+     of seven days, but a hogshead got loose and started one of our
+     plates, so that we had to put back into port for twelve hours. I left
+     the ship and came home, thinking what a surprise it would be for my
+     wife, and hoping that maybe she would be glad to see me so soon. The
+     thought was in my head as I turned into my own street, and at that
+     moment a cab passed me, and there she was, sitting by the side of
+     Fairbairn, the two chatting and laughing, with never a thought for me
+     as I stood watching them from the footpath.
+
+     "'I tell you, and I give you my word for it, that from that moment I
+     was not my own master, and it is all like a dim dream when I look
+     back on it. I had been drinking hard of late, and the two things
+     together fairly turned my brain. There's something throbbing in my
+     head now, like a docker's hammer, but that morning I seemed to have
+     all Niagara whizzing and buzzing in my ears.
+
+     "'Well, I took to my heels, and I ran after the cab. I had a heavy
+     oak stick in my hand, and I tell you I saw red from the first; but as
+     I ran I got cunning, too, and hung back a little to see them without
+     being seen. They pulled up soon at the railway station. There was a
+     good crowd round the booking-office, so I got quite close to them
+     without being seen. They took tickets for New Brighton. So did I, but
+     I got in three carriages behind them. When we reached it they walked
+     along the Parade, and I was never more than a hundred yards from
+     them. At last I saw them hire a boat and start for a row, for it was
+     a very hot day, and they thought, no doubt, that it would be cooler
+     on the water.
+
+     "'It was just as if they had been given into my hands. There was a
+     bit of a haze, and you could not see more than a few hundred yards. I
+     hired a boat for myself, and I pulled after them. I could see the
+     blur of their craft, but they were going nearly as fast as I, and
+     they must have been a long mile from the shore before I caught them
+     up. The haze was like a curtain all round us, and there were we three
+     in the middle of it. My God, shall I ever forget their faces when
+     they saw who was in the boat that was closing in upon them? She
+     screamed out. He swore like a madman and jabbed at me with an oar,
+     for he must have seen death in my eyes. I got past it and got one in
+     with my stick that crushed his head like an egg. I would have spared
+     her, perhaps, for all my madness, but she threw her arms round him,
+     crying out to him, and calling him "Alec." I struck again, and she
+     lay stretched beside him. I was like a wild beast then that had
+     tasted blood. If Sarah had been there, by the Lord, she should have
+     joined them. I pulled out my knife, and--well, there! I've said
+     enough. It gave me a kind of savage joy when I thought how Sarah
+     would feel when she had such signs as these of what her meddling had
+     brought about. Then I tied the bodies into the boat, stove a plank,
+     and stood by until they had sunk. I knew very well that the owner
+     would think that they had lost their bearings in the haze, and had
+     drifted off out to sea. I cleaned myself up, got back to land, and
+     joined my ship without a soul having a suspicion of what had passed.
+     That night I made up the packet for Sarah Cushing, and next day I
+     sent it from Belfast.
+
+     "'There you have the whole truth of it. You can hang me, or do what
+     you like with me, but you cannot punish me as I have been punished
+     already. I cannot shut my eyes but I see those two faces staring at
+     me--staring at me as they stared when my boat broke through the haze.
+     I killed them quick, but they are killing me slow; and if I have
+     another night of it I shall be either mad or dead before morning. You
+     won't put me alone into a cell, sir?  For pity's sake don't, and may
+     you be treated in your day of agony as you treat me now.'
+
+     "What is the meaning of it, Watson?" said Holmes solemnly as he laid
+     down the paper. "What object is served by this circle of misery and
+     violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is
+     ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? There is the
+     great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from
+     an answer as ever."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         THE ADVENTURE OF THE RED CIRCLE
+
+
+
+
+
+                                Table of contents
+        Part One
+        Part Two
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+          CHAPTER I
+          Part One
+
+
+     "Well, Mrs. Warren, I cannot see that you have any particular cause
+     for uneasiness, nor do I understand why I, whose time is of some
+     value, should interfere in the matter. I really have other things to
+     engage me." So spoke Sherlock Holmes and turned back to the great
+     scrapbook in which he was arranging and indexing some of his recent
+     material.
+
+     But the landlady had the pertinacity and also the cunning of her sex.
+      She held her ground firmly.
+
+     "You arranged an affair for a lodger of mine last year," she
+     said--"Mr. Fairdale Hobbs."
+
+     "Ah, yes--a simple matter."
+
+     "But he would never cease talking of it--your kindness, sir, and the
+     way in which you brought light into the darkness. I remembered his
+     words when I was in doubt and darkness myself. I know you could if
+     you only would."
+
+     Holmes was accessible upon the side of flattery, and also, to do him
+     justice, upon the side of kindliness. The two forces made him lay
+     down his gum-brush with a sigh of resignation and push back his
+     chair.
+
+     "Well, well, Mrs. Warren, let us hear about it, then.  You don't
+     object to tobacco, I take it? Thank you, Watson--the matches! You are
+     uneasy, as I understand, because your new lodger remains in his rooms
+     and you cannot see him. Why, bless you, Mrs. Warren, if I were your
+     lodger you often would not see me for weeks on end."
+
+     "No doubt, sir; but this is different. It frightens me, Mr. Holmes. I
+     can't sleep for fright. To hear his quick step moving here and moving
+     there from early morning to late at night, and yet never to catch so
+     much as a glimpse of him--it's more than I can stand. My husband is
+     as nervous over it as I am, but he is out at his work all day, while
+     I get no rest from it. What is he hiding for? What has he done?
+     Except for the girl, I am all alone in the house with him, and it's
+     more than my nerves can stand."
+
+     Holmes leaned forward and laid his long, thin fingers upon the
+     woman's shoulder. He had an almost hypnotic power of soothing when he
+     wished. The scared look faded from her eyes, and her agitated
+     features smoothed into their usual commonplace. She sat down in the
+     chair which he had indicated.
+
+     "If I take it up I must understand every detail," said he. "Take time
+     to consider. The smallest point may be the most essential. You say
+     that the man came ten days ago and paid you for a fortnight's board
+     and lodging?"
+
+     "He asked my terms, sir. I said fifty shillings a week. There is a
+     small sitting-room and bedroom, and all complete, at the top of the
+     house."
+
+     "Well?"
+
+     "He said, 'I'll pay you five pounds a week if I can have it on my own
+     terms.' I'm a poor woman, sir, and Mr. Warren earns little, and the
+     money meant much to me. He took out a ten-pound note, and he held it
+     out to me then and there. 'You can have the same every fortnight for
+     a long time to come if you keep the terms,' he said. 'If not, I'll
+     have no more to do with you.'
+
+     "What were the terms?"
+
+     "Well, sir, they were that he was to have a key of the house. That
+     was all right. Lodgers often have them. Also, that he was to be left
+     entirely to himself and never, upon any excuse, to be disturbed."
+
+     "Nothing wonderful in that, surely?"
+
+     "Not in reason, sir. But this is out of all reason. He has been there
+     for ten days, and neither Mr. Warren, nor I, nor the girl has once
+     set eyes upon him. We can hear that quick step of his pacing up and
+     down, up and down, night, morning, and noon; but except on that first
+     night he had never once gone out of the house."
+
+     "Oh, he went out the first night, did he?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, and returned very late--after we were all in bed. He told
+     me after he had taken the rooms that he would do so and asked me not
+     to bar the door. I heard him come up the stair after midnight."
+
+     "But his meals?"
+
+     "It was his particular direction that we should always, when he rang,
+     leave his meal upon a chair, outside his door. Then he rings again
+     when he has finished, and we take it down from the same chair. If he
+     wants anything else he prints it on a slip of paper and leaves it."
+
+     "Prints it?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; prints it in pencil. Just the word, nothing more. Here's
+     the one I brought to show you--soap. Here's another--match. This is
+     one he left the first morning--daily gazette. I leave that paper with
+     his breakfast every morning."
+
+     "Dear me, Watson," said Homes, staring with great curiosity at the
+     slips of foolscap which the landlady had handed to him, "this is
+     certainly a little unusual. Seclusion I can understand; but why
+     print? Printing is a clumsy process. Why not write? What would it
+     suggest, Watson?"
+
+     "That he desired to conceal his handwriting."
+
+     "But why? What can it matter to him that his landlady should have a
+     word of his writing? Still, it may be as you say. Then, again, why
+     such laconic messages?"
+
+     "I cannot imagine."
+
+     "It opens a pleasing field for intelligent speculation. The words are
+     written with a broad-pointed, violet-tinted pencil of a not unusual
+     pattern. You will observe that the paper is torn away at the side
+     here after the printing was done, so that the 's' of 'soap' is partly
+     gone. Suggestive, Watson, is it not?"
+
+     "Of caution?"
+
+     "Exactly. There was evidently some mark, some thumbprint, something
+     which might give a clue to the person's identity. Now. Mrs. Warren,
+     you say that the man was of middle size, dark, and bearded. What age
+     would he be?"
+
+     "Youngish, sir--not over thirty."
+
+     "Well, can you give me no further indications?"
+
+     "He spoke good English, sir, and yet I thought he was a foreigner by
+     his accent."
+
+     "And he was well dressed?"
+
+     "Very smartly dressed, sir--quite the gentleman. Dark
+     clothes--nothing you would note."
+
+     "He gave no name?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "And has had no letters or callers?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "But surely you or the girl enter his room of a morning?"
+
+     "No, sir; he looks after himself entirely."
+
+     "Dear me! that is certainly remarkable. What about his luggage?"
+
+     "He had one big brown bag with him--nothing else."
+
+     "Well, we don't seem to have much material to help us. Do you say
+     nothing has come out of that room--absolutely nothing?"
+
+     The landlady drew an envelope from her bag; from it she shook out two
+     burnt matches and a cigarette-end upon the table.
+
+     "They were on his tray this morning. I brought them because I had
+     heard that you can read great things out of small ones."
+
+     Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "There is nothing here," said he. "The matches have, of course, been
+     used to light cigarettes. That is obvious from the shortness of the
+     burnt end. Half the match is consumed in lighting a pipe or cigar.
+     But, dear me! this cigarette stub is certainly remarkable. The
+     gentleman was bearded and moustached, you say?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "I don't understand that. I should say that only a clean-shaven man
+     could have smoked this. Why, Watson, even your modest moustache would
+     have been singed."
+
+     "A holder?" I suggested.
+
+     "No, no; the end is matted. I suppose there could not be two people
+     in your rooms, Mrs. Warren?"
+
+     "No, sir. He eats so little that I often wonder it can keep life in
+     one."
+
+     "Well, I think we must wait for a little more material. After all,
+     you have nothing to complain of. You have received your rent, and he
+     is not a troublesome lodger, though he is certainly an unusual one.
+     He pays you well, and if he chooses to lie concealed it is no direct
+     business of yours. We have no excuse for an intrusion upon his
+     privacy until we have some reason to think that there is a guilty
+     reason for it. I've taken up the matter, and I won't lose sight of
+     it. Report to me if anything fresh occurs, and rely upon my
+     assistance if it should be needed.
+
+     "There are certainly some points of interest in this case, Watson,"
+     he remarked when the landlady had left us. "It may, of course, be
+     trivial--individual eccentricity; or it may be very much deeper than
+     appears on the surface. The first thing that strike one is the
+     obvious possibility that the person now in the rooms may be entirely
+     different from the one who engaged them."
+
+     "Why should you think so?"
+
+     "Well, apart form this cigarette-end, was it not suggestive that the
+     only time the lodger went out was immediately after his taking the
+     rooms? He came back--or someone came back--when all witnesses were
+     out of the way. We have no proof that the person who came back was
+     the person who went out. Then, again, the man who took the rooms
+     spoke English well. This other, however, prints 'match' when it
+     should have been 'matches.' I can imagine that the word was taken out
+     of a dictionary, which would give the noun but not the plural. The
+     laconic style may be to conceal the absence of knowledge of English.
+     Yes, Watson, there are good reasons to suspect that there has been a
+     substitution of lodgers."
+
+     "But for what possible end?"
+
+     "Ah! there lies our problem. There is one rather obvious line of
+     investigation." He took down the great book in which, day by day, he
+     filed the agony columns of the various London journals. "Dear me!"
+     said he, turning over the pages, "what a chorus of groans, cries, and
+     bleatings! What a rag-bag of singular happenings! But surely the most
+     valuable hunting-ground that ever was given to a student of the
+     unusual! This person is alone and cannot be approached by letter
+     without a breach of that absolute secrecy which is desired. How is
+     any news or any message to reach him from without? Obviously by
+     advertisement through a newspaper. There seems no other way, and
+     fortunately we need concern ourselves with the one paper only. Here
+     are the Daily Gazette extracts of the last fortnight. 'Lady with a
+     black boa at Prince's Skating Club'--that we may pass. 'Surely Jimmy
+     will not break his mother's heart'--that appears to be irrelevant.
+     'If the lady who fainted on Brixton bus'--she does not interest me.
+     'Every day my heart longs--' Bleat, Watson--unmitigated bleat! Ah,
+     this is a little more possible. Listen to this: 'Be patient. Will
+     find some sure means of communications. Meanwhile, this column. G.'
+     That is two days after Mrs. Warren's lodger arrived. It sounds
+     plausible, does it not? The mysterious one could understand English,
+     even if he could not print it. Let us see if we can pick up the trace
+     again. Yes, here we are--three days later. 'Am making successful
+     arrangements. Patience and prudence. The clouds will pass. G.'
+     Nothing for a week after that. Then comes something much more
+     definite: 'The path is clearing. If I find chance signal message
+     remember code agreed--One A, two B, and so on. You will hear soon.
+     G.' That was in yesterday's paper, and there is nothing in to-day's.
+     It's all very appropriate to Mrs. Warren's lodger. If we wait a
+     little, Watson, I don't doubt that the affair will grow more
+     intelligible."
+
+     So it proved; for in the morning I found my friend standing on the
+     hearthrug with his back to the fire and a smile of complete
+     satisfaction upon his face.
+
+     "How's this, Watson?" he cried, picking up the paper from the table.
+     "'High red house with white stone facings. Third floor. Second window
+     left. After dusk. G.' That is definite enough. I think after
+     breakfast we must make a little reconnaissance of Mrs. Warren's
+     neighbourhood. Ah, Mrs. Warren! what news do you bring us this
+     morning?"
+
+     Our client had suddenly burst into the room with an explosive energy
+     which told of some new and momentous development.
+
+     "It's a police matter, Mr. Holmes!" she cried. "I'll have no more of
+     it! He shall pack out of there with his baggage. I would have gone
+     straight up and told him so, only I thought it was but fair to you to
+     take your opinion first. But I'm at the end of my patience, and when
+     it comes to knocking my old man about--"
+
+     "Knocking Mr. Warren about?"
+
+     "Using him roughly, anyway."
+
+     "But who used him roughly?"
+
+     "Ah! that's what we want to know! It was this morning, sir. Mr.
+     Warren is a timekeeper at Morton and Waylight's, in Tottenham Court
+     Road. He has to be out of the house before seven. Well, this morning
+     he had not gone ten paces down the road when two men came up behind
+     him, threw a coat over his head, and bundled him into a cab that was
+     beside the curb. They drove him an hour, and then opened the door and
+     shot him out. He lay in the roadway so shaken in his wits that he
+     never saw what became of the cab. When he picked himself up he found
+     he was on Hampstead Heath; so he took a bus home, and there he lies
+     now on his sofa, while I came straight round to tell you what had
+     happened."
+
+     "Most interesting," said Holmes. "Did he observe the appearance of
+     these men--did he hear them talk?"
+
+     "No; he is clean dazed. He just knows that he was lifted up as if by
+     magic and dropped as if by magic. Two a least were in it, and maybe
+     three."
+
+     "And you connect this attack with your lodger?"
+
+     "Well, we've lived there fifteen years and no such happenings ever
+     came before. I've had enough of him. Money's not everything. I'll
+     have him out of my house before the day is done."
+
+     "Wait a bit, Mrs. Warren. Do nothing rash. I begin to think that this
+     affair may be very much more important than appeared at first sight.
+     It is clear now that some danger is threatening your lodger. It is
+     equally clear that his enemies, lying in wait for him near your door,
+     mistook your husband for him in the foggy morning light. On
+     discovering their mistake they released him. What they would have
+     done had it not been a mistake, we can only conjecture."
+
+     "Well, what am I to do, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "I have a great fancy to see this lodger of yours, Mrs. Warren."
+
+     "I don't see how that is to be managed, unless you break in the door.
+     I always hear him unlock it as I go down the stair after I leave the
+     tray."
+
+     "He has to take the tray in. Surely we could conceal ourselves and
+     see him do it."
+
+     The landlady thought for a moment.
+
+     "Well, sir, there's the box-room opposite. I could arrange a
+     looking-glass, maybe, and if you were behind the door--"
+
+     "Excellent!" said Holmes. "When does he lunch?"
+
+     "About one, sir."
+
+     "Then Dr. Watson and I will come round in time. For the present, Mrs.
+     Warren, good-bye."
+
+     At half-past twelve we found ourselves upon the steps of Mrs.
+     Warren's house--a high, thin, yellow-brick edifice in Great Orme
+     Street, a narrow thoroughfare at the northeast side of the British
+     Museum. Standing as it does near the corner of the street, it
+     commands a view down Howe Street, with its ore pretentious houses.
+     Holmes pointed with a chuckle to one of these, a row of residential
+     flats, which projected so that they could not fail to catch the eye.
+
+     "See, Watson!" said he. "'High red house with stone facings.' There
+     is the signal station all right. We know the place, and we know the
+     code; so surely our task should be simple. There's a 'to let' card in
+     that window. It is evidently an empty flat to which the confederate
+     has access. Well, Mrs. Warren, what now?"
+
+     "I have it all ready for you. If you will both come up and leave your
+     boots below on the landing, I'll put you there now."
+
+     It was an excellent hiding-place which she had arranged. The mirror
+     was so placed that, seated in the dark, we could very plainly see the
+     door opposite. We had hardly settled down in it, and Mrs. Warren left
+     us, when a distant tinkle announced that our mysterious neighbour had
+     rung. Presently the landlady appeared with the tray, laid it down
+     upon a chair beside the closed door, and then, treading heavily,
+     departed. Crouching together in the angle of the door, we kept our
+     eyes fixed upon the mirror. Suddenly, as the landlady's footsteps
+     died away, there was the creak of a turning key, the handle revolved,
+     and two thin hands darted out and lifted the tray form the chair. An
+     instant later it was hurriedly replaced, and I caught a glimpse of a
+     dark, beautiful, horrified face glaring at the narrow opening of the
+     box-room. Then the door crashed to, the key turned once more, and all
+     was silence. Holmes twitched my sleeve, and together we stole down
+     the stair.
+
+     "I will call again in the evening," said he to the expectant
+     landlady. "I think, Watson, we can discuss this business better in
+     our own quarters."
+
+     "My surmise, as you saw, proved to be correct," said he, speaking
+     from the depths of his easy-chair. "There has been a substitution of
+     lodgers. What I did not foresee is that we should find a woman, and
+     no ordinary woman, Watson."
+
+     "She saw us."
+
+     "Well, she saw something to alarm her. That is certain. The general
+     sequence of events is pretty clear, is it not? A couple seek refuge
+     in London from a very terrible and instant danger. The measure of
+     that danger is the rigour of their precautions. The man, who has some
+     work which he must do, desires to leave the woman in absolute safety
+     while he does it. It is not an easy problem, but he solved it in an
+     original fashion, and so effectively that her presence was not even
+     known to the landlady who supplies her with food. The printed
+     messages, as is now evident, were to prevent her sex being discovered
+     by her writing. The man cannot come near the woman, or he will guide
+     their enemies to her. Since he cannot communicate with her direct, he
+     has recourse to the agony column of a paper. So far all is clear."
+
+     "But what is at the root of it?"
+
+     "Ah, yes, Watson--severely practical, as usual! What is at the root
+     of it all? Mrs. Warren's whimsical problem enlarges somewhat and
+     assumes a more sinister aspect as we proceed. This much we can say:
+     that it is no ordinary love escapade. You saw the woman's face at the
+     sign of danger. We have heard, too, of the attack upon the landlord,
+     which was undoubtedly meant for the lodger. These alarms, and the
+     desperate need for secrecy, argue that the matter is one of life or
+     death. The attack upon Mr. Warren further shows that the enemy,
+     whoever they are, are themselves not aware of the substitution of the
+     female lodger for the male. It is very curious and complex, Watson."
+
+     "Why should you go further in it? What have you to gain from it?"
+
+     "What, indeed? It is art for art's sake, Watson. I suppose when you
+     doctored you found yourself studying cases without thought of a fee?"
+
+     "For my education, Holmes."
+
+     "Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with the
+     greatest for the last. This is an instructive case. There is neither
+     money nor credit in it, and yet one would wish to tidy it up. When
+     dusk comes we should find ourselves one stage advanced in our
+     investigation."
+
+     When we returned to Mrs. Warren's rooms, the gloom of a London winter
+     evening had thickened into one gray curtain, a dead monotone of
+     colour, broken only by the sharp yellow squares of the windows and
+     the blurred haloes of the gas-lamps. As we peered from the darkened
+     sitting-room of the lodging-house, one more dim light glimmered high
+     up through the obscurity.
+
+     "Someone is moving in that room," said Holmes in a whisper, his gaunt
+     and eager face thrust forward to the window-pane. "Yes, I can see his
+     shadow. There he is again! He has a candle in his hand. Now he is
+     peering across. He wants to be sure that she is on the lookout. Now
+     he begins to flash. Take the message also, Watson, that we may check
+     each other. A single flash--that is A, surely. Now, then. How many
+     did you make it? Twenty. Do did In. That should mean T. AT--that's
+     intelligible enough. Another T. Surely this is the beginning of a
+     second word. Now, then--TENTA. Dead stop. That can't be all, Watson?
+     ATTENTA gives no sense. Nor is it any better as three words AT, TEN,
+     TA, unless T. A. are a person's initials. There it goes again! What's
+     that? ATTE--why, it is the same message over again. Curious, Watson,
+     very curious. Now he is off once more! AT--why he is repeating it for
+     the third time. ATTENTA three times! How often will he repeat it? No,
+     that seems to be the finish. He has withdrawn form the window. What
+     do you make of it, Watson?"
+
+     "A cipher message, Holmes."
+
+     My companion gave a sudden chuckle of comprehension. "And not a very
+     obscure cipher, Watson," said he. "Why, of course, it is Italian! The
+     A means that it is addressed to a woman. 'Beware! Beware! Beware!'
+     How's that, Watson?
+
+     "I believe you have hit it."
+
+     "Not a doubt of it. It is a very urgent message, thrice repeated to
+     make it more so. But beware of what? Wait a bit, he is coming to the
+     window once more."
+
+     Again we saw the dim silhouette of a crouching man and the whisk of
+     the small flame across the window as the signals were renewed. They
+     came more rapidly than before--so rapid that it was hard to follow
+     them.
+
+     "PERICOLO--pericolo--eh, what's that, Watson? 'Danger,' isn't it?
+     Yes, by Jove, it's a danger signal. There he goes again! PERI.
+     Halloa, what on earth--"
+
+     The light had suddenly gone out, the glimmering square of window had
+     disappeared, and the third floor formed a dark band round the lofty
+     building, with its tiers of shining casements. That last warning cry
+     had been suddenly cut short. How, and by whom? The same thought
+     occurred on the instant to us both. Holmes sprang up from where he
+     crouched by the window.
+
+     "This is serious, Watson," he cried. "There is some devilry going
+     forward! Why should such a message stop in such a way? I should put
+     Scotland Yard in touch with this business--and yet, it is too
+     pressing for us to leave."
+
+     "Shall I go for the police?"
+
+     "We must define the situation a little more clearly. It may bear some
+     more innocent interpretation. Come, Watson, let us go across
+     ourselves and see what we can make of it."
+
+
+
+
+
+          CHAPTER II
+          Part Two
+
+
+     As we walked rapidly down Howe Street I glanced back at the building
+     which we had left. There, dimly outlined at the top window, I could
+     see the shadow of a head, a woman's head, gazing tensely, rigidly,
+     out into the night, waiting with breathless suspense for the renewal
+     of that interrupted message. At the doorway of the Howe Street flats
+     a man, muffled in a cravat and greatcoat, was leaning against the
+     railing. He started as the hall-light fell upon our faces.
+
+     "Holmes!" he cried.
+
+     "Why, Gregson!" said my companion as he shook hands with the Scotland
+     Yard detective. "Journeys end with lovers' meetings. What brings you
+     here?"
+
+     "The same reasons that bring you, I expect," said Gregson. "How you
+     got on to it I can't imagine."
+
+     "Different threads, but leading up to the same tangle. I've been
+     taking the signals."
+
+     "Signals?"
+
+     "Yes, from that window. They broke off in the middle. We came over to
+     see the reason. But since it is safe in your hands I see no object in
+     continuing this business."
+
+     "Wait a bit!" cried Gregson eagerly. "I'll do you this justice, Mr.
+     Holmes, that I was never in a case yet that I didn't feel stronger
+     for having you on my side. There's only the one exit to these flats,
+     so we have him safe."
+
+     "Who is he?"
+
+     "Well, well, we score over you for once, Mr. Holmes. You must give us
+     best this time." He struck his stick sharply upon the ground, on
+     which a cabman, his whip in his hand, sauntered over from a
+     four-wheeler which stood on the far side of the street. "May I
+     introduce you to Mr. Sherlock Holmes?" he said to the cabman. "This
+     is Mr. Leverton, of Pinkerton's American Agency."
+
+     "The hero of the Long Island cave mystery?" said Holmes. "Sir, I am
+     pleased to meet you."
+
+     The American, a quiet, businesslike young man, with a clean-shaven,
+     hatchet face, flushed up at the words of commendation. "I am on the
+     trail of my life now, Mr. Holmes," said he. "If I can get Gorgiano--"
+
+     "What! Gorgiano of the Red Circle?"
+
+     "Oh, he has a European fame, has he? Well, we've learned all about
+     him in America. We know he is at the bottom of fifty murders, and yet
+     we have nothing positive we can take him on. I tracked him over from
+     New York, and I've been close to him for a week in London, waiting
+     some excuse to get my hand on his collar. Mr. Gregson and I ran him
+     to ground in that big tenement house, and there's only one door, so
+     he can't slip us. There's three folk come out since he went in, but
+     I'll swear he wasn't one of them."
+
+     "Mr. Holmes talks of signals," said Gregson. "I expect, as usual, he
+     knows a good deal that we don't."
+
+     In a few clear words Holmes explained the situation as it had
+     appeared to us. The American struck his hands together with vexation.
+
+     "He's on to us!" he cried.
+
+     "Why do you think so?"
+
+     "Well, it figures out that way, does it not? Here he is, sending out
+     messages to an accomplice--there are several of his gang in London.
+     Then suddenly, just as by your own account he was telling them that
+     there was danger, he broke short off. What could it mean except that
+     from the window he had suddenly either caught sight of us in the
+     street, or in some way come to understand how close the danger was,
+     and that he must act right away if he was to avoid it? What do you
+     suggest, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "That we go up at once and see for ourselves."
+
+     "But we have no warrant for his arrest."
+
+     "He is in unoccupied premises under suspicious circumstances," said
+     Gregson. "That is good enough for the moment. When we have him by the
+     heels we can see if New York can't help us to keep him. I'll take the
+     responsibility of arresting him now."
+
+     Our official detectives may blunder in the matter of intelligence,
+     but never in that of courage. Gregson climbed the stair to arrest
+     this desperate murderer with the same absolutely quiet and
+     businesslike bearing with which he would have ascended the official
+     staircase of Scotland Yard. The Pinkerton man had tried to push past
+     him, but Gregson had firmly elbowed him back. London dangers were the
+     privilege of the London force.
+
+     The door of the left-hand flat upon the third landing was standing
+     ajar. Gregson pushed it open. Within all was absolute silence and
+     darkness. I struck a match and lit the detective's lantern. As I did
+     so, and as the flicker steadied into a flame, we all gave a gasp of
+     surprise. On the deal boards of the carpetless floor there was
+     outlined a fresh track of blood. The red steps pointed towards us and
+     led away from an inner room, the door of which was closed. Gregson
+     flung it open and held his light full blaze in front of him, while we
+     all peered eagerly over his shoulders.
+
+     In the middle of the floor of the empty room was huddled the figure
+     of an enormous man, his clean-shaven, swarthy face grotesquely
+     horrible in its contortion and his head encircled by a ghastly
+     crimson halo of blood, lying in a broad wet circle upon the white
+     woodwork. His knees were drawn up, his hands thrown out in agony, and
+     from the centre of his broad, brown, upturned throat there projected
+     the white haft of a knife driven blade-deep into his body. Giant as
+     he was, the man must have gone down like a pole-axed ox before that
+     terrific blow. Beside his right hand a most formidable horn-handled,
+     two-edged dagger lay upon the floor, and near it a black kid glove.
+
+     "By George! it's Black Gorgiano himself!" cried the American
+     detective. "Someone has got ahead of us this time."
+
+     "Here is the candle in the window, Mr. Holmes," said Gregson. "Why,
+     whatever are you doing?"
+
+     Holmes had stepped across, had lit the candle, and was passing it
+     backward and forward across the window-panes. Then he peered into the
+     darkness, blew the candle out, and threw it on the floor.
+
+     "I rather think that will be helpful," said he. He came over and
+     stood in deep thought while the two professionals were examining the
+     body. "You say that three people came out form the flat while you
+     were waiting downstairs," said he at last. "Did you observe them
+     closely?"
+
+     "Yes, I did."
+
+     "Was there a fellow about thirty, black-bearded, dark, of middle
+     size?"
+
+     "Yes; he was the last to pass me."
+
+     "That is your man, I fancy. I can give you his description, and we
+     have a very excellent outline of his footmark. That should be enough
+     for you."
+
+     "Not much, Mr. Holmes, among the millions of London."
+
+     "Perhaps not. That is why I thought it best to summon this lady to
+     your aid."
+
+     We all turned round at the words. There, framed in the doorway, was a
+     tall and beautiful woman--the mysterious lodger of Bloomsbury. Slowly
+     she advanced, her face pale and drawn with a frightful apprehension,
+     her eyes fixed and staring, her terrified gaze riveted upon the dark
+     figure on the floor.
+
+     "You have killed him!" she muttered. "Oh, Dio mio, you have killed
+     him!" Then I heard a sudden sharp intake of her breath, and she
+     sprang into the air with a cry of joy. Round and round the room she
+     danced, her hands clapping, her dark eyes gleaming with delighted
+     wonder, and a thousand pretty Italian exclamations pouring from her
+     lips. It was terrible and amazing to see such a woman so convulsed
+     with joy at such a sight. Suddenly she stopped and gazed at us all
+     with a questioning stare.
+
+     "But you! You are police, are you not? You have killed Giuseppe
+     Gorgiano. Is it not so?"
+
+     "We are police, madam."
+
+     She looked round into the shadows of the room.
+
+     "But where, then, is Gennaro?" she asked. "He is my husband, Gennaro
+     Lucca. I am Emilia Lucca, and we are both from New York. Where is
+     Gennaro? He called me this moment from this window, and I ran with
+     all my speed."
+
+     "It was I who called," said Holmes.
+
+     "You! How could you call?"
+
+     "Your cipher was not difficult, madam. Your presence here was
+     desirable. I knew that I had only to flash 'Vieni' and you would
+     surely come."
+
+     The beautiful Italian looked with awe at my companion.
+
+     "I do not understand how you know these things," she said. "Giuseppe
+     Gorgiano--how did he--" She paused, and then suddenly her face lit up
+     with pride and delight. "Now I see it! My Gennaro! My splendid,
+     beautiful Gennaro, who has guarded me safe from all harm, he did it,
+     with his own strong hand he killed the monster! Oh, Gennaro, how
+     wonderful you are! What woman could every be worthy of such a man?"
+
+     "Well, Mrs. Lucca," said the prosaic Gregson, laying his hand upon
+     the lady's sleeve with as little sentiment as if she were a Notting
+     Hill hooligan, "I am not very clear yet who you are or what you are;
+     but you've said enough to make it very clear that we shall want you
+     at the Yard."
+
+     "One moment, Gregson," said Holmes. "I rather fancy that this lady
+     may be as anxious to give us information as we can be to get it. You
+     understand, madam, that your husband will be arrested and tried for
+     the death of the man who lies before us? What you say may be used in
+     evidence. But if you think that he has acted from motives which are
+     not criminal, and which he would wish to have known, then you cannot
+     serve him better than by telling us the whole story."
+
+     "Now that Gorgiano is dead we fear nothing," said the lady. "He was a
+     devil and a monster, and there can be no judge in the world who would
+     punish my husband for having killed him."
+
+     "In that case," said Holmes, "my suggestion is that we lock this
+     door, leave things as we found them, go with this lady to her room,
+     and form our opinion after we have heard what it is that she has to
+     say to us."
+
+     Half an hour later we were seated, all four, in the small
+     sitting-room of Signora Lucca, listening to her remarkable narrative
+     of those sinister events, the ending of which we had chanced to
+     witness. She spoke in rapid and fluent but very unconventional
+     English, which, for the sake of clearness, I will make grammatical.
+
+     "I was born in Posilippo, near Naples," said she, "and was the
+     daughter of Augusto Barelli, who was the chief lawyer and once the
+     deputy of that part. Gennaro was in my father's employment, and I
+     came to love him, as any woman must. He had neither money nor
+     position--nothing but his beauty and strength and energy--so my
+     father forbade the match. We fled together, were married at Bari, and
+     sold my jewels to gain the money which would take us to America. This
+     was four years ago, and we have been in New York ever since.
+
+     "Fortune was very good to us at first. Gennaro was able to do a
+     service to an Italian gentleman--he saved him from some ruffians in
+     the place called the Bowery, and so made a powerful friend. His name
+     was Tito Castalotte, and he was the senior partner of the great firm
+     of Castalotte and Zamba, who are the chief fruit importers of New
+     York. Signor Zamba is an invalid, and our new friend Castalotte has
+     all power within the firm, which employs more than three hundred men.
+     He took my husband into his employment, made him head of a
+     department, and showed his good-will towards him in every way. Signor
+     Castalotte was a bachelor, and I believe that he felt as if Gennaro
+     was his son, and both my husband and I loved him as if he were our
+     father. We had taken and furnished a little house in Brooklyn, and
+     our whole future seemed assured when that black cloud appeared which
+     was soon to overspread our sky.
+
+     "One night, when Gennaro returned from his work, he brought a
+     fellow-countryman back with him. His name was Gorgiano, and he had
+     come also from Posilippo. He was a huge man, as you can testify, for
+     you have looked upon his corpse. Not only was his body that of a
+     giant but everything about him was grotesque, gigantic, and
+     terrifying. His voice was like thunder in our little house. There was
+     scarce room for the whirl of his great arms as he talked. His
+     thoughts, his emotions, his passions, all were exaggerated and
+     monstrous. He talked, or rather roared, with such energy that others
+     could but sit and listen, cowed with the mighty stream of words. His
+     eyes blazed at you and held you at his mercy. He was a terrible and
+     wonderful man. I thank God that he is dead!
+
+     "He came again and again. Yet I was aware that Gennaro was no more
+     happy than I was in his presence. My poor husband would sit pale and
+     listless, listening to the endless raving upon politics and upon
+     social questions which made up or visitor's conversation. Gennaro
+     said nothing, but I, who knew him so well, could read in his face
+     some emotion which I had never seen there before. At first I thought
+     that it was dislike. And then, gradually, I understood that it was
+     more than dislike. It was fear--a deep, secret, shrinking fear. That
+     night--the night that I read his terror--I put my arms round him and
+     I implored him by his love for me and by all that he held dear to
+     hold nothing from me, and to tell me why this huge man overshadowed
+     him so.
+
+     "He told me, and my own heart grew cold as ice as I listened. My poor
+     Gennaro, in his wild and fiery days, when all the world seemed
+     against him and his mind was driven half mad by the injustices of
+     life, had joined a Neapolitan society, the Red Circle, which was
+     allied to the old Carbonari. The oaths and secrets of this
+     brotherhood were frightful, but once within its rule no escape was
+     possible. When we had fled to America Gennaro thought that he had
+     cast it all off forever. What was his horror one evening to meet in
+     the streets the very man who had initiated him in Naples, the giant
+     Gorgiano, a man who had earned the name of 'Death' in the south of
+     Italy, for he was red to the elbow in murder! He had come to New York
+     to avoid the Italian police, and he had already planted a branch of
+     this dreadful society in his new home. All this Gennaro told me and
+     showed me a summons which he had received that very day, a Red Circle
+     drawn upon the head of it telling him that a lodge would be held upon
+     a certain date, and that his presence at it was required and ordered.
+
+     "That was bad enough, but worse was to come. I had noticed for some
+     time that when Gorgiano came to us, as he constantly did, in the
+     evening, he spoke much to me; and even when his words were to my
+     husband those terrible, glaring, wild-beast eyes of his were always
+     turned upon me. One night his secret came out. I had awakened what he
+     called 'love' within him--the love of a brute--a savage. Gennaro had
+     not yet returned when he came. He pushed his way in, seized me in his
+     mighty arms, hugged me in his bear's embrace, covered me with kisses,
+     and implored me to come away with him. I was struggling and screaming
+     when Gennaro entered and attacked him. He struck Gennaro senseless
+     and fled from the house which he was never more to enter. It was a
+     deadly enemy that we made that night.
+
+     "A few days later came the meeting. Gennaro returned from it with a
+     face which told me that something dreadful had occurred. It was worse
+     than we could have imagined possible. The funds of the society were
+     raised by blackmailing rich Italians and threatening them with
+     violence should they refuse the money. It seems that Castalotte, our
+     dear friend and benefactor, had been approached. He had refused to
+     yield to threats, and he had handed the notices to the police. It was
+     resolved now that such an example should be made of them as would
+     prevent any other victim from rebelling. At the meeting it was
+     arranged that he and his house should be blown up with dynamite.
+     There was a drawing of lots as to who should carry out the deed.
+     Gennaro saw our enemy's cruel face smiling at him as he dipped his
+     hand in the bag. No doubt it had been prearranged in some fashion,
+     for it was the fatal disc with the Red Circle upon it, the mandate
+     for murder, which lay upon his palm. He was to kill his best friend,
+     or he was to expose himself and me to the vengeance of his comrades.
+     It was part of their fiendish system to punish those whom they feared
+     or hated by injuring not only their own persons but those whom they
+     loved, and it was the knowledge of this which hung as a terror over
+     my poor Gennaro's head and drove him nearly crazy with apprehension.
+
+     "All that night we sat together, our arms round each other, each
+     strengthening each for the troubles that lay before us. The very next
+     evening had been fixed for the attempt. By midday my husband and I
+     were on our way to London, but not before he had given our benefactor
+     full warning of this danger, and had also left such information for
+     the police as would safeguard his life for the future.
+
+     "The rest, gentlemen, you know for yourselves. We were sure that our
+     enemies would be behind us like our own shadows. Gorgiano had his
+     private reasons for vengeance, but in any case we knew how ruthless,
+     cunning, and untiring he could be. Both Italy and America are full of
+     stories of his dreadful powers. If ever they were exerted it would be
+     now. My darling made use of the few clear days which our start had
+     given us in arranging for a refuge for me in such a fashion that no
+     possible danger could reach me. For his own part, he wished to be
+     free that he might communicate both with the American and with the
+     Italian police. I do not myself know where he lived, or how. All that
+     I learned was through the columns of a newspaper. But once as I
+     looked through my window, I saw two Italians watching the house, and
+     I understood that in some way Gorgiano had found our retreat. Finally
+     Gennaro told me, through the paper, that he would signal to me from a
+     certain window, but when the signals came they were nothing but
+     warnings, which were suddenly interrupted. It is very clear to me now
+     that he knew Gorgiano to be close upon him, and that, thank God! he
+     was ready for him when he came. And now, gentleman, I would ask you
+     whether we have anything to fear from the law, or whether any judge
+     upon earth would condemn my Gennaro for what he has done?"
+
+     "Well, Mr. Gregson," said the American, looking across at the
+     official, "I don't know what your British point of view may be, but I
+     guess that in New York this lady's husband will receive a pretty
+     general vote of thanks."
+
+     "She will have to come with me and see the chief," Gregson answered. 
+     "If what she says is corroborated, I do not think she or her husband
+     has much to fear.  But what I can't make head or tail of, Mr. Holmes,
+     is how on earth you got yourself mixed up in the matter."
+
+     "Education, Gregson, education.  Still seeking knowledge at the old
+     university.  Well, Watson, you have one more specimen of the tragic
+     and grotesque to add to your collection.  By the way, it is not eight
+     o'clock, and a Wagner night at Covent Garden!  If we hurry, we might
+     be in time for the second act."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                   THE ADVENTURE OF THE BRUCE-PARTINGTON PLANS
+
+     In the third week of November, in the year 1895, a dense yellow fog
+     settled down upon London. From the Monday to the Thursday I doubt
+     whether it was ever possible from our windows in Baker Street to see
+     the loom of the opposite houses. The first day Holmes had spent in
+     cross-indexing his huge book of references. The second and third had
+     been patiently occupied upon a subject which he hand recently made
+     his hobby--the music of the Middle Ages. But when, for the fourth
+     time, after pushing back our chairs from breakfast we saw the greasy,
+     heavy brown swirl still drifting past us and condensing in oily drops
+     upon the window-panes, my comrade's impatient and active nature could
+     endure this drab existence no longer. He paced restlessly about our
+     sitting-room in a fever of suppressed energy, biting his nails,
+     tapping the furniture, and chafing against inaction.
+
+     "Nothing of interest in the paper, Watson?" he said.
+
+     In was aware that by anything of interest, Holmes meant anything of
+     criminal interest. There was the news of a revolution, of a possible
+     war, and of an impending change of government; but these did not come
+     within the horizon of my companion. I could see nothing recorded in
+     the shape of crime which was not commonplace and futile. Holmes
+     groaned and resumed hs restless meanderings.
+
+     "The London criminal is certainly a dull fellow," said he in the
+     querulous voice of the sportsman whose game has failed him. "Look out
+     this window, Watson. See how the figures loom up, are dimly seen, and
+     then blend once more into the cloud-bank. The thief or the murderer
+     could roam London on such a day as the tiger does the jungle, unseen
+     until he pounces, and then evident only to his victim."
+
+     "There have," said I, "been numerous petty thefts."
+
+     Holmes snorted his contempt.
+
+     "This great and sombre stage is set for something more worthy than
+     that," said he. "It is fortunate for this community that I am not a
+     criminal."
+
+     "It is, indeed!" said I heartily.
+
+     "Suppose that I were Brooks or Woodhouse, or any of the fifty men who
+     have good reason for taking my life, how long could I survive against
+     my own pursuit? A summons, a bogus appointment, and all would be
+     over. It is well they don't have days of fog in the Latin
+     countries--the countries of assassination. By Jove! here comes
+     something at last to break our dead monotony."
+
+     It was the maid with a telegram. Holmes tore it open and burst out
+     laughing.
+
+     "Well, well! What next?" said he. "Brother Mycroft is coming round."
+
+     "Why not?" I asked.
+
+     "Why not? It is as if you met a tram-car coming down a country lane.
+     Mycroft has his rails and he runs on them. His Pall Mall lodgings,
+     the Diogenes Club, Whitehall--that is his cycle. Once, and only once,
+     he has been here. What upheaval can possibly have derailed him?"
+
+     "Does he not explain?"
+
+     Holmes handed me his brother's telegram.
+
+     Must see you over Cadogen West. Coming at once.
+     Mycroft.
+
+     "Cadogen West? I have heard the name."
+
+     "It recalls nothing to my mind. But that Mycroft should break out in
+     this erratic fashion! A planet might as well leave its orbit. By the
+     way, do you know what Mycroft is?"
+
+     I had some vague recollection of an explanation at the time of the
+     Adventure of the Greek Interpreter.
+
+     "You told me that he had some small office under the British
+     government."
+
+     Holmes chuckled.
+
+     "I did not know you quite so well in those days. One has to be
+     discreet when one talks of high matters of state. You are right in
+     thinking that he under the British government. You would also be
+     right in a sense if you said that occasionally he is the British
+     government."
+
+     "My dear Holmes!"
+
+     "I thought I might surprise you. Mycroft draws four hundred and fifty
+     pounds a year, remains a subordinate, has no ambitions of any kind,
+     will receive neither honour nor title, but remains the most
+     indispensable man in the country."
+
+     "But how?"
+
+     "Well, his position is unique. He has made it for himself. There has
+     never been anything like it before, nor will be again. He has the
+     tidiest and most orderly brain, with the greatest capacity for
+     storing facts, of any man living. The same great powers which I have
+     turned to the detection of crime he has used for this particular
+     business. The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and
+     he is the central exchange, the clearinghouse, which makes out the
+     balance. All other men are specialists, but his specialism is
+     omniscience. We will suppose that a minister needs information as to
+     a point which involves the Navy, India, Canada and the bimetallic
+     question; he could get his separate advices from various departments
+     upon each, but only Mycroft can focus them all, and say offhand how
+     each factor would affect the other. They began by using him as a
+     short-cut, a convenience; now he has made himself an essential. In
+     that great brain of his everything is pigeon-holed and can be handed
+     out in an instant. Again and again his word has decided the national
+     policy. He lives in it. He thinks of nothing else save when, as an
+     intellectual exercise, he unbends if I call upon him and ask him to
+     advise me on one of my little problems. But Jupiter is descending
+     to-day. What on earth can it mean? Who is Cadogan West, and what is
+     he to Mycroft?"
+
+     "I have it," I cried, and plunged among the litter of papers upon the
+     sofa. "Yes, yes, here he is, sure enough! Cadogen West was the young
+     man who was found dead on the Underground on Tuesday morning."
+
+     Holmes sat up at attention, his pipe halfway to his lips.
+
+     "This must be serious, Watson. A death which has caused my brother to
+     alter his habits can be no ordinary one. What in the world can he
+     have to do with it? The case was featureless as I remember it. The
+     young man had apparently fallen out of the train and killed himself.
+     He had not been robbed, and there was no particular reason to suspect
+     violence. Is that not so?"
+
+     "There has been an inquest," said I, "and a good many fresh facts
+     have come out. Looked at more closely, I should certainly say that it
+     was a curious case."
+
+     "Judging by its effect upon my brother, I should think it must be a
+     most extraordinary one." He snuggled down in his armchair. "Now,
+     Watson, let us have the facts."
+
+     "The man's name was Arthur Cadogan West. He was twenty-seven years of
+     age, unmarried, and a clerk at Woolwich Arsenal."
+
+     "Government employ. Behold the link with Brother Mycroft!"
+
+     "He left Woolwich suddenly on Monday night. Was last seen by his
+     fiancee, Miss Violet Westbury, whom he left abruptly in the fog about
+     7.30 that evening. There was no quarrel between them and she can give
+     no motive for his action. The next thing heard of him was when his
+     dead body was discovered by a plate-layer named Mason, just outside
+     Aldgate Station on the Underground system in London."
+
+     "When?"
+
+     "The body was found at six on Tuesday morning. It was lying wide of
+     the metals upon the left hand of the track as one goes eastward, at a
+     point close to the station, where the line emerges from the tunnel in
+     which it runs. The head was badly crushed--an injury which might well
+     have been caused by a fall from the train. The body could only have
+     come on the line in that way. Had it been carried down from any
+     neighbouring street, it must have passed the station barriers, where
+     a collector is always standing. This point seems absolutely certain."
+
+     "Very good. The case is definite enough. The man, dead or alive,
+     either fell or was precipitated from a train. So much is clear to me.
+     Continue."
+
+     "The trains which traverse the lines of rail beside which the body
+     was found are those which run from west to east, some being purely
+     Metropolitan, and some from Willesden and outlying junctions. It can
+     be stated for certain that this young man, when he met his death, was
+     travelling in this direction at some late hour of the night, but at
+     what point he entered the train it is impossible to state."
+
+     "His ticket, of course, would show that."
+
+     "There was no ticket in his pockets."
+
+     "No ticket! Dear me, Watson, this is really very singular. According
+     to my experience it is not possible to reach the platform of a
+     Metropolitan train without exhibiting one's ticket. Presumably, then,
+     the young man had one. Was it taken from him in order to conceal the
+     station from which he came? It is possible. Or did he drop it in the
+     carriage? That is also possible. But the point is of curious
+     interest. I understand that there was no sign of robbery?"
+
+     "Apparently not. There is a list here of his possessions. His purse
+     contained two pounds fifteen. He had also a check-book on the
+     Woolwich branch of the Capital and Counties Bank. Through this his
+     identity was established. There were also two dress-circle tickets
+     for the Woolwich Theatre, dated for that very evening. Also a small
+     packet of technical papers."
+
+     Holmes gave an exclamation of satisfaction.
+
+     "There we have it at last, Watson! British government--Woolwich.
+     Arsenal--technical papers--Brother Mycroft, the chain is complete.
+     But here he comes, if I am not mistaken, to speak for himself."
+
+     A moment later the tall and portly form of Mycroft Holmes was ushered
+     into the room. Heavily built and massive, there was a suggestion of
+     uncouth physical inertia in the figure, but above this unwieldy frame
+     there was perched a head so masterful in its brow, so alert in its
+     steel-gray, deep-set eyes, so firm in its lips, and so subtle in its
+     play of expression, that after the first glance one forgot the gross
+     body and remembered only the dominant mind.
+
+     At his heels came our old friend Lestrade, of Scotland Yard--thin and
+     austere. The gravity of both their faces foretold some weighty quest.
+     The detective shook hands without a word. Mycroft Holmes struggled
+     out of his overcoat and subsided into an armchair.
+
+     "A most annoying business, Sherlock," said he. "I extremely dislike
+     altering my habits, but the powers that be would take no denial. In
+     the present state of Siam it is most awkward that I should be away
+     from the office. But it is a real crisis. I have never seen the Prime
+     Minister so upset. As to the Admiralty--it is buzzing like an
+     overturned bee-hive. Have you read up the case?"
+
+     "We have just done so. What were the technical papers?"
+
+     "Ah, there's the point! Fortunately, it has not come out. The press
+     would be furious if it did. The papers which this wretched youth had
+     in his pocket were the plans of the Bruce-Partington submarine."
+
+     Mycroft Holmes spoke with a solemnity which showed his sense of the
+     importance of the subject. His brother and I sat expectant.
+
+     "Surely you have heard of it? I thought everyone had heard of it."
+
+     "Only as a name."
+
+     "Its importance can hardly be exaggerated. It has been the most
+     jealously guarded of all government secrets. You may take it from me
+     that naval warfare becomes impossible within the radius of a
+     Bruce-Partington's operation. Two years ago a very large sum was
+     smuggled through the Estimates and was expended in acquiring a
+     monopoly of the invention. Every effort has been made to keep the
+     secret. The plans, which are exceedingly intricate, comprising some
+     thirty separate patents, each essential to the working of the whole,
+     are kept in an elaborate safe in a confidential office adjoining the
+     arsenal, with burglar-proof doors and windows. Under no conceivable
+     circumstances were the plans to be taken from the office. If the
+     chief constructor of the Navy desired to consult them, even he was
+     forced to go to the Woolwich office for the purpose. And yet here we
+     find them in the pocket of a dead junior clerk in the heart of
+     London. From an official point of view it's simply awful."
+
+     "But you have recovered them?"
+
+     "No, Sherlock, no! That's the pinch. We have not. Ten papers were
+     taken from Woolwich. There were seven in the pocket of Cadogan West.
+     The three most essential are gone--stolen, vanished. You must drop
+     everything, Sherlock. Never mind your usual petty puzzles of the
+     police-court. It's a vital international problem that you have to
+     solve. Why did Cadogan West take the papers, where are the missing
+     ones, how did he die, how came his body where it was found, how can
+     the evil be set right? Find an answer to all these questions, and you
+     will have done good service for your country."
+
+     "Why do you not solve it yourself, Mycroft? You can see as far as I."
+
+     "Possibly, Sherlock. But it is a question of getting details. Give me
+     your details, and from an armchair I will return you an excellent
+     expert opinion. But to run here and run there, to cross-question
+     railway guards, and lie on my face with a lens to my eye--it is not
+     my métier. No, you are the one man who can clear the matter up. If
+     you have a fancy to see your name in the next honours list--"
+
+     My friend smiled and shook his head.
+
+     "I play the game for the game's own sake," said he. "But the problem
+     certainly presents some points of interest, and I shall be very
+     pleased to look into it. Some more facts, please."
+
+     "I have jotted down the more essential ones upon this sheet of paper,
+     together with a few addresses which you will find of service. The
+     actual official guardian of the papers is the famous government
+     expert, Sir James Walter, whose decorations and sub-titles fill two
+     lines of a book of reference. He has grown gray in the service, is a
+     gentleman, a favoured guest in the most exalted houses, and, above
+     all, a man whose patriotism is beyond suspicion. He is one of two who
+     have a key of the safe. I may add that the papers were undoubtedly in
+     the office during working hours on Monday, and that Sir James left
+     for London about three o'clock taking his key with him. He was at the
+     house of Admiral Sinclair at Barclay Square during the whole of the
+     evening when this incident occurred."
+
+     "Has the fact been verified?"
+
+     "Yes; his brother, Colonel Valentine Walter, has testified to his
+     departure from Woolwich, and Admiral Sinclair to his arrival in
+     London; so Sir James is no longer a direct factor in the problem."
+
+     "Who was the other man with a key?"
+
+     "The senior clerk and draughtsman, Mr. Sidney Johnson. He is a man of
+     forty, married, with five children. He is a silent, morose man, but
+     he has, on the whole, an excellent record in the public service. He
+     is unpopular with his colleagues, but a hard worker. According to his
+     own account, corroborated only by the word of his wife, he was at
+     home the whole of Monday evening after office hours, and his key has
+     never left the watch-chain upon which it hangs."
+
+     "Tell us about Cadogan West."
+
+     "He has been ten years in the service and has done good work. He has
+     the reputation of being hot-headed and imperious, but a straight,
+     honest man. We have nothing against him. He was next Sidney Johnson
+     in the office. His duties brought him into daily, personal contact
+     with the plans. No one else had the handling of them."
+
+     "Who locked up the plans that night?"
+
+     "Mr. Sidney Johnson, the senior clerk."
+
+     "Well, it is surely perfectly clear who took them away. They are
+     actually found upon the person of this junior clerk, Cadogan West.
+     That seems final, does it not?"
+
+     "It does, Sherlock, and yet it leaves so much unexplained. In the
+     first place, why did he take them?"
+
+     "I presume they were of value?"
+
+     "He could have got several thousands for them very easily."
+
+     "Can you suggest any possible motive for taking the papers to London
+     except to sell them?"
+
+     "No, I cannot."
+
+     "Then we must take that as our working hypothesis. Young West took
+     the papers. Now this could only be done by having a false key--"
+
+     "Several false keys. He had to open the building and the room."
+
+     "He had, then, several false keys. He took the papers to London to
+     sell the secret, intending, no doubt, to have the plans themselves
+     back in the safe next morning before they were missed. While in
+     London on this treasonable mission he met his end."
+
+     "How?"
+
+     "We will suppose that he was travelling back to Woolwich when he was
+     killed and thrown out of the compartment."
+
+     "Aldgate, where the body was found, is considerably past the station
+     London Bridge, which would be his route to Woolwich."
+
+     "Many circumstances could be imagined under which he would pass
+     London Bridge. There was someone in the carriage, for example, with
+     whom he was having an absorbing interview. This interview led to a
+     violent scene in which he lost his life. Possibly he tried to leave
+     the carriage, fell out on the line, and so met his end. The other
+     closed the door. There was a thick fog, and nothing could be seen."
+
+     "No better explanation can be given with our present knowledge; and
+     yet consider, Sherlock, how much you leave untouched. We will
+     suppose, for argument's sake, that young Cadogan West had determined
+     to convey these papers to London. He would naturally have made an
+     appointment with the foreign agent and kept his evening clear.
+     Instead of that he took two tickets for the theatre, escorted his
+     fiancee halfway there, and then suddenly disappeared."
+
+     "A blind," said Lestrade, who had sat listening with some impatience
+     to the conversation.
+
+     "A very singular one. That is objection No. 1. Objection No. 2: We
+     will suppose that he reaches London and sees the foreign agent. He
+     must bring back the papers before morning or the loss will be
+     discovered. He took away ten. Only seven were in his pocket. What had
+     become of the other three? He certainly would not leave them of his
+     own free will. Then, again, where is the price of his treason? Once
+     would have expected to find a large sum of money in his pocket."
+
+     "It seems to me perfectly clear," said Lestrade. "I have no doubt at
+     all as to what occurred. He took the papers to sell them. He saw the
+     agent. They could not agree as to price. He started home again, but
+     the agent went with him. In the train the agent murdered him, took
+     the more essential papers, and threw his body from the carriage. That
+     would account for everything, would it not?"
+
+     "Why had he no ticket?"
+
+     "The ticket would have shown which station was nearest the agent's
+     house. Therefore he took it from the murdered man's pocket."
+
+     "Good, Lestrade, very good," said Holmes. "Your theory holds
+     together. But if this is true, then the case is at an end. On the one
+     hand, the traitor is dead. On the other, the plans of the
+     Bruce-Partington submarine are presumably already on the Continent.
+     What is there for us to do?"
+
+     "To act, Sherlock--to act!" cried Mycroft, springing to his feet.
+     "All my instincts are against this explanation. Use your powers! Go
+     to the scene of the crime! See the people concerned! Leave no stone
+     unturned! In all your career you have never had so great a chance of
+     serving your country."
+
+     "Well, well!" said Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. "Come, Watson!
+     And you, Lestrade, could you favour us with your company for an hour
+     or two? We will begin our investigation by a visit to Aldgate
+     Station. Good-bye, Mycroft. I shall let you have a report before
+     evening, but I warn you in advance that you have little to expect."
+
+     An hour later Holmes, Lestrade and I stood upon the Underground
+     railroad at the point where it emerges from the tunnel immediately
+     before Aldgate Station. A courteous red-faced old gentleman
+     represented the railway company.
+
+     "This is where the young man's body lay," said he, indicating a spot
+     about three feet from the metals. "It could not have fallen from
+     above, for these, as you see, are all blank walls. Therefore, it
+     could only have come from a train, and that train, so far as we can
+     trace it, must have passed about midnight on Monday."
+
+     "Have the carriages been examined for any sign of violence?"
+
+     "There are no such signs, and no ticket has been found."
+
+     "No record of a door being found open?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "We have had some fresh evidence this morning," said Lestrade. "A
+     passenger who passed Aldgate in an ordinary Metropolitan train about
+     11.40 on Monday night declares that he heard a heavy thud, as of a
+     body striking the line, just before the train reached the station.
+     There was dense fog, however, and nothing could be seen. He made no
+     report of it at the time. Why, whatever is the matter with Mr.
+     Holmes?"
+
+     My friend was standing with an expression of strained intensity upon
+     his face, staring at the railway metals where they curved out of the
+     tunnel. Aldgate is a junction, and there was a network of points. On
+     these his eager, questioning eyes were fixed, and I saw on his keen,
+     alert face that tightening of the lips, that quiver of the nostrils,
+     and concentration of the heavy, tufted brows which I knew so well.
+
+     "Points," he muttered; "the points."
+
+     "What of it? What do you mean?"
+
+     "I suppose there are no great number of points on a system such as
+     this?"
+
+     "No; they are very few."
+
+     "And a curve, too. Points, and a curve. By Jove! if it were only so."
+
+     "What is it, Mr. Holmes? Have you a clue?"
+
+     "An idea--an indication, no more. But the case certainly grows in
+     interest. Unique, perfectly unique, and yet why not? I do not see any
+     indications of bleeding on the line."
+
+     "There were hardly any."
+
+     "But I understand that there was a considerable wound."
+
+     "The bone was crushed, but there was no great external injury."
+
+     "And yet one would have expected some bleeding. Would it be possible
+     for me to inspect the train which contained the passenger who heard
+     the thud of a fall in the fog?"
+
+     "I fear not, Mr. Holmes. The train has been broken up before now, and
+     the carriages redistributed."
+
+     "I can assure you, Mr. Holmes," said Lestrade, "that every carriage
+     has been carefully examined. I saw to it myself."
+
+     It was one of my friend's most obvious weaknesses that he was
+     impatient with less alert intelligences than his own.
+
+     "Very likely," said he, turning away. "As it happens, it was not the
+     carriages which I desired to examine. Watson, we have done all we can
+     here. We need not trouble you any further, Mr. Lestrade. I think our
+     investigations must now carry us to Woolwich."
+
+     At London Bridge, Holmes wrote a telegram to his brother, which he
+     handed to me before dispatching it. It ran thus:
+
+     See some light in the darkness, but it may possibly flicker out.
+     Meanwhile, please send by messenger, to await return at Baker Street,
+     a complete list of all foreign spies or international agents known to
+     be in England, with full address.
+     Sherlock.
+
+     "That should be helpful, Watson," he remarked as we took our seats in
+     the Woolwich train.  "We certainly owe Brother Mycroft a debt for
+     having introduced us to what promises to be a really very remarkable
+     case."
+
+     His eager face still wore that expression of intense and high-strung
+     energy, which showed me that some novel and suggestive circumstance
+     had opened up a stimulating line of thought. See the foxhound with
+     hanging ears and drooping tail as it lolls about the kennels, and
+     compare it with the same hound as, with gleaming eyes and straining
+     muscles, it runs upon a breast-high scent--such was the change in
+     Holmes since the morning. He was a different man from the limp and
+     lounging figure in the mouse-coloured dressing-gown who had prowled
+     so restlessly only a few hours before round the fog-girt room.
+
+     "There is material here. There is scope," said he. "I am dull indeed
+     not to have understood its possibilities."
+
+     "Even now they are dark to me."
+
+     "The end is dark to me also, but I have hold of one idea which may
+     lead us far. The man met his death elsewhere, and his body was on the
+     roof of a carriage."
+
+     "On the roof!"
+
+     "Remarkable, is it not? But consider the facts. Is it a coincidence
+     that it is found at the very point where the train pitches and sways
+     as it comes round on the points? Is not that the place where an
+     object upon the roof might be expected to fall off? The points would
+     affect no object inside the train. Either the body fell from the
+     roof, or a very curious coincidence has occurred. But now consider
+     the question of the blood. Of course, there was no bleeding on the
+     line if the body had bled elsewhere. Each fact is suggestive in
+     itself. Together they have a cumulative force."
+
+     "And the ticket, too!" I cried.
+
+     "Exactly.  We could not explain the absence of a ticket. This would
+     explain it. Everything fits together."
+
+     "But suppose it were so, we are still as far as ever from unravelling
+     the mystery of his death. Indeed, it becomes not simpler but
+     stranger."
+
+     "Perhaps," said Holmes, thoughtfully, "perhaps." He relapsed into a
+     silent reverie, which lasted until the slow train drew up at last in
+     Woolwich Station. There he called a cab and drew Mycroft's paper from
+     his pocket.
+
+     "We have quite a little round of afternoon calls to make," said he.
+     "I think that Sir James Walter claims our first attention."
+
+     The house of the famous official was a fine villa with green lawns
+     stretching down to the Thames. As we reached it the fog was lifting,
+     and a thin, watery sunshine was breaking through. A butler answered
+     our ring.
+
+     "Sir James, sir!" said he with solemn face. "Sir James died this
+     morning."
+
+     "Good heavens!" cried Holmes in amazement. "How did he die?"
+
+     "Perhaps you would care to step in, sir, and see his brother, Colonel
+     Valentine?"
+
+     "Yes, we had best do so."
+
+     We were ushered into a dim-lit drawing-room, where an instant later
+     we were joined by a very tall, handsome, light-beared man of fifty,
+     the younger brother of the dead scientist. His wild eyes, stained
+     cheeks, and unkempt hair all spoke of the sudden blow which had
+     fallen upon the household. He was hardly articulate as he spoke of
+     it.
+
+     "It was this horrible scandal," said he. "My brother, Sir James, was
+     a man of very sensitive honour, and he could not survive such an
+     affair. It broke his heart. He was always so proud of the efficiency
+     of his department, and this was a crushing blow."
+
+     "We had hoped that he might have given us some indications which
+     would have helped us to clear the matter up."
+
+     "I assure you that it was all a mystery to him as it is to you and to
+     all of us. He had already put all his knowledge at the disposal of
+     the police. Naturally he had no doubt that Cadogan West was guilty.
+     But all the rest was inconceivable."
+
+     "You cannot throw any new light upon the affair?"
+
+     "I know nothing myself save what I have read or heard. I have no
+     desire to be discourteous, but you can understand, Mr. Holmes, that
+     we are much disturbed at present, and I must ask you to hasten this
+     interview to an end."
+
+     "This is indeed an unexpected development," said my friend when we
+     had regained the cab. "I wonder if the death was natural, or whether
+     the poor old fellow killed himself! If the latter, may it be taken as
+     some sign of self-reproach for duty neglected? We must leave that
+     question to the future. Now we shall turn to the Cadogan Wests."
+
+     A small but well-kept house in the outskirts of the town sheltered
+     the bereaved mother. The old lady was too dazed with grief to be of
+     any use to us, but at her side was a white-faced young lady, who
+     introduced herself as Miss Violet Westbury, the fiancee of the dead
+     man, and the last to see him upon that fatal night.
+
+     "I cannot explain it, Mr. Holmes," she said. "I have not shut an eye
+     since the tragedy, thinking, thinking, thinking, night and day, what
+     the true meaning of it can be. Arthur was the most single-minded,
+     chivalrous, patriotic man upon earth. He would have cut his right
+     hand off before he would sell a State secret confided to his keeping.
+     It is absurd, impossible, preposterous to anyone who knew him."
+
+     "But the facts, Miss Westbury?"
+
+     "Yes, yes; I admit I cannot explain them."
+
+     "Was he in any want of money?"
+
+     "No; his needs were very simple and his salary ample. He had saved a
+     few hundreds, and we were to marry at the New Year."
+
+     "No signs of any mental excitement? Come, Miss Westbury, be
+     absolutely frank with us."
+
+     The quick eye of my companion had noted some change in her manner.
+     She coloured and hesitated.
+
+     "Yes," she said at last, "I had a feeling that there was something on
+     his mind."
+
+     "For long?"
+
+     "Only for the last week or so. He was thoughtful and worried. Once I
+     pressed him about it. He admitted that there was something, and that
+     it was concerned with his official life. 'It is too serious for me to
+     speak about, even to you,' said he. I could get nothing more."
+
+     Holmes looked grave.
+
+     "Go on, Miss Westbury. Even if it seems to tell against him, go on.
+     We cannot say what it may lead to."
+
+     "Indeed, I have nothing more to tell. Once or twice it seemed to me
+     that he was on the point of telling me something. He spoke one
+     evening of the importance of the secret, and I have some recollection
+     that he said that no doubt foreign spies would pay a great deal to
+     have it."
+
+     My friend's face grew graver still.
+
+     "Anything else?"
+
+     "He said that we were slack about such matters--that it would be easy
+     for a traitor to get the plans."
+
+     "Was it only recently that he made such remarks?"
+
+     "Yes, quite recently."
+
+     "Now tell us of that last evening."
+
+     "We were to go to the theatre. The fog was so thick that a cab was
+     useless. We walked, and our way took us close to the office. Suddenly
+     he darted away into the fog."
+
+     "Without a word?"
+
+     "He gave an exclamation; that was all. I waited but he never
+     returned. Then I walked home. Next morning, after the office opened,
+     they came to inquire. About twelve o'clock we heard the terrible
+     news. Oh, Mr. Holmes, if you could only, only save his honour! It was
+     so much to him."
+
+     Holmes shook his head sadly.
+
+     "Come, Watson," said he, "our ways lie elsewhere. Our next station
+     must be the office from which the papers were taken.
+
+     "It was black enough before against this young man, but our inquiries
+     make it blacker," he remarked as the cab lumbered off. "His coming
+     marriage gives a motive for the crime. He naturally wanted money. The
+     idea was in his head, since he spoke about it. He nearly made the
+     girl an accomplice in the treason by telling her his plans. It is all
+     very bad."
+
+     "But surely, Holmes, character goes for something? Then, again, why
+     should he leave the girl in the street and dart away to commit a
+     felony?"
+
+     "Exactly! There are certainly objections. But it is a formidable case
+     which they have to meet."
+
+     Mr. Sidney Johnson, the senior clerk, met us at the office and
+     received us with that respect which my companion's card always
+     commanded. He was a thin, gruff, bespectacled man of middle age, his
+     cheeks haggard, and his hands twitching from the nervous strain to
+     which he had been subjected.
+
+     "It is bad, Mr. Holmes, very bad! Have you heard of the death of the
+     chief?"
+
+     "We have just come from his house."
+
+     "The place is disorganized. The chief dead, Cadogan West dead, our
+     papers stolen. And yet, when we closed our door on Monday evening, we
+     were as efficient an office as any in the government service. Good
+     God, it's dreadful to think of! That West, of all men, should have
+     done such a thing!"
+
+     "You are sure of his guilt, then?"
+
+     "I can see no other way out of it. And yet I would have trusted him
+     as I trust myself."
+
+     "At what hour was the office closed on Monday?"
+
+     "At five."
+
+     "Did you close it?"
+
+     "I am always the last man out."
+
+     "Where were the plans?"
+
+     "In that safe. I put them there myself."
+
+     "Is there no watchman to the building?"
+
+     "There is, but he has other departments to look after as well. He is
+     an old soldier and a most trustworthy man. He saw nothing that
+     evening. Of course the fog was very thick."
+
+     "Suppose that Cadogan West wished to make his way into the building
+     after hours; he would need three keys, would he not, before the could
+     reach the papers?"
+
+     "Yes, he would. The key of the outer door, the key of the office, and
+     the key of the safe."
+
+     "Only Sir James Walter and you had those keys?"
+
+     "I had no keys of the doors--only of the safe."
+
+     "Was Sir James a man who was orderly in his habits?"
+
+     "Yes, I think he was. I know that so far as those three keys are
+     concerned he kept them on the same ring. I have often seen them
+     there."
+
+     "And that ring went with him to London?"
+
+     "He said so."
+
+     "And your key never left your possession?"
+
+     "Never."
+
+     "Then West, if he is the culprit, must have had a duplicate. And yet
+     none was found upon his body. One other point: if a clerk in this
+     office desired to sell the plans, would it not be simply to copy the
+     plans for himself than to take the originals, as was actually done?"
+
+     "It would take considerable technical knowledge to copy the plans in
+     an effective way."
+
+     "But I suppose either Sir James, or you, or West has that technical
+     knowledge?"
+
+     "No doubt we had, but I beg you won't try to drag me into the matter,
+     Mr. Holmes. What is the use of our speculating in this way when the
+     original plans were actually found on West?"
+
+     "Well, it is certainly singular that he should run the risk of taking
+     originals if he could safely have taken copies, which would have
+     equally served his turn."
+
+     "Singular, no doubt--and yet he did so."
+
+     "Every inquiry in this case reveals something inexplicable. Now there
+     are three papers still missing. They are, as I understand, the vital
+     ones."
+
+     "Yes, that is so."
+
+     "Do you mean to say that anyone holding these three papers, and
+     without the seven others, could construct a Bruce-Partington
+     submarine?"
+
+     "I reported to that effect to the Admiralty. But to-day I have been
+     over the drawings again, and I am not so sure of it. The double
+     valves with the automatic self-adjusting slots are drawn in one of
+     the papers which have been returned. Until the foreigners had
+     invented that for themselves they could not make the boat. Of course
+     they might soon get over the difficulty."
+
+     "But the three missing drawings are the most important?"
+
+     "Undoubtedly."
+
+     "I think, with your permission, I will now take a stroll round the
+     premises. I do not recall any other question which I desired to ask."
+
+     He examined the lock of the safe, the door of the room, and finally
+     the iron shutters of the window. It was only when we were on the lawn
+     outside that his interest was strongly excited. There was a laurel
+     bush outside the window, and several of the branches bore signs of
+     having been twisted or snapped. He examined them carefully with his
+     lens, and then some dim and vague marks upon the earth beneath.
+     Finally he asked the chief clerk to close the iron shutters, and he
+     pointed out to me that they hardly met in the centre, and that it
+     would be possible for anyone outside to see what was going on within
+     the room.
+
+     "The indications are ruined by three days' delay. They may mean
+     something or nothing. Well, Watson, I do not think that Woolwich can
+     help us further. It is a small crop which we have gathered. Let us
+     see if we can do better in London."
+
+     Yet we added one more sheaf to our harvest before we left Woolwich
+     Station. The clerk in the ticket office was able to say with
+     confidence that he saw Cadogan West--whom he knew well by sight--upon
+     the Monday night, and that he went to London by the 8.15 to London
+     Bridge. He was alone and took a single third-class ticket. The clerk
+     was struck at the time by his excited and nervous manner. So shaky
+     was he that he could hardly pick up his change, and the clerk had
+     helped him with it. A reference to the timetable showed that the 8.15
+     was the first train which it was possible for West to take after he
+     had left the lady about 7.30.
+
+     "Let us reconstruct, Watson," said Holmes after half an hour of
+     silence. "I am not aware that in all our joint researches we have
+     ever had a case which was more difficult to get at. Every fresh
+     advance which we make only reveals a fresh ridge beyond. And yet we
+     have surely made some appreciable progress.
+
+     "The effect of our inquiries at Woolwich has in the main been against
+     young Cadogan West; but the indications at the window would lend
+     themselves to a more favourable hypothesis. Let us suppose, for
+     example, that he had been approached by some foreign agent. It might
+     have been done under such pledges as would have prevented him from
+     speaking of it, and yet would have affected his thoughts in the
+     direction indicated by his remarks to his fiancee. Very good. We will
+     now suppose that as he went to the theatre with the young lady he
+     suddenly, in the fog, caught a glimpse of this same agent going in
+     the direction of the office. He was an impetuous man, quick in his
+     decisions. Everything gave way to his duty. He followed the man,
+     reached the window, saw the abstraction of the documents, and pursued
+     the thief. In this way we get over the objection that no one would
+     take originals when he could make copies. This outsider had to take
+     originals. So far it holds together."
+
+     "What is the next step?"
+
+     "Then we come into difficulties. One would imagine that under such
+     circumstances the first act of young Cadogan West would be to seize
+     the villain and raise the alarm. Why did he not do so? Could it have
+     been an official superior who took the papers? That would explain
+     West's conduct. Or could the chief have given West the slip in the
+     fog, and West started at once to London to head him off from his own
+     rooms, presuming that he knew where the rooms were? The call must
+     have been very pressing, since he left his girl standing in the fog
+     and made no effort to communicate with her. Our scent runs cold here,
+     and there is a vast gap between either hypothesis and the laying of
+     West's body, with seven papers in his pocket, on the roof of a
+     Metropolitan train. My instinct now is to work form the other end. If
+     Mycroft has given us the list of addresses we may be able to pick our
+     man and follow two tracks instead of one."
+
+     Surely enough, a note awaited us at Baker Street. A government
+     messenger had brought it post-haste. Holmes glanced at it and threw
+     it over to me.
+
+     There are numerous small fry, but few who would handle so big an
+     affair. The only men worth considering are Adolph Mayer, of 13 Great
+     George Street, Westminster; Louis La Rothiere, of Campden Mansions,
+     Notting Hill; and Hugo Oberstein, 13 Caulfield Gardens, Kensington.
+     The latter was known to be in town on Monday and is now reported as
+     having left. Glad to hear you have seen some light. The Cabinet
+     awaits your final report with the utmost anxiety. Urgent
+     representations have arrived from the very highest quarter. The whole
+     force of the State is at your back if you should need it.
+     Mycroft.
+
+     "I'm afraid," said Holmes, smiling, "that all the queen's horses and
+     all the queen's men cannot avail in this matter." He had spread out
+     his big map of London and leaned eagerly over it. "Well, well," said
+     he presently with an exclamation of satisfaction, "things are turning
+     a little in our direction at last. Why, Watson, I do honestly believe
+     that we are going to pull it off, after all." He slapped me on the
+     shoulder with a sudden burst of hilarity. "I am going out now. It is
+     only a reconnaissance. I will do nothing serious without my trusted
+     comrade and biographer at my elbow. Do you stay here, and the odds
+     are that you will see me again in an hour or two. If time hangs heavy
+     get foolscap and a pen, and begin your narrative of how we saved the
+     State."
+
+     I felt some reflection of his elation in my own mind, for I knew well
+     that he would not depart so far from his usual austerity of demeanour
+     unless there was good cause for exultation. All the long November
+     evening I waited, filled with impatience for his return. At last,
+     shortly after nine o'clock, there arrived a messenger with a note:
+
+     Am dining at Goldini's Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington.
+     Please come at once and join me there. Bring with you a jemmy, a dark
+     lantern, a chisel, and a revolver.
+     S.H.
+
+     It was a nice equipment for a respectable citizen to carry through
+     the dim, fog-draped streets. I stowed them all discreetly away in my
+     overcoat and drove straight to the address given. There sat my friend
+     at a little round table near the door of the garish Italian
+     restaurant.
+
+     "Have you had something to eat? Then join me in a coffee and curacao.
+     Try one of the proprietor's cigars. They are less poisonous than one
+     would expect. Have you the tools?"
+
+     "They are here, in my overcoat."
+
+     "Excellent. Let me give you a short sketch of what I have done, with
+     some indication of what we are about to do. Now it must be evident to
+     you, Watson, that this young man's body was placed on the roof of the
+     train. That was clear from the instant that I determined the fact
+     that it was from the roof, and not from a carriage, that he had
+     fallen."
+
+     "Could it not have been dropped from a bridge?"
+
+     "I should say it was impossible. If you examine the roofs you will
+     find that they are slightly rounded, and there is no railing round
+     them. Therefore, we can say for certain that young Cadogan West was
+     placed on it."
+
+     "How could he be placed there?"
+
+     "That was the question which we had to answer. There is only one
+     possible way. You are aware that the Underground runs clear of
+     tunnels at some points in the West End. I had a vague memory that as
+     I have travelled by it I have occasionally seen windows just above my
+     head. Now, suppose that a train halted under such a window, would
+     there be any difficulty in laying a body upon the roof?"
+
+     "It seems most improbable."
+
+     "We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other
+     contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
+     truth. Here all other contingencies have failed. When I found that
+     the leading international agent, who had just left London, lived in a
+     row of houses which abutted upon the Underground, I was so pleased
+     that you were a little astonished at my sudden frivolity."
+
+     "Oh, that was it, was it?"
+
+     "Yes, that was it. Mr. Hugo Oberstein, of 13 Caulfield Gardens, had
+     become my objective. I began my operations at Gloucester Road
+     Station, where a very helpful official walked with me along the track
+     and allowed me to satisfy myself not only that the back-stair windows
+     of Caulfield Gardens open on the line but the even more essential
+     fact that, owing to the intersection of one of the larger railways,
+     the Underground trains are frequently held motionless for some
+     minutes at that very spot."
+
+     "Splendid, Holmes! You have got it!"
+
+     "So far--so far, Watson. We advance, but the goal is afar. Well,
+     having seen the back of Caulfield Gardens, I visited the front and
+     satisfied myself that the bird was indeed flown. It is a considerable
+     house, unfurnished, so far as I could judge, in the upper rooms.
+     Oberstein lived there with a single valet, who was probably a
+     confederate entirely in his confidence. We must bear in mind that
+     Oberstein has gone to the Continent to dispose of his booty, but not
+     with any idea of flight; for he had no reason to fear a warrant, and
+     the idea of an amateur domiciliary visit would certainly never occur
+     to him. Yet that is precisely what we are about to make."
+
+     "Could we not get a warrant and legalize it?"
+
+     "Hardly on the evidence."
+
+     "What can we hope to do?"
+
+     "We cannot tell what correspondence may be there."
+
+     "I don't like it, Holmes."
+
+     "My dear fellow, you shall keep watch in the street. I'll do the
+     criminal part. It's not a time to stick at trifles. Think of
+     Mycroft's note, of the Admiralty, the Cabinet, the exalted person who
+     waits for news. We are bound to go."
+
+     My answer was to rise from the table.
+
+     "You are right, Holmes. We are bound to go."
+
+     He sprang up and shook me by the hand.
+
+     "I knew you would not shrink at the last," said he, and for a moment
+     I saw something in his eyes which was nearer to tenderness than I had
+     ever seen. The next instant he was his masterful, practical self once
+     more.
+
+     "It is nearly half a mile, but there is no hurry. Let us walk," said
+     he. "Don't drop the instruments, I beg. Your arrest as a suspicious
+     character would be a most unfortunate complication."
+
+     Caulfield Gardens was one of those lines of flat-faced pillared, and
+     porticoed houses which are so prominent a product of the middle
+     Victorian epoch in the West End of London. Next door there appeared
+     to be a children's party, for the merry buzz of young voices and the
+     clatter of a piano resounded through the night. The fog still hung
+     about and screened us with its friendly shade. Holmes had lit his
+     lantern and flashed it upon the massive door.
+
+     "This is a serious proposition," said he. "It is certainly bolted as
+     well as locked. We would do better in the area. There is an excellent
+     archway down yonder in case a too zealous policeman should intrude.
+     Give me a hand, Watson, and I'll do the same for you."
+
+     A minute later we were both in the area. Hardly had we reached the
+     dark shadows before the step of the policeman was heard in the fog
+     above. As its soft rhythm died away, Holmes set to work upon the
+     lower door. I saw him stoop and strain until with a sharp crash it
+     flew open. We sprang through into the dark passage, closing the area
+     door behind us. Holmes let the way up the curving, uncarpeted stair.
+     His little fan of yellow light shone upon a low window.
+
+     "Here we are, Watson--this must be the one." He threw it open, and as
+     he did so there was a low, harsh murmur, growing steadily into a loud
+     roar as a train dashed past us in the darkness. Holmes swept his
+     light along the window-sill. It was thickly coated with soot from the
+     passing engines, but the black surface was blurred and rubbed in
+     places.
+
+     "You can see where they rested the body. Halloa, Watson! what is
+     this? There can be no doubt that it is a blood mark." He was pointing
+     to faint discolourations along the woodwork of the window. "Here it
+     is on the stone of the stair also. The demonstration is complete. Let
+     us stay here until a train stops."
+
+     We had not long to wait. The very next train roared from the tunnel
+     as before, but slowed in the open, and then, with a creaking of
+     brakes, pulled up immediately beneath us. It was not four feet from
+     the window-ledge to the roof of the carriages. Holmes softly closed
+     the window.
+
+     "So far we are justified," said he. "What do you think of it,
+     Watson?"
+
+     "A masterpiece. You have never risen to a greater height."
+
+     "I cannot agree with you there. From the moment that I conceived the
+     idea of the body being upon the roof, which surely was not a very
+     abstruse one, all the rest was inevitable. If it were not for the
+     grave interests involved the affair up to this point would be
+     insignificant. Our difficulties are still before us. But perhaps we
+     may find something here which may help us."
+
+     We had ascended the kitchen stair and entered the suite of rooms upon
+     the first floor. One was a dining-room, severely furnished and
+     containing nothing of interest. A second was a bedroom, which also
+     drew blank. The remaining room appeared more promising, and my
+     companion settled down to a systematic examination. It was littered
+     with books and papers, and was evidently used as a study. Swiftly and
+     methodically Holmes turned over the contents of drawer after drawer
+     and cupboard after cupboard, but no gleam of success came to brighten
+     his austere face. At the end of an hour he was no further than when
+     he started.
+
+     "The cunning dog has covered his tracks," said he. "He has left
+     nothing to incriminate him. His dangerous correspondence has been
+     destroyed or removed. This is our last chance."
+
+     It was a small tin cash-box which stood upon the writing-desk. Holmes
+     pried it open with his chisel. Several rolls of paper were within,
+     covered with figures and calculations, without any note to show to
+     what they referred. The recurring words, "water pressure" and
+     "pressure to the square inch" suggested some possible relation to a
+     submarine. Holmes tossed them all impatiently aside. There only
+     remained an envelope with some small newspaper slips inside it. He
+     shook them out on the table, and at once I saw by his eager face that
+     his hopes had been raised.
+
+     "What's this, Watson? Eh? What's this? Record of a series of messages
+     in the advertisements of a paper. Daily Telegraph agony column by the
+     print and paper. Right-hand top corner of a page. No dates--but
+     messages arrange themselves. This must be the first:
+
+     "Hoped to hear sooner. Terms agreed to. Write fully to address given
+     on card.
+     Pierrot.
+
+     "Next comes:
+
+     "Too complex for description. Must have full report, Stuff awaits you
+     when goods delivered.
+     Pierrot.
+
+     "Then comes:
+
+     "Matter presses. Must withdraw offer unless contract completed. Make
+     appointment by letter. Will confirm by advertisement.
+     Pierrot.
+
+     "Finally:
+
+     "Monday night after nine. Two taps. Only ourselves. Do not be so
+     suspicious. Payment in hard cash when goods delivered.
+     Pierrot.
+
+     "A fairly complete record, Watson! If we could only get at the man at
+     the other end!" He sat lost in thought, tapping his fingers on the
+     table. Finally he sprang to his feet.
+
+     "Well, perhaps it won't be so difficult, after all. There is nothing
+     more to be done here, Watson. I think we might drive round to the
+     offices of the Daily Telegraph, and so bring a good day's work to a
+     conclusion."
+
+     Mycroft Holmes and Lestrade had come round by appointment after
+     breakfast next day and Sherlock Holmes had recounted to them our
+     proceedings of the day before. The professional shook his head over
+     our confessed burglary.
+
+     "We can't do these things in the force, Mr. Holmes," said he. "No
+     wonder you get results that are beyond us. But some of these days
+     you'll go too far, and you'll find yourself and your friend in
+     trouble."
+
+     "For England, home and beauty--eh, Watson? Martyrs on the altar of
+     our country. But what do you think of it, Mycroft?"
+
+     "Excellent, Sherlock! Admirable! But what use will you make of it?"
+
+     Holmes picked up the Daily Telegraph which lay upon the table.
+
+     "Have you seen Pierrot's advertisement to-day?"
+
+     "What? Another one?"
+
+     "Yes, here it is:
+
+     "To-night. Same hour. Same place. Two taps. Most vitally important.
+     Your own safety at stake.
+     Pierrot.
+
+     "By George!" cried Lestrade. "If he answers that we've got him!"
+
+     "That was my idea when I put it in. I think if you could both make it
+     convenient to come with us about eight o'clock to Caulfield Gardens
+     we might possibly get a little nearer to a solution."
+
+     One of the most remarkable characteristics of Sherlock Holmes was his
+     power of throwing his brain out of action and switching all his
+     thoughts on to lighter things whenever he had convinced himself that
+     he could no longer work to advantage. I remember that during the
+     whole of that memorable day he lost himself in a monograph which he
+     had undertaken upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus. For my own part
+     I had none of this power of detachment, and the day, in consequence,
+     appeared to be interminable. The great national importance of the
+     issue, the suspense in high quarters, the direct nature of the
+     experiment which we were trying--all combined to work upon my nerve.
+     It was a relief to me when at last, after a light dinner, we set out
+     upon our expedition. Lestrade and Mycroft met us by appointment at
+     the outside of Gloucester Road Station. The area door of Oberstein's
+     house had been left open the night before, and it was necessary for
+     me, as Mycroft Holmes absolutely and indignantly declined to climb
+     the railings, to pass in and open the hall door. By nine o'clock we
+     were all seated in the study, waiting patently for our man.
+
+     An hour passed and yet another. When eleven struck, the measured beat
+     of the great church clock seemed to sound the dirge of our hopes.
+     Lestrade and Mycroft were fidgeting in their seats and looking twice
+     a minute at their watches. Holmes sat silent and composed, his
+     eyelids half shut, but every sense on the alert. He raised his head
+     with a sudden jerk.
+
+     "He is coming," said he.
+
+     There had been a furtive step past the door. Now it returned. We
+     heard a shuffling sound outside, and then two sharp taps with the
+     knocker. Holmes rose, motioning us to remain seated. The gas in the
+     hall was a mere point of light. He opened the outer door, and then as
+     a dark figure slipped past him he closed and fastened it. "This way!"
+     we heard him say, and a moment later our man stood before us. Holmes
+     had followed him closely, and as the man turned with a cry of
+     surprise and alarm he caught him by the collar and threw him back
+     into the room. Before our prisoner had recovered his balance the door
+     was shut and Holmes standing with his back against it. The man glared
+     round him, staggered, and fell senseless upon the floor. With the
+     shock, his broad-brimmed hat flew from his head, his cravat slipped
+     sown from his lips, and there were the long light beard and the soft,
+     handsome delicate features of Colonel Valentine Walter.
+
+     Holmes gave a whistle of surprise.
+
+     "You can write me down an ass this time, Watson," said he. "This was
+     not the bird that I was looking for."
+
+     "Who is he?" asked Mycroft eagerly.
+
+     "The younger brother of the late Sir James Walter, the head of the
+     Submarine Department. Yes, yes; I see the fall of the cards. He is
+     coming to. I think that you had best leave his examination to me."
+
+     We had carried the prostrate body to the sofa. Now our prisoner sat
+     up, looked round him with a horror-stricken face, and passed his hand
+     over his forehead, like one who cannot believe his own senses.
+
+     "What is this?" he asked. "I came here to visit Mr. Oberstein."
+
+     "Everything is known, Colonel Walter," said Holmes. "How an English
+     gentleman could behave in such a manner is beyond my comprehension.
+     But your whole correspondence and relations with Oberstein are within
+     our knowledge. So also are the circumstances connected with the death
+     of young Cadogan West. Let me advise you to gain at least the small
+     credit for repentance and confession, since there are still some
+     details which we can only learn from your lips."
+
+     The man groaned and sank his face in his hands. We waited, but he was
+     silent.
+
+     "I can assure you," said Holmes, "that every essential is already
+     known. We know that you were pressed for money; that you took an
+     impress of the keys which your brother held; and that you entered
+     into a correspondence with Oberstein, who answered your letters
+     through the advertisement columns of the Daily Telegraph. We are
+     aware that you went down to the office in the fog on Monday night,
+     but that you were seen and followed by young Cadogan West, who had
+     probably some previous reason to suspect you. He saw your theft, but
+     could not give the alarm, as it was just possible that you were
+     taking the papers to your brother in London. Leaving all his private
+     concerns, like the good citizen that he was, he followed you closely
+     in the fog and kept at your heels until you reached this very house.
+     There he intervened, and then it was, Colonel Walter, that to treason
+     you added the more terrible crime of murder."
+
+     "I did not! I did not! Before God I swear that I did not!" cried our
+     wretched prisoner.
+
+     "Tell us, then, how Cadogan West met his end before you laid him upon
+     the roof of a railway carriage."
+
+     "I will. I swear to you that I will. I did the rest. I confess it. It
+     was just as you say. A Stock Exchange debt had to be paid. I needed
+     the money badly. Oberstein offered me five thousand. It was to save
+     myself from ruin. But as to murder, I am as innocent as you."
+
+     "What happened, then?"
+
+     "He had his suspicions before, and he followed me as you describe. I
+     never knew it until I was at the very door. It was thick fog, and one
+     could not see three yards. I had given two taps and Oberstein had
+     come to the door. The young man rushed up and demanded to know what
+     we were about to do with the papers. Oberstein had a short
+     life-preserver. He always carried it with him. As West forced his way
+     after us into the house Oberstein struck him on the head. The blow
+     was a fatal one. He was dead within five minutes. There he lay in the
+     hall, and we were at our wit's end what to do. Then Oberstein had
+     this idea about the trains which halted under his back window. But
+     first he examined the papers which I had brought. He said that three
+     of them were essential, and that he must keep them. 'You cannot keep
+     them,' said I. 'There will be a dreadful row at Woolwich if they are
+     not returned.' 'I must keep them,' said he, 'for they are so
+     technical that it is impossible in the time to make copies.' 'Then
+     they must all go back together to-night,' said I. He thought for a
+     little, and then he cried out that he had it. 'Three I will keep,'
+     said he. 'The others we will stuff into the pocket of this young man.
+     When he is found the whole business will assuredly be put to his
+     account.' I could see no other way out of it, so we did as he
+     suggested. We waited half an hour at the window before a train
+     stopped. It was so thick that nothing could be seen, and we had no
+     difficulty in lowering West's body on to the train. That was the end
+     of the matter so far as I was concerned."
+
+     "And your brother?"
+
+     "He said nothing, but he had caught me once with his keys, and I
+     think that he suspected. I read in his eyes that he suspected. As you
+     know, he never held up his head again."
+
+     There was silence in the room. It was broken by Mycroft Holmes.
+
+     "Can you not make reparation? It would ease your conscience, and
+     possibly your punishment."
+
+     "What reparation can I make?"
+
+     "Where is Oberstein with the papers?"
+
+     "I do not know."
+
+     "Did he give you no address?"
+
+     "He said that letters to the Hôtel du Louvre, Paris, would eventually
+     reach him."
+
+     "Then reparation is still within your power," said Sherlock Holmes.
+
+     "I will do anything I can. I owe this fellow no particular good-will.
+     He has been my ruin and my downfall."
+
+     "Here are paper and pen. Sit at this desk and write to my dictation.
+     Direct the envelope to the address given. That is right. Now the
+     letter:
+
+     "Dear Sir:
+     "With regard to our transaction, you will no doubt have observed by
+     now that one essential detail is missing. I have a tracing which will
+     make it complete. This has involved me in extra trouble, however, and
+     I must ask you for a further advance of five hundred pounds. I will
+     not trust it to the post, nor will I take anything but gold or notes.
+     I would come to you abroad, but it would excite remark if I left the
+     country at present. Therefore I shall expect to meet you in the
+     smoking-room of the Charing Cross Hotel at noon on Saturday. Remember
+     that only English notes, or gold, will be taken.
+
+     "That will do very well. I shall be very much surprised if it does
+     not fetch our man."
+
+     And it did! It is a matter of history--that secret history of a
+     nation which is often so much more intimate and interesting than its
+     public chronicles--that Oberstein, eager to complete the coup of his
+     lifetime, came to the lure and was safely engulfed for fifteen years
+     in a British prison. In his trunk were found the invaluable
+     Bruce-Partington plans, which he had put up for auction in all the
+     naval centres of Europe.
+
+     Colonel Walter died in prison towards the end of the second year of
+     his sentence. As to Holmes, he returned refreshed to his monograph
+     upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus, which has since been printed
+     for private circulation, and is said by experts to be the last word
+     upon the subject. Some weeks afterwards I learned incidentally that
+     my friend spent a day at Windsor, whence be returned with a
+     remarkably fine emerald tie-pin. When I asked him if he had bought
+     it, he answered that it was a present from a certain gracious lady in
+     whose interests he had once been fortunate enough to carry out a
+     small commission. He said no more; but I fancy that I could guess at
+     that lady's august name, and I have little doubt that the emerald pin
+     will forever recall to my friend's memory the adventure of the
+     Bruce-Partington plans.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE ADVENTURE OF THE DYING DETECTIVE
+
+     Mrs. Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock Holmes, was a long-suffering
+     woman. Not only was her first-floor flat invaded at all hours by
+     throngs of singular and often undesirable characters but her
+     remarkable lodger showed an eccentricity and irregularity in his life
+     which must have sorely tried her patience. His incredible untidiness,
+     his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver
+     practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific
+     experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung
+     around him made him the very worst tenant in London. On the other
+     hand, his payments were princely. I have no doubt that the house
+     might have been purchased at the price which Holmes paid for his
+     rooms during the years that I was with him.
+
+     The landlady stood in the deepest awe of him and never dared to
+     interfere with him, however outrageous his proceedings might seem.
+     She was fond of him, too, for he had a remarkable gentleness and
+     courtesy in his dealings with women. He disliked and distrusted the
+     sex, but he was always a chivalrous opponent. Knowing how genuine was
+     her regard for him, I listened earnestly to her story when she came
+     to my rooms in the second year of my married life and told me of the
+     sad condition to which my poor friend was reduced.
+
+     "He's dying, Dr. Watson," said she. "For three days he has been
+     sinking, and I doubt if he will last the day. He would not let me get
+     a doctor. This morning when I saw his bones sticking out of his face
+     and his great bright eyes looking at me I could stand no more of it.
+     'With your leave or without it, Mr. Holmes, I am going for a doctor
+     this very hour,' said I. 'Let it be Watson, then,' said he. I
+     wouldn't waste an hour in coming to him, sir, or you may not see him
+     alive."
+
+     I was horrified for I had heard nothing of his illness. I need not
+     say that I rushed for my coat and my hat. As we drove back I asked
+     for the details.
+
+     "There is little I can tell you, sir. He has been working at a case
+     down at Rotherhithe, in an alley near the river, and he has brought
+     this illness back with him. He took to his bed on Wednesday afternoon
+     and has never moved since. For these three days neither food nor
+     drink has passed his lips."
+
+     "Good God! Why did you not call in a doctor?"
+
+     "He wouldn't have it, sir. You know how masterful he is. I didn't
+     dare to disobey him. But he's not long for this world, as you'll see
+     for yourself the moment that you set eyes on him."
+
+     He was indeed a deplorable spectacle. In the dim light of a foggy
+     November day the sick room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt,
+     wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my
+     heart. His eyes had the brightness of fever, there was a hectic flush
+     upon either cheek, and dark crusts clung to his lips; the thin hands
+     upon the coverlet twitched incessantly, his voice was croaking and
+     spasmodic. He lay listlessly as I entered the room, but the sight of
+     me brought a gleam of recognition to his eyes.
+
+     "Well, Watson, we seem to have fallen upon evil days," said he in a
+     feeble voice, but with something of his old carelessness of manner.
+
+     "My dear fellow!" I cried, approaching him.
+
+     "Stand back! Stand right back!" said he with the sharp imperiousness
+     which I had associated only with moments of crisis. "If you approach
+     me, Watson, I shall order you out of the house."
+
+     "But why?"
+
+     "Because it is my desire. Is that not enough?"
+
+     Yes, Mrs. Hudson was right. He was more masterful than ever. It was
+     pitiful, however, to see his exhaustion.
+
+     "I only wished to help," I explained.
+
+     "Exactly! You will help best by doing what you are told."
+
+     "Certainly, Holmes."
+
+     He relaxed the austerity of his manner.
+
+     "You are not angry?" he asked, gasping for breath.
+
+     Poor devil, how could I be angry when I saw him lying in such a
+     plight before me?
+
+     "It's for your own sake, Watson," he croaked.
+
+     "For my sake?"
+
+     "I know what is the matter with me. It is a coolie disease from
+     Sumatra--a thing that the Dutch know more about than we, though they
+     have made little of it up to date. One thing only is certain. It is
+     infallibly deadly, and it is horribly contagious."
+
+     He spoke now with a feverish energy, the long hands twitching and
+     jerking as he motioned me away.
+
+     "Contagious by touch, Watson--that's it, by touch. Keep your distance
+     and all is well."
+
+     "Good heavens, Holmes! Do you suppose that such a consideration
+     weighs with me of an instant? It would not affect me in the case of a
+     stranger. Do you imagine it would prevent me from doing my duty to so
+     old a friend?"
+
+     Again I advanced, but he repulsed me with a look of furious anger.
+
+     "If you will stand there I will talk. If you do not you must leave
+     the room."
+
+     I have so deep a respect for the extraordinary qualities of Holmes
+     that I have always deferred to his wishes, even when I least
+     understood them. But now all my professional instincts were aroused.
+     Let him be my master elsewhere, I at least was his in a sick room.
+
+     "Holmes," said I, "you are not yourself. A sick man is but a child,
+     and so I will treat you. Whether you like it or not, I will examine
+     your symptoms and treat you for them."
+
+     He looked at me with venomous eyes.
+
+     "If I am to have a doctor whether I will or not, let me at least have
+     someone in whom I have confidence," said he.
+
+     "Then you have none in me?"
+
+     "In your friendship, certainly. But facts are facts, Watson, and,
+     after all, you are only a general practitioner with very limited
+     experience and mediocre qualifications. It is painful to have to say
+     these things, but you leave me no choice."
+
+     I was bitterly hurt.
+
+     "Such a remark is unworthy of you, Holmes. It shows me very clearly
+     the state of your own nerves. But if you have no confidence in me I
+     would not intrude my services. Let me bring Sir Jasper Meek or
+     Penrose Fisher, or any of the best men in London. But someone you
+     must have, and that is final. If you think that I am going to stand
+     here and see you die without either helping you myself or bringing
+     anyone else to help you, then you have mistaken your man."
+
+     "You mean well, Watson," said the sick man with something between a
+     sob and a groan. "Shall I demonstrate your own ignorance? What do you
+     know, pray, of Tapanuli fever? What do you know of the black Formosa
+     corruption?"
+
+     "I have never heard of either."
+
+     "There are many problems of disease, many strange pathological
+     possibilities, in the East, Watson." He paused after each sentence to
+     collect his failing strength. "I have learned so much during some
+     recent researches which have a medico-criminal aspect. It was in the
+     course of them that I contracted this complaint. You can do nothing."
+
+     "Possibly not. But I happen to know that Dr. Ainstree, the greatest
+     living authority upon tropical disease, is now in London. All
+     remonstrance is useless, Holmes, I am going this instant to fetch
+     him." I turned resolutely to the door.
+
+     Never have I had such a shock! In an instant, with a tiger-spring,
+     the dying man had intercepted me. I heard the sharp snap of a twisted
+     key. The next moment he had staggered back to his bed, exhausted and
+     panting after his one tremendous outflame of energy.
+
+     "You won't take the key from be by force, Watson, I've got you, my
+     friend. Here you are, and here you will stay until I will otherwise.
+     But I'll humour you." (All this in little gasps, with terrible
+     struggles for breath between.) "You've only my own good at heart. Of
+     course I know that very well. You shall have your way, but give me
+     time to get my strength. Not now, Watson, not now. It's four o'clock.
+     At six you can go."
+
+     "This is insanity, Holmes."
+
+     "Only two hours, Watson. I promise you will go at six. Are you
+     content to wait?"
+
+     "I seem to have no choice."
+
+     "None in the world, Watson. Thank you, I need no help in arranging
+     the clothes. You will please keep your distance. Now, Watson, there
+     is one other condition that I would make. You will seek help, not
+     from the man you mention, but from the one that I choose."
+
+     "By all means."
+
+     "The first three sensible words that you have uttered since you
+     entered this room, Watson. You will find some books over there. I am
+     somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours
+     electricity into a non-conductor? At six, Watson, we resume our
+     conversation."
+
+     But it was destined to be resumed long before that hour, and in
+     circumstances which gave me a shock hardly second to that caused by
+     his spring to the door. I had stood for some minutes looking at the
+     silent figure in the bed. His face was almost covered by the clothes
+     and he appeared to be asleep. Then, unable to settle down to reading,
+     I walked slowly round the room, examining the pictures of celebrated
+     criminals with which every wall was adorned. Finally, in my aimless
+     perambulation, I came to the mantelpiece. A litter of pipes,
+     tobacco-pouches, syringes, penknives, revolver-cartridges, and other
+     debris was scattered over it. In the midst of these was a small black
+     and white ivory box with a sliding lid. It was a neat little thing,
+     and I had stretched out my hand to examine it more closely when--
+
+     It was a dreadful cry that he gave--a yell which might have been
+     heard down the street. My skin went cold and my hair bristled at that
+     horrible scream. As I turned I caught a glimpse of a convulsed face
+     and frantic eyes. I stood paralyzed, with the little box in my hand.
+
+     "Put it down! Down, this instant, Watson--this instant, I say!" His
+     head sank back upon the pillow and he gave a deep sigh of relief as I
+     replaced the box upon the mantelpiece. "I hate to have my things
+     touched, Watson. You know that I hate it. You fidget me beyond
+     endurance. You, a doctor--you are enough to drive a patient into an
+     asylum. Sit down, man, and let me have my rest!"
+
+     The incident left a most unpleasant impression upon my mind. The
+     violent and causeless excitement, followed by this brutality of
+     speech, so far removed from his usual suavity, showed me how deep was
+     the disorganization of his mind. Of all ruins, that of a noble mind
+     is the most deplorable. I sat in silent dejection until the
+     stipulated time had passed. He seemed to have been watching the clock
+     as well as I, for it was hardly six before he began to talk with the
+     same feverish animation as before.
+
+     "Now, Watson," said he. "Have you any change in your pocket?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Any silver?"
+
+     "A good deal."
+
+     "How many half-crowns?"
+
+     "I have five."
+
+     "Ah, too few! Too few! How very unfortunate, Watson! However, such as
+     they are you can put them in your watchpocket. And all the rest of
+     your money in your left trouser pocket. Thank you. It will balance
+     you so much better like that."
+
+     This was raving insanity. He shuddered, and again made a sound
+     between a cough and a sob.
+
+     "You will now light the gas, Watson, but you will be very careful
+     that not for one instant shall it be more than half on. I implore you
+     to be careful, Watson. Thank you, that is excellent. No, you need not
+     draw the blind. Now you will have the kindness to place some letters
+     and papers upon this table within my reach. Thank you. Now some of
+     that litter from the mantelpiece. Excellent, Watson! There is a
+     sugar-tongs there. Kindly raise that small ivory box with its
+     assistance.  Place it here among the papers. Good! You can now go and
+     fetch Mr. Culverton Smith, of 13 Lower Burke Street."
+
+     To tell the truth, my desire to fetch a doctor had somewhat weakened,
+     for poor Holmes was so obviously delirious that it seemed dangerous
+     to leave him. However, he was as eager now to consult the person
+     named as he had been obstinate in refusing.
+
+     "I never heard the name," said I.
+
+     "Possibly not, my good Watson. It may surprise you to know that the
+     man upon earth who is best versed in this disease is not a medical
+     man, but a planter. Mr. Culverton Smith is a well-known resident of
+     Sumatra, now visiting London. An outbreak of the disease upon his
+     plantation, which was distant from medical aid, caused him to study
+     it himself, with some rather far-reaching consequences. He is a very
+     methodical person, and I did not desire you to start before six,
+     because I was well aware that you would not find him in his study. If
+     you could persuade him to come here and give us the benefit of his
+     unique experience of this disease, the investigation of which has
+     been his dearest hobby, I cannot doubt that he could help me."
+
+     I gave Holmes's remarks as a consecutive whole and will not attempt
+     to indicate how they were interrupted by gaspings for breath and
+     those clutchings of his hands which indicated the pain from which he
+     was suffering. His appearance had changed for the worse during the
+     few hours that I had been with him. Those hectic spots were more
+     pronounced, the eyes shone more brightly out of darker hollows, and a
+     cold sweat glimmered upon his brow. He still retained, however, the
+     jaunty gallantry of his speech. To the last gasp he would always be
+     the master.
+
+     "You will tell him exactly how you have left me," said he. "You will
+     convey the very impression which is in your own mind--a dying man--a
+     dying and delirious man. Indeed, I cannot think why the whole bed of
+     the ocean is not one solid mass of oysters, so prolific the creatures
+     seem. Ah, I am wondering! Strange how the brain controls the brain!
+     What was I saying, Watson?"
+
+     "My directions for Mr. Culverton Smith."
+
+     "Ah, yes, I remember. My life depends upon it. Plead with him,
+     Watson. There is no good feeling between us. His nephew, Watson--I
+     had suspicions of foul play and I allowed him to see it. The boy died
+     horribly. He has a grudge against me. You will soften him, Watson.
+     Beg him, pray him, get him here by any means. He can save me--only
+     he!"
+
+     "I will bring him in a cab, if I have to carry him down to it."
+
+     "You will do nothing of the sort. You will persuade him to come. And
+     then you will return in front of him. Make any excuse so as not to
+     come with him. Don't forget, Watson. You won't fail me. You never did
+     fail me. No doubt there are natural enemies which limit the increase
+     of the creatures. You and I, Watson, we have done our part. Shall the
+     world, then, be overrun by oysters? No, no; horrible! You'll convey
+     all that is in your mind."
+
+     I left him full of the image of this magnificent intellect babbling
+     like a foolish child. He had handed me the key, and with a happy
+     thought I took it with me lest he should lock himself in. Mrs. Hudson
+     was waiting, trembling and weeping, in the passage. Behind me as I
+     passed from the flat I heard Holmes's high, thin voice in some
+     delirious chant. Below, as I stood whistling for a cab, a man came on
+     me through the fog.
+
+     "How is Mr. Holmes, sir?" he asked.
+
+     It was an old acquaintance, Inspector Morton, of Scotland Yard,
+     dressed in unofficial tweeds.
+
+     "He is very ill," I answered.
+
+     He looked at me in a most singular fashion. Had it not been too
+     fiendish, I could have imagined that the gleam of the fanlight showed
+     exultation in his face.
+
+     "I heard some rumour of it," said he.
+
+     The cab had driven up, and I left him.
+
+     Lower Burke Street proved to be a line of fine houses lying in the
+     vague borderland between Notting Hill and Kensington. The particular
+     one at which my cabman pulled up had an air of smug and demure
+     respectability in its old-fashioned iron railings, its massive
+     folding-door, and its shining brasswork. All was in keeping with a
+     solemn butler who appeared framed in the pink radiance of a tinted
+     electrical light behind him.
+
+     "Yes, Mr. Culverton Smith is in. Dr. Watson! Very good, sir, I will
+     take up your card."
+
+     My humble name and title did not appear to impress Mr. Culverton
+     Smith. Through the half-open door I heard a high, petulant,
+     penetrating voice.
+
+     "Who is this person? What does he want? Dear me, Staples, how often
+     have I said that I am not to be disturbed in my hours of study?"
+
+     There came a gentle flow of soothing explanation from the butler.
+
+     "Well, I won't see him, Staples. I can't have my work interrupted
+     like this. I am not at home. Say so. Tell him to come in the morning
+     if he really must see me."
+
+     Again the gentle murmur.
+
+     "Well, well, give him that message. He can come in the morning, or he
+     can stay away. My work must not be hindered."
+
+     I thought of Holmes tossing upon his bed of sickness and counting the
+     minutes, perhaps, until I could bring help to him. It was not a time
+     to stand upon ceremony. His life depended upon my promptness. Before
+     the apologetic butler had delivered his message I had pushed past him
+     and was in the room.
+
+     With a shrill cry of anger a man rose from a reclining chair beside
+     the fire. I saw a great yellow face, coarse-grained and greasy, with
+     heavy, double-chin, and two sullen, menacing gray eyes which glared
+     at me from under tufted and sandy brows. A high bald head had a small
+     velvet smoking-cap poised coquettishly upon one side of its pink
+     curve. The skull was of enormous capacity, and yet as I looked down I
+     saw to my amazement that the figure of the man was small and frail,
+     twisted in the shoulders and back like one who has suffered from
+     rickets in his childhood.
+
+     "What's this?" he cried in a high, screaming voice. "What is the
+     meaning of this intrusion? Didn't I send you word that I would see
+     you to-morrow morning?"
+
+     "I am sorry," said I, "but the matter cannot be delayed. Mr. Sherlock
+     Holmes--"
+
+     The mention of my friend's name had an extraordinary effect upon the
+     little man. The look of anger passed in an instant from his face. His
+     features became tense and alert.
+
+     "Have you come from Holmes?" he asked.
+
+     "I have just left him."
+
+     "What about Holmes? How is he?"
+
+     "He is desperately ill. That is why I have come."
+
+     The man motioned me to a chair, and turned to resume his own. As he
+     did so I caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror over the
+     mantelpiece. I could have sworn that it was set in a malicious and
+     abominable smile. Yet I persuaded myself that it must have been some
+     nervous contraction which I had surprised, for he turned to me an
+     instant later with genuine concern upon his features.
+
+     "I am sorry to hear this," said he. "I only know Mr. Holmes through
+     some business dealings which we have had, but I have every respect
+     for his talents and his character. He is an amateur of crime, as I am
+     of disease. For him the villain, for me the microbe. There are my
+     prisons," he continued, pointing to a row of bottles and jars which
+     stood upon a side table. "Among those gelatine cultivations some of
+     the very worst offenders in the world are now doing time."
+
+     "It was on account of your special knowledge that Mr. Holmes desired
+     to see you. He has a high opinion of you and thought that you were
+     the one man in London who could help him."
+
+     The little man started, and the jaunty smoking-cap slid to the floor.
+
+     "Why?" he asked. "Why should Mr. Homes think that I could help him in
+     his trouble?"
+
+     "Because of your knowledge of Eastern diseases."
+
+     "But why should he think that this disease which he has contracted is
+     Eastern?"
+
+     "Because, in some professional inquiry, he has been working among
+     Chinese sailors down in the docks."
+
+     Mr. Culverton Smith smiled pleasantly and picked up his smoking-cap.
+
+     "Oh, that's it--is it?" said he. "I trust the matter is not so grave
+     as you suppose. How long has he been ill?"
+
+     "About three days."
+
+     "Is he delirious?"
+
+     "Occasionally."
+
+     "Tut, tut! This sounds serious. It would be inhuman not to answer his
+     call. I very much resent any interruption to my work, Dr. Watson, but
+     this case is certainly exceptional. I will come with you at once."
+
+     I remembered Holmes's injunction.
+
+     "I have another appointment," said I.
+
+     "Very good. I will go alone. I have a note of Mr. Holmes's address.
+     You can rely upon my being there within half an hour at most."
+
+     It was with a sinking heart that I reentered Holmes's bedroom. For
+     all that I knew the worst might have happened in my absence. To my
+     enormous relief, he had improved greatly in the interval. His
+     appearance was as ghastly as ever, but all trace of delirium had left
+     him and he spoke in a feeble voice, it is true, but with even more
+     than his usual crispness and lucidity.
+
+     "Well, did you see him, Watson?"
+
+     "Yes; he is coming."
+
+     "Admirable, Watson! Admirable! You are the best of messengers."
+
+     "He wished to return with me."
+
+     "That would never do, Watson. That would be obviously impossible. Did
+     he ask what ailed me?"
+
+     "I told him about the Chinese in the East End."
+
+     "Exactly! Well, Watson, you have done all that a good friend could.
+     You can now disappear from the scene."
+
+     "I must wait and hear his opinion, Holmes."
+
+     "Of course you must. But I have reasons to suppose that this opinion
+     would be very much more frank and valuable if he imagines that we are
+     alone. There is just room behind the head of my bed, Watson."
+
+     "My dear Holmes!"
+
+     "I fear there is no alternative, Watson. The room does not lend
+     itself to concealment, which is as well, as it is the less likely to
+     arouse suspicion. But just there, Watson, I fancy that it could be
+     done." Suddenly he sat up with a rigid intentness upon his haggard
+     face. "There are the wheels, Watson. Quick, man, if you love me! And
+     don't budge, whatever happens--whatever happens, do you hear? Don't
+     speak! Don't move! Just listen with all your ears." Then in an
+     instant his sudden access of strength departed, and his masterful,
+     purposeful talk droned away into the low, vague murmurings of a
+     semi-delirious man.
+
+     From the hiding-place into which I had been so swiftly hustled I
+     heard the footfalls upon the stair, with the opening and the closing
+     of the bedroom door. Then, to my surprise, there came a long silence,
+     broken only by the heavy breathings and gaspings of the sick man. I
+     could imagine that our visitor was standing by the bedside and
+     looking down at the sufferer. At last that strange hush was broken.
+
+     "Holmes!" he cried. "Holmes!" in the insistent tone of one who
+     awakens a sleeper. "Can't you hear me, Holmes?" There was a rustling,
+     as if he had shaken the sick man roughly by the shoulder.
+
+     "Is that you, Mr. Smith?" Holmes whispered. "I hardly dared hope that
+     you would come."
+
+     The other laughed.
+
+     "I should imagine not," he said. "And yet, you see, I am here. Coals
+     of fire, Holmes--coals of fire!"
+
+     "It is very good of you--very noble of you. I appreciate your special
+     knowledge."
+
+     Our visitor sniggered.
+
+     "You do.  You are, fortunately, the only man in London who does. Do
+     you know what is the matter with you?"
+
+     "The same," said Holmes.
+
+     "Ah! You recognize the symptoms?"
+
+     "Only too well."
+
+     "Well, I shouldn't be surprised, Holmes. I shouldn't be surprised if
+     it were the same. A bad lookout for you if it is. Poor Victor was a
+     dead man on the fourth day--a strong, hearty young fellow. It was
+     certainly, as you said, very surprising that he should have
+     contracted and out-of-the-way Asiatic disease in the heart of
+     London--a disease, too, of which I had made such a very special
+     study. Singular coincidence, Holmes. Very smart of you to notice it,
+     but rather uncharitable to suggest that it was cause and effect."
+
+     "I knew that you did it."
+
+     "Oh, you did, did you? Well, you couldn't prove it, anyhow. But what
+     do you think of yourself spreading reports about me like that, and
+     then crawling to me for help the moment you are in trouble? What sort
+     of a game is that--eh?"
+
+     I heard the rasping, laboured breathing of the sick man. "Give me the
+     water!" he gasped.
+
+     "You're precious near your end, my friend, but I don't want you to go
+     till I have had a word with you. That's why I give you water. There,
+     don't slop it about! That's right. Can you understand what I say?"
+
+     Holmes groaned.
+
+     "Do what you can for me. Let bygones be bygones," he whispered. "I'll
+     put the words out of my head--I swear I will. Only cure me, and I'll
+     forget it."
+
+     "Forget what?"
+
+     "Well, about Victor Savage's death. You as good as admitted just now
+     that you had done it. I'll forget it."
+
+     "You can forget it or remember it, just as you like. I don't see you
+     in the witnessbox. Quite another shaped box, my good Holmes, I assure
+     you. It matters nothing to me that you should know how my nephew
+     died. It's not him we are talking about. It's you."
+
+     "Yes, yes."
+
+     "The fellow who came for me--I've forgotten his name--said that you
+     contracted it down in the East End among the sailors."
+
+     "I could only account for it so."
+
+     "You are proud of your brains, Holmes, are you not? Think yourself
+     smart, don't you? You came across someone who was smarter this time.
+     Now cast your mind back, Holmes. Can you think of no other way you
+     could have got this thing?"
+
+     "I can't think. My mind is gone. For heaven's sake help me!"
+
+     "Yes, I will help you. I'll help you to understand just where you are
+     and how you got there. I'd like you to know before you die."
+
+     "Give me something to ease my pain."
+
+     "Painful, is it? Yes, the coolies used to do some squealing towards
+     the end. Takes you as cramp, I fancy."
+
+     "Yes, yes; it is cramp."
+
+     "Well, you can hear what I say, anyhow. Listen now! Can you remember
+     any unusual incident in your life just about the time your symptoms
+     began?"
+
+     "No, no; nothing."
+
+     "Think again."
+
+     "I'm too ill to think."
+
+     "Well, then, I'll help you.  Did anything come by post?"
+
+     "By post?"
+
+     "A box by chance?"
+
+     "I'm fainting--I'm gone!"
+
+     "Listen, Holmes!" There was a sound as if he was shaking the dying
+     man, and it was all that I could do to hold myself quiet in my
+     hiding-place. "You must hear me. You shall hear me. Do you remember a
+     box--an ivory box? It came on Wednesday. You opened it--do you
+     remember?"
+
+     "Yes, yes, I opened it. There was a sharp spring inside it. Some
+     joke--"
+
+     "It was no joke, as you will find to your cost. You fool, you would
+     have it and you have got it. Who asked you to cross my path? If you
+     had left me alone I would not have hurt you."
+
+     "I remember," Holmes gasped. "The spring! It drew blood. This
+     box--this on the table."
+
+     "The very one, by George! And it may as well leave the room in my
+     pocket. There goes your last shred of evidence. But you have the
+     truth now, Holmes, and you can die with the knowledge that I killed
+     you. You knew too much of the fate of Victor Savage, so I have sent
+     you to share it. You are very near your end, Holmes. I will sit here
+     and I will watch you die."
+
+     Holmes's voice had sunk to an almost inaudible whisper.
+
+     "What is that?" said Smith. "Turn up the gas? Ah, the shadows begin
+     to fall, do they? Yes, I will turn it up, that I may see you the
+     better." He crossed the room and the light suddenly brightened. "Is
+     there any other little service that I can do you, my friend?"
+
+     "A match and a cigarette."
+
+     I nearly called out in my joy and my amazement. He was speaking in
+     his natural voice--a little weak, perhaps, but the very voice I knew.
+     There was a long pause, and I felt that Culverton Smith was standing
+     in silent amazement looking down at his companion.
+
+     "What's the meaning of this?" I heard him say at last in a dry,
+     rasping tone.
+
+     "The best way of successfully acting a part is to be it," said
+     Holmes. "I give you my word that for three days I have tasted neither
+     food nor drink until you were good enough to pour me out that glass
+     of water. But it is the tobacco which I find most irksome. Ah, here
+     are some cigarettes." I heard the striking of a match. "That is very
+     much better. Halloa! halloa! Do I hear the step of a friend?"
+
+     There were footfalls outside, the door opened, and Inspector Morton
+     appeared.
+
+     "All is in order and this is your man," said Holmes.
+
+     The officer gave the usual cautions.
+
+     "I arrest you on the charge of the murder of one Victor Savage," he
+     concluded.
+
+     "And you might add of the attempted murder of one Sherlock Holmes,"
+     remarked my friend with a chuckle. "To save an invalid trouble,
+     Inspector, Mr. Culverton Smith was good enough to give our signal by
+     turning up the gas. By the way, the prisoner has a small box in the
+     right-hand pocket of his coat which it would be as well to remove.
+     Thank you. I would handle it gingerly if I were you. Put it down
+     here. It may play its part in the trial."
+
+     There was a sudden rush and a scuffle, followed by the clash of iron
+     and a cry of pain.
+
+     "You'll only get yourself hurt," said the inspector. "Stand still,
+     will you?" There was the click of the closing handcuffs.
+
+     "A nice trap!" cried the high, snarling voice. "It will bring you
+     into the dock, Holmes, not me. He asked me to come here to cure him.
+     I was sorry for him and I came. Now he will pretend, no doubt, that I
+     have said anything which he may invent which will corroborate his
+     insane suspicions. You can lie as you like, Holmes.  My word is
+     always as good as yours."
+
+     "Good heavens!" cried Holmes. "I had totally forgotten him. My dear
+     Watson, I owe you a thousand apologies. To think that I should have
+     overlooked you! I need not introduce you to Mr. Culverton Smith,
+     since I understand that you met somewhat earlier in the evening. Have
+     you the cab below? I will follow you when I am dressed, for I may be
+     of some use at the station.
+
+     "I never needed it more," said Holmes as he refreshed himself with a
+     glass of claret and some biscuits in the intervals of his toilet.
+     "However, as you know, my habits are irregular, and such a feat means
+     less to me than to most men. It was very essential that I should
+     impress Mrs. Hudson with the reality of my condition, since she was
+     to convey it to you, and you in turn to him. You won't be offended,
+     Watson? You will realize that among your many talents dissimulation
+     finds no place, and that if you had shared my secret you would never
+     have been able to impress Smith with the urgent necessity of his
+     presence, which was the vital point of the whole scheme. Knowing his
+     vindictive nature, I was perfectly certain that he would come to look
+     upon his handiwork."
+
+     "But your appearance, Holmes--your ghastly face?"
+
+     "Three days of absolute fast does not improve one's beauty, Watson.
+     For the rest, there is nothing which a sponge may not cure. With
+     vaseline upon one's forehead, belladonna in one's eyes, rouge over
+     the cheek-bones, and crusts of beeswax round one's lips, a very
+     satisfying effect can be produced. Malingering is a subject upon
+     which I have sometimes thought of writing a monograph. A little
+     occasional talk about half-crowns, oysters, or any other extraneous
+     subject produces a pleasing effect of delirium."
+
+     "But why would you not let me near you, since there was in truth no
+     infection?"
+
+     "Can you ask, my dear Watson? Do you imagine that I have no respect
+     for your medical talents? Could I fancy that your astute judgment
+     would pass a dying man who, however weak, had no rise of pulse or
+     temperature? At four yards, I could deceive you. If I failed to do
+     so, who would bring my Smith within my grasp? No, Watson, I would not
+     touch that box. You can just see if you look at it sideways where the
+     sharp spring like a viper's tooth emerges as you open it. I dare say
+     it was by some such device that poor Savage, who stood between this
+     monster and a reversion, was done to death. My correspondence,
+     however, is, as you know, a varied one, and I am somewhat upon my
+     guard against any packages which reach me. It was clear to me,
+     however, that by pretending that he had really succeeded in his
+     design I might surprise a confession. That pretence I have carried
+     out with the thoroughness of the true artist. Thank you, Watson, you
+     must help me on with my coat. When we have finished at the
+     police-station I think that something nutritious at Simpson's would
+     not be out of place."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                    THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LADY FRANCES CARFAX
+
+     "But why Turkish?" asked Mr. Sherlock Holmes, gazing fixedly at my
+     boots. I was reclining in a cane-backed chair at the moment, and my
+     protruded feet had attracted his ever-active attention.
+
+     "English," I answered in some surprise. "I got them at Latimer's, in
+     Oxford Street."
+
+     Holmes smiled with an expression of weary patience.
+
+     "The bath!" he said; "the bath! Why the relaxing and expensive
+     Turkish rather than the invigorating home-made article?"
+
+     "Because for the last few days I have been feeling rheumatic and old.
+     A Turkish bath is what we call an alterative in medicine--a fresh
+     starting-point, a cleanser of the system.
+
+     "By the way, Holmes," I added, "I have no doubt the connection
+     between my boots and a Turkish bath is a perfectly self-evident one
+     to a logical mind, and yet I should be obliged to you if you would
+     indicate it."
+
+     "The train of reasoning is not very obscure, Watson," said Holmes
+     with a mischievous twinkle. "It belongs to the same elementary class
+     of deduction which I should illustrate if I were to ask you who
+     shared your cab in your drive this morning."
+
+     "I don't admit that a fresh illustration is an explanation," said I
+     with some asperity.
+
+     "Bravo, Watson! A very dignified and logical remonstrance. Let me
+     see, what were the points? Take the last one first--the cab. You
+     observe that you have some splashes on the left sleeve and shoulder
+     of your coat. Had you sat in the centre of a hansom you would
+     probably have had no splashes, and if you had they would certainly
+     have been symmetrical. Therefore it is clear that you sat at the
+     side. Therefore it is equally clear that you had a companion."
+
+     "That is very evident."
+
+     "Absurdly commonplace, is it not?"
+
+     "But the boots and the bath?"
+
+     "Equally childish. You are in the habit of doing up your boots in a
+     certain way. I see them on this occasion fastened with an elaborate
+     double bow, which is not your usual method of tying them. You have,
+     therefore, had them off. Who has tied them? A bootmaker--or the boy
+     at the bath. It is unlikely that it is the bootmaker, since your
+     boots are nearly new. Well, what remains? The bath. Absurd, is it
+     not? But, for all that, the Turkish bath has served a purpose."
+
+     "What is that?"
+
+     "You say that you have had it because you need a change. Let me
+     suggest that you take one. How would Lausanne do, my dear
+     Watson--first-class tickets and all expenses paid on a princely
+     scale?"
+
+     "Splendid! But why?"
+
+     Holmes leaned back in his armchair and took his notebook from his
+     pocket.
+
+     "One of the most dangerous classes in the world," said he, "is the
+     drifting and friendless woman. She is the most harmless and often the
+     most useful of mortals, but she is the inevitable inciter of crime in
+     others. She is helpless. She is migratory. She has sufficient means
+     to take her from country to country and from hotel to hotel. She is
+     lost, as often as not, in a maze of obscure pensions and
+     boardinghouses. She is a stray chicken in a world of foxes. When she
+     is gobbled up she is hardly missed. I much fear that some evil has
+     come to the Lady Frances Carfax."
+
+     I was relieved at this sudden descent from the general to the
+     particular. Holmes consulted his notes.
+
+     "Lady Frances," he continued, "is the sole survivor of the direct
+     family of the late Earl of Rufton. The estates went, as you may
+     remember, in the male line. She was left with limited means, but with
+     some very remarkable old Spanish jewellery of silver and curiously
+     cut diamonds to which she was fondly attached--too attached, for she
+     refused to leave them with her banker and always carried them about
+     with her. A rather pathetic figure, the Lady Frances, a beautiful
+     woman, still in fresh middle age, and yet, by a strange change, the
+     last derelict of what only twenty years ago was a goodly fleet."
+
+     "What has happened to her, then?"
+
+     "Ah, what has happened to the Lady Frances? Is she alive or dead?
+     There is our problem. She is a lady of precise habits, and for four
+     years it has been her invariable custom to write every second week to
+     Miss Dobney, her old governess, who has long retired and lives in
+     Camberwell. It is this Miss Dobney who has consulted me. Nearly five
+     weeks have passed without a word. The last letter was from the Hotel
+     National at Lausanne. Lady Frances seems to have left there and given
+     no address. The family are anxious, and as they are exceedingly
+     wealthy no sum will be spared if we can clear the matter up."
+
+     "Is Miss Dobney the only source of information? Surely she had other
+     correspondents?"
+
+     "There is one correspondent who is a sure draw, Watson. That is the
+     bank. Single ladies must live, and their passbooks are compressed
+     diaries. She banks at Silvester's. I have glanced over her account.
+     The last check but one paid her bill at Lausanne, but it was a large
+     one and probably left her with cash in hand. Only one check has been
+     drawn since."
+
+     "To whom, and where?"
+
+     "To Miss Marie Devine. There is nothing to show where the check was
+     drawn. It was cashed at the Credit Lyonnais at Montpellier less than
+     three weeks ago. The sum was fifty pounds."
+
+     "And who is Miss Marie Devine?"
+
+     "That also I have been able to discover. Miss Marie Devine was the
+     maid of Lady Frances Carfax. Why she should have paid her this check
+     we have not yet determined. I have no doubt, however, that your
+     researches will soon clear the matter up."
+
+     "My researches!"
+
+     "Hence the health-giving expedition to Lausanne. You know that I
+     cannot possibly leave London while old Abrahams is in such mortal
+     terror of his life. Besides, on general principles it is best that I
+     should not leave the country. Scotland Yard feels lonely without me,
+     and it causes an unhealthy excitement among the criminal classes. Go,
+     then, my dear Watson, and if my humble counsel can ever be valued at
+     so extravagant a rate as two pence a word, it waits your disposal
+     night and day at the end of the Continental wire."
+
+     Two days later found me at the Hotel National at Lausanne, where I
+     received every courtesy at the hands of M. Moser, the well-known
+     manager. Lady Frances, as he informed me, had stayed there for
+     several weeks. She had been much liked by all who met her. Her age
+     was not more than forty. She was still handsome and bore every sign
+     of having in her youth been a very lovely woman. M. Moser knew
+     nothing of any valuable jewellery, but it had been remarked by the
+     servants that the heavy trunk in the lady's bedroom was always
+     scrupulously locked. Marie Devine, the maid, was as popular as her
+     mistress. She was actually engaged to one of the head waiters in the
+     hotel, and there was no difficulty in getting her address. It was 11
+     Rue de Trajan, Montpellier. All this I jotted down and felt that
+     Holmes himself could not have been more adroit in collecting his
+     facts.
+
+     Only one corner still remained in the shadow. No light which I
+     possessed could clear up the cause for the lady's sudden departure.
+     She was very happy at Lausanne. There was every reason to believe
+     that she intended to remain for the season in her luxurious rooms
+     overlooking the lake. And yet she had left at a single day's notice,
+     which involved her in the useless payment of a week's rent. Only
+     Jules Vibart, the lover of the maid, had any suggestion to offer. He
+     connected the sudden departure with the visit to the hotel a day or
+     two before of a tall, dark, bearded man. "Un sauvage--un véritable
+     sauvage!" cried Jules Vibart. The man had rooms somewhere in the
+     town. He had been seen talking earnestly to Madame on the promenade
+     by the lake. Then he had called. She had refused to see him. He was
+     English, but of his name there was no record. Madame had left the
+     place immediately afterwards. Jules Vibart, and, what was of more
+     importance, Jules Vibart's sweetheart, thought that this call and the
+     departure were cause and effect. Only one thing Jules would not
+     discuss. That was the reason why Marie had left her mistress. Of that
+     he could or would say nothing. If I wished to know, I must go to
+     Montpellier and ask her.
+
+     So ended the first chapter of my inquiry. The second was devoted to
+     the place which Lady Frances Carfax had sought when she left
+     Lausanne. Concerning this there had been some secrecy, which
+     confirmed the idea that she had gone with the intention of throwing
+     someone off her track. Otherwise why should not her luggage have been
+     openly labelled for Baden? Both she and it reached the Rhenish spa by
+     some circuitous route. This much I gathered from the manager of
+     Cook's local office. So to Baden I went, after dispatching to Holmes
+     an account of all my proceedings and receiving in reply a telegram of
+     half-humorous commendation.
+
+     At Baden the track was not difficult to follow. Lady Frances had
+     stayed at the Englischer Hof for a fortnight. While there she had
+     made the acquaintance of a Dr. Shlessinger and his wife, a missionary
+     from South America. Like most lonely ladies, Lady Frances found her
+     comfort and occupation in religion. Dr. Shlessinger's remarkable
+     personality, his whole hearted devotion, and the fact that he was
+     recovering from a disease contracted in the exercise of his apostolic
+     duties affected her deeply. She had helped Mrs. Shlessinger in the
+     nursing of the convalescent saint. He spent his day, as the manager
+     described it to me, upon a lounge-chair on the veranda, with an
+     attendant lady upon either side of him. He was preparing a map of the
+     Holy Land, with special reference to the kingdom of the Midianites,
+     upon which he was writing a monograph. Finally, having improved much
+     in health, he and his wife had returned to London, and Lady Frances
+     had started thither in their company. This was just three weeks
+     before, and the manager had heard nothing since. As to the maid,
+     Marie, she had gone off some days beforehand in floods of tears,
+     after informing the other maids that she was leaving service forever.
+     Dr. Shlessinger had paid the bill of the whole party before his
+     departure.
+
+     "By the way," said the landlord in conclusion, "you are not the only
+     friend of Lady Frances Carfax who is inquiring after her just now.
+     Only a week or so ago we had a man here upon the same errand."
+
+     "Did he give a name?" I asked.
+
+     "None; but he was an Englishman, though of an unusual type."
+
+     "A savage?" said I, linking my facts after the fashion of my
+     illustrious friend.
+
+     "Exactly. That describes him very well. He is a bulky, bearded,
+     sunburned fellow, who looks as if he would be more at home in a
+     farmers' inn than in a fashionable hotel. A hard, fierce man, I
+     should think, and one whom I should be sorry to offend."
+
+     Already the mystery began to define itself, as figures grow clearer
+     with the lifting of a fog. Here was this good and pious lady pursued
+     from place to place by a sinister and unrelenting figure. She feared
+     him, or she would not have fled from Lausanne. He had still followed.
+     Sooner or later he would overtake her. Had he already overtaken her?
+     Was that the secret of her continued silence? Could the good people
+     who were her companions not screen her from his violence or his
+     blackmail? What horrible purpose, what deep design, lay behind this
+     long pursuit? There was the problem which I had to solve.
+
+     To Holmes I wrote showing how rapidly and surely I had got down to
+     the roots of the matter. In reply I had a telegram asking for a
+     description of Dr. Shlessinger's left ear. Holmes's ideas of humour
+     are strange and occasionally offensive, so I took no notice of his
+     ill-timed jest--indeed, I had already reached Montpellier in my
+     pursuit of the maid, Marie, before his message came.
+
+     I had no difficulty in finding the ex-servant and in learning all
+     that she could tell me. She was a devoted creature, who had only left
+     her mistress because she was sure that she was in good hands, and
+     because her own approaching marriage made a separation inevitable in
+     any case. Her mistress had, as she confessed with distress, shown
+     some irritability of temper towards her during their stay in Baden,
+     and had even questioned her once as if she had suspicions of her
+     honesty, and this had made the parting easier than it would otherwise
+     have been. Lady Frances had given her fifty pounds as a
+     wedding-present. Like me, Marie viewed with deep distrust the
+     stranger who had driven her mistress from Lausanne. With her own eyes
+     she had seen him seize the lady's wrist with great violence on the
+     public promenade by the lake. He was a fierce and terrible man. She
+     believed that it was out of dread of him that Lady Frances had
+     accepted the escort of the Shlessingers to London. She had never
+     spoken to Marie about it, but many little signs had convinced the
+     maid that her mistress lived in a state of continual nervous
+     apprehension. So far she had got in her narrative, when suddenly she
+     sprang from her chair and her face was convulsed with surprise and
+     fear. "See!" she cried. "The miscreant follows still! There is the
+     very man of whom I speak."
+
+     Through the open sitting-room window I saw a huge, swarthy man with a
+     bristling black beard walking slowly down the centre of the street
+     and staring eagerly at he numbers of the houses. It was clear that,
+     like myself, he was on the track of the maid. Acting upon the impulse
+     of the moment, I rushed out and accosted him.
+
+     "You are an Englishman," I said.
+
+     "What if I am?" he asked with a most villainous scowl.
+
+     "May I ask what your name is?"
+
+     "No, you may not," said he with decision.
+
+     The situation was awkward, but the most direct way is often the best.
+
+     "Where is the Lady Frances Carfax?" I asked.
+
+     He stared at me with amazement.
+
+     "What have you done with her? Why have you pursued her? I insist upon
+     an answer!" said I.
+
+     The fellow gave a below of anger and sprang upon me like a tiger. I
+     have held my own in many a struggle, but the man had a grip of iron
+     and the fury of a fiend. His hand was on my throat and my senses were
+     nearly gone before an unshaven French ouvrier in a blue blouse darted
+     out from a cabaret opposite, with a cudgel in his hand, and struck my
+     assailant a sharp crack over the forearm, which made him leave go his
+     hold. He stood for an instant fuming with rage and uncertain whether
+     he should not renew his attack. Then, with a snarl of anger, he left
+     me and entered the cottage from which I had just come. I turned to
+     thank my preserver, who stood beside me in the roadway.
+
+     "Well, Watson," said he, "a very pretty hash you have made of it! I
+     rather think you had better come back with me to London by the night
+     express."
+
+     An hour afterwards, Sherlock Holmes, in his usual garb and style, was
+     seated in my private room at the hotel. His explanation of his sudden
+     and opportune appearance was simplicity itself, for, finding that he
+     could get away from London, he determined to head me off at the next
+     obvious point of my travels. In the disguise of a workingman he had
+     sat in the cabaret waiting for my appearance.
+
+     "And a singularly consistent investigation you have made, my dear
+     Watson," said he. "I cannot at the moment recall any possible blunder
+     which you have omitted. The total effect of your proceeding has been
+     to give the alarm everywhere and yet to discover nothing."
+
+     "Perhaps you would have done no better," I answered bitterly.
+
+     "There is no 'perhaps' about it. I have done better. Here is the Hon.
+     Philip Green, who is a fellow-lodger with you in this hotel, and we
+     may find him the starting-point for a more successful investigation."
+
+     A card had come up on a salver, and it was followed by the same
+     bearded ruffian who had attacked me in the street. He started when he
+     saw me.
+
+     "What is this, Mr. Holmes?" he asked. "I had your note and I have
+     come. But what has this man to do with the matter?"
+
+     "This is my old friend and associate, Dr. Watson, who is helping us
+     in this affair."
+
+     The stranger held out a huge, sunburned hand, with a few words of
+     apology.
+
+     "I hope I didn't harm you. When you accused me of hurting her I lost
+     my grip of myself. Indeed, I'm not responsible in these days. My
+     nerves are like live wires. But this situation is beyond me. What I
+     want to know, in the first place, Mr. Holmes, is, how in the world
+     you came to hear of my existence at all."
+
+     "I am in touch with Miss Dobney, Lady Frances's governess."
+
+     "Old Susan Dobney with the mob cap! I remember her well."
+
+     "And she remembers you. It was in the days before--before you found
+     it better to go to South Africa."
+
+     "Ah, I see you know my whole story. I need hide nothing from you. I
+     swear to you, Mr. Holmes, that there never was in this world a man
+     who loved a woman with a more wholehearted love than I had for
+     Frances. I was a wild youngster, I know--not worse than others of my
+     class. But her mind was pure as snow. She could not bear a shadow of
+     coarseness. So, when she came to hear of things that I had done, she
+     would have no more to say to me. And yet she loved me--that is the
+     wonder of it!--loved me well enough to remain single all her sainted
+     days just for my sake alone. When the years had passed and I had made
+     my money at Barberton I thought perhaps I could seek her out and
+     soften her. I had heard that she was still unmarried, I found her at
+     Lausanne and tried all I knew. She weakened, I think, but her will
+     was strong, and when next I called she had left the town. I traced
+     her to Baden, and then after a time heard that her maid was here. I'm
+     a rough fellow, fresh from a rough life, and when Dr. Watson spoke to
+     me as he did I lost hold of myself for a moment. But for God's sake
+     tell me what has become of the Lady Frances."
+
+     "That is for us to find out," said Sherlock Holmes with peculiar
+     gravity. "What is your London address, Mr. Green?"
+
+     "The Langham Hotel will find me."
+
+     "Then may I recommend that you return there and be on hand in case I
+     should want you? I have no desire to encourage false hopes, but you
+     may rest assured that all that can be done will be done for the
+     safety of Lady Frances. I can say no more for the instant. I will
+     leave you this card so that you may be able to keep in touch with us.
+     Now, Watson, if you will pack your bag I will cable to Mrs. Hudson to
+     make one of her best efforts for two hungry travellers at 7.30
+     to-morrow."
+
+     A telegram was awaiting us when we reached our Baker Street rooms,
+     which Holmes read with an exclamation of interest and threw across to
+     me. "Jagged or torn," was the message, and the place of origin,
+     Baden.
+
+     "What is this?" I asked.
+
+     "It is everything," Holmes answered. "You may remember my seemingly
+     irrelevant question as to this clerical gentleman's left ear. You did
+     not answer it."
+
+     "I had left Baden and could not inquire."
+
+     "Exactly. For this reason I sent a duplicate to the manager of the
+     Englischer Hof, whose answer lies here."
+
+     "What does it show?"
+
+     "It shows, my dear Watson, that we are dealing with an exceptionally
+     astute and dangerous man. The Rev. Dr. Shlessinger, missionary from
+     South America, is none other than Holy Peters, one of the most
+     unscrupulous rascals that Australia has ever evolved--and for a young
+     country it has turned out some very finished types. His particular
+     specialty is the beguiling of lonely ladies by playing upon their
+     religious feelings, and his so-called wife, an Englishwoman named
+     Fraser, is a worthy helpmate. The nature of his tactics suggested his
+     identity to me, and this physical peculiarity--he was badly bitten in
+     a saloon-fight at Adelaide in '89--confirmed my suspicion. This poor
+     lady is in the hands of a most infernal couple, who will stick at
+     nothing, Watson. That she is already dead is a very likely
+     supposition. If not, she is undoubtedly in some sort of confinement
+     and unable to write to Miss Dobney or her other friends. It is always
+     possible that she never reached London, or that she has passed
+     through it, but the former is improbable, as, with their system of
+     registration, it is not easy for foreigners to play tricks with the
+     Continental police; and the latter is also unlikely, as these rouges
+     could not hope to find any other place where it would be as easy to
+     keep a person under restraint. All my instincts tell me that she is
+     in London, but as we have at present no possible means of telling
+     where, we can only take the obvious steps, eat our dinner, and
+     possess our souls in patience. Later in the evening I will stroll
+     down and have a word with friend Lestrade at Scotland Yard."
+
+     But neither the official police nor Holmes's own small but very
+     efficient organization sufficed to clear away the mystery. Amid the
+     crowded millions of London the three persons we sought were as
+     completely obliterated as if they had never lived. Advertisements
+     were tried, and failed. Clues were followed, and led to nothing.
+     Every criminal resort which Shlessinger might frequent was drawn in
+     vain. His old associates were watched, but they kept clear of him.
+     And then suddenly, after a week of helpless suspense there came a
+     flash of light. A silver-and-brilliant pendant of old Spanish design
+     had been pawned at Bovington's, in Westminster Road. The pawner was a
+     large, clean-shaven man of clerical appearance. His name and address
+     were demonstrably false. The ear had escaped notice, but the
+     description was surely that of Shlessinger.
+
+     Three times had our bearded friend from the Langham called for
+     news--the third time within an hour of this fresh development. His
+     clothes were getting looser on his great body. He seemed to be
+     wilting away in his anxiety. "If you will only give me something to
+     do!" was his constant wail. At last Holmes could oblige him.
+
+     "He has begun to pawn the jewels. We should get him now."
+
+     "But does this mean that any harm has befallen the Lady Frances?"
+
+     Holmes shook his head very gravely.
+
+     "Supposing that they have held her prisoner up to now, it is clear
+     that they cannot let her loose without their own destruction. We must
+     prepare for the worst."
+
+     "What can I do?"
+
+     "These people do not know you by sight?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "It is possible that he will go to some other pawnbroker in the
+     future. in that case, we must begin again. On the other hand, he has
+     had a fair price and no questions asked, so if he is in need of
+     ready-money he will probably come back to Bovington's. I will give
+     you a note to them, and they will let you wait in the shop. If the
+     fellow comes you will follow him home. But no indiscretion, and,
+     above all, no violence. I put you on your honour that you will take
+     no step without my knowledge and consent."
+
+     For two days the Hon. Philip Green (he was, I may mention, the son of
+     the famous admiral of that name who commanded the Sea of Azof fleet
+     in the Crimean War) brought us no news. On the evening of the third
+     he rushed into our sitting-room, pale, trembling, with every muscle
+     of his powerful frame quivering with excitement.
+
+     "We have him! We have him!" he cried.
+
+     He was incoherent in his agitation. Holmes soothed him with a few
+     words and thrust him into an armchair.
+
+     "Come, now, give us the order of events," said he.
+
+     "She came only an hour ago. It was the wife, this time, but the
+     pendant she brought was the fellow of the other. She is a tall, pale
+     woman, with ferret eyes."
+
+     "That is the lady," said Holmes.
+
+     "She left the office and I followed her. She walked up the Kennington
+     Road, and I kept behind her. Presently she went into a shop. Mr.
+     Holmes, it was an undertaker's."
+
+     My companion started. "Well?" he asked in that vibrant voice which
+     told of the fiery soul behind the cold gray face.
+
+     "She was talking to the woman behind the counter. I entered as well.
+     'It is late,' I heard her say, or words to that effect. The woman was
+     excusing herself. 'It should be there before now,' she answered. 'It
+     took longer, being out of the ordinary.' They both stopped and looked
+     at me, so I asked some questions and then left the shop."
+
+     "You did excellently well. What happened next?"
+
+     "The woman came out, but I had hid myself in a doorway. Her
+     suspicions had been aroused, I think, for she looked round her. Then
+     she called a cab and got in. I was lucky enough to get another and so
+     to follow her. She got down at last at No. 36, Poultney Square,
+     Brixton. I drove past, left my cab at the corner of the square, and
+     watched the house."
+
+     "Did you see anyone?"
+
+     "The windows were all in darkness save one on the lower floor. The
+     blind was down, and I could not see in. I was standing there,
+     wondering what I should do next, when a covered van drove up with two
+     men in it. They descended, took something out of the van, and carried
+     it up the steps to the hall door. Mr. Holmes, it was a coffin."
+
+     "Ah!"
+
+     "For an instant I was on the point of rushing in. The door had been
+     opened to admit the men and their burden. It was the woman who had
+     opened it. But as I stood there she caught a glimpse of me, and I
+     think that she recognized me. I saw her start, and she hastily closed
+     the door. I remembered my promise to you, and here I am."
+
+     "You have done excellent work," said Holmes, scribbling a few words
+     upon a half-sheet of paper. "We can do nothing legal without a
+     warrant, and you can serve the cause best by taking this note down to
+     the authorities and getting one. There may be some difficulty, but I
+     should think that the sale of the jewellery should be sufficient.
+     Lestrade will see to all details."
+
+     "But they may murder her in the meanwhile. What could the coffin
+     mean, and for whom could it be but for her?"
+
+     "We will do all that can be done, Mr. Green. Not a moment will be
+     lost. Leave it in our hands. Now Watson," he added as our client
+     hurried away, "he will set the regular forces on the move. We are, as
+     usual, the irregulars, and we must take our own line of action. The
+     situation strikes me as so desperate that the most extreme measures
+     are justified. Not a moment is to be lost in getting to Poultney
+     Square.
+
+     "Let us try to reconstruct the situation," said he as we drove
+     swiftly past the Houses of Parliament and over Westminster Bridge.
+     "These villains have coaxed this unhappy lady to London, after first
+     alienating her from her faithful maid. If she has written any letters
+     they have been intercepted. Through some confederate they have
+     engaged a furnished house. Once inside it, they have made her a
+     prisoner, and they have become possessed of the valuable jewellery
+     which has been their object from the first. Already they have begun
+     to sell part of it, which seems safe enough to them, since they have
+     no reason to think that anyone is interested in the lady's fate. When
+     she is released she will, of course, denounce them. Therefore, she
+     must not be released. But they cannot keep her under lock and key
+     forever. So murder is their only solution."
+
+     "That seems very clear."
+
+     "Now we will take another line of reasoning. When you follow two
+     separate chains of thought, Watson, you will find some point of
+     intersection which should approximate to the truth. We will start
+     now, not from the lady but from the coffin and argue backward. That
+     incident proves, I fear, beyond all doubt that the lady is dead. It
+     points also to an orthodox burial with proper accompaniment of
+     medical certificate and official sanction. Had the lady been
+     obviously murdered, they would have buried her in a hole in the back
+     garden. But here all is open and regular. What does this mean? Surely
+     that they have done her to death in some way which has deceived the
+     doctor and simulated a natural end--poisoning, perhaps. And yet how
+     strange that they should ever let a doctor approach her unless he
+     were a confederate, which is hardly a credible proposition."
+
+     "Could they have forged a medical certificate?"
+
+     "Dangerous, Watson, very dangerous. No, I hardly see them doing that.
+     Pull up, cabby! This is evidently the undertaker's, for we have just
+     passed the pawnbroker's. Would go in, Watson? Your appearance
+     inspires confidence. Ask what hour the Poultney Square funeral takes
+     place to-morrow."
+
+     The woman in the shop answered me without hesitation that it was to
+     be at eight o'clock in the morning. "You see, Watson, no mystery;
+     everything above-board! In some way the legal forms have undoubtedly
+     been complied with, and they think that they have little to fear.
+     Well, there's nothing for it now but a direct frontal attack. Are you
+     armed?"
+
+     "My stick!"
+
+     "Well, well, we shall be strong enough. 'Thrice is he armed who hath
+     his quarrel just.' We simply can't afford to wait for the police or
+     to keep within the four corners of the law. You can drive off, cabby.
+     Now, Watson, we'll just take our luck together, as we have
+     occasionally in the past."
+
+     He had rung loudly at the door of a great dark house in the centre of
+     Poultney Square. It was opened immediately, and the figure of a tall
+     woman was outlined against the dim-lit hall.
+
+     "Well, what do you want?" she asked sharply, peering at us through
+     the darkness.
+
+     "I want to speak to Dr. Shlessinger," said Holmes.
+
+     "There is no such person here," she answered, and tried to close the
+     door, but Holmes had jammed it with his foot.
+
+     "Well, I want to see the man who lives here, whatever he may call
+     himself," said Holmes firmly.
+
+     She hesitated. Then she threw open the door. "Well, come in!" said
+     she. "My husband is not afraid to face any man in the world." She
+     closed the door behind us and showed us into a sitting-room on the
+     right side of the hall, turning up the gas as she left us. "Mr.
+     Peters will be with you in an instant," she said.
+
+     Her words were literally true, for we had hardly time to look around
+     the dusty and moth-eaten apartment in which we found ourselves before
+     the door opened and a big, clean-shaven bald-headed man stepped
+     lightly into the room. He had a large red face, with pendulous
+     cheeks, and a general air of superficial benevolence which was marred
+     by a cruel, vicious mouth.
+
+     "There is surely some mistake here, gentlemen," he said in an
+     unctuous, make-everything-easy voice. "I fancy that you have been
+     misdirected. Possibly if you tried farther down the street--"
+
+     "That will do; we have no time to waste," said my companion firmly.
+     "You are Henry Peters, of Adelaide, late the Rev. Dr. Shlessinger, of
+     Baden and South America. I am as sure of that as that my own name is
+     Sherlock Holmes."
+
+     Peters, as I will now call him, started and stared hard at his
+     formidable pursuer. "I guess your name does not frighten me, Mr.
+     Holmes," said he coolly. "When a man's conscience is easy you can't
+     rattle him. What is your business in my house?"
+
+     "I want to know what you have done with the Lady Frances Carfax, whom
+     you brought away with you from Baden."
+
+     "I'd be very glad if you could tell me where that lady may be,"
+     Peters answered coolly. "I've a bill against her for a nearly a
+     hundred pounds, and nothing to show for it but a couple of trumpery
+     pendants that the dealer would hardly look at. She attached herself
+     to Mrs. Peters and me at Baden--it is a fact that I was using another
+     name at the time--and she stuck on to us until we came to London. I
+     paid her bill and her ticket. Once in London, she gave us the slip,
+     and, as I say, left these out-of-date jewels to pay her bills. You
+     find her, Mr. Holmes, and I'm your debtor."
+
+     In mean to find her," said Sherlock Holmes. "I'm going through this
+     house till I do find her."
+
+     "Where is your warrant?"
+
+     Holmes half drew a revolver from his pocket. "This will have to serve
+     till a better one comes."
+
+     "Why, you're a common burglar."
+
+     "So you might describe me," said Holmes cheerfully. "My companion is
+     also a dangerous ruffian. And together we are going through your
+     house."
+
+     Our opponent opened the door.
+
+     "Fetch a policeman, Annie!" said he. There was a whisk of feminine
+     skirts down the passage, and the hall door was opened and shut.
+
+     "Our time is limited, Watson," said Holmes. "If you try to stop us,
+     Peters, you will most certainly get hurt. Where is that coffin which
+     was brought into your house?"
+
+     "What do you want with the coffin? It is in use. There is a body in
+     it."
+
+     "I must see the body."
+
+     "Never with my consent."
+
+     "Then without it." With a quick movement Holmes pushed the fellow to
+     one side and passed into the hall. A door half opened stood
+     immediately before us. We entered. It was the dining-room. On the
+     table, under a half-lit chandelier, the coffin was lying. Holmes
+     turned up the gas and raised the lid. Deep down in the recesses of
+     the coffin lay an emaciated figure. The glare from the lights above
+     beat down upon an aged and withered face. By no possible process of
+     cruelty, starvation, or disease could this wornout wreck be the still
+     beautiful Lady Frances. Holmes's face showed his amazement, and also
+     his relief.
+
+     "Thank God!" he muttered. "It's someone else."
+
+     "Ah, you've blundered badly for once, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said
+     Peters, who had followed us into the room.
+
+     "Who is the dead woman?"
+
+     "Well, if you really must know, she is an old nurse of my wife's,
+     Rose Spender by name, whom we found in the Brixton Workhouse
+     Infirmary. We brought her round here, called in Dr. Horsom, of 13
+     Firbank Villas--mind you take the address, Mr. Holmes--and had her
+     carefully tended, as Christian folk should. On the third day she
+     died--certificate says senile decay--but that's only the doctor's
+     opinion, and of course you know better. We ordered her funeral to be
+     carried out by Stimson and Co., of the Kennington Road, who will bury
+     her at eight o'clock to-morrow morning. Can you pick any hole in
+     that, Mr. Holmes? You've made a silly blunder, and you may as well
+     own up to it. I'd give something for a photograph of your gaping,
+     staring face when you pulled aside that lid expecting to see the Lady
+     Frances Carfax and only found a poor old woman of ninety."
+
+     Holmes's expression was as impassive as ever under the jeers of his
+     antagonist, but his clenched hands betrayed his acute annoyance.
+
+     "I am going through your house," said he.
+
+     "Are you, though!" cried Peters as a woman's voice and heavy steps
+     sounded in the passage. "We'll soon see about that. This way,
+     officers, if you please. These men have forced their way into my
+     house, and I cannot get rid of them. Help me to put them out."
+
+     A sergeant and a constable stood in the doorway. Holmes drew his card
+     from his case.
+
+     "This is my name and address. This is my friend, Dr. Watson."
+
+     "Bless you, sir, we know you very well," said the sergeant, "but you
+     can't stay here without a warrant."
+
+     "Of course not. I quite understand that."
+
+     "Arrest him!" cried Peters.
+
+     "We know where to lay our hands on this gentleman if he is wanted,"
+     said the sergeant majestically, "but you'll have to go, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Yes, Watson, we shall have to go."
+
+     A minute later we were in the street once more. Holmes was as cool as
+     ever, but I was hot with anger and humiliation. The sergeant had
+     followed us.
+
+     "Sorry, Mr. Holmes, but that's the law."
+
+     "Exactly, Sergeant, you could not do otherwise."
+
+     "I expect there was good reason for your presence there. If there is
+     anything I can do--"
+
+     "It's a missing lady, Sergeant, and we think she is in that house. I
+     expect a warrant presently."
+
+     "Then I'll keep my eye on the parties, Mr. Holmes. If anything comes
+     along, I will surely let you know."
+
+     It was only nine o'clock, and we were off full cry upon the trail at
+     once. First we drove to Brixton Workhoused Infirmary, where we found
+     that it was indeed the truth that a charitable couple had called some
+     days before, that they had claimed an imbecile old woman as a former
+     servant, and that they had obtained permission to take her away with
+     them. No surprise was expressed at the news that she had since died.
+
+     The doctor was our next goal. He had been called in, had found the
+     woman dying of pure senility, had actually seen her pass away, and
+     had signed the certificate in due form. "I assure you that everything
+     was perfectly normal and there was no room for foul play in the
+     matter," said he. Nothing in the house had struck him as suspicious
+     save that for people of their class it was remarkable that they
+     should have no servant. So far and no further went the doctor.
+
+     Finally we found our way to Scotland Yard. There had been
+     difficulties of procedure in regard to the warrant. Some delay was
+     inevitable. The magistrate's signature might not be obtained until
+     next morning. If Holmes would call about nine he could go down with
+     Lestrade and see it acted upon. So ended the day, save that near
+     midnight our friend, the sergeant, called to say that he had seen
+     flickering lights here and there in the windows of the great dark
+     house, but that no one had left it and none had entered. We could but
+     pray for patience and wait for the morrow.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was too irritable for conversation and too restless
+     for sleep. I left him smoking hard, with his heavy, dark brows
+     knotted together, and his long, nervous fingers tapping upon the arms
+     of his chair, as he turned over in his mind every possible solution
+     of the mystery. Several times in the course of the night I heard him
+     prowling about the house. Finally, just after I had been called in
+     the morning, he rushed into my room. He was in his dressing-gown, but
+     his pale, hollow-eyed face told me that his night had been a
+     sleepless one.
+
+     "What time was the funeral? Eight, was it not?" he asked eagerly.
+     "Well, it is 7.20 now. Good heavens, Watson, what has become of any
+     brains that God has given me? Quick, man, quick! It's life or
+     death--a hundred chances on death to one on life. I'll never forgive
+     myself, never, if we are too late!"
+
+     Five minutes had not passed before we were flying in a hansom down
+     Baker Street. But even so it was twenty-five to eight as we passed
+     Big Ben, and eight struck as we tore down the Brixton Road. But
+     others were late as well as we. Ten minutes after the hour the hearse
+     was still standing at the door of the house, and even as our foaming
+     horse came to a halt the coffin, supported by three men, appeared on
+     the threshold. Holmes darted forward and barred their way.
+
+     "Take it back!" he cried, laying his hand on the breast of the
+     foremost. "Take it back this instant!"
+
+     "What the devil do you mean? Once again I ask you, where is your
+     warrant?" shouted the furious Peters, his big red face glaring over
+     the farther end of the coffin.
+
+     "The warrant is on its way. The coffin shall remain in the house
+     until it comes."
+
+     The authority in Holmes's voice had its effect upon the bearers.
+     Peters had suddenly vanished into the house, and they obeyed these
+     new orders. "Quick, Watson, quick! Here is a screw-driver!" he
+     shouted as the coffin was replaced upon the table. "Here's one for
+     you, my man! A sovreign if the lid comes off in a minute! Ask no
+     questions--work away! That's good! Another! And another! Now pull all
+     together! It's giving! It's giving! Ah, that does it at last."
+
+     With a united effort we tore off the coffin-lid. As we did so there
+     came from the inside a stupefying and overpowering smell of
+     chloroform. A body lay within, its head all wreathed in cotton-wool,
+     which had been soaked in the narcotic. Holmes plucked it off and
+     disclosed the statuesque face of a handsome and spiritual woman of
+     middle age. In an instant he had passed his arm round the figure and
+     raised her to a sitting position.
+
+     "Is she gone, Watson? Is there a spark left? Surely we are not too
+     late!"
+
+     For half an hour it seemed that we were. What with actual
+     suffocation, and what with the poisonous fumes of the chloroform, the
+     Lady Frances seemed to have passed the last point of recall. And
+     then, at last, with artificial respiration, with injected ether, and
+     with every device that science could suggest, some flutter of life,
+     some quiver of the eyelids, some dimming of a mirror, spoke of the
+     slowly returning life. A cab had driven up, and Holmes, parting the
+     blind, looked out at it. "Here is Lestrade with his warrant," said
+     he. "He will find that his birds have flown. And here," he added as a
+     heavy step hurried along the passage, "is someone who has a better
+     right to nurse this lady than we have. Good morning, Mr. Green; I
+     think that the sooner we can move the Lady Frances the better.
+     Meanwhile, the funeral may proceed, and the poor old woman who still
+     lies in that coffin may go to her last resting-place alone."
+
+     "Should you care to add the case to your annals, my dear Watson,"
+     said Holmes that evening, "it can only be as an example of that
+     temporary eclipse to which even the best-balanced mind may be
+     exposed. Such slips are common to all mortals, and the greatest is he
+     who can recognize and repair them. To this modified credit I may,
+     perhaps, make some claim. My night was haunted by the thought that
+     somewhere a clue, a strange sentence, a curious observation, had come
+     under my notice and had been too easily dismissed. Then, suddenly, in
+     the gray of the morning, the words came back to me. It was the remark
+     of the undertaker's wife, as reported by Philip Green. She had said,
+     'It should be there before now. It took longer, being out of the
+     ordinary.' It was the coffin of which she spoke. It had been out of
+     the ordinary. That could only mean that it had been made to some
+     special measurement. But why? Why? Then in an instant I remembered
+     the deep sides, and the little wasted figure at the bottom. Why so
+     large a coffin for so small a body? To leave room for another body.
+     Both would be buried under the one certificate. It had all been so
+     clear, if only my own sight had not been dimmed. At eight the Lady
+     Frances would be buried. Our one chance was to stop the coffin before
+     it left the house.
+
+     "It was a desperate chance that we might find her alive, but it was a
+     chance, as the result showed. These people had never, to my
+     knowledge, done a murder. They might shrink from actual violence at
+     the last. The could bury her with no sign of how she met her end, and
+     even if she were exhumed there was a chance for them. I hoped that
+     such considerations might prevail with them. You can reconstruct the
+     scene well enough. You saw the horrible den upstairs, where the poor
+     lady had been kept so long. They rushed in and overpowered her with
+     their chloroform, carried her down, poured more into the coffin to
+     insure against her waking, and then screwed down the lid. A clever
+     device, Watson. It is new to me in the annals of crime. If our
+     ex-missionary friends escape the clutches of Lestrade, I shall expect
+     to hear of some brilliant incidents in their future career."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURE OF THE DEVIL'S FOOT
+
+     In recording from time to time some of the curious experiences and
+     interesting recollections which I associate with my long and intimate
+     friendship with Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I have continually been faced by
+     difficulties caused by his own aversion to publicity. To his sombre
+     and cynical spirit all popular applause was always abhorrent, and
+     nothing amused him more at the end of a successful case than to hand
+     over the actual exposure to some orthodox official, and to listen
+     with a mocking smile to the general chorus of misplaced
+     congratulation. It was indeed this attitude upon the part of my
+     friend and certainly not any lack of interesting material which has
+     caused me of late years to lay very few of my records before the
+     public. My participation in some if his adventures was always a
+     privilege which entailed discretion and reticence upon me.
+
+     It was, then, with considerable surprise that I received a telegram
+     from Homes last Tuesday--he has never been known to write where a
+     telegram would serve--in the following terms:
+
+     Why not tell them of the Cornish horror--strangest case I have
+     handled.
+     I have no idea what backward sweep of memory had brought the matter
+     fresh to his mind, or what freak had caused him to desire that I
+     should recount it; but I hasten, before another cancelling telegram
+     may arrive, to hunt out the notes which give me the exact details of
+     the case and to lay the narrative before my readers.
+
+     It was, then, in the spring of the year 1897 that Holmes's iron
+     constitution showed some symptoms of giving way in the face of
+     constant hard work of a most exacting kind, aggravated, perhaps, by
+     occasional indiscretions of his own. In March of that year Dr. Moore
+     Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may
+     some day recount, gave positive injunctions that the famous private
+     agent lay aside all his cases and surrender himself to complete rest
+     if he wished to avert an absolute breakdown. The state of his health
+     was not a matter in which he himself took the faintest interest, for
+     his mental detachment was absolute, but he was induced at last, on
+     the threat of being permanently disqualified from work, to give
+     himself a complete change of scene and air. Thus it was that in the
+     early spring of that year we found ourselves together in a small
+     cottage near Poldhu Bay, at the further extremity of the Cornish
+     peninsula.
+
+     It was a singular spot, and one peculiarly well suited to the grim
+     humour of my patient. From the windows of our little whitewashed
+     house, which stood high upon a grassy headland, we looked down upon
+     the whole sinister semicircle of Mounts Bay, that old death trap of
+     sailing vessels, with its fringe of black cliffs and surge-swept
+     reefs on which innumerable seamen have met their end. With a
+     northerly breeze it lies placid and sheltered, inviting the
+     storm-tossed craft to tack into it for rest and protection.
+
+     Then come the sudden swirl round of the wind, the blistering gale
+     from the south-west, the dragging anchor, the lee shore, and the last
+     battle in the creaming breakers. The wise mariner stands far out from
+     that evil place.
+
+     On the land side our surroundings were as sombre as on the sea. It
+     was a country of rolling moors, lonely and dun-colored, with an
+     occasional church tower to mark the site of some old-world village.
+     In every direction upon these moors there were traces of some
+     vanished race which had passed utterly away, and left as it sole
+     record strange monuments of stone, irregular mounds which contained
+     the burned ashes of the dead, and curious earthworks which hinted at
+     prehistoric strife. The glamour and mystery of the place, with its
+     sinister atmosphere of forgotten nations, appealed to the imagination
+     of my friend, and he spent much of his time in long walks and
+     solitary meditations upon the moor. The ancient Cornish language had
+     also arrested his attention, and he had, I remember, conceived the
+     idea that it was akin to the Chaldean, and had been largely derived
+     from the Phoenician traders in tin. He had received a consignment of
+     books upon philology and was settling down to develop this thesis
+     when suddenly, to my sorrow and to his unfeigned delight, we found
+     ourselves, even in that land of dreams, plunged into a problem at our
+     very doors which was more intense, more engrossing, and infinitely
+     more mysterious than any of those which had driven us from London.
+     Our simple life and peaceful, healthy routine were violently
+     interrupted, and we were precipitated into the midst of a series of
+     events which caused the utmost excitement not only in Cornwall but
+     throughout the whole west of England. Many of my readers may retain
+     some recollection of what was called at the time "The Cornish
+     Horror," though a most imperfect account of the matter reached the
+     London press. Now, after thirteen years, I will give the true details
+     of this inconceivable affair to the public.
+
+     I have said that scattered towers marked the villages which dotted
+     this part of Cornwall. The nearest of these was the hamlet of
+     Tredannick Wollas, where the cottages of a couple of hundred
+     inhabitants clustered round an ancient, moss-grown church. The vicar
+     of the parish, Mr. Roundhay, was something of an archaeologist, and
+     as such Holmes had made his acquaintance. He was a middle-aged man,
+     portly and affable, with a considerable fund of local lore. At his
+     invitation we had taken tea at the vicarage and had come to know,
+     also, Mr. Mortimer Tregennis, an independent gentleman, who increased
+     the clergyman's scanty resources by taking rooms in his large,
+     straggling house. The vicar, being a bachelor, was glad to come to
+     such an arrangement, though he had little in common with his lodger,
+     who was a thin, dark, spectacled man, with a stoop which gave the
+     impression of actual, physical deformity. I remember that during our
+     short visit we found the vicar garrulous, but his lodger strangely
+     reticent, a sad-faced, introspective man, sitting with averted eyes,
+     brooding apparently upon his own affairs.
+
+     These were the two men who entered abruptly into our little
+     sitting-room on Tuesday, March the 16th, shortly after our breakfast
+     hour, as we were smoking together, preparatory to our daily excursion
+     upon the moors.
+
+     "Mr. Holmes," said the vicar in an agitated voice, "the most
+     extraordinary and tragic affair has occurred during the night. It is
+     the most unheard-of business. We can only regard it as a special
+     Providence that you should chance to be here at the time, for in all
+     England you are the one man we need."
+
+     I glared at the intrusive vicar with no very friendly eyes; but
+     Holmes took his pipe from his lips and sat up in his chair like an
+     old hound who hears the view-halloa. He waved his hand to the sofa,
+     and our palpitating visitor with his agitated companion sat side by
+     side upon it. Mr. Mortimer Tregennis was more self-contained than the
+     clergyman, but the twitching of his thin hands and the brightness of
+     his dark eyes showed that they shared a common emotion.
+
+     "Shall I speak or you?" he asked of the vicar.
+
+     "Well, as you seem to have made the discovery, whatever it may be,
+     and the vicar to have had it second-hand, perhaps you had better do
+     the speaking," said Holmes.
+
+     I glanced at the hastily clad clergyman, with the formally dressed
+     lodger seated beside him, and was amused at the surprise which
+     Holmes's simple deduction had brought to their faces.
+
+     "Perhaps I had best say a few words first," said the vicar, "and then
+     you can judge if you will listen to the details from Mr. Tregennis,
+     or whether we should not hasten at once to the scene of this
+     mysterious affair. I may explain, then, that our friend here spent
+     last evening in the company of his two brothers, Owen and George, and
+     of his sister Brenda, at their house of Tredannick Wartha, which is
+     near the old stone cross upon the moor. He left them shortly after
+     ten o'clock, playing cards round the dining-room table, in excellent
+     health and spirits. This morning, being an early riser, he walked in
+     that direction before breakfast and was overtaken by the carriage of
+     Dr. Richards, who explained that he had just been sent for on a most
+     urgent call to Tredannick Wartha. Mr. Mortimer Tregennis naturally
+     went with him. When he arrived at Tredannick Wartha he found an
+     extraordinary state of things. His two brothers and his sister were
+     seated round the table exactly as he had left them, the cards still
+     spread in front of them and the candles burned down to their sockets.
+     The sister lay back stone-dead in her chair, while the two brothers
+     sat on each side of her laughing, shouting, and singing, the senses
+     stricken clean out of them. All three of them, the dead woman and the
+     two demented men, retained upon their faces an expression of the
+     utmost horror--a convulsion of terror which was dreadful to look
+     upon. There was no sign of the presence of anyone in the house,
+     except Mrs. Porter, the old cook and housekeeper, who declared that
+     she had slept deeply and heard no sound during the night. Nothing had
+     been stolen or disarranged, and there is absolutely no explanation of
+     what the horror can be which has frightened a woman to death and two
+     strong men out of their senses. There is the situation, Mr. Holmes,
+     in a nutshell, and if you can help us to clear it up you will have
+     done a great work."
+
+     I had hoped that in some way I could coax my companion back into the
+     quiet which had been the object of our journey; but one glance at his
+     intense face and contracted eyebrows told me how vain was now the
+     expectation. He sat for some little time in silence, absorbed in the
+     strange drama which had broken in upon our peace.
+
+     "I will look into this matter," he said at last. "On the face of it,
+     it would appear to be a case of a very exceptional nature. Have you
+     been there yourself, Mr. Roundhay?"
+
+     "No, Mr. Holmes. Mr. Tregennis brought back the account to the
+     vicarage, and I at once hurried over with him to consult you."
+
+     "How far is it to the house where this singular tragedy occurred?"
+
+     "About a mile inland."
+
+     "Then we shall walk over together. But before we start I must ask you
+     a few questions, Mr. Mortimer Tregennis."
+
+     The other had been silent all this time, but I had observed that his
+     more controlled excitement was even greater than the obtrusive
+     emotion of the clergyman. He sat with a pale, drawn face, his anxious
+     gaze fixed upon Holmes, and his thin hands clasped convulsively
+     together. His pale lips quivered as he listened to the dreadful
+     experience which had befallen his family, and his dark eyes seemed to
+     reflect something of the horror of the scene.
+
+     "Ask what you like, Mr. Holmes," said he eagerly. "It is a bad thing
+     to speak of, but I will answer you the truth."
+
+     "Tell me about last night."
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, I supped there, as the vicar has said, and my
+     elder brother George proposed a game of whist afterwards. We sat down
+     about nine o'clock. It was a quarter-past ten when I moved to go. I
+     left them all round the table, as merry as could be."
+
+     "Who let you out?"
+
+     "Mrs. Porter had gone to bed, so I let myself out. I shut the hall
+     door behind me. The window of the room in which they sat was closed,
+     but the blind was not drawn down. There was no change in door or
+     window this morning, or any reason to think that any stranger had
+     been to the house. Yet there they sat, driven clean mad with terror,
+     and Brenda lying dead of fright, with her head hanging over the arm
+     of the chair. I'll never get the sight of that room out of my mind so
+     long as I live."
+
+     "The facts, as you state them, are certainly most remarkable," said
+     Holmes. "I take it that you have no theory yourself which can in any
+     way account for them?"
+
+     "It's devilish, Mr. Holmes, devilish!" cried Mortimer Tregennis. "It
+     is not of this world. Something has come into that room which has
+     dashed the light of reason from their minds. What human contrivance
+     could do that?"
+
+     "I fear," said Holmes, "that if the matter is beyond humanity it is
+     certainly beyond me. Yet we must exhaust all natural explanations
+     before we fall back upon such a theory as this. As to yourself, Mr.
+     Tregennis, I take it you were divided in some way from your family,
+     since they lived together and you had rooms apart?"
+
+     "That is so, Mr. Holmes, though the matter is past and done with. We
+     were a family of tin-miners at Redruth, but we sold our venture to a
+     company, and so retired with enough to keep us. I won't deny that
+     there was some feeling about the division of the money and it stood
+     between us for a time, but it was all forgiven and forgotten, and we
+     were the best of friends together."
+
+     "Looking back at the evening which you spent together, does anything
+     stand out in your memory as throwing any possible light upon the
+     tragedy? Think carefully, Mr. Tregennis, for any clue which can help
+     me."
+
+     "There is nothing at all, sir."
+
+     "Your people were in their usual spirits?"
+
+     "Never better."
+
+     "Were they nervous people? Did they ever show any apprehension of
+     coming danger?"
+
+     "Nothing of the kind."
+
+     "You have nothing to add then, which could assist me?"
+
+     Mortimer Tregennis considered earnestly for a moment.
+
+     "There is one thing occurs to me," said he at last. "As we sat at the
+     table my back was to the window, and my brother George, he being my
+     partner at cards, was facing it. I saw him once look hard over my
+     shoulder, so I turned round and looked also. The blind was up and the
+     window shut, but I could just make out the bushes on the lawn, and it
+     seemed to me for a moment that I saw something moving among them. I
+     couldn't even say if it was man or animal, but I just thought there
+     was something there. When I asked him what he was looking at, he told
+     me that he had the same feeling. That is all that I can say."
+
+     "Did you not investigate?"
+
+     "No; the matter passed as unimportant."
+
+     "You left them, then, without any premonition of evil?"
+
+     "None at all."
+
+     "I am not clear how you came to hear the news so early this morning."
+
+     "I am an early riser and generally take a walk before breakfast. This
+     morning I had hardly started when the doctor in his carriage overtook
+     me. He told me that old Mrs. Porter had sent a boy down with an
+     urgent message. I sprang in beside him and we drove on. When we got
+     there we looked into that dreadful room. The candles and the fire
+     must have burned out hours before, and they had been sitting there in
+     the dark until dawn had broken. The doctor said Brenda must have been
+     dead at least six hours. There were no signs of violence. She just
+     lay across the arm of the chair with that look on her face. George
+     and Owen were singing snatches of songs and gibbering like two great
+     apes. Oh, it was awful to see! I couldn't stand it, and the doctor
+     was as white as a sheet. Indeed, he fell into a chair in a sort of
+     faint, and we nearly had him on our hands as well."
+
+     "Remarkable--most remarkable!" said Holmes, rising and taking his
+     hat. "I think, perhaps, we had better go down to Tredannick Wartha
+     without further delay. I confess that I have seldom known a case
+     which at first sight presented a more singular problem."
+
+     Our proceedings of that first morning did little to advance the
+     investigation. It was marked, however, at the outset by an incident
+     which left the most sinister impression upon my mind. The approach to
+     the spot at which the tragedy occurred is down a narrow, winding,
+     country lane. While we made our way along it we heard the rattle of a
+     carriage coming towards us and stood aside to let it pass. As it
+     drove by us I caught a glimpse through the closed window of a
+     horribly contorted, grinning face glaring out at us. Those staring
+     eyes and gnashing teeth flashed past us like a dreadful vision.
+
+     "My brothers!" cried Mortimer Tregennis, white to his lips. "They are
+     taking them to Helston."
+
+     We looked with horror after the black carriage, lumbering upon its
+     way. Then we turned our steps towards this ill-omened house in which
+     they had met their strange fate.
+
+     It was a large and bright dwelling, rather a villa than a cottage,
+     with a considerable garden which was already, in that Cornish air,
+     well filled with spring flowers. Towards this garden the window of
+     the sitting-room fronted, and from it, according to Mortimer
+     Tregennis, must have come that thing of evil which had by sheer
+     horror in a single instant blasted their minds. Holmes walked slowly
+     and thoughtfully among the flower-plots and along the path before we
+     entered the porch. So absorbed was he in his thoughts, I remember,
+     that he stumbled over the watering-pot, upset its contents, and
+     deluged both our feet and the garden path. Inside the house we were
+     met by the elderly Cornish housekeeper, Mrs. Porter, who, with the
+     aid of a young girl, looked after the wants of the family. She
+     readily answered all Holmes's questions. She had heard nothing in the
+     night. Her employers had all been in excellent spirits lately, and
+     she had never known them more cheerful and prosperous. She had
+     fainted with horror upon entering the room in the morning and seeing
+     that dreadful company round the table. She had, when she recovered,
+     thrown open the window to let the morning air in, and had run down to
+     the lane, whence she sent a farm-lad for the doctor. The lady was on
+     her bed upstairs if we cared to see her. It took four strong men to
+     get the brothers into the asylum carriage. She would not herself stay
+     in the house another day and was starting that very afternoon to
+     rejoin her family at St. Ives.
+
+     We ascended the stairs and viewed the body. Miss Brenda Tregennis had
+     been a very beautiful girl, though now verging upon middle age. Her
+     dark, clear-cut face was handsome, even in death, but there still
+     lingered upon it something of that convulsion of horror which had
+     been her last human emotion. From her bedroom we descended to the
+     sitting-room, where this strange tragedy had actually occurred. The
+     charred ashes of the overnight fire lay in the grate. On the table
+     were the four guttered and burned-out candles, with the cards
+     scattered over its surface. The chairs had been moved back against
+     the walls, but all else was as it had been the night before. Holmes
+     paced with light, swift steps about the room; he sat in the various
+     chairs, drawing them up and reconstructing their positions. He tested
+     how much of the garden was visible; he examined the floor, the
+     ceiling, and the fireplace; but never once did I see that sudden
+     brightening of his eyes and tightening of his lips which would have
+     told me that he saw some gleam of light in this utter darkness.
+
+     "Why a fire?" he asked once. "Had they always a fire in this small
+     room on a spring evening?"
+
+     Mortimer Tregennis explained that the night was cold and damp. For
+     that reason, after his arrival, the fire was lit. "What are you going
+     to do now, Mr. Holmes?" he asked.
+
+     My friend smiled and laid his hand upon my arm. "I think, Watson,
+     that I shall resume that course of tobacco-poisoning which you have
+     so often and so justly condemned," said he. "With your permission,
+     gentlemen, we will now return to our cottage, for I am not aware that
+     any new factor is likely to come to our notice here. I will turn the
+     facts over in my mid, Mr, Tregennis, and should anything occur to me
+     I will certainly ommunicate with you and the vicar. In the meantime I
+     wish you both good-morning."
+
+     It was not until long after we were back in Poldhu Cottage that
+     Holmes broke his complete and absorbed silence. He sat coiled in his
+     armchair, his haggard and ascetic face hardly visible amid the blue
+     swirl of his tobacco smoke, his black brows drawn down, his forehead
+     contracted, his eyes vacant and far away. Finally he laid down his
+     pipe and sprang to his feet.
+
+     "It won't do, Watson!" said he with a laugh. "Let us walk along the
+     cliffs together and search for flint arrows. We are more likely to
+     find them than clues to this problem. To let the brain work without
+     sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to
+     pieces. The sea air, sunshine, and patience, Watson--all else will
+     come.
+
+     "Now, let us calmly define our position, Watson," he continued as we
+     skirted the cliffs together. "Let us get a firm grip of the very
+     little which we do know, so that when fresh facts arise we may be
+     ready to fit them into their places. I take it, in the first place,
+     that neither of us is prepared to admit diabolical intrusions into
+     the affairs of men. Let us begin by ruling that entirely out of our
+     minds. Very good. There remain three persons who have been grievously
+     stricken by some conscious or unconscious human agency. That is firm
+     ground. Now, when did this occur? Evidently, assuming his narrative
+     to be true, it was immediately after Mr. Mortimer Tregennis had left
+     the room. That is a very important point. The presumption is that it
+     was within a few minutes afterwards. The cards still lay upon the
+     table. It was already past their usual hour for bed. Yet they had not
+     changed their position or pushed back their chairs. I repeat, then,
+     that the occurrence was immediately after his departure, and not
+     later than eleven o'clock last night.
+
+     "Our next obvious step is to check, so far as we can, the movements
+     of Mortimer Tregennis after he left the room. In this there is no
+     difficulty, and they seem to be above suspicion. Knowing my methods
+     as you do, you were, of course, conscious of the somewhat clumsy
+     water-pot expedient by which I obtained a clearer impress of his foot
+     than might otherwise have been possible. The wet, sandy path took it
+     admirably. Last night was also wet, you will remember, and it was not
+     difficult--having obtained a sample print--to pick out his track
+     among others and to follow his movements. He appears to have walked
+     away swiftly in the direction of the vicarage.
+
+     "If, then, Mortimer Tregennis disappeared from the scene, and yet
+     some outside person affected the card-players, how can we reconstruct
+     that person, and how was such an impression of horror conveyed? Mrs.
+     Porter may be eliminated. She is evidently harmless. Is there any
+     evidence that someone crept up to the garden window and in some
+     manner produced so terrific an effect that he drove those who saw it
+     out of their senses? The only suggestion in this direction comes from
+     Mortimer Tregennis himself, who says that his brother spoke about
+     some movement in the garden. That is certainly remarkable, as the
+     night was rainy, cloudy, and dark. Anyone who had the design to alarm
+     these people would be compelled to place his very face against the
+     glass before he could be seen. There is a three-foot flower-border
+     outside this window, but no indication of a footmark. It is difficult
+     to imagine, then, how an outsider could have made so terrible an
+     impression upon the company, nor have we found any possible motive
+     for so strange and elaborate an attempt. You perceive our
+     difficulties, Watson?"
+
+     "They are only too clear," I answered with conviction.
+
+     "And yet, with a little more material, we may prove that they are not
+     insurmountable," said Holmes. "I fancy that among your extensive
+     archives, Watson, you may find some which were nearly as obscure.
+     Meanwhile, we shall put the case aside until more accurate data are
+     available, and devote the rest of our morning to the pursuit of
+     neolithic man."
+
+     I may have commented upon my friend's power of mental detachment, but
+     never have I wondered at it more than upon that spring morning in
+     Cornwall when for two hours he discoursed upon celts, arrowheads, and
+     shards, as lightly as if no sinister mystery were waiting for his
+     solution. It was not until we had returned in the afternoon to our
+     cottage that we found a visitor awaiting us, who soon brought our
+     minds back to the matter in hand. Neither of us needed to be told who
+     that visitor was. The huge body, the craggy and deeply seamed face
+     with the fierce eyes and hawk-like nose, the grizzled hair which
+     nearly brushed our cottage ceiling, the beard--golden at the fringes
+     and white near the lips, save for the nicotine stain from his
+     perpetual cigar--all these were as well known in London as in Africa,
+     and could only be associated with the tremendous personality of Dr.
+     Leon Sterndale, the great lion-hunter and explorer.
+
+     We had heard of his presence in the district and had once or twice
+     caught sight of his tall figure upon the moorland paths. He made no
+     advances to us, however, nor would we have dreamed of doing so to
+     him, as it was well known that it was his love of seclusion which
+     caused him to spend the greater part of the intervals between his
+     journeys in a small bungalow buried in the lonely wood of Beauchamp
+     Arriance. Here, amid his books and his maps, he lived an absolutely
+     lonely life, attending to his own simple wants and paying little
+     apparent heed to the affairs of his neighbours. It was a surprise to
+     me, therefore, to hear him asking Holmes in an eager voice whether he
+     had made any advance in his reconstruction of this mysterious
+     episode. "The county police are utterly at fault," said he, "but
+     perhaps your wider experience has suggested some conceivable
+     explanation. My only claim to being taken into your confidence is
+     that during my many residences here I have come to know this family
+     of Tregennis very well--indeed, upon my Cornish mother's side I could
+     call them cousins--and their strange fate has naturally been a great
+     shock to me. I may tell you that I had got as far as Plymouth upon my
+     way to Africa, but the news reached me this morning, and I came
+     straight back again to help in the inquiry."
+
+     Holmes raised his eyebrows.
+
+     "Did you lose your boat through it?"
+
+     "I will take the next."
+
+     "Dear me! that is friendship indeed."
+
+     "I tell you they were relatives."
+
+     "Quite so--cousins of your mother. Was your baggage aboard the ship?"
+
+     "Some of it, but the main part at the hotel."
+
+     "I see. But surely this event could not have found its way into the
+     Plymouth morning papers."
+
+     "No, sir; I had a telegram."
+
+     "Might I ask from whom?"
+
+     A shadow passed over the gaunt face of the explorer.
+
+     "You are very inquisitive, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "It is my business."
+
+     With an effort Dr. Sterndale recovered his ruffled composure.
+
+     "I have no objection to telling you," he said. "It was Mr. Roundhay,
+     the vicar, who sent me the telegram which recalled me."
+
+     "Thank you," said Holmes. "I may say in answer to your original
+     question that I have not cleared my mind entirely on the subject of
+     this case, but that I have every hope of reaching some conclusion. It
+     would be premature to say more."
+
+     "Perhaps you would not mind telling me if your suspicions point in
+     any particular direction?"
+
+     "No, I can hardly answer that."
+
+     "Then I have wasted my time and need not prolong my visit." The
+     famous doctor strode out of our cottage in considerable ill-humour,
+     and within five minutes Holmes had followed him. I saw him no more
+     until the evening, when he returned with a slow step and haggard face
+     which assured me that he had made no great progress with his
+     investigation. He glanced at a telegram which awaited him and threw
+     it into the grate.
+
+     "From the Plymouth hotel, Watson," he said. "I learned the name of it
+     from the vicar, and I wired to make certain that Dr. Leon Sterndale's
+     account was true. It appears that he did indeed spend last night
+     there, and that he has actually allowed some of his baggage to go on
+     to Africa, while he returned to be present at this investigation.
+     What do you make of that, Watson?"
+
+     "He is deeply interested."
+
+     "Deeply interested--yes. There is a thread here which we had not yet
+     grasped and which might lead us through the tangle. Cheer up, Watson,
+     for I am very sure that our material has not yet all come to hand.
+     When it does we may soon leave our difficulties behind us."
+
+     Little did I think how soon the words of Holmes would be realized, or
+     how strange and sinister would be that new development which opened
+     up an entirely fresh line of investigation. I was shaving at my
+     window in the morning when I heard the rattle of hoofs and, looking
+     up, saw a dog-cart coming at a gallop down the road. It pulled up at
+     our door, and our friend, the vicar, sprang from it and rushed up our
+     garden path. Holmes was already dressed, and we hastened down to meet
+     him.
+
+     Our visitor was so excited that he could hardly articulate, but at
+     last in gasps and bursts his tragic story came out of him.
+
+     "We are devil-ridden, Mr. Holmes! My poor parish is devil-ridden!" he
+     cried. "Satan himself is loose in it! We are given over into his
+     hands!" He danced about in his agitation, a ludicrous object if it
+     were not for his ashy face and startled eyes. Finally he shot out his
+     terrible news.
+
+     "Mr. Mortimer Tregennis died during the night, and with exactly the
+     same symptoms as the rest of his family."
+
+     Holmes sprang to his feet, all energy in an instant.
+
+     "Can you fit us both into your dog-cart?"
+
+     "Yes, I can."
+
+     "Then, Watson, we will postpone our breakfast. Mr. Roundhay, we are
+     entirely at your disposal. Hurry--hurry, before things get
+     disarranged."
+
+     The lodger occupied two rooms at the vicarage, which were in an angle
+     by themselves, the one above the other. Below was a large
+     sitting-room; above, his bedroom. They looked out upon a croquet lawn
+     which came up to the windows. We had arrived before the doctor or the
+     police, so that everything was absolutely undisturbed. Let me
+     describe exactly the scene as we saw it upon that misty March
+     morning. It has left an impression which can never be effaced from my
+     mind.
+
+     The atmosphere of the room was of a horrible and depressing
+     stuffiness. The servant who had first entered had thrown up the
+     window, or it would have been even more intolerable. This might
+     partly be due to the fact that a lamp stood flaring and smoking on
+     the centre table. Beside it sat the dead man, leaning back in his
+     chair, his thin beard projecting, his spectacles pushed up on to his
+     forehead, and his lean dark face turned towards the window and
+     twisted into the same distortion of terror which had marked the
+     features of his dead sister. His limbs were convulsed and his fingers
+     contorted as though he had died in a very paroxysm of fear. He was
+     fully clothed, though there were signs that his dressing had been
+     done in a hurry. We had already learned that his bed had been slept
+     in, and that the tragic end had come to him in the early morning.
+
+     One realized the red-hot energy which underlay Holmes's phlegmatic
+     exterior when one saw the sudden change which came over him from the
+     moment that he entered the fatal apartment. In an instant he was
+     tense and alert, his eyes shining, his face set, his limbs quivering
+     with eager activity. He was out on the lawn, in through the window,
+     round the room, and up into the bedroom, for all the world like a
+     dashing foxhound drawing a cover. In the bedroom he made a rapid cast
+     around and ended by throwing open the window, which appeared to give
+     him some fresh cause for excitement, for he leaned out of it with
+     loud ejaculations of interest and delight. Then he rushed down the
+     stair, out through the open window, threw himself upon his face on
+     the lawn, sprang up and into the room once more, all with the energy
+     of the hunter who is at the very heels of his quarry. The lamp, which
+     was an ordinary standard, he examined with minute care, making
+     certain measurements upon its bowl. He carefully scrutinized with his
+     lens the talc shield which covered the top of the chimney and scraped
+     off some ashes which adhered to its upper surface, putting some of
+     them into an envelope, which he placed in his pocketbook. Finally,
+     just as the doctor and the official police put in an appearance, he
+     beckoned to the vicar and we all three went out upon the lawn.
+
+     "I am glad to say that my investigation has not been entirely
+     barren," he remarked. "I cannot remain to discuss the matter with the
+     police, but I should be exceedingly obliged, Mr. Roundhay, if you
+     would give the inspector my compliments and direct his attention to
+     the bedroom window and to the sitting-room lamp. Each is suggestive,
+     and together they are almost conclusive. If the police would desire
+     further information I shall be happy to see any of them at the
+     cottage. And now, Watson, I think that, perhaps, we shall be better
+     employed elsewhere."
+
+     It may be that the police resented the intrusion of an amateur, or
+     that they imagined themselves to be upon some hopeful line of
+     investigation; but it is certain that we heard nothing from them for
+     the next two days. During this time Holmes spent some of his time
+     smoking and dreaming in the cottage; but a greater portion in country
+     walks which he undertook alone, returning after many hours without
+     remark as to where he had been. One experiment served to show me the
+     line of his investigation. He had bought a lamp which was the
+     duplicate of the one which had burned in the room of Mortimer
+     Tregennis on the morning of the tragedy. This he filled with the same
+     oil as that used at the vicarage, and he carefully timed the period
+     which it would take to be exhausted. Another experiment which he made
+     was of a more unpleasant nature, and one which I am not likely ever
+     to forget.
+
+     "You will remember, Watson," he remarked one afternoon, "that there
+     is a single common point of resemblance in the varying reports which
+     have reached us. This concerns the effect of the atmosphere of the
+     room in each case upon those who had first entered it. You will
+     recollect that Mortimer Tregennis, in describing the episode of his
+     last visit to his brother's house, remarked that the doctor on
+     entering the room fell into a chair? You had forgotten? Well I can
+     answer for it that it was so. Now, you will remember also that Mrs.
+     Porter, the housekeeper, told us that she herself fainted upon
+     entering the room and had afterwards opened the window. In the second
+     case--that of Mortimer Tregennis himself--you cannot have forgotten
+     the horrible stuffiness of the room when we arrived, though the
+     servant had thrown open the window. That servant, I found upon
+     inquiry, was so ill that she had gone to her bed. You will admit,
+     Watson, that these facts are very suggestive. In each case there is
+     evidence of a poisonous atmosphere. In each case, also, there is
+     combustion going on in the room--in the one case a fire, in the other
+     a lamp. The fire was needed, but the lamp was lit--as a comparison of
+     the oil consumed will show--long after it was broad daylight. Why?
+     Surely because there is some connection between three things--the
+     burning, the stuffy atmosphere, and, finally, the madness or death of
+     those unfortunate people. That is clear, is it not?"
+
+     "It would appear so."
+
+     "At least we may accept it as a working hypothesis. We will suppose,
+     then, that something was burned in each case which produced an
+     atmosphere causing strange toxic effects. Very good. In the first
+     instance--that of the Tregennis family--this substance was placed in
+     the fire. Now the window was shut, but the fire would naturally carry
+     fumes to some extent up the chimney. Hence one would expect the
+     effects of the poison to be less than in the second case, where there
+     was less escape for the vapour. The result seems to indicate that it
+     was so, since in the first case only the woman, who had presumably
+     the more sensitive organism, was killed, the others exhibiting that
+     temporary or permanent lunacy which is evidently the first effect of
+     the drug. In the second case the result was complete. The facts,
+     therefore, seem to bear out the theory of a poison which worked by
+     combustion.
+
+     "With this train of reasoning in my head I naturally looked about in
+     Mortimer Tregennis's room to find some remains of this substance. The
+     obvious place to look was the talc shelf or smoke-guard of the lamp.
+     There, sure enough, I perceived a number of flaky ashes, and round
+     the edges a fringe of brownish powder, which had not yet been
+     consumed. Half of this I took, as you saw, and I placed it in an
+     envelope."
+
+     "Why half, Holmes?"
+
+     "It is not for me, my dear Watson, to stand in the way of the
+     official police force. I leave them all the evidence which I found.
+     The poison still remained upon the talc had they the wit to find it.
+     Now, Watson, we will light our lamp; we will, however, take the
+     precaution to open our window to avoid the premature decease of two
+     deserving members of society, and you will seat yourself near that
+     open window in an armchair unless, like a sensible man, you determine
+     to have nothing to do with the affair. Oh, you will see it out, will
+     you? I thought I knew my Watson. This chair I will place opposite
+     yours, so that we may be the same distance from the poison and face
+     to face. The door we will leave ajar. Each is now in a position to
+     watch the other and to bring the experiment to an end should the
+     symptoms seem alarming. Is that all clear? Well, then, I take our
+     powder--or what remains of it--from the envelope, and I lay it above
+     the burning lamp. So! Now, Watson, let us sit down and await
+     developments."
+
+     They were not long in coming. I had hardly settled in my chair before
+     I was conscious of a thick, musky odour, subtle and nauseous. At the
+     very first whiff of it my brain and my imagination were beyond all
+     control. A thick, black cloud swirled before my eyes, and my mind
+     told me that in this cloud, unseen as yet, but about to spring out
+     upon my appalled senses, lurked all that was vaguely horrible, all
+     that was monstrous and inconceivably wicked in the universe. Vague
+     shapes swirled and swam amid the dark cloud-bank, each a menace and a
+     warning of something coming, the advent of some unspeakable dweller
+     upon the threshold, whose very shadow would blast my soul. A freezing
+     horror took possession of me. I felt that my hair was rising, that my
+     eyes were protruding, that my mouth was opened, and my tongue like
+     leather. The turmoil within my brain was such that something must
+     surely snap. I tried to scream and was vaguely aware of some hoarse
+     croak which was my own voice, but distant and detached from myself.
+     At the same moment, in some effort of escape, I broke through that
+     cloud of despair and had a glimpse of Holmes's face, white, rigid,
+     and drawn with horror--the very look which I had seen upon the
+     features of the dead. It was that vision which gave me an instant of
+     sanity and of strength. I dashed from my chair, threw my arms round
+     Holmes, and together we lurched through the door, and an instant
+     afterwards had thrown ourselves down upon the grass plot and were
+     lying side by side, conscious only of the glorious sunshine which was
+     bursting its way through the hellish cloud of terror which had girt
+     us in. Slowly it rose from our souls like the mists from a landscape
+     until peace and reason had returned, and we were sitting upon the
+     grass, wiping our clammy foreheads, and looking with apprehension at
+     each other to mark the last traces of that terrific experience which
+     we had undergone.
+
+     "Upon my word, Watson!" said Holmes at last with an unsteady voice,
+     "I owe you both my thanks and an apology. It was an unjustifiable
+     experiment even for one's self, and doubly so for a friend. I am
+     really very sorry."
+
+     "You know," I answered with some emotion, for I have never seen so
+     much of Holmes's heart before, "that it is my greatest joy and
+     privilege to help you."
+
+     He relapsed at once into the half-humorous, half-cynical vein which
+     was his habitual attitude to those about him. "It would be
+     superfluous to drive us mad, my dear Watson," said he. "A candid
+     observer would certainly declare that we were so already before we
+     embarked upon so wild an experiment. I confess that I never imagined
+     that the effect could be so sudden and so severe." He dashed into the
+     cottage, and, reappearing with the burning lamp held at full arm's
+     length, he threw it among a bank of brambles. "We must give the room
+     a little time to clear. I take it, Watson, that you have no longer a
+     shadow of a doubt as to how these tragedies were produced?"
+
+     "None whatever."
+
+     "But the cause remains as obscure as before. Come into the arbour
+     here and let us discuss it together. That villainous stuff seems
+     still to linger round my throat. I think we must admit that all the
+     evidence points to this man, Mortimer Tregennis, having been the
+     criminal in the first tragedy, though he was the victim in the second
+     one. We must remember, in the first place, that there is some story
+     of a family quarrel, followed by a reconciliation. How bitter that
+     quarrel may have been, or how hollow the reconciliation we cannot
+     tell. When I think of Mortimer Tregennis, with the foxy face and the
+     small shrewd, beady eyes behind the spectacles, he is not a man whom
+     I should judge to be of a particularly forgiving disposition. Well,
+     in the next place, you will remember that this idea of someone moving
+     in the garden, which took our attention for a moment from the real
+     cause of the tragedy, emanated from him. He had a motive in
+     misleading us. Finally, if he did not throw the substance into the
+     fire at the moment of leaving the room, who did do so? The affair
+     happened immediately after his departure. Had anyone else come in,
+     the family would certainly have risen from the table. Besides, in
+     peaceful Cornwall, visitors did not arrive after ten o'clock at
+     night. We may take it, then, that all the evidence points to Mortimer
+     Tregennis as the culprit."
+
+     "Then his own death was suicide!"
+
+     "Well, Watson, it is on the face of it a not impossible supposition.
+     The man who had the guilt upon his soul of having brought such a fate
+     upon his own family might well be driven by remorse to inflict it
+     upon himself. There are, however, some cogent reasons against it.
+     Fortunately, there is one man in England who knows all about it, and
+     I have made arrangements by which we shall hear the facts this
+     afternoon from his own lips. Ah! he is a little before his time.
+     Perhaps you would kindly step this way, Dr. Leon Sterndale. We have
+     been conducing a chemical experiment indoors which has left our
+     little room hardly fit for the reception of so distinguished a
+     visitor."
+
+     I had heard the click of the garden gate, and now the majestic figure
+     of the great African explorer appeared upon the path. He turned in
+     some surprise towards the rustic arbour in which we sat.
+
+     "You sent for me, Mr. Holmes. I had your note about an hour ago, and
+     I have come, though I really do not know why I should obey your
+     summons."
+
+     "Perhaps we can clear the point up before we separate," said Holmes.
+     "Meanwhile, I am much obliged to you for your courteous acquiescence.
+     You will excuse this informal reception in the open air, but my
+     friend Watson and I have nearly furnished an additional chapter to
+     what the papers call the Cornish Horror, and we prefer a clear
+     atmosphere for the present. Perhaps, since the matters which we have
+     to discuss will affect you personally in a very intimate fashion, it
+     is as well that we should talk where there can be no eavesdropping."
+
+     The explorer took his cigar from his lips and gazed sternly at my
+     companion.
+
+     "I am at a loss to know, sir," he said, "what you can have to speak
+     about which affects me personally in a very intimate fashion."
+
+     "The killing of Mortimer Tregennis," said Holmes.
+
+     For a moment I wished that I were armed. Sterndale's fierce face
+     turned to a dusky red, his eyes glared, and the knotted, passionate
+     veins started out in his forehead, while he sprang forward with
+     clenched hands towards my companion. Then he stopped, and with a
+     violent effort he resumed a cold, rigid calmness, which was, perhaps,
+     more suggestive of danger than his hot-headed outburst.
+
+     "I have lived so long among savages and beyond the law," said he,
+     "that I have got into the way of being a law to myself. You would do
+     well, Mr. Holmes, not to forget it, for I have no desire to do you an
+     injury."
+
+     "Nor have I any desire to do you an injury, Dr. Sterndale. Surely the
+     clearest proof of it is that, knowing what I know, I have sent for
+     you and not for the police."
+
+     Sterndale sat down with a gasp, overawed for, perhaps, the first time
+     in his adventurous life. There was a calm assurance of power in
+     Holmes's manner which could not be withstood. Our visitor stammered
+     for a moment, his great hands opening and shutting in his agitation.
+
+     "What do you mean?" he asked at last. "If this is bluff upon your
+     part, Mr. Holmes, you have chosen a bad man for your experiment. Let
+     us have no more beating about the bush. What do you mean?"
+
+     "I will tell you," said Holmes, "and the reason why I tell you is
+     that I hope frankness may beget frankness. What my next step may be
+     will depend entirely upon the nature of your own defence."
+
+     "My defence?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "My defence against what?"
+
+     "Against the charge of killing Mortimer Tregennis."
+
+     Sterndale mopped his forehead with his handkerchief. "Upon my word,
+     you are getting on," said he. "Do all your successes depend upon this
+     prodigious power of bluff?"
+
+     "The bluff," said Holmes sternly, "is upon your side, Dr. Leon
+     Sterndale, and not upon mine. As a proof I will tell you some of the
+     facts upon which my conclusions are based. Of your return from
+     Plymouth, allowing much of your property to go on to Africa, I will
+     say nothing save that it first informed me that you were one of the
+     factors which had to be taken into account in reconstructing this
+     drama--"
+
+     "I came back--"
+
+     "I have heard your reasons and regard them as unconvincing and
+     inadequate. We will pass that. You came down here to ask me whom I
+     suspected. I refused to answer you. You then went to the vicarage,
+     waited outside it for some time, and finally returned to your
+     cottage."
+
+     "How do you know that?"
+
+     "I followed you."
+
+     "I saw no one."
+
+     "That is what you may expect to see when I follow you. You spent a
+     restless night at your cottage, and you formed certain plans, which
+     in the early morning you proceeded to put into execution. Leaving
+     your door just as day was breaking, you filled your pocket with some
+     reddish gravel that was lying heaped beside your gate."
+
+     Sterndale gave a violent start and looked at Holmes in amazement.
+
+     "You then walked swiftly for the mile which separated you from the
+     vicarage. You were wearing, I may remark, the same pair of ribbed
+     tennis shoes which are at the present moment upon your feet. At the
+     vicarage you passed through the orchard and the side hedge, coming
+     out under the window of the lodger Tregennis. It was now daylight,
+     but the household was not yet stirring. You drew some of the gravel
+     from your pocket, and you threw it up at the window above you."
+
+     Sterndale sprang to his feet.
+
+     "I believe that you are the devil himself!" he cried.
+
+     Holmes smiled at the compliment. "It took two, or possibly three,
+     handfuls before the lodger came to the window. You beckoned him to
+     come down. He dressed hurriedly and descended to his sitting-room.
+     You entered by the window. There was an interview--a short
+     one--during which you walked up and down the room. Then you passed
+     out and closed the window, standing on the lawn outside smoking a
+     cigar and watching what occurred. Finally, after the death of
+     Tregennis, you withdrew as you had come. Now, Dr. Sterndale, how do
+     you justify such conduct, and what were the motives for your actions?
+     If you prevaricate or trifle with me, I give you my assurance that
+     the matter will pass out of my hands forever."
+
+     Our visitor's face had turned ashen gray as he listened to the words
+     of his accuser. Now he sat for some time in thought with his face
+     sunk in his hands. Then with a sudden impulsive gesture he plucked a
+     photograph from his breast-pocket and threw it on the rustic table
+     before us.
+
+     "That is why I have done it," said he.
+
+     It showed the bust and face of a very beautiful woman. Holmes stooped
+     over it.
+
+     "Brenda Tregennis," said he.
+
+     "Yes, Brenda Tregennis," repeated our visitor. "For years I have
+     loved her. For years she has loved me. There is the secret of that
+     Cornish seclusion which people have marvelled at. It has brought me
+     close to the one thing on earth that was dear to me. I could not
+     marry her, for I have a wife who has left me for years and yet whom,
+     by the deplorable laws of England, I could not divorce. For years
+     Brenda waited. For years I waited. And this is what we have waited
+     for." A terrible sob shook his great frame, and he clutched his
+     throat under his brindled beard. Then with an effort he mastered
+     himself and spoke on:
+
+     "The vicar knew. He was in our confidence. He would tell you that she
+     was an angel upon earth. That was why he telegraphed to me and I
+     returned. What was my baggage or Africa to me when I learned that
+     such a fate had come upon my darling? There you have the missing clue
+     to my action, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Proceed," said my friend.
+
+     Dr. Sterndale drew from his pocket a paper packet and laid it upon
+     the table. On the outside was written "Radix pedis diaboli" with a
+     red poison label beneath it. He pushed it towards me. "I understand
+     that you are a doctor, sir. Have you ever heard of this preparation?"
+
+     "Devil's-foot root! No, I have never heard of it."
+
+     "It is no reflection upon your professional knowledge," said he, "for
+     I believe that, save for one sample in a laboratory at Buda, there is
+     no other specimen in Europe. It has not yet found its way either into
+     the pharmacopoeia or into the literature of toxicology. The root is
+     shaped like a foot, half human, half goatlike; hence the fanciful
+     name given by a botanical missionary. It is used as an ordeal poison
+     by the medicine-men in certain districts of West Africa and is kept
+     as a secret among them. This particular specimen I obtained under
+     very extraordinary circumstances in the Ubangi country." He opened
+     the paper as he spoke and disclosed a heap of reddish-brown,
+     snuff-like powder.
+
+     "Well, sir?" asked Holmes sternly.
+
+     "I am about to tell you, Mr. Holmes, all that actually occurred, for
+     you already know so much that it is clearly to my interest that you
+     should know all. I have already explained the relationship in which I
+     stood to the Tregennis family. For the sake of the sister I was
+     friendly with the brothers. There was a family quarrel about money
+     which estranged this man Mortimer, but it was supposed to be made up,
+     and I afterwards met him as I did the others. He was a sly, subtle,
+     scheming man, and several things arose which gave me a suspicion of
+     him, but I had no cause for any positive quarrel.
+
+     "One day, only a couple of weeks ago, he came down to my cottage and
+     I showed him some of my African curiosities. Among other things I
+     exhibited this powder, and I told him of its strange properties, how
+     it stimulates those brain centres which control the emotion of fear,
+     and how either madness or death is the fate of the unhappy native who
+     is subjected to the ordeal by the priest of his tribe. I told him
+     also how powerless European science would be to detect it. How he
+     took it I cannot say, for I never left the room, but there is no
+     doubt that it was then, while I was opening cabinets and stooping to
+     boxes, that he managed to abstract some of the devil's-foot root. I
+     well remember how he plied me with questions as to the amount and the
+     time that was needed for its effect, but I little dreamed that he
+     could have a personal reason for asking.
+
+     "I thought no more of the matter until the vicar's telegram reached
+     me at Plymouth. This villain had thought that I would be at sea
+     before the news could reach me, and that I should be lost for years
+     in Africa. But I returned at once. Of course, I could not listen to
+     the details without feeling assured that my poison had been used. I
+     came round to see you on the chance that some other explanation had
+     suggested itself to you. But there could be none. I was convinced
+     that Mortimer Tregennis was the murderer; that for the sake of money,
+     and with the idea, perhaps, that if the other members of his family
+     were all insane he would be the sole guardian of their joint
+     property, he had used the devil's-foot powder upon them, driven two
+     of them out of their senses, and killed his sister Brenda, the one
+     human being whom I have ever loved or who has ever loved me. There
+     was his crime; what was to be his punishment?
+
+     "Should I appeal to the law? Where were my proofs? I knew that the
+     facts were true, but could I help to make a jury of countrymen
+     believe so fantastic a story? I might or I might not. But I could not
+     afford to fail. My soul cried out for revenge. I have said to you
+     once before, Mr. Holmes, that I have spent much of my life outside
+     the law, and that I have come at last to be a law to myself. So it
+     was even now. I determined that the fate which he had given to others
+     should be shared by himself. Either that or I would do justice upon
+     him with my own hand. In all England there can be no man who sets
+     less value upon his own life than I do at the present moment.
+
+     "Now I have told you all. You have yourself supplied the rest. I did,
+     as you say, after a restless night, set off early from my cottage. I
+     foresaw the difficulty of arousing him, so I gathered some gravel
+     from the pile which you have mentioned, and I used it to throw up to
+     his window. He came down and admitted me through the window of the
+     sitting-room. I laid his offence before him. I told him that I had
+     come both as judge and executioner. The wretch sank into a chair,
+     paralyzed at the sight of my revolver. I lit the lamp, put the powder
+     above it, and stood outside the window, ready to carry out my threat
+     to shoot him should he try to leave the room. In five minutes he
+     died. My God! how he died! But my heart was flint, for he endured
+     nothing which my innocent darling had not felt before him. There is
+     my story, Mr. Holmes. Perhaps, if you loved a woman, you would have
+     done as much yourself. At any rate, I am in your hands. You can take
+     what steps you like. As I have already said, there is no man living
+     who can fear death less than I do."
+
+     Holmes sat for some little time in silence.
+
+     "What were your plans?" he asked at last.
+
+     "I had intended to bury myself in central Africa. My work there is
+     but half finished."
+
+     "Go and do the other half," said Holmes. "I, at least, am not
+     prepared to prevent you."
+
+     Dr. Sterndale raised his giant figure, bowed gravely, and walked from
+     the arbour. Holmes lit his pipe and handed me his pouch.
+
+     "Some fumes which are not poisonous would be a welcome change," said
+     he. "I think you must agree, Watson, that it is not a case in which
+     we are called upon to interfere. Our investigation has been
+     independent, and our action shall be so also. You would not denounce
+     the man?"
+
+     "Certainly not," I answered.
+
+     "I have never loved, Watson, but if I did and if the woman I loved
+     had met such an end, I might act even as our lawless lion-hunter has
+     done. Who knows? Well, Watson, I will not offend your intelligence by
+     explaining what is obvious. The gravel upon the window-sill was, of
+     course, the starting-point of my research. It was unlike anything in
+     the vicarage garden. Only when my attention had been drawn to Dr.
+     Sterndale and his cottage did I find its counterpart. The lamp
+     shining in broad daylight and the remains of powder upon the shield
+     were successive links in a fairly obvious chain. And now, my dear
+     Watson, I think we may dismiss the matter from our mind and go back
+     with a clear conscience to the study of those Chaldean roots which
+     are surely to be traced in the Cornish branch of the great Celtic
+     speech."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  HIS LAST BOW
+                         An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes
+
+     It was nine o'clock at night upon the second of August--the most
+     terrible August in the history of the world. One might have thought
+     already that God's curse hung heavy over a degenerate world, for
+     there was an awesome hush and a feeling of vague expectancy in the
+     sultry and stagnant air. The sun had long set, but one blood-red gash
+     like an open wound lay low in the distant west. Above, the stars were
+     shining brightly, and below, the lights of the shipping glimmered in
+     the bay. The two famous Germans stood beside the stone parapet of the
+     garden walk, with the long, low, heavily gabled house behind them,
+     and they looked down upon the broad sweep of the beach at the foot of
+     the great chalk cliff in which Von Bork, like some wandering eagle,
+     had perched himself four years before. They stood with their heads
+     close together, talking in low, confidential tones. From below the
+     two glowing ends of their cigars might have been the smouldering eyes
+     of some malignant fiend looking down in the darkness.
+
+     A remarkable man this Von Bork--a man who could hardly be matched
+     among all the devoted agents of the Kaiser. It was his talents which
+     had first recommended him for the English mission, the most important
+     mission of all, but since he had taken it over those talents had
+     become more and more manifest to the half-dozen people in the world
+     who were really in touch with the truth. One of these was his present
+     companion, Baron Von Herling, the chief secretary of the legation,
+     whose huge 100-horse-power Benz car was blocking the country lane as
+     it waited to waft its owner back to London.
+
+     "So far as I can judge the trend of events, you will probably be back
+     in Berlin within the week," the secretary was saying. "When you get
+     there, my dear Von Bork, I think you will be surprised at the welcome
+     you will receive. I happen to know what is thought in the highest
+     quarters of your work in this country." He was a huge man, the
+     secretary, deep, broad, and tall, with a slow, heavy fashion of
+     speech which had been his main asset in his political career.
+
+     Von Bork laughed.
+
+     "They are not very hard to deceive," he remarked. "A more docile,
+     simple folk could not be imagined."
+
+     "I don't know about that," said the other thoughtfully. "They have
+     strange limits and one must learn to observe them. It is that surface
+     simplicity of theirs which makes a trap for the stranger. One's first
+     impression is that they are entirely soft. Then one comes suddenly
+     upon something very hard, and you know that you have reached the
+     limit and must adapt yourself to the fact. They have, for example,
+     their insular conventions which simply must be observed."
+
+     "Meaning 'good form' and that sort of thing?" Von Bork sighed as one
+     who had suffered much.
+
+     "Meaning British prejudice in all its queer manifestations. As an
+     example I may quote one of my own worst blunders--I can afford to
+     talk of my blunders, for you know my work well enough to be aware of
+     my successes. It was on my first arrival. I was invited to a week-end
+     gathering at the country house of a cabinet minister. The
+     conversation was amazingly indiscreet."
+
+     Von Bork nodded. "I've been there," said he dryly.
+
+     "Exactly. Well, I naturally sent a resume of the information to
+     Berlin. Unfortunately our good chancellor is a little heavy-handed in
+     these matters, and he transmitted a remark which showed that he was
+     aware of what had been said. This, of course, took the trail straight
+     up to me. You've no idea the harm that it did me. There was nothing
+     soft about our British hosts on that occasion, I can assure you. I
+     was two years living it down. Now you, with this sporting pose of
+     yours--"
+
+     "No, no, don't call it a pose. A pose is an artificial thing. This is
+     quite natural. I am a born sportsman. I enjoy it."
+
+     "Well, that makes it the more effective. You yacht against them, you
+     hunt with them, you play polo, you match them in every game, your
+     four-in-hand takes the prize at Olympia. I have even heard that you
+     go the length of boxing with the young officers. What is the result?
+     Nobody takes you seriously. You are a 'good old sport,' 'quite a
+     decent fellow for a German,' a hard-drinking, night-club,
+     knock-about-town, devil-may-care young fellow. And all the time this
+     quiet country house of yours is the centre of half the mischief in
+     England, and the sporting squire the most astute secret-service man
+     in Europe. Genius, my dear Von Bork--genius!"
+
+     "You flatter me, Baron. But certainly I may claim my four years in
+     this country have not been unproductive. I've never shown you my
+     little store. Would you mind stepping in for a moment?"
+
+     The door of the study opened straight on to the terrace. Von Bork
+     pushed it back, and, leading the way, he clicked the switch of the
+     electric light. He then closed the door behind the bulky form which
+     followed him and carefully adjusted the heavy curtain over the
+     latticed window. Only when all these precautions had been taken and
+     tested did he turn his sunburned aquiline face to his guest.
+
+     "Some of my papers have gone," said he. "When my wife and the
+     household left yesterday for Flushing they took the less important
+     with them. I must, of course, claim the protection of the embassy for
+     the others."
+
+     "Your name has already been filed as one of the personal suite. There
+     will be no difficulties for you or your baggage. Of course, it is
+     just possible that we may not have to go. England may leave France to
+     her fate. We are sure that there is no binding treaty between them."
+
+     "And Belgium?"
+
+     "Yes, and Belgium, too."
+
+     Von Bork shook his head. "I don't see how that could be. There is a
+     definite treaty there. She could never recover from such a
+     humiliation."
+
+     "She would at least have peace for the moment."
+
+     "But her honor?"
+
+     "Tut, my dear sir, we live in a utilitarian age. Honour is a
+     mediaeval conception. Besides England is not ready. It is an
+     inconceivable thing, but even our special war tax of fifty million,
+     which one would think made our purpose as clear as if we had
+     advertised it on the front page of the Times, has not roused these
+     people from their slumbers. Here and there one hears a question. It
+     is my business to find an answer. Here and there also there is an
+     irritation. It is my business to soothe it. But I can assure you that
+     so far as the essentials go--the storage of munitions, the
+     preparation for submarine attack, the arrangements for making high
+     explosives--nothing is prepared. How, then, can England come in,
+     especially when we have stirred her up such a devil's brew of Irish
+     civil war, window-breaking Furies, and God knows what to keep her
+     thoughts at home."
+
+     "She must think of her future."
+
+     "Ah, that is another matter. I fancy that in the future we have our
+     own very definite plans about England, and that your information will
+     be very vital to us. It is to-day or to-morrow with Mr. John Bull. If
+     he prefers to-day we are perfectly ready. If it is to-morrow we shall
+     be more ready still. I should think they would be wiser to fight with
+     allies than without them, but that is their own affair. This week is
+     their week of destiny. But you were speaking of your papers." He sat
+     in the armchair with the light shining upon his broad bald head,
+     while he puffed sedately at his cigar.
+
+     The large oak-panelled, book-lined room had a curtain hung in the
+     future corner. When this was drawn it disclosed a large, brass-bound
+     safe. Von Bork detached a small key from his watch chain, and after
+     some considerable manipulation of the lock he swung open the heavy
+     door.
+
+     "Look!" said he, standing clear, with a wave of his hand.
+
+     The light shone vividly into the opened safe, and the secretary of
+     the embassy gazed with an absorbed interest at the rows of stuffed
+     pigeon-holes with which it was furnished. Each pigeon-hole had its
+     label, and his eyes as he glanced along them read a long series of
+     such titles as "Fords," "Harbour-defences," "Aeroplanes," "Ireland,"
+     "Egypt," "Portsmouth forts," "The Channel," "Rosythe," and a score of
+     others. Each compartment was bristling with papers and plans.
+
+     "Colossal!" said the secretary. Putting down his cigar he softly
+     clapped his fat hands.
+
+     "And all in four years, Baron. Not such a bad show for the
+     hard-drinking, hard-riding country squire. But the gem of my
+     collection is coming and there is the setting all ready for it." He
+     pointed to a space over which "Naval Signals" was printed.
+
+     "But you have a good dossier there already."
+
+     "Out of date and waste paper. The Admiralty in some way got the alarm
+     and every code has been changed. It was a blow, Baron--the worst
+     setback in my whole campaign. But thanks to my check-book and the
+     good Altamont all will be well to-night."
+
+     The Baron looked at his watch and gave a guttural exclamation of
+     disappointment.
+
+     "Well, I really can wait no longer. You can imagine that things are
+     moving at present in Carlton Terrace and that we have all to be at
+     our posts. I had hoped to be able to bring news of your great coup.
+     Did Altamont name no hour?"
+
+     Von Bork pushed over a telegram.
+
+     Will come without fail to-night and bring new sparking plugs.
+     --Altamont.
+
+     "Sparking plugs, eh?"
+
+     "You see he poses as a motor expert and I keep a full garage. In our
+     code everything likely to come up is named after some spare part. If
+     he talks of a radiator it is a battleship, of an oil pump a cruiser,
+     and so on. Sparking plugs are naval signals."
+
+     "From Portsmouth at midday," said the secretary, examining the
+     superscription. "By the way, what do you give him?"
+
+     "Five hundred pounds for this particular job. Of course he has a
+     salary as well."
+
+     "The greedy rouge. They are useful, these traitors, but I grudge them
+     their blood money."
+
+     "I grudge Altamont nothing. He is a wonderful worker. If I pay him
+     well, at least he delivers the goods, to use his own phrase. Besides
+     he is not a traitor. I assure you that our most pan-Germanic Junker
+     is a sucking dove in his feelings towards England as compared with a
+     real bitter Irish-American."
+
+     "Oh, an Irish-American?"
+
+     "If you heard him talk you would not doubt it. Sometimes I assure you
+     I can hardly understand him. He seems to have declared war on the
+     King's English as well as on the English king. Must you really go? He
+     may be here any moment."
+
+     "No. I'm sorry, but I have already overstayed my time. We shall
+     expect you early to-morrow, and when you get that signal book through
+     the little door on the Duke of York's steps you can put a triumphant
+     finis to your record in England. What! Tokay!" He indicated a heavily
+     sealed dust-covered bottle which stood with two high glasses upon a
+     salver.
+
+     "May I offer you a glass before your journey?"
+
+     "No, thanks. But it looks like revelry."
+
+     "Altamont has a nice taste in wines, and he took a fancy to my Tokay.
+     He is a touchy fellow and needs humouring in small things. I have to
+     study him, I assure you." They had strolled out on to the terrace
+     again, and along it to the further end where at a touch from the
+     Baron's chauffeur the great car shivered and chuckled. "Those are the
+     lights of Harwich, I suppose," said the secretary, pulling on his
+     dust coat. "How still and peaceful it all seems. There may be other
+     lights within the week, and the English coast a less tranquil place!
+     The heavens, too, may not be quite so peaceful if all that the good
+     Zeppelin promises us comes true. By the way, who is that?"
+
+     Only one window showed a light behind them; in it there stood a lamp,
+     and beside it, seated at a table, was a dear old ruddy-faced woman in
+     a country cap. She was bending over her knitting and stopping
+     occasionally to stroke a large black cat upon a stool beside her.
+
+     "That is Martha, the only servant I have left."
+
+     The secretary chuckled.
+
+     "She might almost personify Britannia," said he, "with her complete
+     self-absorption and general air of comfortable somnolence. Well, au
+     revoir, Von Bork!" With a final wave of his hand he sprang into the
+     car, and a moment later the two golden cones from the headlights shot
+     through the darkness. The secretary lay back in the cushions of the
+     luxurious limousine, with his thoughts so full of the impending
+     European tragedy that he hardly observed that as his car swung round
+     the village street it nearly passed over a little Ford coming in the
+     opposite direction.
+
+     Von Bork walked slowly back to the study when the last gleams of the
+     motor lamps had faded into the distance. As he passed he observed
+     that his old housekeeper had put out her lamp and retired. It was a
+     new experience to him, the silence and darkness of his widespread
+     house, for his family and household had been a large one. It was a
+     relief to him, however, to think that they were all in safety and
+     that, but for that one old woman who had lingered in the kitchen, he
+     had the whole place to himself. There was a good deal of tidying up
+     to do inside his study and he set himself to do it until his keen,
+     handsome face was flushed with the heat of the burning papers. A
+     leather valise stood beside his table, and into this he began to pack
+     very neatly and systematically the precious contents of his safe. He
+     had hardly got started with the work, however, when his quick ears
+     caught the sounds of a distant car. Instantly he gave an exclamation
+     of satisfaction, strapped up the valise, shut the safe, locked it,
+     and hurried out on to the terrace. He was just in time to see the
+     lights of a small car come to a halt at the gate. A passenger sprang
+     out of it and advanced swiftly towards him, while the chauffeur, a
+     heavily built, elderly man with a gray moustache, settled down like
+     one who resigns himself to a long vigil.
+
+     "Well?" asked Von Bork eagerly, running forward to meet his visitor.
+
+     For answer the man waved a small brown-paper parcel triumphantly
+     above his head.
+
+     "You can give me the glad hand to-night, mister," he cried. "I'm
+     bringing home the bacon at last."
+
+     "The signals?"
+
+     "Same as I said in my cable. Every last one of them, semaphore, lamp
+     code, Marconi--a copy, mind you, not the original. That was too
+     dangerous. But it's the real goods, and you can lay to that." He
+     slapped the German upon the shoulder with a rough familiarity from
+     which the other winced.
+
+     "Come in," he said. "I'm all alone in the house. I was only waiting
+     for this. Of course a copy is better than the original. If an
+     original were missing they would change the whole thing. You think
+     it's all safe about the copy?"
+
+     The Irish-American had entered the study and stretched his long limbs
+     from the armchair. He was a tall, gaunt man of sixty, with clear-cut
+     features and a small goatee beard which gave him a general
+     resemblance to the caricatures of Uncle Sam. A half-smoked, sodden
+     cigar hung from the corner of his mouth, and as he sat down he struck
+     a match and relit it. "Making ready for a move?" he remarked as he
+     looked round him. "Say, mister," he added, as his eyes fell upon the
+     safe from which the curtain was now removed, "you don't tell me you
+     keep your papers in that?"
+
+     "Why not?"
+
+     "Gosh, in a wide-open contraption like that! And they reckon you to
+     be some spy. Why, a Yankee crook would be into that with a
+     can-opener. If I'd known that any letter of mine was goin' to lie
+     loose in a thing like that I'd have been a mug to write to you at
+     all."
+
+     "It would puzzle any crook to force that safe," Von Bork answered.
+     "You won't cut that metal with any tool."
+
+     "But the lock?"
+
+     "No, it's a double combination lock. You know what that is?"
+
+     "Search me," said the American.
+
+     "Well, you need a word as well as a set of figures before you can get
+     the lock to work." He rose and showed a double-radiating disc round
+     the keyhole. "This outer one is for the letters, the inner one for
+     the figures."
+
+     "Well, well, that's fine."
+
+     "So it's not quite as simple as you thought. It was four years ago
+     that I had it made, and what do you think I chose for the word and
+     figures?"
+
+     "It's beyond me."
+
+     "Well, I chose August for the word, and 1914 for the figures, and
+     here we are."
+
+     The American's face showed his surprise and admiration.
+
+     "My, but that was smart! You had it down to a fine thing."
+
+     "Yes, a few of us even then could have guessed the date. Here it is,
+     and I'm shutting down to-morrow morning."
+
+     "Well, I guess you'll have to fix me up also. I'm not staying is this
+     gol-darned country all on my lonesome. In a week or less, from what I
+     see, John Bull will be on his hind legs and fair ramping. I'd rather
+     watch him from over the water."
+
+     "But you're an American citizen?"
+
+     "Well, so was Jack James an American citizen, but he's doing time in
+     Portland all the same. It cuts no ice with a British copper to tell
+     him you're an American citizen. 'It's British law and order over
+     here,' says he. By the way, mister, talking of Jack James, it seems
+     to me you don't do much to cover your men."
+
+     "What do you mean?" Von Bork asked sharply.
+
+     "Well, you are their employer, ain't you? It's up to you to see that
+     they don't fall down. But they do fall down, and when did you ever
+     pick them up? There's James--"
+
+     "It was James's own fault. You know that yourself. He was too
+     self-willed for the job."
+
+     "James was a bonehead--I give you that. Then there was Hollis."
+
+     "The man was mad."
+
+     "Well, he went a bit woozy towards the end. It's enough to make a man
+     bug-house when he has to play a part from morning to night with a
+     hundred guys all ready to set the coppers wise to him. But now there
+     is Steiner--"
+
+     Von Bork started violently, and his ruddy face turned a shade paler.
+
+     "What about Steiner?"
+
+     "Well, they've got him, that's all. They raided his store last night,
+     and he and his papers are all in Portsmouth jail. You'll go off and
+     he, poor devil, will have to stand the racket, and lucky if he gets
+     off with his life. That's why I want to get over the water as soon as
+     you do."
+
+     Von Bork was a strong, self-contained man, but it was easy to see
+     that the news had shaken him.
+
+     "How could they have got on to Steiner?" he muttered. "That's the
+     worst blow yet."
+
+     "Well, you nearly had a worse one, for I believe they are not far off
+     me."
+
+     "You don't mean that!"
+
+     "Sure thing. My landlady down Fratton way had some inquiries, and
+     when I heard of it I guessed it was time for me to hustle. But what I
+     want to know, mister, is how the coppers know these things? Steiner
+     is the fifth man you've lost since I signed on with you, and I know
+     the name of the sixth if I don't get a move on. How do you explain
+     it, and ain't you ashamed to see your men go down like this?"
+
+     Von Bork flushed crimson.
+
+     "How dare you speak in such a way!"
+
+     "If I didn't dare things, mister, I wouldn't be in your service. But
+     I'll tell you straight what is in my mind. I've heard that with you
+     German politicians when an agent has done his work you are not sorry
+     to see him put away."
+
+     Von Bork sprang to his feet.
+
+     "Do you dare to suggest that I have given away my own agents!"
+
+     "I don't stand for that, mister, but there's a stool pigeon or a
+     cross somewhere, and it's up to you to find out where it is. Anyhow I
+     am taking no more chances. It's me for little Holland, and the sooner
+     the better."
+
+     Von Bork had mastered his anger.
+
+     "We have been allies too long to quarrel now at the very hour of
+     victory," he said. "You've done splendid work and taken risks, and I
+     can't forget it. By all means go to Holland, and you can get a boat
+     from Rotterdam to New York. No other line will be safe a week from
+     now. I'll take that book and pack it with the rest."
+
+     The American held the small parcel in his hand, but made no motion to
+     give it up.
+
+     "What about the dough?" he asked.
+
+     "The what?"
+
+     "The boodle. The reward. The £500. The gunner turned damned nasty at
+     the last, and I had to square him with an extra hundred dollars or it
+     would have been nitsky for you and me. 'Nothin' doin'!' says he, and
+     he meant it, too, but the last hundred did it. It's cost me two
+     hundred pound from first to last, so it isn't likely I'd give it up
+     without gettin' my wad."
+
+     Von Bork smiled with some bitterness. "You don't seem to have a very
+     high opinion of my honour," said he, "you want the money before you
+     give up the book."
+
+     "Well, mister, it is a business proposition."
+
+     "All right. Have your way." He sat down at the table and scribbled a
+     check, which he tore from the book, but he refrained from handing it
+     to his companion. "After all, since we are to be on such terms, Mr.
+     Altamont," said he, "I don't see why I should trust you any more than
+     you trust me. Do you understand?" he added, looking back over his
+     shoulder at the American. "There's the check upon the table. I claim
+     the right to examine that parcel before you pick the money up."
+
+     The American passed it over without a word. Von Bork undid a winding
+     of string and two wrappers of paper. Then he sat dazing for a moment
+     in silent amazement at a small blue book which lay before him. Across
+     the cover was printed in golden letters Practical Handbook of Bee
+     Culture. Only for one instant did the master spy glare at this
+     strangely irrelevant inscription. The next he was gripped at the back
+     of his neck by a grasp of iron, and a chloroformed sponge was held in
+     front of his writhing face.
+
+     "Another glass, Watson!" said Mr. Sherlock Holmes as he extended the
+     bottle of Imperial Tokay.
+
+     The thickset chauffeur, who had seated himself by the table, pushed
+     forward his glass with some eagerness.
+
+     "It is a good wine, Holmes."
+
+     "A remarkable wine, Watson. Our friend upon the sofa has assured me
+     that it is from Franz Josef's special cellar at the Schoenbrunn
+     Palace. Might I trouble you to open the window, for chloroform vapour
+     does not help the palate."
+
+     The safe was ajar, and Holmes standing in front of it was removing
+     dossier after dossier, swiftly examining each, and then packing it
+     neatly in Von Bork's valise. The German lay upon the sofa sleeping
+     stertorously with a strap round his upper arms and another round his
+     legs.
+
+     "We need not hurry ourselves, Watson. We are safe from interruption.
+     Would you mind touching the bell? There is no one in the house except
+     old Martha, who has played her part to admiration. I got her the
+     situation here when first I took the matter up. Ah, Martha, you will
+     be glad to hear that all is well."
+
+     The pleasant old lady had appeared in the doorway. She curtseyed with
+     a smile to Mr. Holmes, but glanced with some apprehension at the
+     figure upon the sofa.
+
+     "It is all right, Martha. He has not been hurt at all."
+
+     "I am glad of that, Mr. Holmes. According to his lights he has been a
+     kind master. He wanted me to go with his wife to Germany yesterday,
+     but that would hardly have suited your plans, would it, sir?"
+
+     "No, indeed, Martha. So long as you were here I was easy in my mind.
+     We waited some time for your signal to-night."
+
+     "It was the secretary, sir."
+
+     "I know. His car passed ours."
+
+     "I thought he would never go. I knew that it would not suit your
+     plans, sir, to find him here."
+
+     "No, indeed. Well, it only meant that we waited half an hour or so
+     until I saw your lamp go out and knew that the coast was clear. You
+     can report to me to-morrow in London, Martha, at Claridge's Hotel."
+
+     "Very good, sir."
+
+     "I suppose you have everything ready to leave."
+
+     "Yes, sir. He posted seven letters to-day. I have the addresses as
+     usual."
+
+     "Very good, Martha. I will look into them to-morrow. Good-night.
+     These papers," he continued as the old lady vanished, "are not of
+     very great importance, for, of course, the information which they
+     represent has been sent off long ago to the German government. These
+     are the originals which cold not safely be got out of the country."
+
+     "Then they are of no use."
+
+     "I should not go so far as to say that, Watson. They will at least
+     show our people what is known and what is not. I may say that a good
+     many of these papers have come through me, and I need not add are
+     thoroughly untrustworthy. It would brighten my declining years to see
+     a German cruiser navigating the Solent according to the mine-field
+     plans which I have furnished. But you, Watson"--he stopped his work
+     and took his old friend by the shoulders--"I've hardly seen you in
+     the light yet. How have the years used you? You look the same blithe
+     boy as ever."
+
+     "I feel twenty years younger, Holmes. I have seldom felt so happy as
+     when I got your wire asking me to meet you at Harwich with the car.
+     But you, Holmes--you have changed very little--save for that horrible
+     goatee."
+
+     "These are the sacrifices one makes for one's country, Watson," said
+     Holmes, pulling at his little tuft. "To-morrow it will be but a
+     dreadful memory. With my hair cut and a few other superficial changes
+     I shall no doubt reappear at Claridge's to-morrow as I was before
+     this American stunt--I beg your pardon, Watson, my well of English
+     seems to be permanently defiled--before this American job came my
+     way."
+
+     "But you have retired, Holmes. We heard of you as living the life of
+     a hermit among your bees and your books in a small farm upon the
+     South Downs."
+
+     "Exactly, Watson. Here is the fruit of my leisured ease, the magnum
+     opus of my latter years!" He picked up the volume from the table and
+     read out the whole title, Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with
+     Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen. "Alone I did it.
+     Behold the fruit of pensive nights and laborious days when I watched
+     the little working gangs as once I watched the criminal world of
+     London."
+
+     "But how did you get to work again?"
+
+     "Ah, I have often marvelled at it myself. The Foreign Minister alone
+     I could have withstood, but when the Premier also deigned to visit my
+     humble roof--! The fact is, Watson, that this gentleman upon the sofa
+     was a bit too good for our people. He was in a class by himself.
+     Things were going wrong, and no one could understand why they were
+     going wrong. Agents were suspected or even caught, but there was
+     evidence of some strong and secret central force. It was absolutely
+     necessary to expose it. Strong pressure was brought upon me to look
+     into the matter. It has cost me two years, Watson, but they have not
+     been devoid of excitement. When I say that I started my pilgrimage at
+     Chicago, graduated in an Irish secret society at Buffalo, gave
+     serious trouble to the constabulary at Skibbareen, and so eventually
+     caught the eye of a subordinate agent of Von Bork, who recommended me
+     as a likely man, you will realize that the matter was complex. Since
+     then I have been honoured by his confidence, which has not prevented
+     most of his plans going subtly wrong and five of his best agents
+     being in prison. I watched them, Watson, and I picked them as they
+     ripened. Well, sir, I hope that you are none the worse!"
+
+     The last remark was addressed to Von Bork himself, who after much
+     gasping and blinking had lain quietly listening to Holmes's
+     statement. He broke out now into a furious stream of German
+     invective, his face convulsed with passion. Holmes continued his
+     swift investigation of documents while his prisoner cursed and swore.
+
+     "Though unmusical, German is the most expressive of all languages,"
+     he observed when Von Bork had stopped from pure exhaustion. "Hullo!
+     Hullo!" he added as he looked hard at the corner of a tracing before
+     putting it in the box. "This should put another bird in the cage. I
+     had no idea that the paymaster was such a rascal, though I have long
+     had an eye upon him. Mister Von Bork, you have a great deal to answer
+     for."
+
+     The prisoner had raised himself with some difficulty upon the sofa
+     and was staring with a strange mixture of amazement and hatred at his
+     captor.
+
+     "I shall get level with you, Altamont," he said, speaking with slow
+     deliberation. "If it takes me all my life I shall get level with
+     you!"
+
+     "The old sweet song," said Holmes. "How often have I heard it in days
+     gone by. It was a favorite ditty of the late lamented Professor
+     Moriarty.  Colonel Sebastian Moran has also been known to warble it.
+     And yet I live and keep bees upon the South Downs."
+
+     "Curse you, you double traitor!" cried the German, straining against
+     his bonds and glaring murder from his furious eyes.
+
+     "No, no, it is not so bad as that," said Holmes, smiling. "As my
+     speech surely shows you, Mr. Altamont of Chicago had no existence in
+     fact. I used him and he is gone."
+
+     "Then who are you?"
+
+     "It is really immaterial who I am, but since the matter seems to
+     interest you, Mr. Von Bork, I may say that this is not my first
+     acquaintance with the members of your family. I have done a good deal
+     of business in Germany in the past and my name is probably familiar
+     to you."
+
+     "I would wish to know it," said the Prussian grimly.
+
+     "It was I who brought about the separation between Irene Adler and
+     the late King of Bohemia when your cousin Heinrich was the Imperial
+     Envoy. It was I also who saved from murder, by the Nihilist Klopman,
+     Count Von und Zu Grafenstein, who was your mother's elder brother. It
+     was I--"
+
+     Von Bork sat up in amazement.
+
+     "There is only one man," he cried.
+
+     "Exactly," said Holmes.
+
+     Von Bork groaned and sank back on the sofa. "And most of that
+     information came through you," he cried. "What is it worth? What have
+     I done? It is my ruin forever!"
+
+     "It is certainly a little untrustworthy," said Holmes. "It will
+     require some checking and you have little time to check it. Your
+     admiral may find the new guns rather larger than he expects, and the
+     cruisers perhaps a trifle faster."
+
+     Von Bork clutched at his own throat in despair.
+
+     "There are a good many other points of detail which will, no doubt,
+     come to light in good time. But you have one quality which is very
+     rare in a German, Mr. Von Bork: you are a sportsman and you will bear
+     me no ill-will when you realize that you, who have outwitted so many
+     other people, have at last been outwitted yourself. After all, you
+     have done your best for your country, and I have done my best for
+     mine, and what could be more natural? Besides," he added, not
+     unkindly, as he laid his hand upon the shoulder of the prostrate man,
+     "it is better than to fall before some ignoble foe. These papers are
+     now ready, Watson. If you will help me with our prisoner, I think
+     that we may get started for London at once."
+
+     It was no easy task to move Von Bork, for he was a strong and a
+     desperate man. Finally, holding either arm, the two friends walked
+     him very slowly down the garden walk which he had trod with such
+     proud confidence when he received the congratulations of the famous
+     diplomatist only a few hours before. After a short, final struggle he
+     was hoisted, still bound hand and foot, into the spare seat of the
+     little car. His precious valise was wedged in beside him.
+
+     "I trust that you are as comfortable as circumstances permit," said
+     Holmes when the final arrangements were made. "Should I be guilty of
+     a liberty if I lit a cigar and placed it between your lips?"
+
+     But all amenities were wasted upon the angry German.
+
+     "I suppose you realize, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said he, "that if your
+     government bears you out in this treatment it becomes an act of war."
+
+     "What about your government and all this treatment?" said Holmes,
+     tapping the valise.
+
+     "You are a private individual. You have no warrant for my arrest. The
+     whole proceeding is absolutely illegal and outrageous."
+
+     "Absolutely," said Holmes.
+
+     "Kidnapping a German subject."
+
+     "And stealing his private papers."
+
+     "Well, you realize your position, you and your accomplice here. If I
+     were to shout for help as we pass through the village--"
+
+     "My dear sir, if you did anything so foolish you would probably
+     enlarge the two limited titles of our village inns by giving us 'The
+     Dangling Prussian' as a signpost. The Englishman is a patient
+     creature, but at present his temper is a little inflamed, and it
+     would be as well not to try him too far. No, Mr. Von Bork, you will
+     go with us in a quiet, sensible fashion to Scotland Yard, whence you
+     can send for your friend, Baron Von Herling, and see if even now you
+     may not fill that place which he has reserved for you in the
+     ambassadorial suite. As to you, Watson, you are joining us with your
+     old service, as I understand, so London won't be out of your way.
+     Stand with me here upon the terrace, for it may be the last quiet
+     talk that we shall ever have."
+
+     The two friends chatted in intimate converse for a few minutes,
+     recalling once again the days of the past, while their prisoner
+     vainly wriggled to undo the bonds that held him. As they turned to
+     the car Holmes pointed back to the moonlit sea and shook a thoughtful
+     head.
+
+     "There's an east wind coming, Watson."
+
+     "I think not, Holmes. It is very warm."
+
+     "Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age.
+     There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew
+     on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many
+     of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the
+     less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine
+     when the storm has cleared. Start her up, Watson, for it's time that
+     we were on our way. I have a check for five hundred pounds which
+     should be cashed early, for the drawer is quite capable of stopping
+     it if he can."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+     ----------
+     This text is provided to you "as-is" without any warranty. No
+     warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, are made to you as to
+     the text or any medium it may be on, including but not limited to
+     warranties of merchantablity or fitness for a particular purpose.
+
+     This text was formatted from various free ASCII and HTML variants.
+     See http://sherlock-holm.es for an electronic form of this text and
+     additional information about it.
+
+     This text comes from the collection's version 3.1.
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+
+
+                         THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+
+                               Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+                                Table of contents
+
+               Silver Blaze
+               The Yellow Face
+               The Stock-Broker's Clerk
+               The "Gloria Scott"
+               The Musgrave Ritual
+               The Reigate Squires
+               The Crooked Man
+               The Resident Patient
+               The Greek Interpreter
+               The Naval Treaty
+               The Final Problem
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  SILVER BLAZE
+
+     "I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go," said Holmes, as we
+     sat down together to our breakfast one morning.
+
+     "Go! Where to?"
+
+     "To Dartmoor; to King's Pyland."
+
+     I was not surprised. Indeed, my only wonder was that he had not
+     already been mixed up in this extraordinary case, which was the one
+     topic of conversation through the length and breadth of England. For
+     a whole day my companion had rambled about the room with his chin
+     upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and recharging his
+     pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and absolutely deaf to any of
+     my questions or remarks. Fresh editions of every paper had been sent
+     up by our news agent, only to be glanced over and tossed down into a
+     corner. Yet, silent as he was, I knew perfectly well what it was over
+     which he was brooding.  There was but one problem before the public
+     which could challenge his powers of analysis, and that was the
+     singular disappearance of the favorite for the Wessex Cup, and the
+     tragic murder of its trainer. When, therefore, he suddenly announced
+     his intention of setting out for the scene of the drama it was only
+     what I had both expected and hoped for.
+
+     "I should be most happy to go down with you if I should not be in the
+     way," said I.
+
+     "My dear Watson, you would confer a great favour upon me by coming.
+     And I think that your time will not be misspent, for there are points
+     about the case which promise to make it an absolutely unique one. We
+     have, I think, just time to catch our train at Paddington, and I will
+     go further into the matter upon our journey. You would oblige me by
+     bringing with you your very excellent field-glass."
+
+     And so it happened that an hour or so later I found myself in the
+     corner of a first-class carriage flying along en route for Exeter,
+     while Sherlock Holmes, with his sharp, eager face framed in his
+     ear-flapped travelling-cap, dipped rapidly into the bundle of fresh
+     papers which he had procured at Paddington. We had left Reading far
+     behind us before he thrust the last one of them under the seat, and
+     offered me his cigar-case.
+
+     "We are going well," said he, looking out the window and glancing at
+     his watch. "Our rate at present is fifty-three and a half miles an
+     hour."
+
+     "I have not observed the quarter-mile posts," said I.
+
+     "Nor have I. But the telegraph posts upon this line are sixty yards
+     apart, and the calculation is a simple one. I presume that you have
+     looked into this matter of the murder of John Straker and the
+     disappearance of Silver Blaze?"
+
+     "I have seen what the Telegraph and the Chronicle have to say."
+
+     "It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should be
+     used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of
+     fresh evidence. The tragedy has been so uncommon, so complete and of
+     such personal importance to so many people, that we are suffering
+     from a plethora of surmise, conjecture, and hypothesis. The
+     difficulty is to detach the framework of fact--of absolute undeniable
+     fact--from the embellishments of theorists and reporters. Then,
+     having established ourselves upon this sound basis, it is our duty to
+     see what inferences may be drawn and what are the special points upon
+     which the whole mystery turns. On Tuesday evening I received
+     telegrams from both Colonel Ross, the owner of the horse, and from
+     Inspector Gregory, who is looking after the case, inviting my
+     cooperation.
+
+     "Tuesday evening!" I exclaimed. "And this is Thursday morning. Why
+     didn't you go down yesterday?"
+
+     "Because I made a blunder, my dear Watson--which is, I am afraid, a
+     more common occurrence than any one would think who only knew me
+     through your memoirs. The fact is that I could not believe it
+     possible that the most remarkable horse in England could long remain
+     concealed, especially in so sparsely inhabited a place as the north
+     of Dartmoor. From hour to hour yesterday I expected to hear that he
+     had been found, and that his abductor was the murderer of John
+     Straker. When, however, another morning had come, and I found that
+     beyond the arrest of young Fitzroy Simpson nothing had been done, I
+     felt that it was time for me to take action. Yet in some ways I feel
+     that yesterday has not been wasted."
+
+     "You have formed a theory, then?"
+
+     "At least I have got a grip of the essential facts of the case. I
+     shall enumerate them to you, for nothing clears up a case so much as
+     stating it to another person, and I can hardly expect your
+     co-operation if I do not show you the position from which we start."
+
+     I lay back against the cushions, puffing at my cigar, while Holmes,
+     leaning forward, with his long, thin forefinger checking off the
+     points upon the palm of his left hand, gave me a sketch of the events
+     which had led to our journey.
+
+     "Silver Blaze," said he, "is from the Somomy stock, and holds as
+     brilliant a record as his famous ancestor. He is now in his fifth
+     year, and has brought in turn each of the prizes of the turf to
+     Colonel Ross, his fortunate owner. Up to the time of the catastrophe
+     he was the first favorite for the Wessex Cup, the betting being three
+     to one on him. He has always, however, been a prime favorite with the
+     racing public, and has never yet disappointed them, so that even at
+     those odds enormous sums of money have been laid upon him. It is
+     obvious, therefore, that there were many people who had the strongest
+     interest in preventing Silver Blaze from being there at the fall of
+     the flag next Tuesday.
+
+     "The fact was, of course, appreciated at King's Pyland, where the
+     Colonel's training-stable is situated. Every precaution was taken to
+     guard the favorite. The trainer, John Straker, is a retired jockey
+     who rode in Colonel Ross's colors before he became too heavy for the
+     weighing-chair. He has served the Colonel for five years as jockey
+     and for seven as trainer, and has always shown himself to be a
+     zealous and honest servant. Under him were three lads; for the
+     establishment was a small one, containing only four horses in all.
+     One of these lads sat up each night in the stable, while the others
+     slept in the loft. All three bore excellent characters. John Straker,
+     who is a married man, lived in a small villa about two hundred yards
+     from the stables. He has no children, keeps one maid-servant, and is
+     comfortably off. The country round is very lonely, but about half a
+     mile to the north there is a small cluster of villas which have been
+     built by a Tavistock contractor for the use of invalids and others
+     who may wish to enjoy the pure Dartmoor air. Tavistock itself lies
+     two miles to the west, while across the moor, also about two miles
+     distant, is the larger training establishment of Mapleton, which
+     belongs to Lord Backwater, and is managed by Silas Brown. In every
+     other direction the moor is a complete wilderness, inhabited only by
+     a few roaming gypsies. Such was the general situation last Monday
+     night when the catastrophe occurred.
+
+     "On that evening the horses had been exercised and watered as usual,
+     and the stables were locked up at nine o'clock. Two of the lads
+     walked up to the trainer's house, where they had supper in the
+     kitchen, while the third, Ned Hunter, remained on guard. At a few
+     minutes after nine the maid, Edith Baxter, carried down to the
+     stables his supper, which consisted of a dish of curried mutton. She
+     took no liquid, as there was a water-tap in the stables, and it was
+     the rule that the lad on duty should drink nothing else. The maid
+     carried a lantern with her, as it was very dark and the path ran
+     across the open moor.
+
+     "Edith Baxter was within thirty yards of the stables, when a man
+     appeared out of the darkness and called to her to stop. As he stepped
+     into the circle of yellow light thrown by the lantern she saw that he
+     was a person of gentlemanly bearing, dressed in a gray suit of
+     tweeds, with a cloth cap. He wore gaiters, and carried a heavy stick
+     with a knob to it. She was most impressed, however, by the extreme
+     pallor of his face and by the nervousness of his manner. His age, she
+     thought, would be rather over thirty than under it.
+
+     "'Can you tell me where I am?' he asked. 'I had almost made up my
+     mind to sleep on the moor, when I saw the light of your lantern.'
+
+     "'You are close to the King's Pyland training-stables,' said she.
+
+     "'Oh, indeed! What a stroke of luck!' he cried. 'I understand that a
+     stable-boy sleeps there alone every night. Perhaps that is his supper
+     which you are carrying to him. Now I am sure that you would not be
+     too proud to earn the price of a new dress, would you?' He took a
+     piece of white paper folded up out of his waistcoat pocket. 'See that
+     the boy has this to-night, and you shall have the prettiest frock
+     that money can buy.'
+
+     "She was frightened by the earnestness of his manner, and ran past
+     him to the window through which she was accustomed to hand the meals.
+     It was already opened, and Hunter was seated at the small table
+     inside. She had begun to tell him of what had happened, when the
+     stranger came up again.
+
+     "'Good-evening,' said he, looking through the window. 'I wanted to
+     have a word with you.' The girl has sworn that as he spoke she
+     noticed the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his
+     closed hand.
+
+     "'What business have you here?' asked the lad.
+
+     "'It's business that may put something into your pocket,' said the
+     other. 'You've two horses in for the Wessex Cup--Silver Blaze and
+     Bayard. Let me have the straight tip and you won't be a loser. Is it
+     a fact that at the weights Bayard could give the other a hundred
+     yards in five furlongs, and that the stable have put their money on
+     him?'
+
+     "'So, you're one of those damned touts!' cried the lad. 'I'll show
+     you how we serve them in King's Pyland.' He sprang up and rushed
+     across the stable to unloose the dog. The girl fled away to the
+     house, but as she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was
+     leaning through the window. A minute later, however, when Hunter
+     rushed out with the hound he was gone, and though he ran all round
+     the buildings he failed to find any trace of him."
+
+     "One moment," I asked. "Did the stable-boy, when he ran out with the
+     dog, leave the door unlocked behind him?"
+
+     "Excellent, Watson, excellent!" murmured my companion. "The
+     importance of the point struck me so forcibly that I sent a special
+     wire to Dartmoor yesterday to clear the matter up. The boy locked the
+     door before he left it. The window, I may add, was not large enough
+     for a man to get through.
+
+     "Hunter waited until his fellow-grooms had returned, when he sent a
+     message to the trainer and told him what had occurred. Straker was
+     excited at hearing the account, although he does not seem to have
+     quite realized its true significance. It left him, however, vaguely
+     uneasy, and Mrs. Straker, waking at one in the morning, found that he
+     was dressing. In reply to her inquiries, he said that he could not
+     sleep on account of his anxiety about the horses, and that he
+     intended to walk down to the stables to see that all was well. She
+     begged him to remain at home, as she could hear the rain pattering
+     against the window, but in spite of her entreaties he pulled on his
+     large mackintosh and left the house.
+
+     "Mrs. Straker awoke at seven in the morning, to find that her husband
+     had not yet returned. She dressed herself hastily, called the maid,
+     and set off for the stables. The door was open; inside, huddled
+     together upon a chair, Hunter was sunk in a state of absolute stupor,
+     the favorite's stall was empty, and there were no signs of his
+     trainer.
+
+     "The two lads who slept in the chaff-cutting loft above the
+     harness-room were quickly aroused. They had heard nothing during the
+     night, for they are both sound sleepers. Hunter was obviously under
+     the influence of some powerful drug, and as no sense could be got out
+     of him, he was left to sleep it off while the two lads and the two
+     women ran out in search of the absentees. They still had hopes that
+     the trainer had for some reason taken out the horse for early
+     exercise, but on ascending the knoll near the house, from which all
+     the neighboring moors were visible, they not only could see no signs
+     of the missing favorite, but they perceived something which warned
+     them that they were in the presence of a tragedy.
+
+     "About a quarter of a mile from the stables John Straker's overcoat
+     was flapping from a furze-bush. Immediately beyond there was a
+     bowl-shaped depression in the moor, and at the bottom of this was
+     found the dead body of the unfortunate trainer. His head had been
+     shattered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon, and he was wounded
+     on the thigh, where there was a long, clean cut, inflicted evidently
+     by some very sharp instrument. It was clear, however, that Straker
+     had defended himself vigorously against his assailants, for in his
+     right hand he held a small knife, which was clotted with blood up to
+     the handle, while in his left he clasped a red and black silk cravat,
+     which was recognized by the maid as having been worn on the preceding
+     evening by the stranger who had visited the stables. Hunter, on
+     recovering from his stupor, was also quite positive as to the
+     ownership of the cravat. He was equally certain that the same
+     stranger had, while standing at the window, drugged his curried
+     mutton, and so deprived the stables of their watchman. As to the
+     missing horse, there were abundant proofs in the mud which lay at the
+     bottom of the fatal hollow that he had been there at the time of the
+     struggle. But from that morning he has disappeared, and although a
+     large reward has been offered, and all the gypsies of Dartmoor are on
+     the alert, no news has come of him. Finally, an analysis has shown
+     that the remains of his supper left by the stable-lad contain an
+     appreciable quantity of powdered opium, while the people at the house
+     partook of the same dish on the same night without any ill effect.
+
+     "Those are the main facts of the case, stripped of all surmise, and
+     stated as baldly as possible. I shall now recapitulate what the
+     police have done in the matter.
+
+     "Inspector Gregory, to whom the case has been committed, is an
+     extremely competent officer. Were he but gifted with imagination he
+     might rise to great heights in his profession. On his arrival he
+     promptly found and arrested the man upon whom suspicion naturally
+     rested. There was little difficulty in finding him, for he inhabited
+     one of those villas which I have mentioned. His name, it appears, was
+     Fitzroy Simpson. He was a man of excellent birth and education, who
+     had squandered a fortune upon the turf, and who lived now by doing a
+     little quiet and genteel book-making in the sporting clubs of London.
+     An examination of his betting-book shows that bets to the amount of
+     five thousand pounds had been registered by him against the favorite.
+     On being arrested he volunteered the statement that he had come down
+     to Dartmoor in the hope of getting some information about the King's
+     Pyland horses, and also about Desborough, the second favorite, which
+     was in charge of Silas Brown at the Mapleton stables. He did not
+     attempt to deny that he had acted as described upon the evening
+     before, but declared that he had no sinister designs, and had simply
+     wished to obtain first-hand information. When confronted with his
+     cravat, he turned very pale, and was utterly unable to account for
+     its presence in the hand of the murdered man. His wet clothing showed
+     that he had been out in the storm of the night before, and his stick,
+     which was a Penang-lawyer weighted with lead, was just such a weapon
+     as might, by repeated blows, have inflicted the terrible injuries to
+     which the trainer had succumbed. On the other hand, there was no
+     wound upon his person, while the state of Straker's knife would show
+     that one at least of his assailants must bear his mark upon him.
+     There you have it all in a nutshell, Watson, and if you can give me
+     any light I shall be infinitely obliged to you."
+
+     I had listened with the greatest interest to the statement which
+     Holmes, with characteristic clearness, had laid before me. Though
+     most of the facts were familiar to me, I had not sufficiently
+     appreciated their relative importance, nor their connection to each
+     other.
+
+     "Is in not possible," I suggested, "that the incised wound upon
+     Straker may have been caused by his own knife in the convulsive
+     struggles which follow any brain injury?"
+
+     "It is more than possible; it is probable," said Holmes. "In that
+     case one of the main points in favor of the accused disappears."
+
+     "And yet," said I, "even now I fail to understand what the theory of
+     the police can be."
+
+     "I am afraid that whatever theory we state has very grave objections
+     to it," returned my companion. "The police imagine, I take it, that
+     this Fitzroy Simpson, having drugged the lad, and having in some way
+     obtained a duplicate key, opened the stable door and took out the
+     horse, with the intention, apparently, of kidnapping him altogether.
+     His bridle is missing, so that Simpson must have put this on. Then,
+     having left the door open behind him, he was leading the horse away
+     over the moor, when he was either met or overtaken by the trainer. A
+     row naturally ensued. Simpson beat out the trainer's brains with his
+     heavy stick without receiving any injury from the small knife which
+     Straker used in self-defence, and then the thief either led the horse
+     on to some secret hiding-place, or else it may have bolted during the
+     struggle, and be now wandering out on the moors. That is the case as
+     it appears to the police, and improbable as it is, all other
+     explanations are more improbable still. However, I shall very quickly
+     test the matter when I am once upon the spot, and until then I cannot
+     really see how we can get much further than our present position."
+
+     It was evening before we reached the little town of Tavistock, which
+     lies, like the boss of a shield, in the middle of the huge circle of
+     Dartmoor. Two gentlemen were awaiting us in the station--the one a
+     tall, fair man with lion-like hair and beard and curiously
+     penetrating light blue eyes; the other a small, alert person, very
+     neat and dapper, in a frock-coat and gaiters, with trim little
+     side-whiskers and an eye-glass. The latter was Colonel Ross, the
+     well-known sportsman; the other, Inspector Gregory, a man who was
+     rapidly making his name in the English detective service.
+
+     "I am delighted that you have come down, Mr. Holmes," said the
+     Colonel. "The Inspector here has done all that could possibly be
+     suggested, but I wish to leave no stone unturned in trying to avenge
+     poor Straker and in recovering my horse."
+
+     "Have there been any fresh developments?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "I am sorry to say that we have made very little progress," said the
+     Inspector. "We have an open carriage outside, and as you would no
+     doubt like to see the place before the light fails, we might talk it
+     over as we drive."
+
+     A minute later we were all seated in a comfortable landau, and were
+     rattling through the quaint old Devonshire city. Inspector Gregory
+     was full of his case, and poured out a stream of remarks, while
+     Holmes threw in an occasional question or interjection. Colonel Ross
+     leaned back with his arms folded and his hat tilted over his eyes,
+     while I listened with interest to the dialogue of the two detectives.
+     Gregory was formulating his theory, which was almost exactly what
+     Holmes had foretold in the train.
+
+     "The net is drawn pretty close round Fitzroy Simpson," he remarked,
+     "and I believe myself that he is our man. At the same time I
+     recognize that the evidence is purely circumstantial, and that some
+     new development may upset it."
+
+     "How about Straker's knife?"
+
+     "We have quite come to the conclusion that he wounded himself in his
+     fall."
+
+     "My friend Dr. Watson made that suggestion to me as we came down. If
+     so, it would tell against this man Simpson."
+
+     "Undoubtedly. He has neither a knife nor any sign of a wound. The
+     evidence against him is certainly very strong. He had a great
+     interest in the disappearance of the favorite. He lies under
+     suspicion of having poisoned the stable-boy, he was undoubtedly out
+     in the storm, he was armed with a heavy stick, and his cravat was
+     found in the dead man's hand. I really think we have enough to go
+     before a jury."
+
+     Holmes shook his head. "A clever counsel would tear it all to rags,"
+     said he. "Why should he take the horse out of the stable? If he
+     wished to injure it why could he not do it there? Has a duplicate key
+     been found in his possession? What chemist sold him the powdered
+     opium? Above all, where could he, a stranger to the district, hide a
+     horse, and such a horse as this? What is his own explanation as to
+     the paper which he wished the maid to give to the stable-boy?"
+
+     "He says that it was a ten-pound note. One was found in his purse.
+     But your other difficulties are not so formidable as they seem. He is
+     not a stranger to the district. He has twice lodged at Tavistock in
+     the summer. The opium was probably brought from London. The key,
+     having served its purpose, would be hurled away. The horse may be at
+     the bottom of one of the pits or old mines upon the moor."
+
+     "What does he say about the cravat?"
+
+     "He acknowledges that it is his, and declares that he had lost it.
+     But a new element has been introduced into the case which may account
+     for his leading the horse from the stable."
+
+     Holmes pricked up his ears.
+
+     "We have found traces which show that a party of gypsies encamped on
+     Monday night within a mile of the spot where the murder took place.
+     On Tuesday they were gone. Now, presuming that there was some
+     understanding between Simpson and these gypsies, might he not have
+     been leading the horse to them when he was overtaken, and may they
+     not have him now?"
+
+     "It is certainly possible."
+
+     "The moor is being scoured for these gypsies. I have also examined
+     every stable and out-house in Tavistock, and for a radius of ten
+     miles."
+
+     "There is another training-stable quite close, I understand?"
+
+     "Yes, and that is a factor which we must certainly not neglect. As
+     Desborough, their horse, was second in the betting, they had an
+     interest in the disappearance of the favorite. Silas Brown, the
+     trainer, is known to have had large bets upon the event, and he was
+     no friend to poor Straker. We have, however, examined the stables,
+     and there is nothing to connect him with the affair."
+
+     "And nothing to connect this man Simpson with the interests of the
+     Mapleton stables?"
+
+     "Nothing at all."
+
+     Holmes leaned back in the carriage, and the conversation ceased. A
+     few minutes later our driver pulled up at a neat little red-brick
+     villa with overhanging eaves which stood by the road. Some distance
+     off, across a paddock, lay a long gray-tiled out-building. In every
+     other direction the low curves of the moor, bronze-colored from the
+     fading ferns, stretched away to the sky-line, broken only by the
+     steeples of Tavistock, and by a cluster of houses away to the
+     westward which marked the Mapleton stables. We all sprang out with
+     the exception of Holmes, who continued to lean back with his eyes
+     fixed upon the sky in front of him, entirely absorbed in his own
+     thoughts. It was only when I touched his arm that he roused himself
+     with a violent start and stepped out of the carriage.
+
+     "Excuse me," said he, turning to Colonel Ross, who had looked at him
+     in some surprise. "I was day-dreaming." There was a gleam in his eyes
+     and a suppressed excitement in his manner which convinced me, used as
+     I was to his ways, that his hand was upon a clue, though I could not
+     imagine where he had found it.
+
+     "Perhaps you would prefer at once to go on to the scene of the crime,
+     Mr. Holmes?" said Gregory.
+
+     "I think that I should prefer to stay here a little and go into one
+     or two questions of detail. Straker was brought back here, I
+     presume?"
+
+     "Yes; he lies upstairs. The inquest is to-morrow."
+
+     "He has been in your service some years, Colonel Ross?"
+
+     "I have always found him an excellent servant."
+
+     "I presume that you made an inventory of what he had in this pockets
+     at the time of his death, Inspector?"
+
+     "I have the things themselves in the sitting-room, if you would care
+     to see them."
+
+     "I should be very glad." We all filed into the front room and sat
+     round the central table while the Inspector unlocked a square tin box
+     and laid a small heap of things before us. There was a box of vestas,
+     two inches of tallow candle, an A D P brier-root pipe, a pouch of
+     seal-skin with half an ounce of long-cut Cavendish, a silver watch
+     with a gold chain, five sovereigns in gold, an aluminum pencil-case,
+     a few papers, and an ivory-handled knife with a very delicate,
+     inflexible blade marked Weiss & Co., London.
+
+     "This is a very singular knife," said Holmes, lifting it up and
+     examining it minutely. "I presume, as I see blood-stains upon it,
+     that it is the one which was found in the dead man's grasp. Watson,
+     this knife is surely in your line?"
+
+     "It is what we call a cataract knife," said I.
+
+     "I thought so. A very delicate blade devised for very delicate work.
+     A strange thing for a man to carry with him upon a rough expedition,
+     especially as it would not shut in his pocket."
+
+     "The tip was guarded by a disk of cork which we found beside his
+     body," said the Inspector. "His wife tells us that the knife had lain
+     upon the dressing-table, and that he had picked it up as he left the
+     room. It was a poor weapon, but perhaps the best that he could lay
+     his hands on at the moment."
+
+     "Very possible. How about these papers?"
+
+     "Three of them are receipted hay-dealers' accounts. One of them is a
+     letter of instructions from Colonel Ross. This other is a milliner's
+     account for thirty-seven pounds fifteen made out by Madame Lesurier,
+     of Bond Street, to William Derbyshire. Mrs. Straker tells us that
+     Derbyshire was a friend of her husband's and that occasionally his
+     letters were addressed here."
+
+     "Madam Derbyshire had somewhat expensive tastes," remarked Holmes,
+     glancing down the account. "Twenty-two guineas is rather heavy for a
+     single costume. However there appears to be nothing more to learn,
+     and we may now go down to the scene of the crime."
+
+     As we emerged from the sitting-room a woman, who had been waiting in
+     the passage, took a step forward and laid her hand upon the
+     Inspector's sleeve. Her face was haggard and thin and eager, stamped
+     with the print of a recent horror.
+
+     "Have you got them? Have you found them?" she panted.
+
+     "No, Mrs. Straker. But Mr. Holmes here has come from London to help
+     us, and we shall do all that is possible."
+
+     "Surely I met you in Plymouth at a garden-party some little time ago,
+     Mrs. Straker?" said Holmes.
+
+     "No, sir; you are mistaken."
+
+     "Dear me! Why, I could have sworn to it. You wore a costume of
+     dove-colored silk with ostrich-feather trimming."
+
+     "I never had such a dress, sir," answered the lady.
+
+     "Ah, that quite settles it," said Holmes. And with an apology he
+     followed the Inspector outside. A short walk across the moor took us
+     to the hollow in which the body had been found. At the brink of it
+     was the furze-bush upon which the coat had been hung.
+
+     "There was no wind that night, I understand," said Holmes.
+
+     "None; but very heavy rain."
+
+     "In that case the overcoat was not blown against the furze-bush, but
+     placed there."
+
+     "Yes, it was laid across the bush."
+
+     "You fill me with interest, I perceive that the ground has been
+     trampled up a good deal. No doubt many feet have been here since
+     Monday night."
+
+     "A piece of matting has been laid here at the side, and we have all
+     stood upon that."
+
+     "Excellent."
+
+     "In this bag I have one of the boots which Straker wore, one of
+     Fitzroy Simpson's shoes, and a cast horseshoe of Silver Blaze."
+
+     "My dear Inspector, you surpass yourself!" Holmes took the bag, and,
+     descending into the hollow, he pushed the matting into a more central
+     position. Then stretching himself upon his face and leaning his chin
+     upon his hands, he made a careful study of the trampled mud in front
+     of him. "Hullo!" said he, suddenly. "What's this?" It was a wax vesta
+     half burned, which was so coated with mud that it looked at first
+     like a little chip of wood.
+
+     "I cannot think how I came to overlook it," said the Inspector, with
+     an expression of annoyance.
+
+     "It was invisible, buried in the mud. I only saw it because I was
+     looking for it."
+
+     "What! You expected to find it?"
+
+     "I thought it not unlikely."
+
+     He took the boots from the bag, and compared the impressions of each
+     of them with marks upon the ground. Then he clambered up to the rim
+     of the hollow, and crawled about among the ferns and bushes.
+
+     "I am afraid that there are no more tracks," said the Inspector. "I
+     have examined the ground very carefully for a hundred yards in each
+     direction."
+
+     "Indeed!" said Holmes, rising. "I should not have the impertinence to
+     do it again after what you say. But I should like to take a little
+     walk over the moor before it grows dark, that I may know my ground
+     to-morrow, and I think that I shall put this horseshoe into my pocket
+     for luck."
+
+     Colonel Ross, who had shown some signs of impatience at my
+     companion's quiet and systematic method of work, glanced at his
+     watch. "I wish you would come back with me, Inspector," said he.
+     "There are several points on which I should like your advice, and
+     especially as to whether we do not owe it to the public to remove our
+     horse's name from the entries for the Cup."
+
+     "Certainly not," cried Holmes, with decision. "I should let the name
+     stand."
+
+     The Colonel bowed. "I am very glad to have had your opinion, sir,"
+     said he. "You will find us at poor Straker's house when you have
+     finished your walk, and we can drive together into Tavistock."
+
+     He turned back with the Inspector, while Holmes and I walked slowly
+     across the moor. The sun was beginning to sink behind the stables of
+     Mapleton, and the long, sloping plain in front of us was tinged with
+     gold, deepening into rich, ruddy browns where the faded ferns and
+     brambles caught the evening light. But the glories of the landscape
+     were all wasted upon my companion, who was sunk in the deepest
+     thought.
+
+     "It's this way, Watson," said he at last. "We may leave the question
+     of who killed John Straker for the instant, and confine ourselves to
+     finding out what has become of the horse. Now, supposing that he
+     broke away during or after the tragedy, where could he have gone to?
+     The horse is a very gregarious creature. If left to himself his
+     instincts would have been either to return to King's Pyland or go
+     over to Mapleton. Why should he run wild upon the moor? He would
+     surely have been seen by now. And why should gypsies kidnap him?
+     These people always clear out when they hear of trouble, for they do
+     not wish to be pestered by the police. They could not hope to sell
+     such a horse. They would run a great risk and gain nothing by taking
+     him. Surely that is clear."
+
+     "Where is he, then?"
+
+     "I have already said that he must have gone to King's Pyland or to
+     Mapleton. He is not at King's Pyland. Therefore he is at Mapleton.
+     Let us take that as a working hypothesis and see what it leads us to.
+     This part of the moor, as the Inspector remarked, is very hard and
+     dry. But it falls away towards Mapleton, and you can see from here
+     that there is a long hollow over yonder, which must have been very
+     wet on Monday night. If our supposition is correct, then the horse
+     must have crossed that, and there is the point where we should look
+     for his tracks."
+
+     We had been walking briskly during this conversation, and a few more
+     minutes brought us to the hollow in question. At Holmes' request I
+     walked down the bank to the right, and he to the left, but I had not
+     taken fifty paces before I heard him give a shout, and saw him waving
+     his hand to me. The track of a horse was plainly outlined in the soft
+     earth in front of him, and the shoe which he took from his pocket
+     exactly fitted the impression.
+
+     "See the value of imagination," said Holmes. "It is the one quality
+     which Gregory lacks. We imagined what might have happened, acted upon
+     the supposition, and find ourselves justified. Let us proceed."
+
+     We crossed the marshy bottom and passed over a quarter of a mile of
+     dry, hard turf. Again the ground sloped, and again we came on the
+     tracks. Then we lost them for half a mile, but only to pick them up
+     once more quite close to Mapleton. It was Holmes who saw them first,
+     and he stood pointing with a look of triumph upon his face. A man's
+     track was visible beside the horse's.
+
+     "The horse was alone before," I cried.
+
+     "Quite so. It was alone before. Hullo, what is this?"
+
+     The double track turned sharp off and took the direction of King's
+     Pyland. Holmes whistled, and we both followed along after it. His
+     eyes were on the trail, but I happened to look a little to one side,
+     and saw to my surprise the same tracks coming back again in the
+     opposite direction.
+
+     "One for you, Watson," said Holmes, when I pointed it out. "You have
+     saved us a long walk, which would have brought us back on our own
+     traces. Let us follow the return track."
+
+     We had not to go far. It ended at the paving of asphalt which led up
+     to the gates of the Mapleton stables. As we approached, a groom ran
+     out from them.
+
+     "We don't want any loiterers about here," said he.
+
+     "I only wished to ask a question," said Holmes, with his finger and
+     thumb in his waistcoat pocket. "Should I be too early to see your
+     master, Mr. Silas Brown, if I were to call at five o'clock to-morrow
+     morning?"
+
+     "Bless you, sir, if any one is about he will be, for he is always the
+     first stirring. But here he is, sir, to answer your questions for
+     himself. No, sir, no; it is as much as my place is worth to let him
+     see me touch your money. Afterwards, if you like."
+
+     As Sherlock Holmes replaced the half-crown which he had drawn from
+     his pocket, a fierce-looking elderly man strode out from the gate
+     with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand.
+
+     "What's this, Dawson!" he cried. "No gossiping! Go about your
+     business! And you, what the devil do you want here?"
+
+     "Ten minutes' talk with you, my good sir," said Holmes in the
+     sweetest of voices.
+
+     "I've no time to talk to every gadabout. We want no stranger here. Be
+     off, or you may find a dog at your heels."
+
+     Holmes leaned forward and whispered something in the trainer's ear.
+     He started violently and flushed to the temples.
+
+     "It's a lie!" he shouted, "an infernal lie!"
+
+     "Very good. Shall we argue about it here in public or talk it over in
+     your parlor?"
+
+     "Oh, come in if you wish to."
+
+     Holmes smiled. "I shall not keep you more than a few minutes,
+     Watson," said he. "Now, Mr. Brown, I am quite at your disposal."
+
+     It was twenty minutes, and the reds had all faded into grays before
+     Holmes and the trainer reappeared. Never have I seen such a change as
+     had been brought about in Silas Brown in that short time. His face
+     was ashy pale, beads of perspiration shone upon his brow, and his
+     hands shook until the hunting-crop wagged like a branch in the wind.
+     His bullying, overbearing manner was all gone too, and he cringed
+     along at my companion's side like a dog with its master.
+
+     "Your instructions will be done. It shall all be done," said he.
+
+     "There must be no mistake," said Holmes, looking round at him. The
+     other winced as he read the menace in his eyes.
+
+     "Oh no, there shall be no mistake. It shall be there. Should I change
+     it first or not?"
+
+     Holmes thought a little and then burst out laughing. "No, don't,"
+     said he; "I shall write to you about it. No tricks, now, or--"
+
+     "Oh, you can trust me, you can trust me!"
+
+     "Yes, I think I can. Well, you shall hear from me to-morrow." He
+     turned upon his heel, disregarding the trembling hand which the other
+     held out to him, and we set off for King's Pyland.
+
+     "A more perfect compound of the bully, coward, and sneak than Master
+     Silas Brown I have seldom met with," remarked Holmes as we trudged
+     along together.
+
+     "He has the horse, then?"
+
+     "He tried to bluster out of it, but I described to him so exactly
+     what his actions had been upon that morning that he is convinced that
+     I was watching him. Of course you observed the peculiarly square toes
+     in the impressions, and that his own boots exactly corresponded to
+     them. Again, of course no subordinate would have dared to do such a
+     thing. I described to him how, when according to his custom he was
+     the first down, he perceived a strange horse wandering over the moor.
+     How he went out to it, and his astonishment at recognizing, from the
+     white forehead which has given the favorite its name, that chance had
+     put in his power the only horse which could beat the one upon which
+     he had put his money. Then I described how his first impulse had been
+     to lead him back to King's Pyland, and how the devil had shown him
+     how he could hide the horse until the race was over, and how he had
+     led it back and concealed it at Mapleton. When I told him every
+     detail he gave it up and thought only of saving his own skin."
+
+     "But his stables had been searched?"
+
+     "Oh, and old horse-faker like him has many a dodge."
+
+     "But are you not afraid to leave the horse in his power now, since he
+     has every interest in injuring it?"
+
+     "My dear fellow, he will guard it as the apple of his eye. He knows
+     that his only hope of mercy is to produce it safe."
+
+     "Colonel Ross did not impress me as a man who would be likely to show
+     much mercy in any case."
+
+     "The matter does not rest with Colonel Ross. I follow my own methods,
+     and tell as much or as little as I choose. That is the advantage of
+     being unofficial. I don't know whether you observed it, Watson, but
+     the Colonel's manner has been just a trifle cavalier to me. I am
+     inclined now to have a little amusement at his expense. Say nothing
+     to him about the horse."
+
+     "Certainly not without your permission."
+
+     "And of course this is all quite a minor point compared to the
+     question of who killed John Straker."
+
+     "And you will devote yourself to that?"
+
+     "On the contrary, we both go back to London by the night train."
+
+     I was thunderstruck by my friend's words. We had only been a few
+     hours in Devonshire, and that he should give up an investigation
+     which he had begun so brilliantly was quite incomprehensible to me.
+     Not a word more could I draw from him until we were back at the
+     trainer's house. The Colonel and the Inspector were awaiting us in
+     the parlor.
+
+     "My friend and I return to town by the night-express," said Holmes.
+     "We have had a charming little breath of your beautiful Dartmoor
+     air."
+
+     The Inspector opened his eyes, and the Colonel's lip curled in a
+     sneer.
+
+     "So you despair of arresting the murderer of poor Straker," said he.
+
+     Holmes shrugged his shoulders. "There are certainly grave
+     difficulties in the way," said he. "I have every hope, however, that
+     your horse will start upon Tuesday, and I beg that you will have your
+     jockey in readiness. Might I ask for a photograph of Mr. John
+     Straker?"
+
+     The Inspector took one from an envelope and handed it to him.
+
+     "My dear Gregory, you anticipate all my wants. If I might ask you to
+     wait here for an instant, I have a question which I should like to
+     put to the maid."
+
+     "I must say that I am rather disappointed in our London consultant,"
+     said Colonel Ross, bluntly, as my friend left the room. "I do not see
+     that we are any further than when he came."
+
+     "At least you have his assurance that your horse will run," said I.
+
+     "Yes, I have his assurance," said the Colonel, with a shrug of his
+     shoulders. "I should prefer to have the horse."
+
+     I was about to make some reply in defence of my friend when he
+     entered the room again.
+
+     "Now, gentlemen," said he, "I am quite ready for Tavistock."
+
+     As we stepped into the carriage one of the stable-lads held the door
+     open for us. A sudden idea seemed to occur to Holmes, for he leaned
+     forward and touched the lad upon the sleeve.
+
+     "You have a few sheep in the paddock," he said. "Who attends to
+     them?"
+
+     "I do, sir."
+
+     "Have you noticed anything amiss with them of late?"
+
+     "Well, sir, not of much account; but three of them have gone lame,
+     sir."
+
+     I could see that Holmes was extremely pleased, for he chuckled and
+     rubbed his hands together.
+
+     "A long shot, Watson; a very long shot," said he, pinching my arm.
+     "Gregory, let me recommend to your attention this singular epidemic
+     among the sheep. Drive on, coachman!"
+
+     Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion
+     which he had formed of my companion's ability, but I saw by the
+     Inspector's face that his attention had been keenly aroused.
+
+     "You consider that to be important?" he asked.
+
+     "Exceedingly so."
+
+     "Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
+
+     "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
+
+     "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
+
+     "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.
+
+     Four days later Holmes and I were again in the train, bound for
+     Winchester to see the race for the Wessex Cup. Colonel Ross met us by
+     appointment outside the station, and we drove in his drag to the
+     course beyond the town. His face was grave, and his manner was cold
+     in the extreme.
+
+     "I have seen nothing of my horse," said he.
+
+     "I suppose that you would know him when you saw him?" asked Holmes.
+
+     The Colonel was very angry. "I have been on the turf for twenty
+     years, and never was asked such a question as that before," said he.
+     "A child would know Silver Blaze, with his white forehead and his
+     mottled off-foreleg."
+
+     "How is the betting?"
+
+     "Well, that is the curious part of it. You could have got fifteen to
+     one yesterday, but the price has become shorter and shorter, until
+     you can hardly get three to one now."
+
+     "Hum!" said Holmes. "Somebody knows something, that is clear."
+
+     As the drag drew up in the enclosure near the grand stand I glanced
+     at the card to see the entries.
+
+     Wessex Plate [it ran] 50 sovs. each h ft with 1000 sovs. added, for
+     four and five year olds. Second, £300. Third, £200. New course (one
+     mile and five furlongs).
+     
+     1. Mr. Heath Newton's The Negro. Red cap. Cinnamon jacket.
+     2. Colonel Wardlaw's Pugilist. Pink cap. Blue and black jacket.
+     3. Lord Backwater's Desborough. Yellow cap and sleeves.
+     4. Colonel Ross's Silver Blaze. Black cap. Red jacket.
+     5. Duke of Balmoral's Iris. Yellow and black stripes.
+     6. Lord Singleford's Rasper. Purple cap. Black sleeves.
+
+     "We scratched our other one, and put all hopes on your word," said
+     the Colonel. "Why, what is that? Silver Blaze favorite?"
+
+     "Five to four against Silver Blaze!" roared the ring. "Five to four
+     against Silver Blaze! Five to fifteen against Desborough! Five to
+     four on the field!"
+
+     "There are the numbers up," I cried. "They are all six there."
+
+     "All six there? Then my horse is running," cried the Colonel in great
+     agitation. "But I don't see him. My colors have not passed."
+
+     "Only five have passed. This must be he."
+
+     As I spoke a powerful bay horse swept out from the weighting
+     enclosure and cantered past us, bearing on its back the well-known
+     black and red of the Colonel.
+
+     "That's not my horse," cried the owner. "That beast has not a white
+     hair upon its body. What is this that you have done, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Well, well, let us see how he gets on," said my friend,
+     imperturbably. For a few minutes he gazed through my field-glass.
+     "Capital! An excellent start!" he cried suddenly. "There they are,
+     coming round the curve!"
+
+     From our drag we had a superb view as they came up the straight. The
+     six horses were so close together that a carpet could have covered
+     them, but half way up the yellow of the Mapleton stable showed to the
+     front. Before they reached us, however, Desborough's bolt was shot,
+     and the Colonel's horse, coming away with a rush, passed the post a
+     good six lengths before its rival, the Duke of Balmoral's Iris making
+     a bad third.
+
+     "It's my race, anyhow," gasped the Colonel, passing his hand over his
+     eyes. "I confess that I can make neither head nor tail of it. Don't
+     you think that you have kept up your mystery long enough, Mr.
+     Holmes?"
+
+     "Certainly, Colonel, you shall know everything. Let us all go round
+     and have a look at the horse together. Here he is," he continued, as
+     we made our way into the weighing enclosure, where only owners and
+     their friends find admittance. "You have only to wash his face and
+     his leg in spirits of wine, and you will find that he is the same old
+     Silver Blaze as ever."
+
+     "You take my breath away!"
+
+     "I found him in the hands of a faker, and took the liberty of running
+     him just as he was sent over."
+
+     "My dear sir, you have done wonders. The horse looks very fit and
+     well. It never went better in its life. I owe you a thousand
+     apologies for having doubted your ability. You have done me a great
+     service by recovering my horse. You would do me a greater still if
+     you could lay your hands on the murderer of John Straker."
+
+     "I have done so," said Holmes quietly.
+
+     The Colonel and I stared at him in amazement. "You have got him!
+     Where is he, then?"
+
+     "He is here."
+
+     "Here! Where?"
+
+     "In my company at the present moment."
+
+     The Colonel flushed angrily. "I quite recognize that I am under
+     obligations to you, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but I must regard what you
+     have just said as either a very bad joke or an insult."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes laughed. "I assure you that I have not associated you
+     with the crime, Colonel," said he. "The real murderer is standing
+     immediately behind you." He stepped past and laid his hand upon the
+     glossy neck of the thoroughbred.
+
+     "The horse!" cried both the Colonel and myself.
+
+     "Yes, the horse. And it may lessen his guilt if I say that it was
+     done in self-defence, and that John Straker was a man who was
+     entirely unworthy of your confidence. But there goes the bell, and as
+     I stand to win a little on this next race, I shall defer a lengthy
+     explanation until a more fitting time."
+
+     We had the corner of a Pullman car to ourselves that evening as we
+     whirled back to London, and I fancy that the journey was a short one
+     to Colonel Ross as well as to myself, as we listened to our
+     companion's narrative of the events which had occurred at the
+     Dartmoor training-stables upon the Monday night, and the means by
+     which he had unravelled them.
+
+     "I confess," said he, "that any theories which I had formed from the
+     newspaper reports were entirely erroneous. And yet there were
+     indications there, had they not been overlaid by other details which
+     concealed their true import. I went to Devonshire with the conviction
+     that Fitzroy Simpson was the true culprit, although, of course, I saw
+     that the evidence against him was by no means complete. It was while
+     I was in the carriage, just as we reached the trainer's house, that
+     the immense significance of the curried mutton occurred to me. You
+     may remember that I was distrait, and remained sitting after you had
+     all alighted. I was marvelling in my own mind how I could possibly
+     have overlooked so obvious a clue."
+
+     "I confess," said the Colonel, "that even now I cannot see how it
+     helps us."
+
+     "It was the first link in my chain of reasoning. Powdered opium is by
+     no means tasteless. The flavor is not disagreeable, but it is
+     perceptible. Were it mixed with any ordinary dish the eater would
+     undoubtedly detect it, and would probably eat no more. A curry was
+     exactly the medium which would disguise this taste. By no possible
+     supposition could this stranger, Fitzroy Simpson, have caused curry
+     to be served in the trainer's family that night, and it is surely too
+     monstrous a coincidence to suppose that he happened to come along
+     with powdered opium upon the very night when a dish happened to be
+     served which would disguise the flavor. That is unthinkable.
+     Therefore Simpson becomes eliminated from the case, and our attention
+     centers upon Straker and his wife, the only two people who could have
+     chosen curried mutton for supper that night. The opium was added
+     after the dish was set aside for the stable-boy, for the others had
+     the same for supper with no ill effects. Which of them, then, had
+     access to that dish without the maid seeing them?
+
+     "Before deciding that question I had grasped the significance of the
+     silence of the dog, for one true inference invariably suggests
+     others. The Simpson incident had shown me that a dog was kept in the
+     stables, and yet, though some one had been in and had fetched out a
+     horse, he had not barked enough to arouse the two lads in the loft.
+     Obviously the midnight visitor was some one whom the dog knew well.
+
+     "I was already convinced, or almost convinced, that John Straker went
+     down to the stables in the dead of the night and took out Silver
+     Blaze. For what purpose? For a dishonest one, obviously, or why
+     should he drug his own stable-boy? And yet I was at a loss to know
+     why. There have been cases before now where trainers have made sure
+     of great sums of money by laying against their own horses, through
+     agents, and then preventing them from winning by fraud. Sometimes it
+     is a pulling jockey. Sometimes it is some surer and subtler means.
+     What was it here? I hoped that the contents of his pockets might help
+     me to form a conclusion.
+
+     "And they did so. You cannot have forgotten the singular knife which
+     was found in the dead man's hand, a knife which certainly no sane man
+     would choose for a weapon. It was, as Dr. Watson told us, a form of
+     knife which is used for the most delicate operations known in
+     surgery. And it was to be used for a delicate operation that night.
+     You must know, with your wide experience of turf matters, Colonel
+     Ross, that it is possible to make a slight nick upon the tendons of a
+     horse's ham, and to do it subcutaneously, so as to leave absolutely
+     no trace. A horse so treated would develop a slight lameness, which
+     would be put down to a strain in exercise or a touch of rheumatism,
+     but never to foul play."
+
+     "Villain! Scoundrel!" cried the Colonel.
+
+     "We have here the explanation of why John Straker wished to take the
+     horse out on to the moor. So spirited a creature would have certainly
+     roused the soundest of sleepers when it felt the prick of the knife.
+     It was absolutely necessary to do it in the open air."
+
+     "I have been blind!" cried the Colonel. "Of course that was why he
+     needed the candle, and struck the match."
+
+     "Undoubtedly. But in examining his belongings I was fortunate enough
+     to discover not only the method of the crime, but even its motives.
+     As a man of the world, Colonel, you know that men do not carry other
+     people's bills about in their pockets. We have most of us quite
+     enough to do to settle our own. I at once concluded that Straker was
+     leading a double life, and keeping a second establishment. The nature
+     of the bill showed that there was a lady in the case, and one who had
+     expensive tastes. Liberal as you are with your servants, one can
+     hardly expect that they can buy twenty-guinea walking dresses for
+     their ladies. I questioned Mrs. Straker as to the dress without her
+     knowing it, and having satisfied myself that it had never reached
+     her, I made a note of the milliner's address, and felt that by
+     calling there with Straker's photograph I could easily dispose of the
+     mythical Derbyshire.
+
+     "From that time on all was plain. Straker had led out the horse to a
+     hollow where his light would be invisible. Simpson in his flight had
+     dropped his cravat, and Straker had picked it up--with some idea,
+     perhaps, that he might use it in securing the horse's leg. Once in
+     the hollow, he had got behind the horse and had struck a light; but
+     the creature frightened at the sudden glare, and with the strange
+     instinct of animals feeling that some mischief was intended, had
+     lashed out, and the steel shoe had struck Straker full on the
+     forehead. He had already, in spite of the rain, taken off his
+     overcoat in order to do his delicate task, and so, as he fell, his
+     knife gashed his thigh. Do I make it clear?"
+
+     "Wonderful!" cried the Colonel. "Wonderful! You might have been
+     there!"
+
+     "My final shot was, I confess a very long one. It struck me that so
+     astute a man as Straker would not undertake this delicate
+     tendon-nicking without a little practice. What could he practice on?
+     My eyes fell upon the sheep, and I asked a question which, rather to
+     my surprise, showed that my surmise was correct.
+
+     "When I returned to London I called upon the milliner, who had
+     recognized Straker as an excellent customer of the name of
+     Derbyshire, who had a very dashing wife, with a strong partiality for
+     expensive dresses. I have no doubt that this woman had plunged him
+     over head and ears in debt, and so led him into this miserable plot."
+
+     "You have explained all but one thing," cried the Colonel. "Where was
+     the horse?"
+
+     "Ah, it bolted, and was cared for by one of your neighbors. We must
+     have an amnesty in that direction, I think. This is Clapham Junction,
+     if I am not mistaken, and we shall be in Victoria in less than ten
+     minutes. If you care to smoke a cigar in our rooms, Colonel, I shall
+     be happy to give you any other details which might interest you."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                 THE YELLOW FACE
+
+     [In publishing these short sketches based upon the numerous cases in
+     which my companion's singular gifts have made us the listeners to,
+     and eventually the actors in, some strange drama, it is only natural
+     that I should dwell rather upon his successes than upon his failures.
+     And this not so much for the sake of his reputations--for, indeed, it
+     was when he was at his wits' end that his energy and his versatility
+     were most admirable--but because where he failed it happened too
+     often that no one else succeeded, and that the tale was left forever
+     without a conclusion. Now and again, however, it chanced that even
+     when he erred, the truth was still discovered. I have noted of some
+     half-dozen cases of the kind of which "The Adventure of the Musgrave
+     Ritual" and that which I am about to recount are the two which
+     present the strongest features of interest.]
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was a man who seldom took exercise for exercise's
+     sake. Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and he was
+     undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever
+     seen; but he looked upon aimless bodily exertion as a waste of
+     energy, and he seldom bestirred himself save when there was some
+     professional object to be served. Then he was absolutely untiring and
+     indefatigable. That he should have kept himself in training under
+     such circumstances is remarkable, but his diet was usually of the
+     sparest, and his habits were simple to the verge of austerity. Save
+     for the occasional use of cocaine, he had no vices, and he only
+     turned to the drug as a protest against the monotony of existence
+     when cases were scanty and the papers uninteresting.
+
+     One day in early spring he had so far relaxed as to go for a walk
+     with me in the Park, where the first faint shoots of green were
+     breaking out upon the elms, and the sticky spear-heads of the
+     chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their five-fold leaves.
+     For two hours we rambled about together, in silence for the most
+     part, as befits two men who know each other intimately. It was nearly
+     five before we were back in Baker Street once more.
+
+     "Beg pardon, sir," said our page-boy, as he opened the door. "There's
+     been a gentleman here asking for you, sir."
+
+     Holmes glanced reproachfully at me. "So much for afternoon walks!"
+     said he. "Has this gentleman gone, then?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "Didn't you ask him in?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; he came in."
+
+     "How long did he wait?"
+
+     "Half an hour, sir. He was a very restless gentleman, sir, a-walkin'
+     and a-stampin' all the time he was here. I was waitin' outside the
+     door, sir, and I could hear him. At last he outs into the passage,
+     and he cries, 'Is that man never goin' to come?' Those were his very
+     words, sir. 'You'll only need to wait a little longer,' says I. 'Then
+     I'll wait in the open air, for I feel half choked,' says he. 'I'll be
+     back before long.' And with that he ups and he outs, and all I could
+     say wouldn't hold him back."
+
+     "Well, well, you did your best," said Holmes, as we walked into our
+     room. "It's very annoying, though, Watson. I was badly in need of a
+     case, and this looks, from the man's impatience, as if it were of
+     importance. Hullo! That's not your pipe on the table. He must have
+     left his behind him. A nice old brier with a good long stem of what
+     the tobacconists call amber. I wonder how many real amber mouthpieces
+     there are in London? Some people think that a fly in it is a sign.
+     Well, he must have been disturbed in his mind to leave a pipe behind
+     him which he evidently values highly."
+
+     "How do you know that he values it highly?" I asked.
+
+     "Well, I should put the original cost of the pipe at seven and
+     sixpence. Now it has, you see, been twice mended, once in the wooden
+     stem and once in the amber. Each of these mends, done, as you
+     observe, with silver bands, must have cost more than the pipe did
+     originally. The man must value the pipe highly when he prefers to
+     patch it up rather than buy a new one with the same money."
+
+     "Anything else?" I asked, for Holmes was turning the pipe about in
+     his hand, and staring at it in his peculiar pensive way.
+
+     He held it up and tapped on it with his long, thin fore-finger, as a
+     professor might who was lecturing on a bone.
+
+     "Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest," said he. "Nothing
+     has more individuality, save perhaps watches and bootlaces. The
+     indications here, however, are neither very marked nor very
+     important. The owner is obviously a muscular man, left-handed, with
+     an excellent set of teeth, careless in his habits, and with no need
+     to practise economy."
+
+     My friend threw out the information in a very offhand way, but I saw
+     that he cocked his eye at me to see if I had followed his reasoning.
+
+     "You think a man must be well-to-do if he smokes a seven-shilling
+     pipe," said I.
+
+     "This is Grosvenor mixture at eightpence an ounce," Holmes answered,
+     knocking a little out on his palm. "As he might get an excellent
+     smoke for half the price, he has no need to practise economy."
+
+     "And the other points?"
+
+     "He has been in the habit of lighting his pipe at lamps and gas-jets.
+     You can see that it is quite charred all down one side. Of course a
+     match could not have done that. Why should a man hold a match to the
+     side of his pipe? But you cannot light it at a lamp without getting
+     the bowl charred. And it is all on the right side of the pipe. From
+     that I gather that he is a left-handed man. You hold your own pipe to
+     the lamp, and see how naturally you, being right-handed, hold the
+     left side to the flame. You might do it once the other way, but not
+     as a constancy. This has always been held so. Then he has bitten
+     through his amber. It takes a muscular, energetic fellow, and one
+     with a good set of teeth, to do that. But if I am not mistaken I hear
+     him upon the stair, so we shall have something more interesting than
+     his pipe to study."
+
+     An instant later our door opened, and a tall young man entered the
+     room. He was well but quietly dressed in a dark-gray suit, and
+     carried a brown wide-awake in his hand. I should have put him at
+     about thirty, though he was really some years older.
+
+     "I beg your pardon," said he, with some embarrassment; "I suppose I
+     should have knocked. Yes, of course I should have knocked. The fact
+     is that I am a little upset, and you must put it all down to that."
+     He passed his hand over his forehead like a man who is half dazed,
+     and then fell rather than sat down upon a chair.
+
+     "I can see that you have not slept for a night or two," said Holmes,
+     in his easy, genial way. "That tries a man's nerves more than work,
+     and more even than pleasure. May I ask how I can help you?"
+
+     "I wanted your advice, sir. I don't know what to do and my whole life
+     seems to have gone to pieces."
+
+     "You wish to employ me as a consulting detective?"
+
+     "Not that only. I want your opinion as a judicious man--as a man of
+     the world. I want to know what I ought to do next. I hope to God
+     you'll be able to tell me."
+
+     He spoke in little, sharp, jerky outbursts, and it seemed to me that
+     to speak at all was very painful to him, and that his will all
+     through was overriding his inclinations.
+
+     "It's a very delicate thing," said he. "One does not like to speak of
+     one's domestic affairs to strangers. It seems dreadful to discuss the
+     conduct of one's wife with two men whom I have never seen before.
+     It's horrible to have to do it. But I've got to the end of my tether,
+     and I must have advice."
+
+     "My dear Mr. Grant Munro--" began Holmes.
+
+     Our visitor sprang from his chair. "What!" he cried, "you know my
+     name?"
+
+     "If you wish to preserve your incognito," said Holmes, smiling, "I
+     would suggest that you cease to write your name upon the lining of
+     your hat, or else that you turn the crown towards the person whom you
+     are addressing. I was about to say that my friend and I have listened
+     to a good many strange secrets in this room, and that we have had the
+     good fortune to bring peace to many troubled souls. I trust that we
+     may do as much for you. Might I beg you, as time may prove to be of
+     importance, to furnish me with the facts of your case without further
+     delay?"
+
+     Our visitor again passed his hand over his forehead, as if he found
+     it bitterly hard. From every gesture and expression I could see that
+     he was a reserved, self-contained man, with a dash of pride in his
+     nature, more likely to hide his wounds than to expose them. Then
+     suddenly, with a fierce gesture of his closed hand, like one who
+     throws reserve to the winds, he began.
+
+     "The facts are these, Mr. Holmes," said he. "I am a married man, and
+     have been so for three years. During that time my wife and I have
+     loved each other as fondly and lived as happily as any two that ever
+     were joined. We have not had a difference, not one, in thought or
+     word or deed. And now, since last Monday, there has suddenly sprung
+     up a barrier between us, and I find that there is something in her
+     life and in her thought of which I know as little as if she were the
+     woman who brushes by me in the street. We are estranged, and I want
+     to know why.
+
+     "Now there is one thing that I want to impress upon you before I go
+     any further, Mr. Holmes. Effie loves me. Don't let there be any
+     mistake about that. She loves me with her whole heart and soul, and
+     never more than now. I know it. I feel it. I don't want to argue
+     about that. A man can tell easily enough when a woman loves him. But
+     there's this secret between us, and we can never be the same until it
+     is cleared."
+
+     "Kindly let me have the facts, Mr. Munro," said Holmes, with some
+     impatience.
+
+     "I'll tell you what I know about Effie's history. She was a widow
+     when I met her first, though quite young--only twenty-five. Her name
+     then was Mrs. Hebron. She went out to America when she was young, and
+     lived in the town of Atlanta, where she married this Hebron, who was
+     a lawyer with a good practice. They had one child, but the yellow
+     fever broke out badly in the place, and both husband and child died
+     of it. I have seen his death certificate. This sickened her of
+     America, and she came back to live with a maiden aunt at Pinner, in
+     Middlesex. I may mention that her husband had left her comfortably
+     off, and that she had a capital of about four thousand five hundred
+     pounds, which had been so well invested by him that it returned an
+     average of seven per cent. She had only been six months at Pinner
+     when I met her; we fell in love with each other, and we married a few
+     weeks afterwards.
+
+     "I am a hop merchant myself, and as I have an income of seven or
+     eight hundred, we found ourselves comfortably off, and took a nice
+     eighty-pound-a-year villa at Norbury. Our little place was very
+     countrified, considering that it is so close to town. We had an inn
+     and two houses a little above us, and a single cottage at the other
+     side of the field which faces us, and except those there were no
+     houses until you got half way to the station. My business took me
+     into town at certain seasons, but in summer I had less to do, and
+     then in our country home my wife and I were just as happy as could be
+     wished. I tell you that there never was a shadow between us until
+     this accursed affair began.
+
+     "There's one thing I ought to tell you before I go further. When we
+     married, my wife made over all her property to me--rather against my
+     will, for I saw how awkward it would be if my business affairs went
+     wrong. However, she would have it so, and it was done. Well, about
+     six weeks ago she came to me.
+
+     "'Jack,' said she, 'when you took my money you said that if ever I
+     wanted any I was to ask you for it.'
+
+     "'Certainly,' said I. 'It's all your own.'
+
+     "'Well,' said she, 'I want a hundred pounds.'
+
+     "I was a bit staggered at this, for I had imagined it was simply a
+     new dress or something of the kind that she was after.
+
+     "'What on earth for?' I asked.
+
+     "'Oh,' said she, in her playful way, 'you said that you were only my
+     banker, and bankers never ask questions, you know.'
+
+     "'If you really mean it, of course you shall have the money,' said I.
+
+     "'Oh, yes, I really mean it.'
+
+     "'And you won't tell me what you want it for?'
+
+     "'Some day, perhaps, but not just at present, Jack.'
+
+     "So I had to be content with that, though it was the first time that
+     there had ever been any secret between us. I gave her a check, and I
+     never thought any more of the matter. It may have nothing to do with
+     what came afterwards, but I thought it only right to mention it.
+
+     "Well, I told you just now that there is a cottage not far from our
+     house. There is just a field between us, but to reach it you have to
+     go along the road and then turn down a lane. Just beyond it is a nice
+     little grove of Scotch firs, and I used to be very fond of strolling
+     down there, for trees are always a neighborly kind of things. The
+     cottage had been standing empty this eight months, and it was a pity,
+     for it was a pretty two storied place, with an old-fashioned porch
+     and honeysuckle about it. I have stood many a time and thought what a
+     neat little homestead it would make.
+
+     "Well, last Monday evening I was taking a stroll down that way, when
+     I met an empty van coming up the lane, and saw a pile of carpets and
+     things lying about on the grass-plot beside the porch. It was clear
+     that the cottage had at last been let. I walked past it, and wondered
+     what sort of folk they were who had come to live so near us. And as I
+     looked I suddenly became aware that a face was watching me out of one
+     of the upper windows.
+
+     "I don't know what there was about that face, Mr. Holmes, but it
+     seemed to send a chill right down my back. I was some little way off,
+     so that I could not make out the features, but there was something
+     unnatural and inhuman about the face. That was the impression that I
+     had, and I moved quickly forwards to get a nearer view of the person
+     who was watching me. But as I did so the face suddenly disappeared,
+     so suddenly that it seemed to have been plucked away into the
+     darkness of the room. I stood for five minutes thinking the business
+     over, and trying to analyze my impressions. I could not tell if the
+     face were that of a man or a woman. It had been too far from me for
+     that. But its color was what had impressed me most. It was of a livid
+     chalky white, and with something set and rigid about it which was
+     shockingly unnatural. So disturbed was I that I determined to see a
+     little more of the new inmates of the cottage. I approached and
+     knocked at the door, which was instantly opened by a tall, gaunt
+     woman with a harsh, forbidding face.
+
+     "'What may you be wantin'?' she asked, in a Northern accent.
+
+     "'I am your neighbor over yonder,' said I, nodding towards my house.
+     'I see that you have only just moved in, so I thought that if I could
+     be of any help to you in any--'
+
+     "'Ay, we'll just ask ye when we want ye,' said she, and shut the door
+     in my face. Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my back and
+     walked home. All evening, though I tried to think of other things, my
+     mind would still turn to the apparition at the window and the
+     rudeness of the woman. I determined to say nothing about the former
+     to my wife, for she is a nervous, highly strung woman, and I had no
+     wish that she would share the unpleasant impression which had been
+     produced upon myself. I remarked to her, however, before I fell
+     asleep, that the cottage was now occupied, to which she returned no
+     reply.
+
+     "I am usually an extremely sound sleeper. It has been a standing jest
+     in the family that nothing could ever wake me during the night. And
+     yet somehow on that particular night, whether it may have been the
+     slight excitement produced by my little adventure or not I know not,
+     but I slept much more lightly than usual. Half in my dreams I was
+     dimly conscious that something was going on in the room, and
+     gradually became aware that my wife had dressed herself and was
+     slipping on her mantle and her bonnet. My lips were parted to murmur
+     out some sleepy words of surprise or remonstrance at this untimely
+     preparation, when suddenly my half-opened eyes fell upon her face,
+     illuminated by the candle-light, and astonishment held me dumb. She
+     wore an expression such as I had never seen before--such as I should
+     have thought her incapable of assuming. She was deadly pale and
+     breathing fast, glancing furtively towards the bed as she fastened
+     her mantle, to see if she had disturbed me. Then, thinking that I was
+     still asleep, she slipped noiselessly from the room, and an instant
+     later I heard a sharp creaking which could only come from the hinges
+     of the front door. I sat up in bed and rapped my knuckles against the
+     rail to make certain that I was truly awake. Then I took my watch
+     from under the pillow. It was three in the morning. What on this
+     earth could my wife be doing out on the country road at three in the
+     morning?
+
+     "I had sat for about twenty minutes turning the thing over in my mind
+     and trying to find some possible explanation. The more I thought, the
+     more extraordinary and inexplicable did it appear. I was still
+     puzzling over it when I heard the door gently close again, and her
+     footsteps coming up the stairs.
+
+     "'Where in the world have you been, Effie?' I asked as she entered.
+
+     "She gave a violent start and a kind of gasping cry when I spoke, and
+     that cry and start troubled me more than all the rest, for there was
+     something indescribably guilty about them. My wife had always been a
+     woman of a frank, open nature, and it gave me a chill to see her
+     slinking into her own room, and crying out and wincing when her own
+     husband spoke to her.
+
+     "'You awake, Jack!' she cried, with a nervous laugh. 'Why, I thought
+     that nothing could awake you.'
+
+     "'Where have you been?' I asked, more sternly.
+
+     "'I don't wonder that you are surprised,' said she, and I could see
+     that her fingers were trembling as she undid the fastenings of her
+     mantle. 'Why, I never remember having done such a thing in my life
+     before. The fact is that I felt as though I were choking, and had a
+     perfect longing for a breath of fresh air. I really think that I
+     should have fainted if I had not gone out. I stood at the door for a
+     few minutes, and now I am quite myself again.'
+
+     "All the time that she was telling me this story she never once
+     looked in my direction, and her voice was quite unlike her usual
+     tones. It was evident to me that she was saying what was false. I
+     said nothing in reply, but turned my face to the wall, sick at heart,
+     with my mind filled with a thousand venomous doubts and suspicions.
+     What was it that my wife was concealing from me? Where had she been
+     during that strange expedition? I felt that I should have no peace
+     until I knew, and yet I shrank from asking her again after once she
+     had told me what was false. All the rest of the night I tossed and
+     tumbled, framing theory after theory, each more unlikely than the
+     last.
+
+     "I should have gone to the City that day, but I was too disturbed in
+     my mind to be able to pay attention to business matters. My wife
+     seemed to be as upset as myself, and I could see from the little
+     questioning glances which she kept shooting at me that she understood
+     that I disbelieved her statement, and that she was at her wits' end
+     what to do. We hardly exchanged a word during breakfast, and
+     immediately afterwards I went out for a walk, that I might think the
+     matter out in the fresh morning air.
+
+     "I went as far as the Crystal Palace, spent an hour in the grounds,
+     and was back in Norbury by one o'clock. It happened that my way took
+     me past the cottage, and I stopped for an instant to look at the
+     windows, and to see if I could catch a glimpse of the strange face
+     which had looked out at me on the day before. As I stood there,
+     imagine my surprise, Mr. Holmes, when the door suddenly opened and my
+     wife walked out.
+
+     "I was struck dumb with astonishment at the sight of her; but my
+     emotions were nothing to those which showed themselves upon her face
+     when our eyes met. She seemed for an instant to wish to shrink back
+     inside the house again; and then, seeing how useless all concealment
+     must be, she came forward, with a very white face and frightened eyes
+     which belied the smile upon her lips.
+
+     "'Ah, Jack,' she said, 'I have just been in to see if I can be of any
+     assistance to our new neighbors. Why do you look at me like that,
+     Jack? You are not angry with me?'
+
+     "'So,' said I, 'this is where you went during the night.'
+
+     "'What do you mean?' she cried.
+
+     "'You came here. I am sure of it. Who are these people, that you
+     should visit them at such an hour?'
+
+     "'I have not been here before.'
+
+     "'How can you tell me what you know is false?' I cried. 'Your very
+     voice changes as you speak. When have I ever had a secret from you? I
+     shall enter that cottage, and I shall probe the matter to the
+     bottom.'
+
+     "'No, no, Jack, for God's sake!' she gasped, in uncontrollable
+     emotion. Then, as I approached the door, she seized my sleeve and
+     pulled me back with convulsive strength.
+
+     "'I implore you not to do this, Jack,' she cried. 'I swear that I
+     will tell you everything some day, but nothing but misery can come of
+     it if you enter that cottage.' Then, as I tried to shake her off, she
+     clung to me in a frenzy of entreaty.
+
+     "'Trust me, Jack!' she cried. 'Trust me only this once. You will
+     never have cause to regret it. You know that I would not have a
+     secret from you if it were not for your own sake. Our whole lives are
+     at stake in this. If you come home with me, all will be well. If you
+     force your way into that cottage, all is over between us.'
+
+     "There was such earnestness, such despair, in her manner that her
+     words arrested me, and I stood irresolute before the door.
+
+     "'I will trust you on one condition, and on one condition only,' said
+     I at last. 'It is that this mystery comes to an end from now. You are
+     at liberty to preserve your secret, but you must promise me that
+     there shall be no more nightly visits, no more doings which are kept
+     from my knowledge. I am willing to forget those which are passed if
+     you will promise that there shall be no more in the future.'
+
+     "'I was sure that you would trust me,' she cried, with a great sigh
+     of relief. 'It shall be just as you wish. Come away--oh, come away up
+     to the house.'
+
+     "Still pulling at my sleeve, she led me away from the cottage. As we
+     went I glanced back, and there was that yellow livid face watching us
+     out of the upper window. What link could there be between that
+     creature and my wife? Or how could the coarse, rough woman whom I had
+     seen the day before be connected with her? It was a strange puzzle,
+     and yet I knew that my mind could never know ease again until I had
+     solved it.
+
+     "For two days after this I stayed at home, and my wife appeared to
+     abide loyally by our engagement, for, as far as I know, she never
+     stirred out of the house. On the third day, however, I had ample
+     evidence that her solemn promise was not enough to hold her back from
+     this secret influence which drew her away from her husband and her
+     duty.
+
+     "I had gone into town on that day, but I returned by the 2.40 instead
+     of the 3.36, which is my usual train. As I entered the house the maid
+     ran into the hall with a startled face.
+
+     "'Where is your mistress?' I asked.
+
+     "'I think that she has gone out for a walk,' she answered.
+
+     "My mind was instantly filled with suspicion. I rushed upstairs to
+     make sure that she was not in the house. As I did so I happened to
+     glance out of one of the upper windows, and saw the maid with whom I
+     had just been speaking running across the field in the direction of
+     the cottage. Then of course I saw exactly what it all meant. My wife
+     had gone over there, and had asked the servant to call her if I
+     should return. Tingling with anger, I rushed down and hurried across,
+     determined to end the matter once and forever. I saw my wife and the
+     maid hurrying back along the lane, but I did not stop to speak with
+     them. In the cottage lay the secret which was casting a shadow over
+     my life. I vowed that, come what might, it should be a secret no
+     longer. I did not even knock when I reached it, but turned the handle
+     and rushed into the passage.
+
+     "It was all still and quiet upon the ground floor. In the kitchen a
+     kettle was singing on the fire, and a large black cat lay coiled up
+     in the basket; but there was no sign of the woman whom I had seen
+     before. I ran into the other room, but it was equally deserted. Then
+     I rushed up the stairs, only to find two other rooms empty and
+     deserted at the top. There was no one at all in the whole house. The
+     furniture and pictures were of the most common and vulgar
+     description, save in the one chamber at the window of which I had
+     seen the strange face. That was comfortable and elegant, and all my
+     suspicions rose into a fierce bitter flame when I saw that on the
+     mantelpiece stood a copy of a full-length photograph of my wife,
+     which had been taken at my request only three months ago.
+
+     "I stayed long enough to make certain that the house was absolutely
+     empty. Then I left it, feeling a weight at my heart such as I had
+     never had before. My wife came out into the hall as I entered my
+     house; but I was too hurt and angry to speak with her, and pushing
+     past her, I made my way into my study. She followed me, however,
+     before I could close the door.
+
+     "'I am sorry that I broke my promise, Jack,' said she; 'but if you
+     knew all the circumstances I am sure that you would forgive me.'
+
+     "'Tell me everything, then,' said I.
+
+     "'I cannot, Jack, I cannot,' she cried.
+
+     "'Until you tell me who it is that has been living in that cottage,
+     and who it is to whom you have given that photograph, there can never
+     be any confidence between us,' said I, and breaking away from her, I
+     left the house. That was yesterday, Mr. Holmes, and I have not seen
+     her since, nor do I know anything more about this strange business.
+     It is the first shadow that has come between us, and it has so shaken
+     me that I do not know what I should do for the best. Suddenly this
+     morning it occurred to me that you were the man to advise me, so I
+     have hurried to you now, and I place myself unreservedly in your
+     hands. If there is any point which I have not made clear, pray
+     question me about it. But, above all, tell me quickly what I am to
+     do, for this misery is more than I can bear."
+
+     Holmes and I had listened with the utmost interest to this
+     extraordinary statement, which had been delivered in the jerky,
+     broken fashion of a man who is under the influence of extreme
+     emotions. My companion sat silent for some time, with his chin upon
+     his hand, lost in thought.
+
+     "Tell me," said he at last, "could you swear that this was a man's
+     face which you saw at the window?"
+
+     "Each time that I saw it I was some distance away from it, so that it
+     is impossible for me to say."
+
+     "You appear, however, to have been disagreeably impressed by it."
+
+     "It seemed to be of an unnatural color, and to have a strange
+     rigidity about the features. When I approached, it vanished with a
+     jerk."
+
+     "How long is it since your wife asked you for a hundred pounds?"
+
+     "Nearly two months."
+
+     "Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband?"
+
+     "No; there was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his death,
+     and all her papers were destroyed."
+
+     "And yet she had a certificate of death. You say that you saw it."
+
+     "Yes; she got a duplicate after the fire."
+
+     "Did you ever meet any one who knew her in America?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Did she ever talk of revisiting the place?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Or get letters from it?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Thank you. I should like to think over the matter a little now. If
+     the cottage is now permanently deserted we may have some difficulty.
+     If, on the other hand, as I fancy is more likely, the inmates were
+     warned of your coming, and left before you entered yesterday, then
+     they may be back now, and we should clear it all up easily. Let me
+     advise you, then, to return to Norbury, and to examine the windows of
+     the cottage again. If you have reason to believe that is inhabited,
+     do not force your way in, but send a wire to my friend and me. We
+     shall be with you within an hour of receiving it, and we shall then
+     very soon get to the bottom of the business."
+
+     "And if it is still empty?"
+
+     "In that case I shall come out to-morrow and talk it over with you.
+     Good-bye, and, above all, do not fret until you know that you really
+     have a cause for it."
+
+     "I am afraid that this is a bad business, Watson," said my companion,
+     as he returned after accompanying Mr. Grant Munro to the door. "What
+     do you make of it?"
+
+     "It had an ugly sound," I answered.
+
+     "Yes. There's blackmail in it, or I am much mistaken."
+
+     "And who is the blackmailer?"
+
+     "Well, it must be the creature who lives in the only comfortable room
+     in the place, and has her photograph above his fireplace. Upon my
+     word, Watson, there is something very attractive about that livid
+     face at the window, and I would not have missed the case for worlds."
+
+     "You have a theory?"
+
+     "Yes, a provisional one. But I shall be surprised if it does not turn
+     out to be correct. This woman's first husband is in that cottage."
+
+     "Why do you think so?"
+
+     "How else can we explain her frenzied anxiety that her second one
+     should not enter it? The facts, as I read them, are something like
+     this: This woman was married in America. Her husband developed some
+     hateful qualities; or shall we say that he contracted some loathsome
+     disease, and became a leper or an imbecile? She flies from him at
+     last, returns to England, changes her name, and starts her life, as
+     she thinks, afresh. She has been married three years, and believes
+     that her position is quite secure, having shown her husband the death
+     certificate of some man whose name she has assumed, when suddenly her
+     whereabouts is discovered by her first husband; or, we may suppose,
+     by some unscrupulous woman who has attached herself to the invalid.
+     They write to the wife, and threaten to come and expose her. She asks
+     for a hundred pounds, and endeavors to buy them off. They come in
+     spite of it, and when the husband mentions casually to the wife that
+     there are new-comers in the cottage, she knows in some way that they
+     are her pursuers. She waits until her husband is asleep, and then she
+     rushes down to endeavor to persuade them to leave her in peace.
+     Having no success, she goes again next morning, and her husband meets
+     her, as he has told us, as she comes out. She promises him then not
+     to go there again, but two days afterwards the hope of getting rid of
+     those dreadful neighbors was too strong for her, and she made another
+     attempt, taking down with her the photograph which had probably been
+     demanded from her. In the midst of this interview the maid rushed in
+     to say that the master had come home, on which the wife, knowing that
+     he would come straight down to the cottage, hurried the inmates out
+     at the back door, into the grove of fir-trees, probably, which was
+     mentioned as standing near. In this way he found the place deserted.
+     I shall be very much surprised, however, if it still so when he
+     reconnoitres it this evening. What do you think of my theory?"
+
+     "It is all surmise."
+
+     "But at least it covers all the facts. When new facts come to our
+     knowledge which cannot be covered by it, it will be time enough to
+     reconsider it. We can do nothing more until we have a message from
+     our friend at Norbury."
+
+     But we had not a very long time to wait for that. It came just as we
+     had finished our tea.
+
+     "The cottage is still tenanted," it said. "Have seen the face again
+     at the window. Will meet the seven o'clock train, and will take no
+     steps until you arrive."
+
+     He was waiting on the platform when we stepped out, and we could see
+     in the light of the station lamps that he was very pale, and
+     quivering with agitation.
+
+     "They are still there, Mr. Holmes," said he, laying his hand hard
+     upon my friend's sleeve. "I saw lights in the cottage as I came down.
+     We shall settle it now once and for all."
+
+     "What is your plan, then?" asked Holmes, as he walked down the dark
+     tree-lined road.
+
+     "I am going to force my way in and see for myself who is in the
+     house. I wish you both to be there as witnesses."
+
+     "You are quite determined to do this, in spite of your wife's warning
+     that it is better that you should not solve the mystery?"
+
+     "Yes, I am determined."
+
+     "Well, I think that you are in the right. Any truth is better than
+     indefinite doubt. We had better go up at once. Of course, legally, we
+     are putting ourselves hopelessly in the wrong; but I think that it is
+     worth it."
+
+     It was a very dark night, and a thin rain began to fall as we turned
+     from the high road into a narrow lane, deeply rutted, with hedges on
+     either side. Mr. Grant Munro pushed impatiently forward, however, and
+     we stumbled after him as best we could.
+
+     "There are the lights of my house," he murmured, pointing to a
+     glimmer among the trees. "And here is the cottage which I am going to
+     enter."
+
+     We turned a corner in the lane as he spoke, and there was the
+     building close beside us. A yellow bar falling across the black
+     foreground showed that the door was not quite closed, and one window
+     in the upper story was brightly illuminated. As we looked, we saw a
+     dark blur moving across the blind.
+
+     "There is that creature!" cried Grant Munro. "You can see for
+     yourselves that some one is there. Now follow me, and we shall soon
+     know all."
+
+     We approached the door; but suddenly a woman appeared out of the
+     shadow and stood in the golden track of the lamp-light. I could not
+     see her face in the darkness, but her arms were thrown out in an
+     attitude of entreaty.
+
+     "For God's sake, don't Jack!" she cried. "I had a presentiment that
+     you would come this evening. Think better of it, dear! Trust me
+     again, and you will never have cause to regret it."
+
+     "I have trusted you too long, Effie," he cried, sternly. "Leave go of
+     me! I must pass you. My friends and I are going to settle this matter
+     once and forever!" He pushed her to one side, and we followed closely
+     after him. As he threw the door open an old woman ran out in front of
+     him and tried to bar his passage, but he thrust her back, and an
+     instant afterwards we were all upon the stairs. Grant Munro rushed
+     into the lighted room at the top, and we entered at his heels.
+
+     It was a cosy, well-furnished apartment, with two candles burning
+     upon the table and two upon the mantelpiece. In the corner, stooping
+     over a desk, there sat what appeared to be a little girl. Her face
+     was turned away as we entered, but we could see that she was dressed
+     in a red frock, and that she had long white gloves on. As she whisked
+     round to us, I gave a cry of surprise and horror. The face which she
+     turned towards us was of the strangest livid tint, and the features
+     were absolutely devoid of any expression. An instant later the
+     mystery was explained. Holmes, with a laugh, passed his hand behind
+     the child's ear, a mask peeled off from her countenance, an there was
+     a little coal black negress, with all her white teeth flashing in
+     amusement at our amazed faces. I burst out laughing, out of sympathy
+     with her merriment; but Grant Munro stood staring, with his hand
+     clutching his throat.
+
+     "My God!" he cried. "What can be the meaning of this?"
+
+     "I will tell you the meaning of it," cried the lady, sweeping into
+     the room with a proud, set face. "You have forced me, against my own
+     judgment, to tell you, and now we must both make the best of it. My
+     husband died at Atlanta. My child survived."
+
+     "Your child?"
+
+     She drew a large silver locket from her bosom. "You have never seen
+     this open."
+
+     "I understood that it did not open."
+
+     She touched a spring, and the front hinged back. There was a portrait
+     within of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent-looking, but
+     bearing unmistakable signs upon his features of his African descent.
+
+     "That is John Hebron, of Atlanta," said the lady, "and a nobler man
+     never walked the earth. I cut myself off from my race in order to wed
+     him, but never once while he lived did I for an instant regret it. It
+     was our misfortune that our only child took after his people rather
+     than mine. It is often so in such matches, and little Lucy is darker
+     far than ever her father was. But dark or fair, she is my own dear
+     little girlie, and her mother's pet." The little creature ran across
+     at the words and nestled up against the lady's dress. "When I left
+     her in America," she continued, "it was only because her health was
+     weak, and the change might have done her harm. She was given to the
+     care of a faithful Scotch woman who had once been our servant. Never
+     for an instant did I dream of disowning her as my child. But when
+     chance threw you in my way, Jack, and I learned to love you, I feared
+     to tell you about my child. God forgive me, I feared that I should
+     lose you, and I had not the courage to tell you. I had to choose
+     between you, and in my weakness I turned away from my own little
+     girl. For three years I have kept her existence a secret from you,
+     but I heard from the nurse, and I knew that all was well with her. At
+     last, however, there came an overwhelming desire to see the child
+     once more. I struggled against it, but in vain. Though I knew the
+     danger, I determined to have the child over, if it were but for a few
+     weeks. I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse, and I gave her
+     instructions about this cottage, so that she might come as a
+     neighbor, without my appearing to be in any way connected with her. I
+     pushed my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the
+     house during the daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands
+     so that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip
+     about there being a black child in the neighborhood. If I had been
+     less cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with
+     fear that you should learn the truth.
+
+     "It was you who told me first that the cottage was occupied. I should
+     have waited for the morning, but I could not sleep for excitement,
+     and so at last I slipped out, knowing how difficult it is to awake
+     you. But you saw me go, and that was the beginning of my troubles.
+     Next day you had my secret at your mercy, but you nobly refrained
+     from pursuing your advantage. Three days later, however, the nurse
+     and child only just escaped from the back door as you rushed in at
+     the front one. And now to-night you at last know all, and I ask you
+     what is to become of us, my child and me?" She clasped her hands and
+     waited for an answer.
+
+     It was a long ten minutes before Grant Munro broke the silence, and
+     when his answer came it was one of which I love to think. He lifted
+     the little child, kissed her, and then, still carrying her, he held
+     his other hand out to his wife and turned towards the door.
+
+     "We can talk it over more comfortably at home," said he. "I am not a
+     very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you
+     have given me credit for being."
+
+     Holmes and I followed them down the lane, and my friend plucked at my
+     sleeve as we came out.
+
+     "I think," said he, "that we shall be of more use in London than in
+     Norbury."
+
+     Not another word did he say of the case until late that night, when
+     he was turning away, with his lighted candle, for his bedroom.
+
+     "Watson," said he, "if it should ever strike you that I am getting a
+     little over-confident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case
+     than it deserves, kindly whisper 'Norbury' in my ear, and I shall be
+     infinitely obliged to you." 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                            THE STOCK-BROKER'S CLERK
+
+     Shortly after my marriage I had bought a connection in the Paddington
+     district. Old Mr. Farquhar, from whom I purchased it, had at one time
+     an excellent general practice; but his age, and an affliction of the
+     nature of St. Vitus's dance from which he suffered, had very much
+     thinned it. The public not unnaturally goes on the principle that he
+     who would heal others must himself be whole, and looks askance at the
+     curative powers of the man whose own case is beyond the reach of his
+     drugs. Thus as my predecessor weakened his practice declined, until
+     when I purchased it from him it had sunk from twelve hundred to
+     little more than three hundred a year. I had confidence, however, in
+     my own youth and energy, and was convinced that in a very few years
+     the concern would be as flourishing as ever.
+
+     For three months after taking over the practice I was kept very
+     closely at work, and saw little of my friend Sherlock Holmes, for I
+     was too busy to visit Baker Street, and he seldom went anywhere
+     himself save upon professional business. I was surprised, therefore,
+     when, one morning in June, as I sat reading the British Medical
+     Journal after breakfast, I heard a ring at the bell, followed by the
+     high, somewhat strident tones of my old companion's voice.
+
+     "Ah, my dear Watson," said he, striding into the room, "I am very
+     delighted to see you! I trust that Mrs. Watson has entirely recovered
+     from all the little excitements connected with our adventure of the
+     Sign of Four."
+
+     "Thank you, we are both very well," said I, shaking him warmly by the
+     hand.
+
+     "And I hope, also," he continued, sitting down in the rocking-chair,
+     "that the cares of medical practice have not entirely obliterated the
+     interest which you used to take in our little deductive problems."
+
+     "On the contrary," I answered, "it was only last night that I was
+     looking over my old notes, and classifying some of our past results."
+
+     "I trust that you don't consider your collection closed."
+
+     "Not at all. I should wish nothing better than to have some more of
+     such experiences."
+
+     "To-day, for example?"
+
+     "Yes, to-day, if you like."
+
+     "And as far off as Birmingham?"
+
+     "Certainly, if you wish it."
+
+     "And the practice?"
+
+     "I do my neighbor's when he goes. He is always ready to work off the
+     debt."
+
+     "Ha! Nothing could be better," said Holmes, leaning back in his chair
+     and looking keenly at me from under his half closed lids. "I perceive
+     that you have been unwell lately. Summer colds are always a little
+     trying."
+
+     "I was confined to the house by a severe chill for three days last
+     week. I thought, however, that I had cast off every trace of it."
+
+     "So you have. You look remarkably robust."
+
+     "How, then, did you know of it?"
+
+     "My dear fellow, you know my methods."
+
+     "You deduced it, then?"
+
+     "Certainly."
+
+     "And from what?"
+
+     "From your slippers."
+
+     I glanced down at the new patent leathers which I was wearing. "How
+     on earth--" I began, but Holmes answered my question before it was
+     asked.
+
+     "Your slippers are new," he said. "You could not have had them more
+     than a few weeks. The soles which you are at this moment presenting
+     to me are slightly scorched. For a moment I thought they might have
+     got wet and been burned in the drying. But near the instep there is a
+     small circular wafer of paper with the shopman's hieroglyphics upon
+     it. Damp would of course have removed this. You had, then, been
+     sitting with our feet outstretched to the fire, which a man would
+     hardly do even in so wet a June as this if he were in his full
+     health."
+
+     Like all Holmes's reasoning the thing seemed simplicity itself when
+     it was once explained. He read the thought upon my features, and his
+     smile had a tinge of bitterness.
+
+     "I am afraid that I rather give myself away when I explain," said he.
+     "Results without causes are much more impressive. You are ready to
+     come to Birmingham, then?"
+
+     "Certainly. What is the case?"
+
+     "You shall hear it all in the train. My client is outside in a
+     four-wheeler. Can you come at once?"
+
+     "In an instant." I scribbled a note to my neighbor, rushed upstairs
+     to explain the matter to my wife, and joined Holmes upon the
+     door-step.
+
+     "Your neighbor is a doctor," said he, nodding at the brass plate.
+
+     "Yes; he bought a practice as I did."
+
+     "An old-established one?"
+
+     "Just the same as mine. Both have been ever since the houses were
+     built."
+
+     "Ah! Then you got hold of the best of the two."
+
+     "I think I did. But how do you know?"
+
+     "By the steps, my boy. Yours are worn three inches deeper than his.
+     But this gentleman in the cab is my client, Mr. Hall Pycroft. Allow
+     me to introduce you to him. Whip your horse up, cabby, for we have
+     only just time to catch our train."
+
+     The man whom I found myself facing was a well built,
+     fresh-complexioned young fellow, with a frank, honest face and a
+     slight, crisp, yellow mustache. He wore a very shiny top hat and a
+     neat suit of sober black, which made him look what he was--a smart
+     young City man, of the class who have been labeled cockneys, but who
+     give us our crack volunteer regiments, and who turn out more fine
+     athletes and sportsmen than any body of men in these islands. His
+     round, ruddy face was naturally full of cheeriness, but the corners
+     of his mouth seemed to me to be pulled down in a half-comical
+     distress. It was not, however, until we were all in a first-class
+     carriage and well started upon our journey to Birmingham that I was
+     able to learn what the trouble was which had driven him to Sherlock
+     Holmes.
+
+     "We have a clear run here of seventy minutes," Holmes remarked. "I
+     want you, Mr. Hall Pycroft, to tell my friend your very interesting
+     experience exactly as you have told it to me, or with more detail if
+     possible. It will be of use to me to hear the succession of events
+     again. It is a case, Watson, which may prove to have something in it,
+     or may prove to have nothing, but which, at least, presents those
+     unusual and outré features which are as dear to you as they are to
+     me. Now, Mr. Pycroft, I shall not interrupt you again."
+
+     Our young companion looked at me with a twinkle in his eye.
+
+     "The worst of the story is," said he, "that I show myself up as such
+     a confounded fool. Of course it may work out all right, and I don't
+     see that I could have done otherwise; but if I have lost my crib and
+     get nothing in exchange I shall feel what a soft Johnnie I have been.
+     I'm not very good at telling a story, Dr. Watson, but it is like this
+     with me:
+
+     "I used to have a billet at Coxon & Woodhouse's, of Draper's Gardens,
+     but they were let in early in the spring through the Venezuelan loan,
+     as no doubt you remember, and came a nasty cropper. I had been with
+     them five years, and old Coxon gave me a ripping good testimonial
+     when the smash came, but of course we clerks were all turned adrift,
+     the twenty-seven of us. I tried here and tried there, but there were
+     lots of other chaps on the same lay as myself, and it was a perfect
+     frost for a long time. I had been taking three pounds a week at
+     Coxon's, and I had saved about seventy of them, but I soon worked my
+     way through that and out at the other end. I was fairly at the end of
+     my tether at last, and could hardly find the stamps to answer the
+     advertisements or the envelopes to stick them to. I had worn out my
+     boots paddling up office stairs, and I seemed just as far from
+     getting a billet as ever.
+
+     "At last I saw a vacancy at Mawson & Williams's, the great
+     stock-broking firm in Lombard Street. I dare say E. C. is not much in
+     your line, but I can tell you that this is about the richest house in
+     London. The advertisement was to be answered by letter only. I sent
+     in my testimonial and application, but without the least hope of
+     getting it. Back came an answer by return, saying that if I would
+     appear next Monday I might take over my new duties at once, provided
+     that my appearance was satisfactory. No one knows how these things
+     are worked. Some people say that the manager just plunges his hand
+     into the heap and takes the first that comes. Anyhow it was my
+     innings that time, and I don't ever wish to feel better pleased. The
+     screw was a pound a week rise, and the duties just about the same as
+     at Coxon's.
+
+     "And now I come to the queer part of the business. I was in diggings
+     out Hampstead way, 17 Potter's Terrace. Well, I was sitting doing a
+     smoke that very evening after I had been promised the appointment,
+     when up came my landlady with a card which had "Arthur Pinner,
+     Financial Agent," printed upon it. I had never heard the name before
+     and could not imagine what he wanted with me; but, of course, I asked
+     her to show him up. In he walked, a middle-sized, dark-haired,
+     dark-eyed, black-bearded man, with a touch of the sheeny about his
+     nose. He had a brisk kind of way with him and spoke sharply, like a
+     man who knew the value of time.
+
+     "'Mr. Hall Pycroft, I believe?' said he.
+
+     "'Yes, sir,' I answered, pushing a chair towards him.
+
+     "'Lately engaged at Coxon & Woodhouse's?'
+
+     "'Yes, sir.'
+
+     "'And now on the staff of Mawson's.'
+
+     "'Quite so.'
+
+     "'Well,' said he, 'the fact is that I have heard some really
+     extraordinary stories about your financial ability. You remember
+     Parker, who used to be Coxon's manager? He can never say enough about
+     it.'
+
+     "Of course I was pleased to hear this. I had always been pretty sharp
+     in the office, but I had never dreamed that I was talked about in the
+     City in this fashion.
+
+     "'You have a good memory?' said he.
+
+     "'Pretty fair,' I answered, modestly.
+
+     "'Have you kept in touch with the market while you have been out of
+     work?' he asked.
+
+     "'Yes. I read the stock exchange list every morning.'
+
+     "'Now that shows real application!' he cried. 'That is the way to
+     prosper! You won't mind my testing you, will you? Let me see. How are
+     Ayrshires?'
+
+     "'A hundred and six and a quarter to a hundred and five and
+     seven-eighths.'
+
+     "'And New Zealand consolidated?'
+
+     "'A hundred and four.'
+
+     "'And British Broken Hills?'
+
+     "'Seven to seven-and-six.'
+
+     "'Wonderful!' he cried, with his hands up. 'This quite fits in with
+     all that I had heard. My boy, my boy, you are very much too good to
+     be a clerk at Mawson's!'
+
+     "This outburst rather astonished me, as you can think. 'Well,' said
+     I, 'other people don't think quite so much of me as you seem to do,
+     Mr. Pinner. I had a hard enough fight to get this berth, and I am
+     very glad to have it.'
+
+     "'Pooh, man; you should soar above it. You are not in your true
+     sphere. Now, I'll tell you how it stands with me. What I have to
+     offer is little enough when measured by your ability, but when
+     compared with Mawson's, it's light to dark. Let me see. When do you
+     go to Mawson's?'
+
+     "'On Monday.'
+
+     "'Ha, ha! I think I would risk a little sporting flutter that you
+     don't go there at all.'
+
+     "'Not go to Mawson's?'
+
+     "'No, sir. By that day you will be the business manager of the
+     Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited, with a hundred and
+     thirty-four branches in the towns and villages of France, not
+     counting one in Brussels and one in San Remo.'
+
+     "This took my breath away. 'I never heard of it,' said I.
+
+     "'Very likely not. It has been kept very quiet, for the capital was
+     all privately subscribed, and it's too good a thing to let the public
+     into. My brother, Harry Pinner, is promoter, and joins the board
+     after allotment as managing director. He knew I was in the swim down
+     here, and asked me to pick up a good man cheap. A young, pushing man
+     with plenty of snap about him. Parker spoke of you, and that brought
+     me here tonight. We can only offer you a beggarly five hundred to
+     start with.'
+
+     "'Five hundred a year!' I shouted.
+
+     "'Only that at the beginning; but you are to have an overriding
+     commission of one per cent on all business done by your agents, and
+     you may take my word for it that this will come to more than your
+     salary.'
+
+     "'But I know nothing about hardware.'
+
+     "'Tut, my boy; you know about figures.'
+
+     "My head buzzed, and I could hardly sit still in my chair. But
+     suddenly a little chill of doubt came upon me.
+
+     "'I must be frank with you,' said I. 'Mawson only gives me two
+     hundred, but Mawson is safe. Now, really, I know so little about your
+     company that--'
+
+     "'Ah, smart, smart!' he cried, in a kind of ecstasy of delight. 'You
+     are the very man for us. You are not to be talked over, and quite
+     right, too. Now, here's a note for a hundred pounds, and if you think
+     that we can do business you may just slip it into your pocket as an
+     advance upon your salary.'
+
+     "'That is very handsome,' said I. 'When should I take over my new
+     duties?'
+
+     "'Be in Birmingham to-morrow at one,' said he. 'I have a note in my
+     pocket here which you will take to my brother. You will find him at
+     126b Corporation Street, where the temporary offices of the company
+     are situated. Of course he must confirm your engagement, but between
+     ourselves it will be all right.'
+
+     "'Really, I hardly know how to express my gratitude, Mr. Pinner,'
+     said I.
+
+     "'Not at all, my boy. You have only got your desserts. There are one
+     or two small things--mere formalities--which I must arrange with you.
+     You have a bit of paper beside you there. Kindly write upon it "I am
+     perfectly willing to act as business manager to the Franco-Midland
+     Hardware Company, Limited, at a minimum salary of £500."'
+
+     "I did as he asked, and he put the paper in his pocket.
+
+     "'There is one other detail,' said he. 'What do you intend to do
+     about Mawson's?'
+
+     "I had forgotten all about Mawson's in my joy. 'I'll write and
+     resign,' said I.
+
+     "'Precisely what I don't want you to do. I had a row over you with
+     Mawson's manager. I had gone up to ask him about you, and he was very
+     offensive; accused me of coaxing you away from the service of the
+     firm, and that sort of thing. At last I fairly lost my temper. "If
+     you want good men you should pay them a good price," said I.
+
+     "'"He would rather have our small price than your big one," said he.
+
+     "'"I'll lay you a fiver," said I, "that when he has my offer you'll
+     never so much as hear from him again."
+
+     "'"Done!" said he. "We picked him out of the gutter, and he won't
+     leave us so easily." Those were his very words.'
+
+     "'The impudent scoundrel!' I cried. 'I've never so much as seen him
+     in my life. Why should I consider him in any way? I shall certainly
+     not write if you would rather I didn't.'
+
+     "'Good! That's a promise,' said he, rising from his chair. 'Well, I'm
+     delighted to have got so good a man for my brother. Here's your
+     advance of a hundred pounds, and here is the letter. Make a note of
+     the address, 126b Corporation Street, and remember that one o'clock
+     to-morrow is your appointment. Good-night; and may you have all the
+     fortune that you deserve!'
+
+     "That's just about all that passed between us, as near as I can
+     remember. You can imagine, Dr. Watson, how pleased I was at such an
+     extraordinary bit of good fortune. I sat up half the night hugging
+     myself over it, and next day I was off to Birmingham in a train that
+     would take me in plenty time for my appointment. I took my things to
+     a hotel in New Street, and then I made my way to the address which
+     had been given me.
+
+     "It was a quarter of an hour before my time, but I thought that would
+     make no difference. 126b was a passage between two large shops, which
+     led to a winding stone stair, from which there were many flats, let
+     as offices to companies or professional men. The names of the
+     occupants were painted at the bottom on the wall, but there was no
+     such name as the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited. I stood
+     for a few minutes with my heart in my boots, wondering whether the
+     whole thing was an elaborate hoax or not, when up came a man and
+     addressed me. He was very like the chap I had seen the night before,
+     the same figure and voice, but he was clean shaven and his hair was
+     lighter.
+
+     "'Are you Mr. Hall Pycroft?' he asked.
+
+     "'Yes,' said I.
+
+     "'Oh! I was expecting you, but you are a trifle before your time. I
+     had a note from my brother this morning in which he sang your praises
+     very loudly.'
+
+     "'I was just looking for the offices when you came.'
+
+     "'We have not got our name up yet, for we only secured these
+     temporary premises last week. Come up with me, and we will talk the
+     matter over.'
+
+     "I followed him to the top of a very lofty stair, and there, right
+     under the slates, were a couple of empty, dusty little rooms,
+     uncarpeted and uncurtained, into which he led me. I had thought of a
+     great office with shining tables and rows of clerks, such as I was
+     used to, and I dare say I stared rather straight at the two deal
+     chairs and one little table, which, with a ledger and a waste paper
+     basket, made up the whole furniture.
+
+     "'Don't be disheartened, Mr. Pycroft,' said my new acquaintance,
+     seeing the length of my face. 'Rome was not built in a day, and we
+     have lots of money at our backs, though we don't cut much dash yet in
+     offices. Pray sit down, and let me have your letter.'
+
+     "I gave it to him, and her read it over very carefully.
+
+     "'You seem to have made a vast impression upon my brother Arthur,'
+     said he; 'and I know that he is a pretty shrewd judge. He swears by
+     London, you know; and I by Birmingham; but this time I shall follow
+     his advice. Pray consider yourself definitely engaged.'
+
+     "'What are my duties?' I asked.
+
+     "'You will eventually manage the great depot in Paris, which will
+     pour a flood of English crockery into the shops of a hundred and
+     thirty-four agents in France. The purchase will be completed in a
+     week, and meanwhile you will remain in Birmingham and make yourself
+     useful.'
+
+     "'How?'
+
+     "For answer, he took a big red book out of a drawer.
+
+     "'This is a directory of Paris,' said he, 'with the trades after the
+     names of the people. I want you to take it home with you, and to mark
+     off all the hardware sellers, with their addresses. It would be of
+     the greatest use to me to have them.'
+
+     "'Surely there are classified lists?' I suggested.
+
+     "'Not reliable ones. Their system is different from ours. Stick at
+     it, and let me have the lists by Monday, at twelve. Good-day, Mr.
+     Pycroft. If you continue to show zeal and intelligence you will find
+     the company a good master.'
+
+     "I went back to the hotel with the big book under my arm, and with
+     very conflicting feelings in my breast. On the one hand, I was
+     definitely engaged and had a hundred pounds in my pocket; on the
+     other, the look of the offices, the absence of name on the wall, and
+     other of the points which would strike a business man had left a bad
+     impression as to the position of my employers. However, come what
+     might, I had my money, so I settled down to my task. All Sunday I was
+     kept hard at work, and yet by Monday I had only got as far as H. I
+     went round to my employer, found him in the same dismantled kind of
+     room, and was told to keep at it until Wednesday, and then come
+     again. On Wednesday it was still unfinished, so I hammered away until
+     Friday--that is, yesterday. Then I brought it round to Mr. Harry
+     Pinner.
+
+     "'Thank you very much,' said he; 'I fear that I underrated the
+     difficulty of the task. This list will be of very material assistance
+     to me.'
+
+     "'It took some time,' said I.
+
+     "'And now,' said he, 'I want you to make a list of the furniture
+     shops, for they all sell crockery.'
+
+     "'Very good.'
+
+     "'And you can come up to-morrow evening, at seven, and let me know
+     how you are getting on. Don't overwork yourself. A couple of hours at
+     Day's Music Hall in the evening would do you no harm after your
+     labors.' He laughed as he spoke, and I saw with a thrill that his
+     second tooth upon the left-hand side had been very badly stuffed with
+     gold."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes rubbed his hands with delight, and I stared with
+     astonishment at our client.
+
+     "You may well look surprised, Dr. Watson; but it is this way," said
+     he: "When I was speaking to the other chap in London, at the time
+     that he laughed at my not going to Mawson's, I happened to notice
+     that his tooth was stuffed in this very identical fashion. The glint
+     of the gold in each case caught my eye, you see. When I put that with
+     the voice and figure being the same, and only those things altered
+     which might be changed by a razor or a wig, I could not doubt that it
+     was the same man. Of course you expect two brothers to be alike, but
+     not that they should have the same tooth stuffed in the same way. He
+     bowed me out, and I found myself in the street, hardly knowing
+     whether I was on my head or my heels. Back I went to my hotel, put my
+     head in a basin of cold water, and tried to think it out. Why had he
+     sent me from London to Birmingham? Why had he got there before me?
+     And why had he written a letter from himself to himself? It was
+     altogether too much for me, and I could make no sense of it. And then
+     suddenly it struck me that what was dark to me might be very light to
+     Mr. Sherlock Holmes. I had just time to get up to town by the night
+     train to see him this morning, and to bring you both back with me to
+     Birmingham."
+
+     There was a pause after the stock-broker's clerk had concluded his
+     surprising experience. Then Sherlock Holmes cocked his eye at me,
+     leaning back on the cushions with a pleased and yet critical face,
+     like a connoisseur who has just taken his first sip of a comet
+     vintage.
+
+     "Rather fine, Watson, is it not?" said he. "There are points in it
+     which please me. I think that you will agree with me that an
+     interview with Mr. Arthur Harry Pinner in the temporary offices of
+     the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, Limited, would be a rather
+     interesting experience for both of us."
+
+     "But how can we do it?" I asked.
+
+     "Oh, easily enough," said Hall Pycroft, cheerily. "You are two
+     friends of mine who are in want of a billet, and what could be more
+     natural than that I should bring you both round to the managing
+     director?"
+
+     "Quite so, of course," said Holmes. "I should like to have a look at
+     the gentleman, and see if I can make anything of his little game.
+     What qualities have you, my friend, which would make your services so
+     valuable? Or is it possible that--" He began biting his nails and
+     staring blankly out of the window, and we hardly drew another word
+     from him until we were in New Street.
+
+     At seven o'clock that evening we were walking, the three of us, down
+     Corporation Street to the company's offices.
+
+     "It is no use our being at all before our time," said our client. "He
+     only comes there to see me, apparently, for the place is deserted up
+     to the very hour he names."
+
+     "That is suggestive," remarked Holmes.
+
+     "By Jove, I told you so!" cried the clerk. "That's he walking ahead
+     of us there."
+
+     He pointed to a smallish, dark, well-dressed man who was bustling
+     along the other side of the road. As we watched him he looked across
+     at a boy who was bawling out the latest edition of the evening paper,
+     and running over among the cabs and busses, he bought one from him.
+     Then, clutching it in his hand, he vanished through a door-way.
+
+     "There he goes!" cried Hall Pycroft. "These are the company's offices
+     into which he has gone. Come with me, and I'll fix it up as easily as
+     possible."
+
+     Following his lead, we ascended five stories, until we found
+     ourselves outside a half-opened door, at which our client tapped. A
+     voice within bade us enter, and we entered a bare, unfurnished room
+     such as Hall Pycroft had described. At the single table sat the man
+     whom we had seen in the street, with his evening paper spread out in
+     front of him, and as he looked up at us it seemed to me that I had
+     never looked upon a face which bore such marks of grief, and of
+     something beyond grief--of a horror such as comes to few men in a
+     lifetime. His brow glistened with perspiration, his cheeks were of
+     the dull, dead white of a fish's belly, and his eyes were wild and
+     staring. He looked at his clerk as though he failed to recognize him,
+     and I could see by the astonishment depicted upon our conductor's
+     face that this was by no means the usual appearance of his employer.
+
+     "You look ill, Mr. Pinner!" he exclaimed.
+
+     "Yes, I am not very well," answered the other, making obvious efforts
+     to pull himself together, and licking his dry lips before he spoke.
+     "Who are these gentlemen whom you have brought with you?"
+
+     "One is Mr. Harris, of Bermondsey, and the other is Mr. Price, of
+     this town," said our clerk, glibly. "They are friends of mine and
+     gentlemen of experience, but they have been out of a place for some
+     little time, and they hoped that perhaps you might find an opening
+     for them in the company's employment."
+
+     "Very possibly! Very possibly!" cried Mr. Pinner with a ghastly
+     smile. "Yes, I have no doubt that we shall be able to do something
+     for you. What is your particular line, Mr. Harris?"
+
+     "I am an accountant," said Holmes.
+
+     "Ah yes, we shall want something of the sort. And you, Mr. Price?"
+
+     "A clerk," said I.
+
+     "I have every hope that the company may accommodate you. I will let
+     you know about it as soon as we come to any conclusion. And now I beg
+     that you will go. For God's sake leave me to myself!"
+
+     These last words were shot out of him, as though the constraint which
+     he was evidently setting upon himself had suddenly and utterly burst
+     asunder. Holmes and I glanced at each other, and Hall Pycroft took a
+     step towards the table.
+
+     "You forget, Mr. Pinner, that I am here by appointment to receive
+     some directions from you," said he.
+
+     "Certainly, Mr. Pycroft, certainly," the other resumed in a calmer
+     tone. "You may wait here a moment; and there is no reason why your
+     friends should not wait with you. I will be entirely at your service
+     in three minutes, if I might trespass upon your patience so far." He
+     rose with a very courteous air, and, bowing to us, he passed out
+     through a door at the farther end of the room, which he closed behind
+     him.
+
+     "What now?" whispered Holmes. "Is he giving us the slip?"
+
+     "Impossible," answered Pycroft.
+
+     "Why so?"
+
+     "That door leads into an inner room."
+
+     "There is no exit?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "Is it furnished?"
+
+     "It was empty yesterday."
+
+     "Then what on earth can he be doing? There is something which I don't
+     understand in his manner. If ever a man was three parts mad with
+     terror, that man's name is Pinner. What can have put the shivers on
+     him?"
+
+     "He suspects that we are detectives," I suggested.
+
+     "That's it," cried Pycroft.
+
+     Holmes shook his head. "He did not turn pale. He was pale when we
+     entered the room," said he. "It is just possible that--"
+
+     His words were interrupted by a sharp rat-tat from the direction of
+     the inner door.
+
+     "What the deuce is he knocking at his own door for?" cried the clerk.
+
+     Again and much louder cam the rat-tat-tat. We all gazed expectantly
+     at the closed door. Glancing at Holmes, I saw his face turn rigid,
+     and he leaned forward in intense excitement. Then suddenly came a low
+     guggling, gargling sound, and a brisk drumming upon woodwork. Holmes
+     sprang frantically across the room and pushed at the door. It was
+     fastened on the inner side. Following his example, we threw ourselves
+     upon it with all our weight. One hinge snapped, then the other, and
+     down came the door with a crash. Rushing over it, we found ourselves
+     in the inner room. It was empty.
+
+     But it was only for a moment that we were at fault. At one corner,
+     the corner nearest the room which we had left, there was a second
+     door. Holmes sprang to it and pulled it open. A coat and waistcoat
+     were lying on the floor, and from a hook behind the door, with his
+     own braces round his neck, was hanging the managing director of the
+     Franco-Midland Hardware Company. His knees were drawn up, his head
+     hung at a dreadful angle to his body, and the clatter of his heels
+     against the door made the noise which had broken in upon our
+     conversation. In an instant I had caught him round the waist, and
+     held him up while Holmes and Pycroft untied the elastic bands which
+     had disappeared between the livid creases of skin. Then we carried
+     him into the other room, where he lay with a clay-colored face,
+     puffing his purple lips in and out with every breath--a dreadful
+     wreck of all that he had been but five minutes before.
+
+     "What do you think of him, Watson?" asked Holmes.
+
+     I stooped over him and examined him. His pulse was feeble and
+     intermittent, but his breathing grew longer, and there was a little
+     shivering of his eyelids, which showed a thin white slit of ball
+     beneath.
+
+     "It has been touch and go with him," said I, "but he'll live now.
+     Just open that window, and hand me the water carafe." I undid his
+     collar, poured the cold water over his face, and raised and sank his
+     arms until he drew a long, natural breath. "It's only a question of
+     time now," said I, as I turned away from him.
+
+     Holmes stood by the table, with his hands deep in his trouser's
+     pockets and his chin upon his breast.
+
+     "I suppose we ought to call the police in now," said he. "And yet I
+     confess that I'd like to give them a complete case when they come."
+
+     "It's a blessed mystery to me," cried Pycroft, scratching his head.
+     "Whatever they wanted to bring me all the way up here for, and
+     then--"
+
+     "Pooh! All that is clear enough," said Holmes impatiently. "It is
+     this last sudden move."
+
+     "You understand the rest, then?"
+
+     "I think that it is fairly obvious. What do you say, Watson?"
+
+     I shrugged my shoulders. "I must confess that I am out of my depths,"
+     said I.
+
+     "Oh surely if you consider the events at first they can only point to
+     one conclusion."
+
+     "What do you make of them?"
+
+     "Well, the whole thing hinges upon two points. The first is the
+     making of Pycroft write a declaration by which he entered the service
+     of this preposterous company. Do you not see how very suggestive that
+     is?"
+
+     "I am afraid I miss the point."
+
+     "Well, why did they want him to do it? Not as a business matter, for
+     these arrangements are usually verbal, and there was no earthly
+     business reason why this should be an exception. Don't you see, my
+     young friend, that they were very anxious to obtain a specimen of
+     your handwriting, and had no other way of doing it?"
+
+     "And why?"
+
+     "Quite so. Why? When we answer that we have made some progress with
+     our little problem. Why? There can be only one adequate reason.
+     Someone wanted to learn to imitate your writing, and had to procure a
+     specimen of it first. And now if we pass on to the second point we
+     find that each throws light upon the other. That point is the request
+     made by Pinner that you should not resign your place, but should
+     leave the manager of this important business in the full expectation
+     that a Mr. Hall Pycroft, whom he had never seen, was about to enter
+     the office upon the Monday morning."
+
+     "My God!" cried our client, "what a blind beetle I have been!"
+
+     "Now you see the point about the handwriting. Suppose that some one
+     turned up in your place who wrote a completely different hand from
+     that in which you had applied for the vacancy, of course the game
+     would have been up. But in the interval the rogue had learned to
+     imitate you, and his position was therefore secure, as I presume that
+     nobody in the office had ever set eyes upon you."
+
+     "Not a soul," groaned Hall Pycroft.
+
+     "Very good. Of course it was of the utmost importance to prevent you
+     from thinking better of it, and also to keep you from coming into
+     contact with any one who might tell you that your double was at work
+     in Mawson's office. Therefore they gave you a handsome advance on
+     your salary, and ran you off to the Midlands, where they gave you
+     enough work to do to prevent your going to London, where you might
+     have burst their little game up. That is all plain enough."
+
+     "But why should this man pretend to be his own brother?"
+
+     "Well, that is pretty clear also. There are evidently only two of
+     them in it. The other is impersonating you at the office. This one
+     acted as your engager, and then found that he could not find you an
+     employer without admitting a third person into his plot. That he was
+     most unwilling to do. He changed his appearance as far as he could,
+     and trusted that the likeness, which you could not fail to observe,
+     would be put down to a family resemblance. But for the happy chance
+     of the gold stuffing, your suspicions would probably never have been
+     aroused."
+
+     Hall Pycroft shook his clinched hands in the air. "Good Lord!" he
+     cried, "while I have been fooled in this way, what has this other
+     Hall Pycroft been doing at Mawson's? What should we do, Mr. Holmes?
+     Tell me what to do."
+
+     "We must wire to Mawson's."
+
+     "They shut at twelve on Saturdays."
+
+     "Never mind. There may be some door-keeper or attendant--"
+
+     "Ah yes, they keep a permanent guard there on account of the value of
+     the securities that they hold. I remember hearing it talked of in the
+     City."
+
+     "Very good; we shall wire to him, and see if all is well, and if a
+     clerk of your name is working there. That is clear enough; but what
+     is not so clear is why at sight of us one of the rogues should
+     instantly walk out of the room and hang himself."
+
+     "The paper!" croaked a voice behind us. The man was sitting up,
+     blanched and ghastly, with returning reason in his eyes, and hands
+     which rubbed nervously at the broad red band which still encircled
+     his throat.
+
+     "The paper! Of course!" yelled Holmes, in a paroxysm of excitement.
+     "Idiot that I was! I thought so must of our visit that the paper
+     never entered my head for an instant. To be sure, the secret must be
+     there." He flattened it out upon the table, and a cry of triumph
+     burst from his lips. "Look at this, Watson," he cried. "It is a
+     London paper, an early edition of the Evening Standard. Here is what
+     we want. Look at the headlines: 'Crime in the City. Murder at Mawson
+     & Williams's. Gigantic attempted Robbery. Capture of the Criminal.'
+     Here, Watson, we are all equally anxious to hear it, so kindly read
+     it aloud to us."
+
+     It appeared from its position in the paper to have been the one event
+     of importance in town, and the account of it ran in this way:
+
+     "A desperate attempt at robbery, culminating in the death of one man
+     and the capture of the criminal, occurred this afternoon in the City.
+     For some time back Mawson & Williams, the famous financial house,
+     have been the guardians of securities which amount in the aggregate
+     to a sum of considerably over a million sterling. So conscious was
+     the manager of the responsibility which devolved upon him in
+     consequence of the great interests at stake that safes of the very
+     latest construction have been employed, and an armed watchman has
+     been left day and night in the building. It appears that last week a
+     new clerk named Hall Pycroft was engaged by the firm. This person
+     appears to have been none other that Beddington, the famous forger
+     and cracksman, who, with his brother, had only recently emerged from
+     a five years' spell of penal servitude. By some means, which are not
+     yet clear, he succeeded in winning, under a false name, this official
+     position in the office, which he utilized in order to obtain moulding
+     of various locks, and a thorough knowledge of the position of the
+     strong room and the safes.
+     "It is customary at Mawson's for the clerks to leave at midday on
+     Saturday. Sergeant Tuson, of the City Police, was somewhat surprised,
+     therefore to see a gentleman with a carpet bag come down the steps at
+     twenty minutes past one. His suspicions being aroused, the sergeant
+     followed the man, and with the aid of Constable Pollack succeeded,
+     after a most desperate resistance, in arresting him. It was at once
+     clear that a daring and gigantic robbery had been committed. Nearly a
+     hundred thousand pounds' worth of American railway bonds, with a
+     large amount of scrip in mines and other companies, was discovered in
+     the bag. On examining the premises the body of the unfortunate
+     watchman was found doubled up and thrust into the largest of the
+     safes, where it would not have been discovered until Monday morning
+     had it not been for the prompt action of Sergeant Tuson. The man's
+     skull had been shattered by a blow from a poker delivered from
+     behind. There could be no doubt that Beddington had obtained entrance
+     by pretending that he had left something behind him, and having
+     murdered the watchman, rapidly rifled the large safe, and then made
+     off with his booty. His brother, who usually works with him, has not
+     appeared in this job as far as can at present be ascertained,
+     although the police are making energetic inquiries as to his
+     whereabouts."
+
+     "Well, we may save the police some little trouble in that direction,"
+     said Holmes, glancing at the haggard figure huddled up by the window.
+     "Human nature is a strange mixture, Watson. You see that even a
+     villain and murderer can inspire such affection that his brother
+     turns to suicide when he learns that his neck is forfeited. However,
+     we have no choice as to our action. The doctor and I will remain on
+     guard, Mr. Pycroft, if you will have the kindness to step out for the
+     police."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               THE "GLORIA SCOTT"
+
+     "I have some papers here," said my friend Sherlock Holmes, as we sat
+     one winter's night on either side of the fire, "which I really think,
+     Watson, that it would be worth your while to glance over. These are
+     the documents in the extraordinary case of the Gloria Scott, and this
+     is the message which struck Justice of the Peace Trevor dead with
+     horror when he read it."
+
+     He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and, undoing
+     the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon a half-sheet of
+     slate gray-paper.
+
+     "The supply of game for London is going steadily up," it ran.
+     "Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all
+     orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen-pheasant's
+     life."
+
+     As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message, I saw Holmes
+     chuckling at the expression upon my face.
+
+     "You look a little bewildered," said he.
+
+     "I cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror. It
+     seems to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise."
+
+     "Very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader, who was a fine,
+     robust old man, was knocked clean down by it as if it had been the
+     butt end of a pistol."
+
+     "You arouse my curiosity," said I. "But why did you say just now that
+     there were very particular reasons why I should study this case?"
+
+     "Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged."
+
+     I had often endeavored to elicit from my companion what had first
+     turned his mind in the direction of criminal research, but had never
+     caught him before in a communicative humor. Now he sat forward in his
+     arm-chair and spread out the documents upon his knees. Then he lit
+     his pipe and sat for some time smoking and turning them over.
+
+     "You never heard me talk of Victor Trevor?" he asked. "He was the
+     only friend I made during the two years I was at college. I was never
+     a very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my
+     rooms and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I
+     never mixed much with the men of my year. Bar fencing and boxing I
+     had few athletic tastes, and then my line of study was quite distinct
+     from that of the other fellows, so that we had no points of contact
+     at all. Trevor was the only man I knew, and that only through the
+     accident of his bull terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning as I
+     went down to chapel.
+
+     "It was a prosaic way of forming a friendship, but it was effective.
+     I was laid by the heels for ten days, but Trevor used to come in to
+     inquire after me. At first it was only a minute's chat, but soon his
+     visits lengthened, and before the end of the term we were close
+     friends. He was a hearty, full-blooded fellow, full of spirits and
+     energy, the very opposite to me in most respects, but we had some
+     subjects in common, and it was a bond of union when I found that he
+     was as friendless as I. Finally, he invited me down to his father's
+     place at Donnithorpe, in Norfolk, and I accepted his hospitality for
+     a month of the long vacation.
+
+     "Old Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration, a
+     J.P., and a landed proprietor. Donnithorpe is a little hamlet just to
+     the north of Langmere, in the country of the Broads. The house was an
+     old-fashioned, wide-spread, oak-beamed brick building, with a fine
+     lime-lined avenue leading up to it. There was excellent wild-duck
+     shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small but select
+     library, taken over, as I understood, from a former occupant, and a
+     tolerable cook, so that he would be a fastidious man who could not
+     put in a pleasant month there.
+
+     "Trevor senior was a widower, and my friend his only son.
+
+     "There had been a daughter, I heard, but she had died of diphtheria
+     while on a visit to Birmingham. The father interested me extremely.
+     He was a man of little culture, but with a considerable amount of
+     rude strength, both physically and mentally. He knew hardly any
+     books, but he had traveled far, had seen much of the world. And had
+     remembered all that he had learned. In person he was a thick-set,
+     burly man with a shock of grizzled hair, a brown, weather-beaten
+     face, and blue eyes which were keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet
+     he had a reputation for kindness and charity on the country-side, and
+     was noted for the leniency of his sentences from the bench.
+
+     "One evening, shortly after my arrival, we were sitting over a glass
+     of port after dinner, when young Trevor began to talk about those
+     habits of observation and inference which I had already formed into a
+     system, although I had not yet appreciated the part which they were
+     to play in my life. The old man evidently thought that his son was
+     exaggerating in his description of one or two trivial feats which I
+     had performed.
+
+     "'Come, now, Mr. Holmes,' said he, laughing good-humoredly. 'I'm an
+     excellent subject, if you can deduce anything from me.'
+
+     "'I fear there is not very much,' I answered; 'I might suggest that
+     you have gone about in fear of some personal attack within the last
+     twelve months.'
+
+     "The laugh faded from his lips, and he stared at me in great
+     surprise.
+
+     "'Well, that's true enough,' said he. 'You know, Victor,' turning to
+     his son, 'when we broke up that poaching gang they swore to knife us,
+     and Sir Edward Holly has actually been attacked. I've always been on
+     my guard since then, though I have no idea how you know it.'
+
+     "'You have a very handsome stick,' I answered. 'By the inscription I
+     observed that you had not had it more than a year. But you have taken
+     some pains to bore the head of it and pour melted lead into the hole
+     so as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued that you would not
+     take such precautions unless you had some danger to fear.'
+
+     "'Anything else?' he asked, smiling.
+
+     "'You have boxed a good deal in your youth.'
+
+     "'Right again. How did you know it?  Is my nose knocked a little out
+     of the straight?'
+
+     "'No,' said I. 'It is your ears. They have the peculiar flattening
+     and thickening which marks the boxing man.'
+
+     "'Anything else?'
+
+     "'You have done a good deal of digging by your callosities.'
+
+     "'Made all my money at the gold fields.'
+
+     "'You have been in New Zealand.'
+
+     "'Right again.'
+
+     "'You have visited Japan.'
+
+     "'Quite true.'
+
+     "'And you have been most intimately associated with some one whose
+     initials were J. A., and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely
+     forget.'
+
+     "Mr. Trevor stood slowly up, fixed his large blue eyes upon me with a
+     strange wild stare, and then pitched forward, with his face among the
+     nutshells which strewed the cloth, in a dead faint.
+
+     "You can imagine, Watson, how shocked both his son and I were. His
+     attack did not last long, however, for when we undid his collar, and
+     sprinkled the water from one of the finger-glasses over his face, he
+     gave a gasp or two and sat up.
+
+     "'Ah, boys,' said he, forcing a smile, 'I hope I haven't frightened
+     you. Strong as I look, there is a weak place in my heart, and it does
+     not take much to knock me over. I don't know how you manage this, Mr.
+     Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and of
+     fancy would be children in your hands. That's your line of life, sir,
+     and you may take the word of a man who has seen something of the
+     world.'
+
+     "And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
+     with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the
+     very first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be
+     made out of what had up to that time been the merest hobby. At the
+     moment, however, I was too much concerned at the sudden illness of my
+     host to think of anything else.
+
+     "'I hope that I have said nothing to pain you?' said I.
+
+     "'Well, you certainly touched upon rather a tender point. Might I ask
+     how you know, and how much you know?' He spoke now in a half-jesting
+     fashion, but a look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes.
+
+     "'It is simplicity itself,' said I. 'When you bared your arm to draw
+     that fish into the boat I saw that J. A. had been tattooed in the
+     bend of the elbow. The letters were still legible, but it was
+     perfectly clear from their blurred appearance, and from the staining
+     of the skin round them, that efforts had been made to obliterate
+     them. It was obvious, then, that those initials had once been very
+     familiar to you, and that you had afterwards wished to forget them.'
+
+     "'What an eye you have!' he cried, with a sigh of relief. 'It is just
+     as you say. But we won't talk of it. Of all ghosts the ghosts of our
+     old lovers are the worst. Come into the billiard-room and have a
+     quiet cigar.'
+
+     "From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch of
+     suspicion in Mr. Trevor's manner towards me. Even his son remarked
+     it. 'You've given the governor such a turn,' said he, 'that he'll
+     never be sure again of what you know and what you don't know.' He did
+     not mean to show it, I am sure, but it was so strongly in his mind
+     that it peeped out at every action. At last I became so convinced
+     that I was causing him uneasiness that I drew my visit to a close. On
+     the very day, however, before I left, an incident occurred which
+     proved in the sequel to be of importance.
+
+     "We were sitting out upon the lawn on garden chairs, the three of us,
+     basking in the sun and admiring the view across the Broads, when a
+     maid came out to say that there was a man at the door who wanted to
+     see Mr. Trevor.
+
+     "'What is his name?' asked my host.
+
+     "'He would not give any.'
+
+     "'What does he want, then?'
+
+     "'He says that you know him, and that he only wants a moment's
+     conversation.'
+
+     "'Show him round here.' An instant afterwards there appeared a little
+     wizened fellow with a cringing manner and a shambling style of
+     walking. He wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve,
+     a red-and-black check shirt, dungaree trousers, and heavy boots badly
+     worn. His face was thin and brown and crafty, with a perpetual smile
+     upon it, which showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his
+     crinkled hands were half closed in a way that is distinctive of
+     sailors. As he came slouching across the lawn I heard Mr. Trevor make
+     a sort of hiccoughing noise in his throat, and jumping out of his
+     chair, he ran into the house. He was back in a moment, and I smelt a
+     strong reek of brandy as he passed me.
+
+     "'Well, my man,' said he. 'What can I do for you?'
+
+     "The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes, and with the
+     same loose-lipped smile upon his face.
+
+     "'You don't know me?' he asked.
+
+     "'Why, dear me, it is surely Hudson,' said Mr. Trevor in a tone of
+     surprise.
+
+     "'Hudson it is, sir,' said the seaman. 'Why, it's thirty year and
+     more since I saw you last. Here you are in your house, and me still
+     picking my salt meat out of the harness cask.'
+
+     "'Tut, you will find that I have not forgotten old times,' cried Mr.
+     Trevor, and, walking towards the sailor, he said something in a low
+     voice. 'Go into the kitchen,' he continued out loud, 'and you will
+     get food and drink. I have no doubt that I shall find you a
+     situation.'
+
+     "'Thank you, sir,' said the seaman, touching his fore-lock. 'I'm just
+     off a two-yearer in an eight-knot tramp, short-handed at that, and I
+     wants a rest. I thought I'd get it either with Mr. Beddoes or with
+     you.'
+
+     "'Ah!' cried Trevor. 'You know where Mr. Beddoes is?'
+
+     "'Bless you, sir, I know where all my old friends are,' said the
+     fellow with a sinister smile, and he slouched off after the maid to
+     the kitchen. Mr. Trevor mumbled something to us about having been
+     shipmate with the man when he was going back to the diggings, and
+     then, leaving us on the lawn, he went indoors. An hour later, when we
+     entered the house, we found him stretched dead drunk upon the
+     dining-room sofa. The whole incident left a most ugly impression upon
+     my mind, and I was not sorry next day to leave Donnithorpe behind me,
+     for I felt that my presence must be a source of embarrassment to my
+     friend.
+
+     "All this occurred during the first month of the long vacation. I
+     went up to my London rooms, where I spent seven weeks working out a
+     few experiments in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the
+     autumn was far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I
+     received a telegram from my friend imploring me to return to
+     Donnithorpe, and saying that he was in great need of my advice and
+     assistance. Of course I dropped everything and set out for the North
+     once more.
+
+     "He met me with the dog-cart at the station, and I saw at a glance
+     that the last two months had been very trying ones for him. He had
+     grown thin and careworn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner for
+     which he had been remarkable.
+
+     "'The governor is dying,' were the first words he said.
+
+     "'Impossible!' I cried. 'What is the matter?'
+
+     "'Apoplexy. Nervous shock, He's been on the verge all day. I doubt if
+     we shall find him alive.'
+
+     "I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this unexpected news.
+
+     "'What has caused it?' I asked.
+
+     "'Ah, that is the point. Jump in and we can talk it over while we
+     drive. You remember that fellow who came upon the evening before you
+     left us?'
+
+     "'Perfectly.'
+
+     "'Do you know who it was that we let into the house that day?'
+
+     "'I have no idea.'
+
+     "'It was the devil, Holmes,' he cried.
+
+     "I stared at him in astonishment.
+
+     "'Yes, it was the devil himself. We have not had a peaceful hour
+     since--not one. The governor has never held up his head from that
+     evening, and now the life has been crushed out of him and his heart
+     broken, all through this accursed Hudson.'
+
+     "'What power had he, then?'
+
+     "'Ah, that is what I would give so much to know. The kindly,
+     charitable, good old governor--how could he have fallen into the
+     clutches of such a ruffian! But I am so glad that you have come,
+     Holmes. I trust very much to your judgment and discretion, and I know
+     that you will advise me for the best.'
+
+     "We were dashing along the smooth white country road, with the long
+     stretch of the Broads in front of us glimmering in the red light of
+     the setting sun. From a grove upon our left I could already see the
+     high chimneys and the flag-staff which marked the squire's dwelling.
+
+     "'My father made the fellow gardener,' said my companion, 'and then,
+     as that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to be butler. The house
+     seemed to be at his mercy, and he wandered about and did what he
+     chose in it. The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile
+     language. The dad raised their wages all round to recompense them for
+     the annoyance. The fellow would take the boat and my father's best
+     gun and treat himself to little shooting trips. And all this with
+     such a sneering, leering, insolent face that I would have knocked him
+     down twenty times over if he had been a man of my own age. I tell
+     you, Holmes, I have had to keep a tight hold upon myself all this
+     time; and now I am asking myself whether, if I had let myself go a
+     little more, I might not have been a wiser man.
+
+     "'Well, matters went from bad to worse with us, and this animal
+     Hudson became more and more intrusive, until at last, on making some
+     insolent reply to my father in my presence one day, I took him by the
+     shoulders and turned him out of the room. He slunk away with a livid
+     face and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats than his tongue
+     could do. I don't know what passed between the poor dad and him after
+     that, but the dad came to me next day and asked me whether I would
+     mind apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you can imagine, and asked
+     my father how he could allow such a wretch to take such liberties
+     with himself and his household.
+
+     "'"Ah, my boy," said he, "it is all very well to talk, but you don't
+     know how I am placed. But you shall know, Victor. I'll see that you
+     shall know, come what may. You wouldn't believe harm of your poor old
+     father, would you, lad?" He was very much moved, and shut himself up
+     in the study all day, where I could see through the window that he
+     was writing busily.
+
+     "'That evening there came what seemed to me to be a grand release,
+     for Hudson told us that he was going to leave us. He walked into the
+     dining-room as we sat after dinner, and announced his intention in
+     the thick voice of a half-drunken man.
+
+     "'"I've had enough of Norfolk," said he. "I'll run down to Mr.
+     Beddoes in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to see me as you were, I dare
+     say."
+
+     "'"You're not going away in any kind of spirit, Hudson, I hope," said
+     my father, with a tameness which mad my blood boil.
+
+     "'"I've not had my 'pology," said he sulkily, glancing in my
+     direction.
+
+     "'"Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy fellow
+     rather roughly," said the dad, turning to me.
+
+     "'"On the contrary, I think that we have both shown extraordinary
+     patience towards him," I answered.
+
+     "'"Oh, you do, do you?" he snarls. "Very good, mate. We'll see about
+     that!"
+
+     "'He slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards left the
+     house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness. Night
+     after night I heard him pacing his room, and it was just as he was
+     recovering his confidence that the blow did at last fall.'
+
+     "'And how?' I asked eagerly.
+
+     "'In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my father
+     yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingbridge post-mark. My father
+     read it, clapped both his hands to his head, and began running round
+     the room in little circles like a man who has been driven out of his
+     senses. When I at last drew him down on to the sofa, his mouth and
+     eyelids were all puckered on one side, and I saw that he had a
+     stroke. Dr. Fordham came over at once. We put him to bed; but the
+     paralysis has spread, he has shown no sign of returning
+     consciousness, and I think that we shall hardly find him alive.'
+
+     "'You horrify me, Trevor!' I cried. 'What then could have been in
+     this letter to cause so dreadful a result?'
+
+     "'Nothing. There lies the inexplicable part of it. The message was
+     absurd and trivial. Ah, my God, it is as I feared!'
+
+     "As he spoke we came round the curve of the avenue, and saw in the
+     fading light that every blind in the house had been drawn down. As we
+     dashed up to the door, my friend's face convulsed with grief, a
+     gentleman in black emerged from it.
+
+     "'When did it happen, doctor?' asked Trevor.
+
+     "'Almost immediately after you left.'
+
+     "'Did he recover consciousness?'
+
+     "'For an instant before the end.'
+
+     "'Any message for me?'
+
+     "'Only that the papers were in the back drawer of the Japanese
+     cabinet.'
+
+     "My friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death, while I
+     remained in the study, turning the whole matter over and over in my
+     head, and feeling as sombre as ever I had done in my life. What was
+     the past of this Trevor, pugilist, traveler, and gold-digger, and how
+     had he placed himself in the power of this acid-faced seaman?  Why,
+     too, should he faint at an allusion to the half-effaced initials upon
+     his arm, and die of fright when he had a letter from Fordingham? 
+     Then I remembered that Fordingham was in Hampshire, and that this Mr.
+     Beddoes, whom the seaman had gone to visit and presumably to
+     blackmail, had also been mentioned as living in Hampshire. The
+     letter, then, might either come from Hudson, the seaman, saying that
+     he had betrayed the guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it
+     might come from Beddoes, warning an old confederate that such a
+     betrayal was imminent. So far it seemed clear enough. But then how
+     could this letter be trivial and grotesque, as described by the son? 
+     He must have misread it. If so, it must have been one of those
+     ingenious secret codes which mean one thing while they seem to mean
+     another. I must see this letter. If there were a hidden meaning in
+     it, I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For an hour I sat
+     pondering over it in the gloom, until at last a weeping maid brought
+     in a lamp, and close at her heels came my friend Trevor, pale but
+     composed, with these very papers which lie upon my knee held in his
+     grasp. He sat down opposite to me, drew the lamp to the edge of the
+     table, and handed me a short note scribbled, as you see, upon a
+     single sheet of gray paper. 'The supply of game for London is going
+     steadily up,' it ran. 'Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now
+     told to receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your
+     hen-pheasant's life.'
+
+     "I dare say my face looked as bewildered as yours did just now when
+     first I read this message. Then I reread it very carefully. It was
+     evidently as I had thought, and some secret meaning must lie buried
+     in this strange combination of words. Or could it be that there was a
+     prearranged significance to such phrases as 'fly-paper' and
+     'hen-pheasant'?  Such a meaning would be arbitrary and could not be
+     deduced in any way. And yet I was loath to believe that this was the
+     case, and the presence of the word Hudson seemed to show that the
+     subject of the message was as I had guessed, and that it was from
+     Beddoes rather than the sailor. I tried it backwards, but the
+     combination 'life pheasant's hen' was not encouraging. Then I tried
+     alternate words, but neither 'the of for' nor 'supply game London'
+     promised to throw any light upon it.
+
+     "And then in an instant the key of the riddle was in my hands, and I
+     saw that every third word, beginning with the first, would give a
+     message which might well drive old Trevor to despair.
+
+     "It was short and terse, the warning, as I now read it to my
+     companion:
+
+     "'The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life.'
+
+     "Victor Trevor sank his face into his shaking hands, 'It must be
+     that, I suppose,' said he. "This is worse than death, for it means
+     disgrace as well. But what is the meaning of these "head-keepers" and
+     "hen-pheasants"?
+
+     "'It means nothing to the message, but it might mean a good deal to
+     us if we had no other means of discovering the sender. You see that
+     he has begun by writing "The ... game ... is," and so on. Afterwards
+     he had, to fulfill the prearranged cipher, to fill in any two words
+     in each space. He would naturally use the first words which came to
+     his mind, and if there were so many which referred to sport among
+     them, you may be tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or
+     interested in breeding. Do you know anything of this Beddoes?'
+
+     "'Why, now that you mention it,' said he, 'I remember that my poor
+     father used to have an invitation from him to shoot over his
+     preserves every autumn.'
+
+     "'Then it is undoubtedly from him that the note comes,' said I. 'It
+     only remains for us to find out what this secret was which the sailor
+     Hudson seems to have held over the heads of these two wealthy and
+     respected men.'
+
+     "'Alas, Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin and shame!' cried my
+     friend. 'But from you I shall have no secrets. Here is the statement
+     which was drawn up by my father when he knew that the danger from
+     Hudson had become imminent. I found it in the Japanese cabinet, as he
+     told the doctor. Take it and read it to me, for I have neither the
+     strength nor the courage to do it myself.'
+
+     "These are the very papers, Watson, which he handed to me, and I will
+     read them to you, as I read them in the old study that night to him.
+     They are endorsed outside, as you see, 'Some particulars of the
+     voyage of the bark Gloria Scott, from her leaving Falmouth on the 8th
+     October, 1855, to her destruction in N. Lat. 15° 20', W. Long. 25°
+     14' on Nov. 6th.' It is in the form of a letter, and runs in this
+     way:
+
+     "'My dear, dear son, now that approaching disgrace begins to darken
+     the closing years of my life, I can write with all truth and honesty
+     that it is not the terror of the law, it is not the loss of my
+     position in the county, nor is it my fall in the eyes of all who have
+     known me, which cuts me to the heart; but it is the thought that you
+     should come to blush for me--you who love me and who have seldom, I
+     hope, had reason to do other than respect me. But if the blow falls
+     which is forever hanging over me, then I should wish you to read
+     this, that you may know straight from me how far I have been to
+     blame. On the other hand, if all should go well (which may kind God
+     Almighty grant!), then if by any chance this paper should be still
+     undestroyed and should fall into your hands, I conjure you, by all
+     you hold sacred, by the memory of your dear mother, and by the love
+     which had been between us, to hurl it into the fire and to never give
+     one thought to it again.
+
+     "'If then your eye goes onto read this line, I know that I shall
+     already have been exposed and dragged from my home, or as is more
+     likely, for you know that my heart is weak, by lying with my tongue
+     sealed forever in death. In either case the time for suppression is
+     past, and every word which I tell you is the naked truth, and this I
+     swear as I hope for mercy.
+
+     "'My name, dear lad, is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in my
+     younger days, and you can understand now the shock that it was to me
+     a few weeks ago when your college friend addressed me in words which
+     seemed to imply that he had surprised my secret. As Armitage it was
+     that I entered a London banking-house, and as Armitage I was
+     convicted of breaking my country's laws, and was sentenced to
+     transportation. Do not think very harshly of me, laddie. It was a
+     debt of honor, so called, which I had to pay, and I used money which
+     was not my own to do it, in the certainty that I could replace it
+     before there could be any possibility of its being missed. But the
+     most dreadful ill-luck pursued me. The money which I had reckoned
+     upon never came to hand, and a premature examination of accounts
+     exposed my deficit. The case might have been dealt leniently with,
+     but the laws were more harshly administered thirty years ago than
+     now, and on my twenty-third birthday I found myself chained as a
+     felon with thirty-seven other convicts in 'tween-decks of the bark
+     Gloria Scott, bound for Australia.
+
+     "'It was the year '55 when the Crimean war was at its height, and the
+     old convict ships had been largely used as transports in the Black
+     Sea. The government was compelled, therefore, to use smaller and less
+     suitable vessels for sending out their prisoners. The Gloria Scott
+     had been in the Chinese tea-trade, but she was an old-fashioned,
+     heavy-bowed, broad-beamed craft, and the new clippers had cut her
+     out. She was a five-hundred-ton boat; and besides her thirty-eight
+     jail-birds, she carried twenty-six of a crew, eighteen soldiers, a
+     captain, three mates, a doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly
+     a hundred souls were in her, all told, when we set sail from
+     Falmouth.
+
+     "'The partitions between the cells of the convicts, instead of being
+     of thick oak, as is usual in convict-ships, were quite thin and
+     frail. The man next to me, upon the aft side, was one whom I had
+     particularly noticed when we were led down the quay. He was a young
+     man with a clear, hairless face, a long, thin nose, and rather
+     nut-cracker jaws. He carried his head very jauntily in the air, had a
+     swaggering style of walking, and was, above all else, remarkable for
+     his extraordinary height. I don't think any of our heads would have
+     come up to his shoulder, and I am sure that he could not have
+     measured less than six and a half feet. It was strange among so many
+     sad and weary faces to see one which was full of energy and
+     resolution. The sight of it was to me like a fire in a snow-storm. I
+     was glad, then, to find that he was my neighbor, and gladder still
+     when, in the dead of the night, I heard a whisper close to my ear,
+     and found that he had managed to cut an opening in the board which
+     separated us.
+
+     "'"Hullo, chummy!" said he, "what's your name, and what are you here
+     for?"
+
+     "'I answered him, and asked in turn who I was talking with.
+
+     "'"I'm Jack Prendergast," said he, "and by God! You'll learn to bless
+     my name before you've done with me."
+
+     "'I remembered hearing of his case, for it was one which had made an
+     immense sensation throughout the country some time before my own
+     arrest. He was a man of good family and of great ability, but of
+     incurably vicious habits, who had, by an ingenious system of fraud,
+     obtained huge sums of money from the leading London merchants.
+
+     "'"Ha, ha! You remember my case!" said he proudly.
+
+     "'"Very well, indeed."
+
+     "'"Then maybe you remember something queer about it?"
+
+     "'"What was that, then?"
+
+     "'"I'd had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn't I?"
+
+     "'"So it was said."
+
+     "'"But none was recovered, eh?"
+
+     "'"No."
+
+     "'"Well, where d'ye suppose the balance is?" he asked.
+
+     "'"I have no idea," said I.
+
+     "'"Right between my finger and thumb," he cried. "By God! I've got
+     more pounds to my name than you've hairs on your head. And if you've
+     money, my son, and know how to handle it and spread it, you can do
+     anything. Now, you don't think it likely that a man who could do
+     anything is going to wear his breeches out sitting in the stinking
+     hold of a rat-gutted, beetle-ridden, mouldy old coffin of a Chin
+     China coaster. No, sir, such a man will look after himself and will
+     look after his chums. You may lay to that! You hold on to him, and
+     you may kiss the book that he'll haul you through."
+
+     "'That was his style of talk, and at first I thought it meant
+     nothing; but after a while, when he had tested me and sworn me in
+     with all possible solemnity, he let me understand that there really
+     was a plot to gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners
+     had hatched it before they came aboard, Prendergast was the leader,
+     and his money was the motive power.
+
+     "'"I'd a partner," said he, "a rare good man, as true as a stock to a
+     barrel. He's got the dibbs, he has, and where do you think he is at
+     this moment?  Why, he's the chaplain of this ship--the chaplain, no
+     less! He came aboard with a black coat, and his papers right, and
+     money enough in his box to buy the thing right up from keel to
+     main-truck. The crew are his, body and soul. He could buy 'em at so
+     much a gross with a cash discount, and he did it before ever they
+     signed on. He's got two of the warders and Mercer, the second mate,
+     and he'd get the captain himself, if he thought him worth it."
+
+     "'"What are we to do, then?" I asked.
+
+     "'"What do you think?" said he. "We'll make the coats of some of
+     these soldiers redder than ever the tailor did."
+
+     "'"But they are armed," said I.
+
+     "'"And so shall we be, my boy. There's a brace of pistols for every
+     mother's son of us, and if we can't carry this ship, with the crew at
+     our back, it's time we were all sent to a young misses'
+     boarding-school. You speak to your mate upon the left to-night, and
+     see if he is to be trusted."
+
+     "'I did so, and found my other neighbor to be a young fellow in much
+     the same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name
+     was Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like myself, and he is now a
+     rich and prosperous man in the south of England. He was ready enough
+     to join the conspiracy, as the only means of saving ourselves, and
+     before we had crossed the Bay there were only two of the prisoners
+     who were not in the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we did
+     not dare to trust him, and the other was suffering from jaundice, and
+     could not be of any use to us.
+
+     "'From the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us from
+     taking possession of the ship. The crew were a set of ruffians,
+     specially picked for the job. The sham chaplain came into our cells
+     to exhort us, carrying a black bag, supposed to be full of tracts,
+     and so often did he come that by the third day we had each stowed
+     away at the foot of our beds a file, a brace of pistols, a pound of
+     powder, and twenty slugs. Two of the warders were agents of
+     Prendergast, and the second mate was his right-hand man. The captain,
+     the two mates, two warders Lieutenant Martin, his eighteen soldiers,
+     and the doctor were all that we had against us. Yet, safe as it was,
+     we determined to neglect no precaution, and to make our attack
+     suddenly by night. It came, however, more quickly than we expected,
+     and in this way.
+
+     "'One evening, about the third week after our start, the doctor had
+     come down to see one of the prisoners who was ill, and putting his
+     hand down on the bottom of his bunk he felt the outline of the
+     pistols. If he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing,
+     but he was a nervous little chap, so he gave a cry of surprise and
+     turned so pale that the man knew what was up in an instant and seized
+     him. He was gagged before he could give the alarm, and tied down upon
+     the bed. He had unlocked the door that led to the deck, and we were
+     through it in a rush. The two sentries were shot down, and so was a
+     corporal who came running to see what was the matter. There were two
+     more soldiers at the door of the state-room, and their muskets seemed
+     not to be loaded, for they never fired upon us, and they were shot
+     while trying to fix their bayonets. Then we rushed on into the
+     captain's cabin, but as we pushed open the door there was an
+     explosion from within, and there he lay with his brains smeared over
+     the chart of the Atlantic which was pinned upon the table, while the
+     chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow. The
+     two mates had both been seized by the crew, and the whole business
+     seemed to be settled.
+
+     "'The state-room was next the cabin, and we flocked in there and
+     flopped down on the settees, all speaking together, for we were just
+     mad with the feeling that we were free once more. There were lockers
+     all round, and Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in, and
+     pulled out a dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the necks of the
+     bottles, poured the stuff out into tumblers, and were just tossing
+     them off, when in an instant without warning there came the roar of
+     muskets in our ears, and the saloon was so full of smoke that we
+     could not see across the table. When it cleared again the place was a
+     shambles. Wilson and eight others were wriggling on the top of each
+     other on the floor, and the blood and the brown sherry on that table
+     turn me sick now when I think of it. We were so cowed by the sight
+     that I think we should have given the job up if had not been for
+     Prendergast. He bellowed like a bull and rushed for the door with all
+     that were left alive at his heels. Out we ran, and there on the poop
+     were the lieutenent and ten of his men. The swing skylights above the
+     saloon table had been a bit open, and they had fired on us through
+     the slit.  We got on them before they could load, and they stood to
+     it like men; but we had the upper hand of them, and in five minutes
+     it was all over. My God! Was there ever a slaughter-house like that
+     ship! Predergast was like a raging devil, and he picked the soldiers
+     up as if they had been children and threw them overboard alive or
+     dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded and yet kept
+     on swimming for a surprising time, until some one in mercy blew out
+     his brains. When the fighting was over there was no one left of our
+     enemies except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor.
+
+     "'It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There were many of
+     us who were glad enough to win back our freedom, and yet who had no
+     wish to have murder on our souls. It was one thing to knock the
+     soldiers over with their muskets in their hands, and it was another
+     to stand by while men were being killed in cold blood. Eight of us,
+     five convicts and three sailors, said that we would not see it done.
+     But there was no moving Predergast and those who were with him. Our
+     only chance of safety lay in making a clean job of it, said he, and
+     he would not leave a tongue with power to wag in a witness-box. It
+     nearly came to our sharing the fate of the prisoners, but at last he
+     said that if we wished we might take a boat and go. We jumped at the
+     offer, for we were already sick of these blookthirsty doings, and we
+     saw that there would be worse before it was done. We were given a
+     suit of sailor togs each, a barrel of water, two casks, one of junk
+     and one of biscuits, and a compass. Prendergast threw us over a
+     chart, told us that we were shipwrecked mariners whose ship had
+     foundered in Lat. 15° and Long. 25° west, and then cut the painter
+     and let us go.
+
+     "'And now I come to the most surprising part of my story, my dear
+     son. The seamen had hauled the fore-yard aback during the rising, but
+     now as we left them they brought it square again, and as there was a
+     light wind from the north and east the bark began to draw slowly away
+     from us. Our boat lay, rising and falling, upon the long, smooth
+     rollers, and Evans and I, who were the most educated of the party,
+     were sitting in the sheets working out our position and planning what
+     coast we should make for. It was a nice question, for the Cape de
+     Verds were about five hundred miles to the north of us, and the
+     African coast about seven hundred to the east. On the whole, as the
+     wind was coming round to the north, we thought that Sierra Leone
+     might be best, and turned our head in that direction, the bark being
+     at that time nearly hull down on our starboard quarter. Suddenly as
+     we looked at her we saw a dense black cloud of smoke shoot up from
+     her, which hung like a monstrous tree upon the sky line. A few
+     seconds later a roar like thunder burst upon our ears, and as the
+     smoke thinned away there was no sign left of the Gloria Scott. In an
+     instant we swept the boat's head round again and pulled with all our
+     strength for the place where the haze still trailing over the water
+     marked the scene of this catastrophe.
+
+     "'It was a long hour before we reached it, and at first we feared
+     that we had come too late to save any one. A splintered boat and a
+     number of crates and fragments of spars rising and falling on the
+     waves showed us where the vessel had foundered; but there was no sign
+     of life, and we had turned away in despair when we heard a cry for
+     help, and saw at some distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying
+     stretched across it. When we pulled him aboard the boat he proved to
+     be a young seaman of the name of Hudson, who was so burned and
+     exhausted that he could give us no account of what had happened until
+     the following morning.
+
+     "'It seemed that after we had left, Prendergast and his gang had
+     proceeded to put to death the five remaining prisoners. The two
+     warders had been shot and thrown overboard, and so also had the third
+     mate. Prendergast then descended into the 'tween-decks and with his
+     own hands cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon. There only
+     remained the first mate, who was a bold and active man. When he saw
+     the convict approaching him with the bloody knife in his hand he
+     kicked off his bonds, which he had somehow contrived to loosen, and
+     rushing down the deck he plunged into the after-hold. A dozen
+     convicts, who descended with their pistols in search of him, found
+     him with a match-box in his hand seated beside an open powder-barrel,
+     which was one of a hundred carried on board, and swearing that he
+     would blow all hands up if he were in any way molested. An instant
+     later the explosion occurred, though Hudson thought it was caused by
+     the misdirected bullet of one of the convicts rather than the mate's
+     match. Be the cause what I may, it was the end of the Gloria Scott
+     and of the rabble who held command of her.
+
+     "'Such, in a few words, my dear boy, is the history of this terrible
+     business in which I was involved. Next day we were picked up by the
+     brig Hotspur, bound for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty
+     in believing that we were the survivors of a passenger ship which had
+     foundered. The transport ship Gloria Scott was set down by the
+     Admiralty as being lost at sea, and no word has ever leaked out as to
+     her true fate. After an excellent voyage the Hotspur landed us at
+     Sydney, where Evans and I changed our names and made our way to the
+     diggings, where, among the crowds who were gathered from all nations,
+     we had no difficulty in losing our former identities. The rest I need
+     not relate. We prospered, we traveled, we came back as rich colonials
+     to England, and we bought country estates. For more than twenty years
+     we have led peaceful and useful lives, and we hoped that our past was
+     forever buried. Imagine, then, my feelings when in the seaman who
+     came to us I recognized instantly the man who had been picked off the
+     wreck. He had tracked us down somehow, and had set himself to live
+     upon our fears. You will understand now how it was that I strove to
+     keep the peace with him, and you will in some measure sympathize with
+     me in the fears which fill me, now that he has gone from me to his
+     other victim with threats upon his tongue.'
+
+     "Underneath is written in a hand so shaky as to be hardly legible,
+     'Beddoes writes in cipher to say H. has told all. Sweet Lord, have
+     mercy on our souls!'
+
+     "That was the narrative which I read that night to young Trevor, and
+     I think, Watson, that under the circumstances it was a dramatic one.
+     The good fellow was heart-broken at it, and went out to the Terai tea
+     planting, where I hear that he is doing well. As to the sailor and
+     Beddoes, neither of them was ever heard of again after that day on
+     which the letter of warning was written. They both disappeared
+     utterly and completely. No complaint had been lodged with the police,
+     so that Beddoes had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been
+     seen lurking about, and it was believed by the police that he had
+     done away with Beddoes and had fled. For myself I believe that the
+     truth was exactly the opposite. I think that it is most probable that
+     Beddoes, pushed to desperation and believing himself to have been
+     already betrayed, had revenged himself upon Hudson, and had fled from
+     the country with as much money as he could lay his hands on. Those
+     are the facts of the case, Doctor, and if they are of any use to your
+     collection, I am sure that they are very heartily at your service."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL
+
+     An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend
+     Sherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was
+     the neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also he
+     affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in
+     his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a
+     fellow-lodger to distraction. Not that I am in the least conventional
+     in that respect myself. The rough-and-tumble work in Afghanistan,
+     coming on the top of a natural Bohemianism of disposition, has made
+     me rather more lax than befits a medical man. But with me there is a
+     limit, and when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the
+     coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and
+     his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the
+     very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself
+     virtuous airs. I have always held, too, that pistol practice should
+     be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his
+     queer humors, would sit in an arm-chair with his hair-trigger and a
+     hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with
+     a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither
+     the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it.
+
+     Our chambers were always full of chemicals and of criminal relics
+     which had a way of wandering into unlikely positions, and of turning
+     up in the butter-dish or in even less desirable places. But his
+     papers were my great crux. He had a horror of destroying documents,
+     especially those which were connected with his past cases, and yet it
+     was only once in every year or two that he would muster energy to
+     docket and arrange them; for, as I have mentioned somewhere in these
+     incoherent memoirs, the outbursts of passionate energy when he
+     performed the remarkable feats with which his name is associated were
+     followed by reactions of lethargy during which he would lie about
+     with his violin and his books, hardly moving save from the sofa to
+     the table. Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every
+     corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were
+     on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by
+     their owner. One winter's night, as we sat together by the fire, I
+     ventured to suggest to him that, as he had finished pasting extracts
+     into his common-place book, he might employ the next two hours in
+     making our room a little more habitable. He could not deny the
+     justice of my request, so with a rather rueful face he went off to
+     his bedroom, from which he returned presently pulling a large tin box
+     behind him. This he placed in the middle of the floor and, squatting
+     down upon a stool in front of it, he threw back the lid. I could see
+     that it was already a third full of bundles of paper tied up with red
+     tape into separate packages.
+
+     "There are cases enough here, Watson," said he, looking at me with
+     mischievous eyes. "I think that if you knew all that I had in this
+     box you would ask me to pull some out instead of putting others in."
+
+     "These are the records of your early work, then?" I asked. "I have
+     often wished that I had notes of those cases."
+
+     "Yes, my boy, these were all done prematurely before my biographer
+     had come to glorify me." He lifted bundle after bundle in a tender,
+     caressing sort of way. "They are not all successes, Watson," said he.
+     "But there are some pretty little problems among them. Here's the
+     record of the Tarleton murders, and the case of Vamberry, the wine
+     merchant, and the adventure of the old Russian woman, and the
+     singular affair of the aluminium crutch, as well as a full account of
+     Ricoletti of the club-foot, and his abominable wife. And here--ah,
+     now, this really is something a little recherché."
+
+     He dived his arm down to the bottom of the chest, and brought up a
+     small wooden box with a sliding lid, such as children's toys are kept
+     in. From within he produced a crumpled piece of paper, an
+     old-fashioned brass key, a peg of wood with a ball of string attached
+     to it, and three rusty old disks of metal.
+
+     "Well, my boy, what do you make of this lot?" he asked, smiling at my
+     expression.
+
+     "It is a curious collection."
+
+     "Very curious, and the story that hangs round it will strike you as
+     being more curious still."
+
+     "These relics have a history then?"
+
+     "So much so that they are history."
+
+     "What do you mean by that?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes picked them up one by one, and laid them along the
+     edge of the table. Then he reseated himself in his chair and looked
+     them over with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.
+
+     "These," said he, "are all that I have left to remind me of the
+     adventure of the Musgrave Ritual."
+
+     I had heard him mention the case more than once, though I had never
+     been able to gather the details. "I should be so glad," said I, "if
+     you would give me an account of it."
+
+     "And leave the litter as it is?" he cried, mischievously. "Your
+     tidiness won't bear much strain after all, Watson. But I should be
+     glad that you should add this case to your annals, for there are
+     points in it which make it quite unique in the criminal records of
+     this or, I believe, of any other country. A collection of my trifling
+     achievements would certainly be incomplete which contained no account
+     of this very singular business.
+
+     "You may remember how the affair of the Gloria Scott, and my
+     conversation with the unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first
+     turned my attention in the direction of the profession which has
+     become my life's work. You see me now when my name has become known
+     far and wide, and when I am generally recognized both by the public
+     and by the official force as being a final court of appeal in
+     doubtful cases. Even when you knew me first, at the time of the
+     affair which you have commemorated in 'A Study in Scarlet,' I had
+     already established a considerable, though not a very lucrative,
+     connection. You can hardly realize, then, how difficult I found it at
+     first, and how long I had to wait before I succeeded in making any
+     headway.
+
+     "When I first came up to London I had rooms in Montague Street, just
+     round the corner from the British Museum, and there I waited, filling
+     in my too abundant leisure time by studying all those branches of
+     science which might make me more efficient. Now and again cases came
+     in my way, principally through the introduction of old
+     fellow-students, for during my last years at the University there was
+     a good deal of talk there about myself and my methods. The third of
+     these cases was that of the Musgrave Ritual, and it is to the
+     interest which was aroused by that singular chain of events, and the
+     large issues which proved to be at stake, that I trace my first
+     stride towards the position which I now hold.
+
+     "Reginald Musgrave had been in the same college as myself, and I had
+     some slight acquaintance with him. He was not generally popular among
+     the undergraduates, though it always seemed to me that what was set
+     down as pride was really an attempt to cover extreme natural
+     diffidence. In appearance he was a man of exceedingly aristocratic
+     type, thin, high-nosed, and large-eyed, with languid and yet courtly
+     manners. He was indeed a scion of one of the very oldest families in
+     the kingdom, though his branch was a cadet one which had separated
+     from the northern Musgraves some time in the sixteenth century, and
+     had established itself in western Sussex, where the Manor House of
+     Hurlstone is perhaps the oldest inhabited building in the county.
+     Something of his birth place seemed to cling to the man, and I never
+     looked at his pale, keen face or the poise of his head without
+     associating him with gray archways and mullioned windows and all the
+     venerable wreckage of a feudal keep. Once or twice we drifted into
+     talk, and I can remember that more than once he expressed a keen
+     interest in my methods of observation and inference.
+
+     "For four years I had seen nothing of him until one morning he walked
+     into my room in Montague Street. He had changed little, was dressed
+     like a young man of fashion--he was always a bit of a dandy--and
+     preserved the same quiet, suave manner which had formerly
+     distinguished him.
+
+     "'How has all gone with you Musgrave?' I asked, after we had
+     cordially shaken hands.
+
+     "'You probably heard of my poor father's death,' said he; 'he was
+     carried off about two years ago. Since then I have of course had the
+     Hurlstone estates to manage, and as I am member for my district as
+     well, my life has been a busy one. But I understand, Holmes, that you
+     are turning to practical ends those powers with which you used to
+     amaze us?'
+
+     "'Yes,' said I, 'I have taken to living by my wits.'
+
+     "'I am delighted to hear it, for your advice at present would be
+     exceedingly valuable to me. We have had some very strange doings at
+     Hurlstone, and the police have been able to throw no light upon the
+     matter. It is really the most extraordinary and inexplicable
+     business.'
+
+     "You can imagine with what eagerness I listened to him, Watson, for
+     the very chance for which I had been panting during all those months
+     of inaction seemed to have come within my reach. In my inmost heart I
+     believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now I had the
+     opportunity to test myself.
+
+     "'Pray, let me have the details,' I cried.
+
+     "Reginald Musgrave sat down opposite to me, and lit the cigarette
+     which I had pushed towards him.
+
+     "'You must know,' said he, 'that though I am a bachelor, I have to
+     keep up a considerable staff of servants at Hurlstone, for it is a
+     rambling old place, and takes a good deal of looking after. I
+     preserve, too, and in the pheasant months I usually have a
+     house-party, so that it would not do to be short-handed. Altogether
+     there are eight maids, the cook, the butler, two footmen, and a boy.
+     The garden and the stables of course have a separate staff.
+
+     "'Of these servants the one who had been longest in our service was
+     Brunton the butler. He was a young school-master out of place when he
+     was first taken up by my father, but he was a man of great energy and
+     character, and he soon became quite invaluable in the household. He
+     was a well-grown, handsome man, with a splendid forehead, and though
+     he has been with us for twenty years he cannot be more than forty
+     now. With his personal advantages and his extraordinary gifts--for he
+     can speak several languages and play nearly every musical
+     instrument--it is wonderful that he should have been satisfied so
+     long in such a position, but I suppose that he was comfortable, and
+     lacked energy to make any change. The butler of Hurlstone is always a
+     thing that is remembered by all who visit us.
+
+     "'But this paragon has one fault. He is a bit of a Don Juan, and you
+     can imagine that for a man like him it is not a very difficult part
+     to play in a quiet country district. When he was married it was all
+     right, but since he has been a widower we have had no end of trouble
+     with him. A few months ago we were in hopes that he was about to
+     settle down again for he became engaged to Rachel Howells, our second
+     house-maid; but he has thrown her over since then and taken up with
+     Janet Tregellis, the daughter of the head game-keeper. Rachel--who is
+     a very good girl, but of an excitable Welsh temperament--had a sharp
+     touch of brain-fever, and goes about the house now--or did until
+     yesterday--like a black-eyed shadow of her former self. That was our
+     first drama at Hurlstone; but a second one came to drive it from our
+     minds, and it was prefaced by the disgrace and dismissal of butler
+     Brunton.
+
+     "'This was how it came about. I have said that the man was
+     intelligent, and this very intelligence has caused his ruin, for it
+     seems to have led to an insatiable curiosity about things which did
+     not in the least concern him. I had no idea of the lengths to which
+     this would carry him, until the merest accident opened my eyes to it.
+
+     "'I have said that the house is a rambling one. One day last week--on
+     Thursday night, to be more exact--I found that I could not sleep,
+     having foolishly taken a cup of strong café noir after my dinner.
+     After struggling against it until two in the morning, I felt that it
+     was quite hopeless, so I rose and lit the candle with the intention
+     of continuing a novel which I was reading. The book, however, had
+     been left in the billiard-room, so I pulled on my dressing-gown and
+     started off to get it.
+
+     "'In order to reach the billiard-room I had to descend a flight of
+     stairs and then to cross the head of a passage which led to the
+     library and the gun-room. You can imagine my surprise when, as I
+     looked down this corridor, I saw a glimmer of light coming from the
+     open door of the library. I had myself extinguished the lamp and
+     closed the door before coming to bed. Naturally my first thought was
+     of burglars. The corridors at Hurlstone have their walls largely
+     decorated with trophies of old weapons. From one of these I picked a
+     battle-axe, and then, leaving my candle behind me, I crept on tiptoe
+     down the passage and peeped in at the open door.
+
+     "'Brunton, the butler, was in the library. He was sitting, fully
+     dressed, in an easy-chair, with a slip of paper which looked like a
+     map upon his knee, and his forehead sunk forward upon his hand in
+     deep thought. I stood dumb with astonishment, watching him from the
+     darkness. A small taper on the edge of the table shed a feeble light
+     which sufficed to show me that he was fully dressed. Suddenly, as I
+     looked, he rose from his chair, and walking over to a bureau at the
+     side, he unlocked it and drew out one of the drawers. From this he
+     took a paper, and returning to his seat he flattened it out beside
+     the taper on the edge of the table, and began to study it with minute
+     attention. My indignation at this calm examination of our family
+     documents overcame me so far that I took a step forward, and Brunton,
+     looking up, saw me standing in the doorway. He sprang to his feet,
+     his face turned livid with fear, and he thrust into his breast the
+     chart-like paper which he had been originally studying.
+
+     "'"So!" said I. "This is how you repay the trust which we have
+     reposed in you. You will leave my service to-morrow."
+
+     "'He bowed with the look of a man who is utterly crushed, and slunk
+     past me without a word. The taper was still on the table, and by its
+     light I glanced to see what the paper was which Brunton had taken
+     from the bureau. To my surprise it was nothing of any importance at
+     all, but simply a copy of the questions and answers in the singular
+     old observance called the Musgrave Ritual. It is a sort of ceremony
+     peculiar to our family, which each Musgrave for centuries past has
+     gone through on his coming of age--a thing of private interest, and
+     perhaps of some little importance to the archaeologist, like our own
+     blazonings and charges, but of no practical use whatever.'
+
+     "'We had better come back to the paper afterwards,' said I.
+
+     "'If you think it really necessary,' he answered, with some
+     hesitation. 'To continue my statement, however: I relocked the
+     bureau, using the key which Brunton had left, and I had turned to go
+     when I was surprised to find that the butler had returned, and was
+     standing before me.
+
+     "'"Mr. Musgrave, sir," he cried, in a voice which was hoarse with
+     emotion, "I can't bear disgrace, sir. I've always been proud above my
+     station in life, and disgrace would kill me. My blood will be on your
+     head, sir--it will, indeed--if you drive me to despair. If you cannot
+     keep me after what has passed, then for God's sake let me give you
+     notice and leave in a month, as if of my own free will. I could stand
+     that, Mr. Musgrave, but not to be cast out before all the folk that I
+     know so well."
+
+     "'"You don't deserve much consideration, Brunton," I answered. "Your
+     conduct has been most infamous. However, as you have been a long time
+     in the family, I have no wish to bring public disgrace upon you. A
+     month, however is too long. Take yourself away in a week, and give
+     what reason you like for going."
+
+     "'"Only a week, sir?" he cried, in a despairing voice. "A
+     fortnight--say at least a fortnight!"
+
+     "'"A week," I repeated, "and you may consider yourself to have been
+     very leniently dealt with."
+
+     "'He crept away, his face sunk upon his breast, like a broken man,
+     while I put out the light and returned to my room.
+
+     "'For two days after this Brunton was most assiduous in his attention
+     to his duties. I made no allusion to what had passed, and waited with
+     some curiosity to see how he would cover his disgrace. On the third
+     morning, however he did not appear, as was his custom, after
+     breakfast to receive my instructions for the day. As I left the
+     dining-room I happened to meet Rachel Howells, the maid. I have told
+     you that she had only recently recovered from an illness, and was
+     looking so wretchedly pale and wan that I remonstrated with her for
+     being at work.
+
+     "'"You should be in bed," I said. "Come back to your duties when you
+     are stronger."
+
+     "'She looked at me with so strange an expression that I began to
+     suspect that her brain was affected.
+
+     "'"I am strong enough, Mr. Musgrave," said she.
+
+     "'"We will see what the doctor says," I answered. "You must stop work
+     now, and when you go downstairs just say that I wish to see Brunton."
+
+     "'"The butler is gone," said she.
+
+     "'"Gone! Gone where?"
+
+     "'"He is gone. No one has seen him. He is not in his room. Oh, yes,
+     he is gone, he is gone!" She fell back against the wall with shriek
+     after shriek of laughter, while I, horrified at this sudden
+     hysterical attack, rushed to the bell to summon help. The girl was
+     taken to her room, still screaming and sobbing, while I made
+     inquiries about Brunton. There was no doubt about it that he had
+     disappeared. His bed had not been slept in, he had been seen by no
+     one since he had retired to his room the night before, and yet it was
+     difficult to see how he could have left the house, as both windows
+     and doors were found to be fastened in the morning. His clothes, his
+     watch, and even his money were in his room, but the black suit which
+     he usually wore was missing. His slippers, too, were gone, but his
+     boots were left behind. Where then could butler Brunton have gone in
+     the night, and what could have become of him now?
+
+     "'Of course we searched the house from cellar to garret, but there
+     was no trace of him. It is, as I have said, a labyrinth of an old
+     house, especially the original wing, which is now practically
+     uninhabited; but we ransacked every room and cellar without
+     discovering the least sign of the missing man. It was incredible to
+     me that he could have gone away leaving all his property behind him,
+     and yet where could he be? I called in the local police, but without
+     success. Rain had fallen on the night before and we examined the lawn
+     and the paths all round the house, but in vain. Matters were in this
+     state, when a new development quite drew our attention away from the
+     original mystery.
+
+     "'For two days Rachel Howells had been so ill, sometimes delirious,
+     sometimes hysterical, that a nurse had been employed to sit up with
+     her at night. On the third night after Brunton's disappearance, the
+     nurse, finding her patient sleeping nicely, had dropped into a nap in
+     the arm-chair, when she woke in the early morning to find the bed
+     empty, the window open, and no signs of the invalid. I was instantly
+     aroused, and, with the two footmen, started off at once in search of
+     the missing girl. It was not difficult to tell the direction which
+     she had taken, for, starting from under her window, we could follow
+     her footmarks easily across the lawn to the edge of the mere, where
+     they vanished close to the gravel path which leads out of the
+     grounds. The lake there is eight feet deep, and you can imagine our
+     feelings when we saw that the trail of the poor demented girl came to
+     an end at the edge of it.
+
+     "'Of course, we had the drags at once, and set to work to recover the
+     remains, but no trace of the body could we find. On the other hand,
+     we brought to the surface an object of a most unexpected kind. It was
+     a linen bag which contained within it a mass of old rusted and
+     discolored metal and several dull-colored pieces of pebble or glass.
+     This strange find was all that we could get from the mere, and,
+     although we made every possible search and inquiry yesterday, we know
+     nothing of the fate either of Rachel Howells or of Richard Brunton.
+     The county police are at their wits' end, and I have come up to you
+     as a last resource.'
+
+     "You can imagine, Watson, with what eagerness I listened to this
+     extraordinary sequence of events, and endeavored to piece them
+     together, and to devise some common thread upon which they might all
+     hang. The butler was gone. The maid was gone. The maid had loved the
+     butler, but had afterwards had cause to hate him. She was of Welsh
+     blood, fiery and passionate. She had been terribly excited
+     immediately after his disappearance. She had flung into the lake a
+     bag containing some curious contents. These were all factors which
+     had to be taken into consideration, and yet none of them got quite to
+     the heart of the matter. What was the starting-point of this chain of
+     events? There lay the end of this tangled line.
+
+     "'I must see that paper, Musgrave,' said I, 'which this butler of
+     your thought it worth his while to consult, even at the risk of the
+     loss of his place.'
+
+     "'It is rather an absurd business, this ritual of ours,' he answered.
+     'But it has at least the saving grace of antiquity to excuse it. I
+     have a copy of the questions and answers here if you care to run your
+     eye over them.'
+
+     "He handed me the very paper which I have here, Watson, and this is
+     the strange catechism to which each Musgrave had to submit when he
+     came to man's estate. I will read you the questions and answers as
+     they stand.
+
+     "'Whose was it?'
+
+     "'His who is gone.'
+
+     "'Who shall have it?'
+
+     "'He who will come.'
+
+     "'What was the month?'
+
+     "'The sixth from the first.'
+
+     "'Where was the sun?'
+
+     "'Over the oak.'
+
+     "'Where was the shadow?'
+
+     "'Under the elm.'
+
+     "'How was it stepped?'
+
+     "'North by ten and by ten, east by five and by five, south by two and
+     by two, west by one and by one, and so under.'
+
+     "'What shall we give for it?'
+
+     "'All that is ours.'
+
+     "'Why should we give it?'
+
+     "'For the sake of the trust.'
+
+     "'The original has no date, but is in the spelling of the middle of
+     the seventeenth century,' remarked Musgrave. 'I am afraid, however,
+     that it can be of little help to you in solving this mystery.'
+
+     "'At least,' said I, 'it gives us another mystery, and one which is
+     even more interesting than the first. It may be that the solution of
+     the one may prove to be the solution of the other. You will excuse
+     me, Musgrave, if I say that your butler appears to me to have been a
+     very clever man, and to have had a clearer insight that ten
+     generations of his masters.'
+
+     "'I hardly follow you,' said Musgrave. 'The paper seems to me to be
+     of no practical importance.'
+
+     "'But to me it seems immensely practical, and I fancy that Brunton
+     took the same view. He had probably seen it before that night on
+     which you caught him.'
+
+     "'It is very possible. We took no pains to hide it.'
+
+     "'He simply wished, I should imagine, to refresh his memory upon that
+     last occasion. He had, as I understand, some sort of map or chart
+     which he was comparing with the manuscript, and which he thrust into
+     his pocket when you appeared.'
+
+     "'That is true. But what could he have to do with this old family
+     custom of ours, and what does this rigmarole mean?'
+
+     "'I don't think that we should have much difficulty in determining
+     that,' said I; 'with your permission we will take the first train
+     down to Sussex, and go a little more deeply into the matter upon the
+     spot.'
+
+     "The same afternoon saw us both at Hurlstone. Possibly you have seen
+     pictures and read descriptions of the famous old building, so I will
+     confine my account of it to saying that it is built in the shape of
+     an L, the long arm being the more modern portion, and the shorter the
+     ancient nucleus, from which the other had developed. Over the low,
+     heavily-lintelled door, in the centre of this old part, is chiseled
+     the date, 1607, but experts are agreed that the beams and stone-work
+     are really much older than this. The enormously thick walls and tiny
+     windows of this part had in the last century driven the family into
+     building the new wing, and the old one was used now as a store-house
+     and a cellar, when it was used at all. A splendid park with fine old
+     timber surrounds the house, and the lake, to which my client had
+     referred, lay close to the avenue, about two hundred yards from the
+     building.
+
+     "I was already firmly convinced, Watson, that there were not three
+     separate mysteries here, but one only, and that if I could read the
+     Musgrave Ritual aright I should hold in my hand the clue which would
+     lead me to the truth concerning both the butler Brunton and the maid
+     Howells. To that then I turned all my energies. Why should this
+     servant be so anxious to master this old formula? Evidently because
+     he saw something in it which had escaped all those generations of
+     country squires, and from which he expected some personal advantage.
+     What was it then, and how had it affected his fate?
+
+     "It was perfectly obvious to me, on reading the ritual, that the
+     measurements must refer to some spot to which the rest of the
+     document alluded, and that if we could find that spot, we should be
+     in a fair way towards finding what the secret was which the old
+     Musgraves had thought it necessary to embalm in so curious a fashion.
+     There were two guides given us to start with, an oak and an elm. As
+     to the oak there could be no question at all. Right in front of the
+     house, upon the left-hand side of the drive, there stood a patriarch
+     among oaks, one of the most magnificent trees that I have ever seen.
+
+     "'That was there when your ritual was drawn up,' said I, as we drove
+     past it.
+
+     "'It was there at the Norman Conquest in all probability,' he
+     answered. 'It has a girth of twenty-three feet.'
+
+     "Here was one of my fixed points secured.
+
+     "'Have you any old elms?' I asked.
+
+     "'There used to be a very old one over yonder but it was struck by
+     lightning ten years ago, and we cut down the stump,'
+
+     "'You can see where it used to be?'
+
+     "'Oh, yes.'
+
+     "'There are no other elms?'
+
+     "'No old ones, but plenty of beeches.'
+
+     "'I should like to see where it grew.'
+
+     "We had driven up in a dogcart, and my client led me away at once,
+     without our entering the house, to the scar on the lawn where the elm
+     had stood. It was nearly midway between the oak and the house. My
+     investigation seemed to be progressing.
+
+     "'I suppose it is impossible to find out how high the elm was?' I
+     asked.
+
+     "'I can give you it at once. It was sixty-four feet.'
+
+     "'How do you come to know it?' I asked, in surprise.
+
+     "'When my old tutor used to give me an exercise in trigonometry, it
+     always took the shape of measuring heights. When I was a lad I worked
+     out every tree and building in the estate.'
+
+     "This was an unexpected piece of luck. My data were coming more
+     quickly than I could have reasonably hoped.
+
+     "'Tell me,' I asked, 'did your butler ever ask you such a question?'
+
+     "Reginald Musgrave looked at me in astonishment. 'Now that you call
+     it to my mind,' he answered, 'Brunton did ask me about the height of
+     the tree some months ago, in connection with some little argument
+     with the groom.'
+
+     "This was excellent news, Watson, for it showed me that I was on the
+     right road. I looked up at the sun. It was low in the heavens, and I
+     calculated that in less than an hour it would lie just above the
+     topmost branches of the old oak. One condition mentioned in the
+     Ritual would then be fulfilled. And the shadow of the elm must mean
+     the farther end of the shadow, otherwise the trunk would have been
+     chosen as the guide. I had, then, to find where the far end of the
+     shadow would fall when the sun was just clear of the oak."
+
+     "That must have been difficult, Holmes, when the elm was no longer
+     there."
+
+     "Well, at least I knew that if Brunton could do it, I could also.
+     Besides, there was no real difficulty. I went with Musgrave to his
+     study and whittled myself this peg, to which I tied this long string
+     with a knot at each yard. Then I took two lengths of a fishing-rod,
+     which came to just six feet, and I went back with my client to where
+     the elm had been. The sun was just grazing the top of the oak. I
+     fastened the rod on end, marked out the direction of the shadow, and
+     measured it. It was nine feet in length.
+
+     "Of course the calculation now was a simple one. If a rod of six feet
+     threw a shadow of nine, a tree of sixty-four feet would throw one of
+     ninety-six, and the line of the one would of course be the line of
+     the other. I measured out the distance, which brought me almost to
+     the wall of the house, and I thrust a peg into the spot. You can
+     imagine my exultation, Watson, when within two inches of my peg I saw
+     a conical depression in the ground. I knew that it was the mark made
+     by Brunton in his measurements, and that I was still upon his trail.
+
+     "From this starting-point I proceeded to step, having first taken the
+     cardinal points by my pocket-compass. Ten steps with each foot took
+     me along parallel with the wall of the house, and again I marked my
+     spot with a peg. Then I carefully paced off five to the east and two
+     to the south. It brought me to the very threshold of the old door.
+     Two steps to the west meant now that I was to go two paces down the
+     stone-flagged passage, and this was the place indicated by the
+     Ritual.
+
+     "Never have I felt such a cold chill of disappointment, Watson. For a
+     moment it seemed to me that there must be some radical mistake in my
+     calculations. The setting sun shone full upon the passage floor, and
+     I could see that the old, foot-worn gray stones with which it was
+     paved were firmly cemented together, and had certainly not been moved
+     for many a long year. Brunton had not been at work here. I tapped
+     upon the floor, but it sounded the same all over, and there was no
+     sign of any crack or crevice. But fortunately, Musgrave, who had
+     begun to appreciate the meaning of my proceedings, and who was now as
+     excited as myself, took out his manuscript to check my calculation.
+
+     "'And under,' he cried. 'You have omitted the "and under."'
+
+     "I had thought that it meant that we were to dig, but now, of course,
+     I saw at once that I was wrong. 'There is a cellar under this then?'
+     I cried.
+
+     "'Yes, and as old as the house. Down here, through this door.'
+
+     "We went down a winding stone stair, and my companion, striking a
+     match, lit a large lantern which stood on a barrel in the corner. In
+     an instant it was obvious that we had at last come upon the true
+     place, and that we had not been the only people to visit the spot
+     recently.
+
+     "It had been used for the storage of wood, but the billets, which had
+     evidently been littered over the floor, were now piled at the sides,
+     so as to leave a clear space in the middle. In this space lay a large
+     and heavy flagstone with a rusted iron ring in the centre to which a
+     thick shepherd's-check muffler was attached.
+
+     "'By Jove!' cried my client. 'That's Brunton's muffler. I have seen
+     it on him, and could swear to it. What has the villain been doing
+     here?'
+
+     "At my suggestion a couple of the county police were summoned to be
+     present, and I then endeavored to raise the stone by pulling on the
+     cravat. I could only move it slightly, and it was with the aid of one
+     of the constables that I succeeded at last in carrying it to one
+     side. A black hole yawned beneath into which we all peered, while
+     Musgrave, kneeling at the side, pushed down the lantern.
+
+     "A small chamber about seven feet deep and four feet square lay open
+     to us. At one side of this was a squat, brass-bound wooden box, the
+     lid of which was hinged upwards, with this curious old-fashioned key
+     projecting from the lock. It was furred outside by a thick layer of
+     dust, and damp and worms had eaten through the wood, so that a crop
+     of livid fungi was growing on the inside of it. Several discs of
+     metal, old coins apparently, such as I hold here, were scattered over
+     the bottom of the box, but it contained nothing else.
+
+     "At the moment, however, we had no thought for the old chest, for our
+     eyes were riveted upon that which crouched beside it. It was the
+     figure of a man, clad in a suit of black, who squatted down upon his
+     hams with his forehead sunk upon the edge of the box and his two arms
+     thrown out on each side of it. The attitude had drawn all the
+     stagnant blood to the face, and no man could have recognized that
+     distorted liver-colored countenance; but his height, his dress, and
+     his hair were all sufficient to show my client, when we had drawn the
+     body up, that it was indeed his missing butler. He had been dead some
+     days, but there was no wound or bruise upon his person to show how he
+     had met his dreadful end. When his body had been carried from the
+     cellar we found ourselves still confronted with a problem which was
+     almost as formidable as that with which we had started.
+
+     "I confess that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed in my
+     investigation. I had reckoned upon solving the matter when once I had
+     found the place referred to in the Ritual; but now I was there, and
+     was apparently as far as ever from knowing what it was which the
+     family had concealed with such elaborate precautions. It is true that
+     I had thrown a light upon the fate of Brunton, but now I had to
+     ascertain how that fate had come upon him, and what part had been
+     played in the matter by the woman who had disappeared. I sat down
+     upon a keg in the corner and thought the whole matter carefully over.
+
+     "You know my methods in such cases, Watson. I put myself in the man's
+     place and, having first gauged his intelligence, I try to imagine how
+     I should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances. In this
+     case the matter was simplified by Brunton's intelligence being quite
+     first-rate, so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance for the
+     personal equation, as the astronomers have dubbed it. He knew that
+     something valuable was concealed. He had spotted the place. He found
+     that the stone which covered it was just too heavy for a man to move
+     unaided. What would he do next? He could not get help from outside,
+     even if he had some one whom he could trust, without the unbarring of
+     doors and considerable risk of detection. It was better, if he could,
+     to have his helpmate inside the house. But whom could he ask? This
+     girl had been devoted to him. A man always finds it hard to realize
+     that he may have finally lost a woman's love, however badly he may
+     have treated her. He would try by a few attentions to make his peace
+     with the girl Howells, and then would engage her as his accomplice.
+     Together they would come at night to the cellar, and their united
+     force would suffice to raise the stone. So far I could follow their
+     actions as if I had actually seen them.
+
+     "But for two of them, and one a woman, it must have been heavy work
+     the raising of that stone. A burly Sussex policeman and I had found
+     it no light job. What would they do to assist them? Probably what I
+     should have done myself. I rose and examined carefully the different
+     billets of wood which were scattered round the floor. Almost at once
+     I came upon what I expected. One piece, about three feet in length,
+     had a very marked indentation at one end, while several were
+     flattened at the sides as if they had been compressed by some
+     considerable weight. Evidently, as they had dragged the stone up they
+     had thrust the chunks of wood into the chink, until at last, when the
+     opening was large enough to crawl through, they would hold it open by
+     a billet placed lengthwise, which might very well become indented at
+     the lower end, since the whole weight of the stone would press it
+     down on to the edge of this other slab. So far I was still on safe
+     ground.
+
+     "And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama?
+     Clearly, only one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton.
+     The girl must have waited above. Brunton then unlocked the box,
+     handed up the contents presumably--since they were not to be
+     found--and then--and then what happened?
+
+     "What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in
+     this passionate Celtic woman's soul when she saw the man who had
+     wronged her--wronged her, perhaps, far more than we suspected--in her
+     power? Was it a chance that the wood had slipped, and that the stone
+     had shut Brunton into what had become his sepulchre? Had she only
+     been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some sudden blow from
+     her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab crashing down into
+     its place? Be that as it might, I seemed to see that woman's figure
+     still clutching at her treasure trove and flying wildly up the
+     winding stair, with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled screams
+     from behind her and with the drumming of frenzied hands against the
+     slab of stone which was choking her faithless lover's life out.
+
+     "Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves, her
+     peals of hysterical laughter on the next morning. But what had been
+     in the box? What had she done with that? Of course, it must have been
+     the old metal and pebbles which my client had dragged from the mere.
+     She had thrown them in there at the first opportunity to remove the
+     last trace of her crime.
+
+     "For twenty minutes I had sat motionless, thinking the matter out.
+     Musgrave still stood with a very pale face, swinging his lantern and
+     peering down into the hole.
+
+     "'These are coins of Charles the First,' said he, holding out the few
+     which had been in the box; 'you see we were right in fixing our date
+     for the Ritual.'
+
+     "'We may find something else of Charles the First,' I cried, as the
+     probable meaning of the first two question of the Ritual broke
+     suddenly upon me. 'Let me see the contents of the bag which you
+     fished from the mere.'
+
+     "We ascended to his study, and he laid the debris before me. I could
+     understand his regarding it as of small importance when I looked at
+     it, for the metal was almost black and the stones lustreless and
+     dull. I rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however, and it glowed
+     afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of my hand. The metal work
+     was in the form of a double ring, but it had been bent and twisted
+     out of its original shape.
+
+     "'You must bear in mind,' said I, 'that the royal party made head in
+     England even after the death of the King, and that when they at last
+     fled they probably left many of their most precious possessions
+     buried behind them, with the intention of returning for them in more
+     peaceful times.'
+
+     "'My ancestor, Sir Ralph Musgrave, was a prominent Cavalier and the
+     right-hand man of Charles the Second in his wanderings,' said my
+     friend.
+
+     "'Ah, indeed!' I answered. 'Well now, I think that really should give
+     us the last link that we wanted. I must congratulate you on coming
+     into the possession, though in rather a tragic manner, of a relic
+     which is of great intrinsic value, but of even greater importance as
+     an historical curiosity.'
+
+     "'What is it, then?' he gasped in astonishment.
+
+     "'It is nothing less than the ancient crown of the kings of England.'
+
+     "'The crown!'
+
+     "'Precisely. Consider what the Ritual says: How does it run? "Whose
+     was it?" "His who is gone." That was after the execution of Charles.
+     Then, "Who shall have it?" "He who will come." That was Charles the
+     Second, whose advent was already foreseen. There can, I think, be no
+     doubt that this battered and shapeless diadem once encircled the
+     brows of the royal Stuarts.'
+
+     "'And how came it in the pond?'
+
+     "'Ah, that is a question that will take some time to answer.' And
+     with that I sketched out to him the whole long chain of surmise and
+     of proof which I had constructed. The twilight had closed in and the
+     moon was shining brightly in the sky before my narrative was
+     finished.
+
+     "'And how was it then that Charles did not get his crown when he
+     returned?' asked Musgrave, pushing back the relic into its linen bag.
+
+     "'Ah, there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall
+     probably never be able to clear up. It is likely that the Musgrave
+     who held the secret died in the interval, and by some oversight left
+     this guide to his descendant without explaining the meaning of it.
+     From that day to this it has been handed down from father to son,
+     until at last it came within reach of a man who tore its secret out
+     of it and lost his life in the venture.'
+
+     "And that's the story of the Musgrave Ritual, Watson. They have the
+     crown down at Hurlstone--though they had some legal bother and a
+     considerable sum to pay before they were allowed to retain it. I am
+     sure that if you mentioned my name they would be happy to show it to
+     you. Of the woman nothing was ever heard, and the probability is that
+     she got away out of England and carried herself and the memory of her
+     crime to some land beyond the seas."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               THE REIGATE SQUIRES
+
+     It was some time before the health of my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes
+     recovered from the strain caused by his immense exertions in the
+     spring of '87. The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company
+     and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in the
+     minds of the public, and are too intimately concerned with politics
+     and finance to be fitting subjects for this series of sketches. They
+     led, however, in an indirect fashion to a singular and complex
+     problem which gave my friend an opportunity of demonstrating the
+     value of a fresh weapon among the many with which he waged his
+     life-long battle against crime.
+
+     On referring to my notes I see that it was upon the 14th of April
+     that I received a telegram from Lyons which informed me that Holmes
+     was lying ill in the Hotel Dulong. Within twenty-four hours I was in
+     his sick-room, and was relieved to find that there was nothing
+     formidable in his symptoms. Even his iron constitution, however, had
+     broken down under the strain of an investigation which had extended
+     over two months, during which period he had never worked less than
+     fifteen hours a day, and had more than once, as he assured me, kept
+     to his task for five days at a stretch. Even the triumphant issue of
+     his labors could not save him from reaction after so terrible an
+     exertion, and at a time when Europe was ringing with his name and
+     when his room was literally ankle-deep with congratulatory telegrams
+     I found him a prey to the blackest depression. Even the knowledge
+     that he had succeeded where the police of three countries had failed,
+     and that he had outmanoeuvred at every point the most accomplished
+     swindler in Europe, was insufficient to rouse him from his nervous
+     prostration.
+
+     Three days later we were back in Baker Street together; but it was
+     evident that my friend would be much the better for a change, and the
+     thought of a week of spring time in the country was full of
+     attractions to me also. My old friend, Colonel Hayter, who had come
+     under my professional care in Afghanistan, had now taken a house near
+     Reigate in Surrey, and had frequently asked me to come down to him
+     upon a visit. On the last occasion he had remarked that if my friend
+     would only come with me he would be glad to extend his hospitality to
+     him also. A little diplomacy was needed, but when Holmes understood
+     that the establishment was a bachelor one, and that he would be
+     allowed the fullest freedom, he fell in with my plans and a week
+     after our return from Lyons we were under the Colonel's roof. Hayter
+     was a fine old soldier who had seen much of the world, and he soon
+     found, as I had expected, that Holmes and he had much in common.
+
+     On the evening of our arrival we were sitting in the Colonel's
+     gun-room after dinner, Holmes stretched upon the sofa, while Hayter
+     and I looked over his little armory of Eastern weapons.
+
+     "By the way," said he suddenly, "I think I'll take one of these
+     pistols upstairs with me in case we have an alarm."
+
+     "An alarm!" said I.
+
+     "Yes, we've had a scare in this part lately. Old Acton, who is one of
+     our county magnates, had his house broken into last Monday. No great
+     damage done, but the fellows are still at large."
+
+     "No clue?" asked Holmes, cocking his eye at the Colonel.
+
+     "None as yet. But the affair is a pretty one, one of our little
+     country crimes, which must seem too small for your attention, Mr.
+     Holmes, after this great international affair."
+
+     Holmes waved away the compliment, though his smile showed that it had
+     pleased him.
+
+     "Was there any feature of interest?"
+
+     "I fancy not. The thieves ransacked the library and got very little
+     for their pains. The whole place was turned upside down, drawers
+     burst open, and presses ransacked, with the result that an odd volume
+     of Pope's Homer, two plated candlesticks, an ivory letter-weight, a
+     small oak barometer, and a ball of twine are all that have vanished."
+
+     "What an extraordinary assortment!" I exclaimed.
+
+     "Oh, the fellows evidently grabbed hold of everything they could
+     get."
+
+     Holmes grunted from the sofa.
+
+     "The county police ought to make something of that," said he; "why,
+     it is surely obvious that--"
+
+     But I held up a warning finger.
+
+     "You are here for a rest, my dear fellow. For Heaven's sake don't get
+     started on a new problem when your nerves are all in shreds."
+
+     Holmes shrugged his shoulders with a glance of comic resignation
+     towards the Colonel, and the talk drifted away into less dangerous
+     channels.
+
+     It was destined, however, that all my professional caution should be
+     wasted, for next morning the problem obtruded itself upon us in such
+     a way that it was impossible to ignore it, and our country visit took
+     a turn which neither of us could have anticipated. We were at
+     breakfast when the Colonel's butler rushed in with all his propriety
+     shaken out of him.
+
+     "Have you heard the news, sir?" he gasped. "At the Cunningham's sir!"
+
+     "Burglary!" cried the Colonel, with his coffee-cup in mid-air.
+
+     "Murder!"
+
+     The Colonel whistled. "By Jove!" said he. "Who's killed, then? The
+     J.P. or his son?"
+
+     "Neither, sir. It was William the coachman. Shot through the heart,
+     sir, and never spoke again."
+
+     "Who shot him, then?"
+
+     "The burglar, sir. He was off like a shot and got clean away. He'd
+     just broke in at the pantry window when William came on him and met
+     his end in saving his master's property."
+
+     "What time?"
+
+     "It was last night, sir, somewhere about twelve."
+
+     "Ah, then, we'll step over afterwards," said the Colonel, coolly
+     settling down to his breakfast again. "It's a baddish business," he
+     added when the butler had gone; "he's our leading man about here, is
+     old Cunningham, and a very decent fellow too. He'll be cut up over
+     this, for the man has been in his service for years and was a good
+     servant. It's evidently the same villains who broke into Acton's."
+
+     "And stole that very singular collection," said Holmes, thoughtfully.
+
+     "Precisely."
+
+     "Hum! It may prove the simplest matter in the world, but all the same
+     at first glance this is just a little curious, is it not? A gang of
+     burglars acting in the country might be expected to vary the scene of
+     their operations, and not to crack two cribs in the same district
+     within a few days. When you spoke last night of taking precautions I
+     remember that it passed through my mind that this was probably the
+     last parish in England to which the thief or thieves would be likely
+     to turn their attention--which shows that I have still much to
+     learn."
+
+     "I fancy it's some local practitioner," said the Colonel. "In that
+     case, of course, Acton's and Cunningham's are just the places he
+     would go for, since they are far the largest about here."
+
+     "And richest?"
+
+     "Well, they ought to be, but they've had a lawsuit for some years
+     which has sucked the blood out of both of them, I fancy. Old Acton
+     has some claim on half Cunningham's estate, and the lawyers have been
+     at it with both hands."
+
+     "If it's a local villain there should not be much difficulty in
+     running him down," said Holmes with a yawn. "All right, Watson, I
+     don't intend to meddle."
+
+     "Inspector Forrester, sir," said the butler, throwing open the door.
+
+     The official, a smart, keen-faced young fellow, stepped into the
+     room. "Good-morning, Colonel," said he; "I hope I don't intrude, but
+     we hear that Mr. Holmes of Baker Street is here."
+
+     The Colonel waved his hand towards my friend, and the Inspector
+     bowed.
+
+     "We thought that perhaps you would care to step across, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "The fates are against you, Watson," said he, laughing. "We were
+     chatting about the matter when you came in, Inspector. Perhaps you
+     can let us have a few details." As he leaned back in his chair in the
+     familiar attitude I knew that the case was hopeless.
+
+     "We had no clue in the Acton affair. But here we have plenty to go
+     on, and there's no doubt it is the same party in each case. The man
+     was seen."
+
+     "Ah!"
+
+     "Yes, sir. But he was off like a deer after the shot that killed poor
+     William Kirwan was fired. Mr. Cunningham saw him from the bedroom
+     window, and Mr. Alec Cunningham saw him from the back passage. It was
+     quarter to twelve when the alarm broke out. Mr. Cunningham had just
+     got into bed, and Mr. Alec was smoking a pipe in his dressing-gown.
+     They both heard William the coachman calling for help, and Mr. Alec
+     ran down to see what was the matter. The back door was open, and as
+     he came to the foot of the stairs he saw two men wrestling together
+     outside. One of them fired a shot, the other dropped, and the
+     murderer rushed across the garden and over the hedge. Mr. Cunningham,
+     looking out of his bedroom, saw the fellow as he gained the road, but
+     lost sight of him at once. Mr. Alec stopped to see if he could help
+     the dying man, and so the villain got clean away. Beyond the fact
+     that he was a middle-sized man and dressed in some dark stuff, we
+     have no personal clue; but we are making energetic inquiries, and if
+     he is a stranger we shall soon find him out."
+
+     "What was this William doing there? Did he say anything before he
+     died?"
+
+     "Not a word. He lives at the lodge with his mother, and as he was a
+     very faithful fellow we imagine that he walked up to the house with
+     the intention of seeing that all was right there. Of course this
+     Acton business has put every one on their guard. The robber must have
+     just burst open the door--the lock has been forced--when William came
+     upon him."
+
+     "Did William say anything to his mother before going out?"
+
+     "She is very old and deaf, and we can get no information from her.
+     The shock has made her half-witted, but I understand that she was
+     never very bright. There is one very important circumstance, however.
+     Look at this!"
+
+     He took a small piece of torn paper from a note-book and spread it
+     out upon his knee.
+
+     "This was found between the finger and thumb of the dead man. It
+     appears to be a fragment torn from a larger sheet. You will observe
+     that the hour mentioned upon it is the very time at which the poor
+     fellow met his fate. You see that his murderer might have torn the
+     rest of the sheet from him or he might have taken this fragment from
+     the murderer. It reads almost as though it were an appointment."
+
+     Holmes took up the scrap of paper, a facsimile of which is here
+     reproduced.
+
+     [ Picture: Scrap showing the words: At quarter to twelve, learn what,
+     may be ]
+
+     "Presuming that it is an appointment," continued the Inspector, "it
+     is of course a conceivable theory that this William Kirwan--though he
+     had the reputation of being an honest man, may have been in league
+     with the thief. He may have met him there, may even have helped him
+     to break in the door, and then they may have fallen out between
+     themselves."
+
+     "This writing is of extraordinary interest," said Holmes, who had
+     been examining it with intense concentration. "These are much deeper
+     waters than I had thought." He sank his head upon his hands, while
+     the Inspector smiled at the effect which his case had had upon the
+     famous London specialist.
+
+     "Your last remark," said Holmes, presently, "as to the possibility of
+     there being an understanding between the burglar and the servant, and
+     this being a note of appointment from one to the other, is an
+     ingenious and not entirely impossible supposition. But this writing
+     opens up--" He sank his head into his hands again and remained for
+     some minutes in the deepest thought. When he raised his face again, I
+     was surprised to see that his cheek was tinged with color, and his
+     eyes as bright as before his illness. He sprang to his feet with all
+     his old energy.
+
+     "I'll tell you what," said he, "I should like to have a quiet little
+     glance into the details of this case. There is something in it which
+     fascinates me extremely. If you will permit me, Colonel, I will leave
+     my friend Watson and you, and I will step round with the Inspector to
+     test the truth of one or two little fancies of mine. I will be with
+     you again in half an hour."
+
+     An hour and half had elapsed before the Inspector returned alone.
+
+     "Mr. Holmes is walking up and down in the field outside," said he.
+     "He wants us all four to go up to the house together."
+
+     "To Mr. Cunningham's?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "What for?"
+
+     The Inspector shrugged his shoulders. "I don't quite know, sir.
+     Between ourselves, I think Mr. Holmes had not quite got over his
+     illness yet. He's been behaving very queerly, and he is very much
+     excited."
+
+     "I don't think you need alarm yourself," said I. "I have usually
+     found that there was method in his madness."
+
+     "Some folks might say there was madness in his method," muttered the
+     Inspector. "But he's all on fire to start, Colonel, so we had best go
+     out if you are ready."
+
+     We found Holmes pacing up and down in the field, his chin sunk upon
+     his breast, and his hands thrust into his trousers pockets.
+
+     "The matter grows in interest," said he. "Watson, your country-trip
+     has been a distinct success. I have had a charming morning."
+
+     "You have been up to the scene of the crime, I understand," said the
+     Colonel.
+
+     "Yes; the Inspector and I have made quite a little reconnaissance
+     together."
+
+     "Any success?"
+
+     "Well, we have seen some very interesting things. I'll tell you what
+     we did as we walk. First of all, we saw the body of this unfortunate
+     man. He certainly died from a revolver wound as reported."
+
+     "Had you doubted it, then?"
+
+     "Oh, it is as well to test everything. Our inspection was not wasted.
+     We then had an interview with Mr. Cunningham and his son, who were
+     able to point out the exact spot where the murderer had broken
+     through the garden-hedge in his flight. That was of great interest."
+
+     "Naturally."
+
+     "Then we had a look at this poor fellow's mother. We could get no
+     information from her, however, as she is very old and feeble."
+
+     "And what is the result of your investigations?"
+
+     "The conviction that the crime is a very peculiar one. Perhaps our
+     visit now may do something to make it less obscure. I think that we
+     are both agreed, Inspector, that the fragment of paper in the dead
+     man's hand, bearing, as it does, the very hour of his death written
+     upon it, is of extreme importance."
+
+     "It should give a clue, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "It does give a clue. Whoever wrote that note was the man who brought
+     William Kirwan out of his bed at that hour. But where is the rest of
+     that sheet of paper?"
+
+     "I examined the ground carefully in the hope of finding it," said the
+     Inspector.
+
+     "It was torn out of the dead man's hand. Why was some one so anxious
+     to get possession of it? Because it incriminated him. And what would
+     he do with it? Thrust it into his pocket, most likely, never noticing
+     that a corner of it had been left in the grip of the corpse. If we
+     could get the rest of that sheet it is obvious that we should have
+     gone a long way towards solving the mystery."
+
+     "Yes, but how can we get at the criminal's pocket before we catch the
+     criminal?"
+
+     "Well, well, it was worth thinking over. Then there is another
+     obvious point. The note was sent to William. The man who wrote it
+     could not have taken it; otherwise, of course, he might have
+     delivered his own message by word of mouth. Who brought the note,
+     then? Or did it come through the post?"
+
+     "I have made inquiries," said the Inspector. "William received a
+     letter by the afternoon post yesterday. The envelope was destroyed by
+     him."
+
+     "Excellent!" cried Holmes, clapping the Inspector on the back.
+     "You've seen the postman. It is a pleasure to work with you. Well,
+     here is the lodge, and if you will come up, Colonel, I will show you
+     the scene of the crime."
+
+     We passed the pretty cottage where the murdered man had lived, and
+     walked up an oak-lined avenue to the fine old Queen Anne house, which
+     bears the date of Malplaquet upon the lintel of the door. Holmes and
+     the Inspector led us round it until we came to the side gate, which
+     is separated by a stretch of garden from the hedge which lines the
+     road. A constable was standing at the kitchen door.
+
+     "Throw the door open, officer," said Holmes. "Now, it was on those
+     stairs that young Mr. Cunningham stood and saw the two men struggling
+     just where we are. Old Mr. Cunningham was at that window--the second
+     on the left--and he saw the fellow get away just to the left of that
+     bush. So did the son. They are both sure of it on account of the
+     bush. Then Mr. Alec ran out and knelt beside the wounded man. The
+     ground is very hard, you see, and there are no marks to guide us." As
+     he spoke two men came down the garden path, from round the angle of
+     the house. The one was an elderly man, with a strong, deep-lined,
+     heavy-eyed face; the other a dashing young fellow, whose bright,
+     smiling expression and showy dress were in strange contrast with the
+     business which had brought us there.
+
+     "Still at it, then?" said he to Holmes. "I thought you Londoners were
+     never at fault. You don't seem to be so very quick, after all."
+
+     "Ah, you must give us a little time," said Holmes good-humoredly.
+
+     "You'll want it," said young Alec Cunningham. "Why, I don't see that
+     we have any clue at all."
+
+     "There's only one," answered the Inspector. "We thought that if we
+     could only find--Good heavens, Mr. Holmes! What is the matter?"
+
+     My poor friend's face had suddenly assumed the most dreadful
+     expression. His eyes rolled upwards, his features writhed in agony,
+     and with a suppressed groan he dropped on his face upon the ground.
+     Horrified at the suddenness and severity of the attack, we carried
+     him into the kitchen, where he lay back in a large chair, and
+     breathed heavily for some minutes. Finally, with a shamefaced apology
+     for his weakness, he rose once more.
+
+     "Watson would tell you that I have only just recovered from a severe
+     illness," he explained. "I am liable to these sudden nervous
+     attacks."
+
+     "Shall I send you home in my trap?" asked old Cunningham.
+
+     "Well, since I am here, there is one point on which I should like to
+     feel sure. We can very easily verify it."
+
+     "What was it?"
+
+     "Well, it seems to me that it is just possible that the arrival of
+     this poor fellow William was not before, but after, the entrance of
+     the burglary into the house. You appear to take it for granted that,
+     although the door was forced, the robber never got in."
+
+     "I fancy that is quite obvious," said Mr. Cunningham, gravely. "Why,
+     my son Alec had not yet gone to bed, and he would certainly have
+     heard any one moving about."
+
+     "Where was he sitting?"
+
+     "I was smoking in my dressing-room."
+
+     "Which window is that?"
+
+     "The last on the left next my father's."
+
+     "Both of your lamps were lit, of course?"
+
+     "Undoubtedly."
+
+     "There are some very singular points here," said Holmes, smiling. "Is
+     it not extraordinary that a burglary--and a burglar who had had some
+     previous experience--should deliberately break into a house at a time
+     when he could see from the lights that two of the family were still
+     afoot?"
+
+     "He must have been a cool hand."
+
+     "Well, of course, if the case were not an odd one we should not have
+     been driven to ask you for an explanation," said young Mr. Alec. "But
+     as to your ideas that the man had robbed the house before William
+     tackled him, I think it a most absurd notion. Wouldn't we have found
+     the place disarranged, and missed the things which he had taken?"
+
+     "It depends on what the things were," said Holmes. "You must remember
+     that we are dealing with a burglar who is a very peculiar fellow, and
+     who appears to work on lines of his own. Look, for example, at the
+     queer lot of things which he took from Acton's--what was it?--a ball
+     of string, a letter-weight, and I don't know what other odds and
+     ends."
+
+     "Well, we are quite in your hands, Mr. Holmes," said old Cunningham.
+     "Anything which you or the Inspector may suggest will most certainly
+     be done."
+
+     "In the first place," said Holmes, "I should like you to offer a
+     reward--coming from yourself, for the officials may take a little
+     time before they would agree upon the sum, and these things cannot be
+     done too promptly. I have jotted down the form here, if you would not
+     mind signing it. Fifty pound was quite enough, I thought."
+
+     "I would willingly give five hundred," said the J.P., taking the slip
+     of paper and the pencil which Holmes handed to him. "This is not
+     quite correct, however," he added, glancing over the document.
+
+     "I wrote it rather hurriedly."
+
+     "You see you begin, 'Whereas, at about a quarter to one on Tuesday
+     morning an attempt was made,' and so on. It was at a quarter to
+     twelve, as a matter of fact."
+
+     I was pained at the mistake, for I knew how keenly Holmes would feel
+     any slip of the kind. It was his specialty to be accurate as to fact,
+     but his recent illness had shaken him, and this one little incident
+     was enough to show me that he was still far from being himself. He
+     was obviously embarrassed for an instant, while the Inspector raised
+     his eyebrows, and Alec Cunningham burst into a laugh. The old
+     gentleman corrected the mistake, however, and handed the paper back
+     to Holmes.
+
+     "Get it printed as soon as possible," he said; "I think your idea is
+     an excellent one."
+
+     Holmes put the slip of paper carefully away into his pocket-book.
+
+     "And now," said he, "it really would be a good thing that we should
+     all go over the house together and make certain that this rather
+     erratic burglar did not, after all, carry anything away with him."
+
+     Before entering, Holmes made an examination of the door which had
+     been forced. It was evident that a chisel or strong knife had been
+     thrust in, and the lock forced back with it. We could see the marks
+     in the wood where it had been pushed in.
+
+     "You don't use bars, then?" he asked.
+
+     "We have never found it necessary."
+
+     "You don't keep a dog?"
+
+     "Yes, but he is chained on the other side of the house."
+
+     "When do the servants go to bed?"
+
+     "About ten."
+
+     "I understand that William was usually in bed also at that hour."
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "It is singular that on this particular night he should have been up.
+     Now, I should be very glad if you would have the kindness to show us
+     over the house, Mr. Cunningham."
+
+     A stone-flagged passage, with the kitchens branching away from it,
+     led by a wooden staircase directly to the first floor of the house.
+     It came out upon the landing opposite to a second more ornamental
+     stair which came up from the front hall. Out of this landing opened
+     the drawing-room and several bedrooms, including those of Mr.
+     Cunningham and his son. Holmes walked slowly, taking keen note of the
+     architecture of the house. I could tell from his expression that he
+     was on a hot scent, and yet I could not in the least imagine in what
+     direction his inferences were leading him.
+
+     "My good sir," said Mr. Cunningham with some impatience, "this is
+     surely very unnecessary. That is my room at the end of the stairs,
+     and my son's is the one beyond it. I leave it to your judgment
+     whether it was possible for the thief to have come up here without
+     disturbing us."
+
+     "You must try round and get on a fresh scent, I fancy," said the son
+     with a rather malicious smile.
+
+     "Still, I must ask you to humor me a little further. I should like,
+     for example, to see how far the windows of the bedrooms command the
+     front. This, I understand is your son's room"--he pushed open the
+     door--"and that, I presume, is the dressing-room in which he sat
+     smoking when the alarm was given. Where does the window of that look
+     out to?" He stepped across the bedroom, pushed open the door, and
+     glanced round the other chamber.
+
+     "I hope that you are satisfied now?" said Mr. Cunningham, tartly.
+
+     "Thank you, I think I have seen all that I wished."
+
+     "Then if it is really necessary we can go into my room."
+
+     "If it is not too much trouble."
+
+     The J.P. shrugged his shoulders, and led the way into his own
+     chamber, which was a plainly furnished and commonplace room. As we
+     moved across it in the direction of the window, Holmes fell back
+     until he and I were the last of the group. Near the foot of the bed
+     stood a dish of oranges and a carafe of water. As we passed it
+     Holmes, to my unutterable astonishment, leaned over in front of me
+     and deliberately knocked the whole thing over. The glass smashed into
+     a thousand pieces and the fruit rolled about into every corner of the
+     room.
+
+     "You've done it now, Watson," said he, coolly. "A pretty mess you've
+     made of the carpet."
+
+     I stooped in some confusion and began to pick up the fruit,
+     understanding for some reason my companion desired me to take the
+     blame upon myself. The others did the same, and set the table on its
+     legs again.
+
+     "Hullo!" cried the Inspector, "where's he got to?"
+
+     Holmes had disappeared.
+
+     "Wait here an instant," said young Alec Cunningham. "The fellow is
+     off his head, in my opinion. Come with me, father, and see where he
+     has got to!"
+
+     They rushed out of the room, leaving the Inspector, the Colonel, and
+     me staring at each other.
+
+     "'Pon my word, I am inclined to agree with Master Alec," said the
+     official. "It may be the effect of this illness, but it seems to me
+     that--"
+
+     His words were cut short by a sudden scream of "Help! Help! Murder!"
+     With a thrill I recognised the voice as that of my friend. I rushed
+     madly from the room on to the landing. The cries, which had sunk down
+     into a hoarse, inarticulate shouting, came from the room which we had
+     first visited. I dashed in, and on into the dressing-room beyond. The
+     two Cunninghams were bending over the prostrate figure of Sherlock
+     Holmes, the younger clutching his throat with both hands, while the
+     elder seemed to be twisting one of his wrists. In an instant the
+     three of us had torn them away from him, and Holmes staggered to his
+     feet, very pale and evidently greatly exhausted.
+
+     "Arrest these men, Inspector," he gasped.
+
+     "On what charge?"
+
+     "That of murdering their coachman, William Kirwan."
+
+     The Inspector stared about him in bewilderment. "Oh, come now, Mr.
+     Holmes," said he at last, "I'm sure you don't really mean to--"
+
+     "Tut, man, look at their faces!" cried Holmes, curtly.
+
+     Never, certainly, have I seen a plainer confession of guilt upon
+     human countenances. The older man seemed numbed and dazed with a
+     heavy, sullen expression upon his strongly-marked face. The son, on
+     the other hand, had dropped all that jaunty, dashing style which had
+     characterized him, and the ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed
+     in his dark eyes and distorted his handsome features. The Inspector
+     said nothing, but, stepping to the door, he blew his whistle. Two of
+     his constables came at the call.
+
+     "I have no alternative, Mr. Cunningham," said he. "I trust that this
+     may all prove to be an absurd mistake, but you can see that--Ah,
+     would you? Drop it!" He struck out with his hand, and a revolver
+     which the younger man was in the act of cocking clattered down upon
+     the floor.
+
+     "Keep that," said Holmes, quietly putting his foot upon it; "you will
+     find it useful at the trial. But this is what we really wanted." He
+     held up a little crumpled piece of paper.
+
+     "The remainder of the sheet!" cried the Inspector.
+
+     "Precisely."
+
+     "And where was it?"
+
+     "Where I was sure it must be. I'll make the whole matter clear to you
+     presently. I think, Colonel, that you and Watson might return now,
+     and I will be with you again in an hour at the furthest. The
+     Inspector and I must have a word with the prisoners, but you will
+     certainly see me back at luncheon time."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was as good as his word, for about one o'clock he
+     rejoined us in the Colonel's smoking-room. He was accompanied by a
+     little elderly gentleman, who was introduced to me as the Mr. Acton
+     whose house had been the scene of the original burglary.
+
+     "I wished Mr. Acton to be present while I demonstrated this small
+     matter to you," said Holmes, "for it is natural that he should take a
+     keen interest in the details. I am afraid, my dear Colonel, that you
+     must regret the hour that you took in such a stormy petrel as I am."
+
+     "On the contrary," answered the Colonel, warmly, "I consider it the
+     greatest privilege to have been permitted to study your methods of
+     working. I confess that they quite surpass my expectations, and that
+     I am utterly unable to account for your result. I have not yet seen
+     the vestige of a clue."
+
+     "I am afraid that my explanation may disillusion you but it has
+     always been my habit to hide none of my methods, either from my
+     friend Watson or from any one who might take an intelligent interest
+     in them. But, first, as I am rather shaken by the knocking about
+     which I had in the dressing-room, I think that I shall help myself to
+     a dash of your brandy, Colonel. My strength had been rather tried of
+     late."
+
+     "I trust that you had no more of those nervous attacks."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes laughed heartily. "We will come to that in its turn,"
+     said he. "I will lay an account of the case before you in its due
+     order, showing you the various points which guided me in my decision.
+     Pray interrupt me if there is any inference which is not perfectly
+     clear to you.
+
+     "It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able
+     to recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental and
+     which vital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated
+     instead of being concentrated. Now, in this case there was not the
+     slightest doubt in my mind from the first that the key of the whole
+     matter must be looked for in the scrap of paper in the dead man's
+     hand.
+
+     "Before going into this, I would draw your attention to the fact
+     that, if Alec Cunningham's narrative was correct, and if the
+     assailant, after shooting William Kirwan, had instantly fled, then it
+     obviously could not be he who tore the paper from the dead man's
+     hand. But if it was not he, it must have been Alec Cunningham
+     himself, for by the time that the old man had descended several
+     servants were upon the scene. The point is a simple one, but the
+     Inspector had overlooked it because he had started with the
+     supposition that these county magnates had had nothing to do with the
+     matter. Now, I make a point of never having any prejudices, and of
+     following docilely wherever fact may lead me, and so, in the very
+     first stage of the investigation, I found myself looking a little
+     askance at the part which had been played by Mr. Alec Cunningham.
+
+     "And now I made a very careful examination of the corner of paper
+     which the Inspector had submitted to us. It was at once clear to me
+     that it formed part of a very remarkable document. Here it is. Do you
+     not now observed something very suggestive about it?"
+
+     "It has a very irregular look," said the Colonel.
+
+     "My dear sir," cried Holmes, "there cannot be the least doubt in the
+     world that it has been written by two persons doing alternate words.
+     When I draw your attention to the strong t's of 'at' and 'to', and
+     ask you to compare them with the weak ones of 'quarter' and 'twelve,'
+     you will instantly recognize the fact. A very brief analysis of these
+     four words would enable you to say with the utmost confidence that
+     the 'learn' and the 'maybe' are written in the stronger hand, and the
+     'what' in the weaker."
+
+     "By Jove, it's as clear as day!" cried the Colonel. "Why on earth
+     should two men write a letter in such a fashion?"
+
+     "Obviously the business was a bad one, and one of the men who
+     distrusted the other was determined that, whatever was done, each
+     should have an equal hand in it. Now, of the two men, it is clear
+     that the one who wrote the 'at' and 'to' was the ringleader."
+
+     "How do you get at that?"
+
+     "We might deduce it from the mere character of the one hand as
+     compared with the other. But we have more assured reasons than that
+     for supposing it. If you examine this scrap with attention you will
+     come to the conclusion that the man with the stronger hand wrote all
+     his words first, leaving blanks for the other to fill up. These
+     blanks were not always sufficient, and you can see that the second
+     man had a squeeze to fit his 'quarter' in between the 'at' and the
+     'to,' showing that the latter were already written. The man who wrote
+     all his words first is undoubtedly the man who planned the affair."
+
+     "Excellent!" cried Mr. Acton.
+
+     "But very superficial," said Holmes. "We come now, however, to a
+     point which is of importance. You may not be aware that the deduction
+     of a man's age from his writing is one which has been brought to
+     considerable accuracy by experts. In normal cases one can place a man
+     in his true decade with tolerable confidence. I say normal cases,
+     because ill-health and physical weakness reproduce the signs of old
+     age, even when the invalid is a youth. In this case, looking at the
+     bold, strong hand of the one, and the rather broken-backed appearance
+     of the other, which still retains its legibility although the t's
+     have begun to lose their crossing, we can say that the one was a
+     young man and the other was advanced in years without being
+     positively decrepit."
+
+     "Excellent!" cried Mr. Acton again.
+
+     "There is a further point, however, which is subtler and of greater
+     interest. There is something in common between these hands. They
+     belong to men who are blood-relatives. It may be most obvious to you
+     in the Greek e's, but to me there are many small points which
+     indicate the same thing. I have no doubt at all that a family
+     mannerism can be traced in these two specimens of writing. I am only,
+     of course, giving you the leading results now of my examination of
+     the paper. There were twenty-three other deductions which would be of
+     more interest to experts than to you. They all tended to deepen the
+     impression upon my mind that the Cunninghams, father and son, had
+     written this letter.
+
+     "Having got so far, my next step was, of course, to examine into the
+     details of the crime, and to see how far they would help us. I went
+     up to the house with the Inspector, and saw all that was to be seen.
+     The wound upon the dead man was, as I was able to determine with
+     absolute confidence, fired from a revolver at the distance of
+     something over four yards. There was no powder-blackening on the
+     clothes. Evidently, therefore, Alec Cunningham had lied when he said
+     that the two men were struggling when the shot was fired. Again, both
+     father and son agreed as to the place where the man escaped into the
+     road. At that point, however, as it happens, there is a broadish
+     ditch, moist at the bottom. As there were no indications of bootmarks
+     about this ditch, I was absolutely sure not only that the Cunninghams
+     had again lied, but that there had never been any unknown man upon
+     the scene at all.
+
+     "And now I have to consider the motive of this singular crime. To get
+     at this, I endeavored first of all to solve the reason of the
+     original burglary at Mr. Acton's. I understood, from something which
+     the Colonel told us, that a lawsuit had been going on between you,
+     Mr. Acton, and the Cunninghams. Of course, it instantly occurred to
+     me that they had broken into your library with the intention of
+     getting at some document which might be of importance in the case."
+
+     "Precisely so," said Mr. Acton. "There can be no possible doubt as to
+     their intentions. I have the clearest claim upon half of their
+     present estate, and if they could have found a single paper--which,
+     fortunately, was in the strong-box of my solicitors--they would
+     undoubtedly have crippled our case."
+
+     "There you are," said Holmes, smiling. "It was a dangerous, reckless
+     attempt, in which I seem to trace the influence of young Alec. Having
+     found nothing they tried to divert suspicion by making it appear to
+     be an ordinary burglary, to which end they carried off whatever they
+     could lay their hands upon. That is all clear enough, but there was
+     much that was still obscure. What I wanted above all was to get the
+     missing part of that note. I was certain that Alec had torn it out of
+     the dead man's hand, and almost certain that he must have thrust it
+     into the pocket of his dressing-gown. Where else could he have put
+     it? The only question was whether it was still there. It was worth an
+     effort to find out, and for that object we all went up to the house.
+
+     "The Cunninghams joined us, as you doubtless remember, outside the
+     kitchen door. It was, of course, of the very first importance that
+     they should not be reminded of the existence of this paper, otherwise
+     they would naturally destroy it without delay. The Inspector was
+     about to tell them the importance which we attached to it when, by
+     the luckiest chance in the world, I tumbled down in a sort of fit and
+     so changed the conversation."
+
+     "Good heavens!" cried the Colonel, laughing, "do you mean to say all
+     our sympathy was wasted and your fit an imposture?"
+
+     "Speaking professionally, it was admirably done," cried I, looking in
+     amazement at this man who was forever confounding me with some new
+     phase of his astuteness.
+
+     "It is an art which is often useful," said he. "When I recovered I
+     managed, by a device which had perhaps some little merit of
+     ingenuity, to get old Cunningham to write the word 'twelve,' so that
+     I might compare it with the 'twelve' upon the paper."
+
+     "Oh, what an ass I have been!" I exclaimed.
+
+     "I could see that you were commiserating with me over my weakness,"
+     said Holmes, laughing. "I was sorry to cause you the sympathetic pain
+     which I know that you felt. We then went upstairs together, and
+     having entered the room and seen the dressing-gown hanging up behind
+     the door, I contrived, by upsetting a table, to engage their
+     attention for the moment, and slipped back to examine the pockets. I
+     had hardly got the paper, however--which was, as I had expected, in
+     one of them--when the two Cunninghams were on me, and would, I verily
+     believe, have murdered me then and there but for your prompt and
+     friendly aid. As it is, I feel that young man's grip on my throat
+     now, and the father has twisted my wrist round in the effort to get
+     the paper out of my hand. They saw that I must know all about it, you
+     see, and the sudden change from absolute security to complete despair
+     made them perfectly desperate.
+
+     "I had a little talk with old Cunningham afterwards as to the motive
+     of the crime. He was tractable enough, though his son was a perfect
+     demon, ready to blow out his own or anybody else's brains if he could
+     have got to his revolver. When Cunningham saw that the case against
+     him was so strong he lost all heart and made a clean breast of
+     everything. It seems that William had secretly followed his two
+     masters on the night when they made their raid upon Mr. Acton's, and
+     having thus got them into his power, proceeded, under threats of
+     exposure, to levy black-mail upon them. Mr. Alec, however, was a
+     dangerous man to play games of that sort with. It was a stroke of
+     positive genius on his part to see in the burglary scare which was
+     convulsing the country side an opportunity of plausibly getting rid
+     of the man whom he feared. William was decoyed up and shot, and had
+     they only got the whole of the note and paid a little more attention
+     to detail in the accessories, it is very possible that suspicion
+     might never have been aroused."
+
+     "And the note?" I asked.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes placed the subjoined paper before us.
+
+     [ Picture: Paper which reads: If you will only come around at quarter
+     to twelve to the east gate you will learn what will very much
+     surprise you and may be of the greatest service to you and also to
+     Annie Morrison. But say nothing to anyone upon the matter ]
+
+     "It is very much the sort of thing that I expected," said he. "Of
+     course, we do not yet know what the relations may have been between
+     Alec Cunningham, William Kirwan, and Annie Morrison. The results
+     shows that the trap was skillfully baited. I am sure that you cannot
+     fail to be delighted with the traces of heredity shown in the p's and
+     in the tails of the g's. The absence of the i-dots in the old man's
+     writing is also most characteristic. Watson, I think our quiet rest
+     in the country has been a distinct success, and I shall certainly
+     return much invigorated to Baker Street to-morrow." 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                 THE CROOKED MAN
+
+     One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by my
+     own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel, for my day's
+     work had been an exhausting one.  My wife had already gone upstairs,
+     and the sound of the locking of the hall door some time before told
+     me that the servants had also retired.  I had risen from my seat and
+     was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when I suddenly heard the clang
+     of the bell.
+
+     I looked at the clock.  It was a quarter to twelve.  This could not
+     be a visitor at so late an hour.  A patient, evidently, and possibly
+     an all-night sitting.  With a wry face I went out into the hall and
+     opened the door.  To my astonishment it was Sherlock Holmes who stood
+     upon my step.
+
+     "Ah, Watson," said he, "I hoped that I might not be too late to catch
+     you."
+
+     "My dear fellow, pray come in."
+
+     "You look surprised, and no wonder!  Relieved, too, I fancy!  Hum! 
+     You still smoke the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days then! 
+     There's no mistaking that fluffy ash upon your coat.  It's easy to
+     tell that you have been accustomed to wear a uniform, Watson.  You'll
+     never pass as a pure-bred civilian as long as you keep that habit of
+     carrying your handkerchief in your sleeve.  Could you put me up
+     tonight?"
+
+     "With pleasure."
+
+     "You told me that you had bachelor quarters for one, and I see that
+     you have no gentleman visitor at present.  Your hat-stand proclaims
+     as much."
+
+     "I shall be delighted if you will stay."
+
+     "Thank you.  I'll fill the vacant peg then.  Sorry to see that you've
+     had the British workman in the house.  He's a token of evil.  Not the
+     drains, I hope?"
+
+     "No, the gas."
+
+     "Ah!  He has left two nail-marks from his boot upon your linoleum
+     just where the light strikes it.  No, thank you, I had some supper at
+     Waterloo, but I'll smoke a pipe with you with pleasure."
+
+     I handed him my pouch, and he seated himself opposite to me and
+     smoked for some time in silence.  I was well aware that nothing but
+     business of importance would have brought him to me at such an hour,
+     so I waited patiently until he should come round to it.
+
+     "I see that you are professionally rather busy just now," said he,
+     glancing very keenly across at me.
+
+     "Yes, I've had a busy day," I answered.  "It may seem very foolish in
+     your eyes," I added, "but really I don't know how you deduced it."
+
+     Holmes chuckled to himself.
+
+     "I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson," said
+     he.  "When your round is a short one you walk, and when it is a long
+     one you use a hansom.  As I perceive that your boots, although used,
+     are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present busy
+     enough to justify the hansom."
+
+     "Excellent!" I cried.
+
+     "Elementary," said he.  "It is one of those instances where the
+     reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his
+     neighbor, because the latter has missed the one little point which is
+     the basis of the deduction.  The same may be said, my dear fellow,
+     for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours, which is
+     entirely meretricious, depending as it does upon your retaining in
+     your own hands some factors in the problem which are never imparted
+     to the reader.  Now, at present I am in the position of these same
+     readers, for I hold in this hand several threads of one of the
+     strangest cases which ever perplexed a man's brain, and yet I lack
+     the one or two which are needful to complete my theory.  But I'll
+     have them, Watson, I'll have them!"  His eyes kindled and a slight
+     flush sprang into his thin cheeks. For an instant the veil had lifted
+     upon his keen, intense nature, but for an instant only. When I
+     glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which
+     had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man.
+
+     "The problem presents features of interest," said he.  "I may even
+     say exceptional features of interest.  I have already looked into the
+     matter, and have come, as I think, within sight of my solution.  If
+     you could accompany me in that last step you might be of considerable
+     service to me."
+
+     "I should be delighted."
+
+     "Could you go as far as Aldershot to-morrow?"
+
+     "I have no doubt Jackson would take my practice."
+
+     "Very good.  I want to start by the 11.10 from Waterloo."
+
+     "That would give me time."
+
+     "Then, if you are not too sleepy, I will give you a sketch of what
+     has happened, and of what remains to be done."
+
+     "I was sleepy before you came.  I am quite wakeful now."
+
+     "I will compress the story as far as may be done without omitting
+     anything vital to the case.  It is conceivable that you may even have
+     read some account of the matter.  It is the supposed murder of
+     Colonel Barclay, of the Royal Munsters, at Aldershot, which I am
+     investigating."
+
+     "I have heard nothing of it."
+
+     "It has not excited much attention yet, except locally.  The facts
+     are only two days old.  Briefly they are these:
+
+     "The Royal Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous Irish
+     regiments in the British army.  It did wonders both in the Crimea and
+     the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished itself upon every
+     possible occasion.  It was commanded up to Monday night by James
+     Barclay, a gallant veteran, who started as a full private, was raised
+     to commissioned rank for his bravery at the time of the Mutiny, and
+     so lived to command the regiment in which he had once carried a
+     musket.
+
+     "Colonel Barclay had married at the time when he was a sergeant, and
+     his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy, was the daughter of
+     a former color-sergeant in the same corps.  There was, therefore, as
+     can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple
+     (for they were still young) found themselves in their new
+     surroundings.  They appear, however, to have quickly adapted
+     themselves, and Mrs. Barclay has always, I understand, been as
+     popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his
+     brother officers.  I may add that she was a woman of great beauty,
+     and that even now, when she has been married for upwards of thirty
+     years, she is still of a striking and queenly appearance.
+
+     "Colonel Barclay's family life appears to have been a uniformly happy
+     one.  Major Murphy, to whom I owe most of my facts, assures me that
+     he has never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair.  On the
+     whole, he thinks that Barclay's devotion to his wife was greater than
+     his wife's to Barclay.  He was acutely uneasy if he were absent from
+     her for a day.  She, on the other hand, though devoted and faithful,
+     was less obtrusively affectionate.  But they were regarded in the
+     regiment as the very model of a middle-aged couple.  There was
+     absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for
+     the tragedy which was to follow.
+
+     "Colonel Barclay himself seems to have had some singular traits in
+     his character.  He was a dashing, jovial old solder in his usual
+     mood, but there were occasions on which he seemed to show himself
+     capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness.  This side of
+     his nature, however, appears never to have been turned towards his
+     wife.  Another fact, which had struck Major Murphy and three out of
+     five of the other officers with whom I conversed, was the singular
+     sort of depression which came upon him at times.  As the major
+     expressed it, the smile had often been struck from his mouth, as if
+     by some invisible hand, when he has been joining the gaieties and
+     chaff of the mess-table.  For days on end, when the mood was on him,
+     he has been sunk in the deepest gloom.  This and a certain tinge of
+     superstition were the only unusual traits in his character which his
+     brother officers had observed.  The latter peculiarity took the form
+     of a dislike to being left alone, especially after dark.  This
+     puerile feature in a nature which was conspicuously manly had often
+     given rise to comment and conjecture.
+
+     "The first battalion of the Royal Munsters (which is the old 117th)
+     has been stationed at Aldershot for some years.  The married officers
+     live out of barracks, and the Colonel has during all this time
+     occupied a villa called Lachine, about half a mile from the north
+     camp.  The house stands in its own grounds, but the west side of it
+     is not more than thirty yards from the high-road.  A coachman and two
+     maids form the staff of servants.  These with their master and
+     mistress were the sole occupants of Lachine, for the Barclays had no
+     children, nor was it usual for them to have resident visitors.
+
+     "Now for the events at Lachine between nine and ten on the evening of
+     last Monday.
+
+     "Mrs. Barclay was, it appears, a member of the Roman Catholic Church,
+     and had interested herself very much in the establishment of the
+     Guild of St. George, which was formed in connection with the Watt
+     Street Chapel for the purpose of supplying the poor with cast-off
+     clothing.  A meeting of the Guild had been held that evening at
+     eight, and Mrs. Barclay had hurried over her dinner in order to be
+     present at it.  When leaving the house she was heard by the coachman
+     to make some commonplace remark to her husband, and to assure him
+     that she would be back before very long. She then called for Miss
+     Morrison, a young lady who lives in the next villa, and the two went
+     off together to their meeting.  It lasted forty minutes, and at a
+     quarter-past nine Mrs. Barclay returned home, having left Miss
+     Morrison at her door as she passed.
+
+     "There is a room which is used as a morning-room at Lachine.  This
+     faces the road and opens by a large glass folding-door on to the
+     lawn.  The lawn is thirty yards across, and is only divided from the
+     highway by a low wall with an iron rail above it.  It was into this
+     room that Mrs. Barclay went upon her return.  The blinds were not
+     down, for the room was seldom used in the evening, but Mrs. Barclay
+     herself lit the lamp and then rang the bell, asking Jane Stewart, the
+     house-maid, to bring her a cup of tea, which was quite contrary to
+     her usual habits.  The Colonel had been sitting in the dining-room,
+     but hearing that his wife had returned he joined her in the
+     morning-room.  The coachman saw him cross the hall and enter it.  He
+     was never seen again alive.
+
+     "The tea which had been ordered was brought up at the end of ten
+     minutes; but the maid, as she approached the door, was surprised to
+     hear the voices of her master and mistress in furious altercation. 
+     She knocked without receiving any answer, and even turned the handle,
+     but only to find that the door was locked upon the inside.  Naturally
+     enough she ran down to tell the cook, and the two women with the
+     coachman came up into the hall and listened to the dispute which was
+     still raging.  They all agreed that only two voices were to be heard,
+     those of Barclay and of his wife.  Barclay's remarks were subdued and
+     abrupt, so that none of them were audible to the listeners.  The
+     lady's, on the other hand, were most bitter, and when she raised her
+     voice could be plainly heard.  'You coward!' she repeated over and
+     over again.  'What can be done now?  What can be done now?  Give me
+     back my life.  I will never so much as breathe the same air with you
+     again!  You coward!  You Coward!'  Those were scraps of her
+     conversation, ending in a sudden dreadful cry in the man's voice,
+     with a crash, and a piercing scream from the woman.  Convinced that
+     some tragedy had occurred, the coachman rushed to the door and strove
+     to force it, while scream after scream issued from within.  He was
+     unable, however, to make his way in, and the maids were too
+     distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him.  A sudden
+     thought struck him, however, and he ran through the hall door and
+     round to the lawn upon which the long French windows open.  One side
+     of the window was open, which I understand was quite usual in the
+     summer-time, and he passed without difficulty into the room.  His
+     mistress had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a
+     couch, while with his feet tilted over the side of an arm-chair, and
+     his head upon the ground near the corner of the fender, was lying the
+     unfortunate soldier stone dead in a pool of his own blood.
+
+     "Naturally, the coachman's first thought, on finding that he could do
+     nothing for his master, was to open the door.  But here an unexpected
+     and singular difficulty presented itself.  The key was not in the
+     inner side of the door, nor could he find it anywhere in the room. 
+     He went out again, therefore, through the window, and having obtained
+     the help of a policeman and of a medical man, he returned.  The lady,
+     against whom naturally the strongest suspicion rested, was removed to
+     her room, still in a state of insensibility.  The Colonel's body was
+     then placed upon the sofa, and a careful examination made of the
+     scene of the tragedy.
+
+     "The injury from which the unfortunate veteran was suffering was
+     found to be a jagged cut some two inches long at the back part of his
+     head, which had evidently been caused by a violent blow from a blunt
+     weapon.  Nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may have
+     been.  Upon the floor, close to the body, was lying a singular club
+     of hard carved wood with a bone handle.  The Colonel possessed a
+     varied collection of weapons brought from the different countries in
+     which he had fought, and it is conjectured by the police that his
+     club was among his trophies.  The servants deny having seen it
+     before, but among the numerous curiosities in the house it is
+     possible that it may have been overlooked.  Nothing else of
+     importance was discovered in the room by the police, save the
+     inexplicable fact that neither upon Mrs. Barclay's person nor upon
+     that of the victim nor in any part of the room was the missing key to
+     be found.  The door had eventually to be opened by a locksmith from
+     Aldershot.
+
+     "That was the state of things, Watson, when upon the Tuesday morning
+     I, at the request of Major Murphy, went down to Aldershot to
+     supplement the efforts of the police.  I think that you will
+     acknowledge that the problem was already one of interest, but my
+     observations soon made me realize that it was in truth much more
+     extraordinary than would at first sight appear.
+
+     "Before examining the room I cross-questioned the servants, but only
+     succeeded in eliciting the facts which I have already stated.  One
+     other detail of interest was remembered by Jane Stewart, the
+     housemaid.  You will remember that on hearing the sound of the
+     quarrel she descended and returned with the other servants.  On that
+     first occasion, when she was alone, she says that the voices of her
+     master and mistress were sunk so low that she could hear hardly
+     anything, and judged by their tones rather than their words that they
+     had fallen out.  On my pressing her, however, she remembered that she
+     heard the word David uttered twice by the lady.  The point is of the
+     utmost importance as guiding us towards the reason of the sudden
+     quarrel.  The Colonel's name, you remember, was James.
+
+     "There was one thing in the case which had made the deepest
+     impression both upon the servants and the police.  This was the
+     contortion of the Colonel's face.  It had set, according to their
+     account, into the most dreadful expression of fear and horror which a
+     human countenance is capable of assuming.  More than one person
+     fainted at the mere sight of him, so terrible was the effect.  It was
+     quite certain that he had foreseen his fate, and that it had caused
+     him the utmost horror.  This, of course, fitted in well enough with
+     the police theory, if the Colonel could have seen his wife making a
+     murderous attack upon him.  Nor was the fact of the wound being on
+     the back of his head a fatal objection to this, as he might have
+     turned to avoid the blow.  No information could be got from the lady
+     herself, who was temporarily insane from an acute attack of
+     brain-fever.
+
+     "From the police I learned that Miss Morrison, who you remember went
+     out that evening with Mrs. Barclay, denied having any knowledge of
+     what it was which had caused the ill-humor in which her companion had
+     returned.
+
+     "Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over
+     them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which
+     were merely incidental.  There could be no question that the most
+     distinctive and suggestive point in the case was the singular
+     disappearance of the door-key.  A most careful search had failed to
+     discover it in the room.  Therefore it must have been taken from it. 
+     But neither the Colonel nor the Colonel's wife could have taken it. 
+     That was perfectly clear.  Therefore a third person must have entered
+     the room.  And that third person could only have come in through the
+     window.  It seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and
+     the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious
+     individual.  You know my methods, Watson.  There was not one of them
+     which I did not apply to the inquiry.  And it ended by my discovering
+     traces, but very different ones from those which I had expected. 
+     There had been a man in the room, and he had crossed the lawn coming
+     from the road.  I was able to obtain five very clear impressions of
+     his foot-marks:  one in the roadway itself, at the point where he had
+     climbed the low wall, two on the lawn, and two very faint ones upon
+     the stained boards near the window where he had entered.  He had
+     apparently rushed across the lawn, for his toe-marks were much deeper
+     than his heels.  But it was not the man who surprised me.  It was his
+     companion."
+
+     "His companion!"
+
+     Holmes pulled a large sheet of tissue-paper out of his pocket and
+     carefully unfolded it upon his knee.
+
+     "What do you make of that?" he asked.
+
+     The paper was covered with the tracings of the foot-marks of some
+     small animal.  It had five well-marked foot-pads, an indication of
+     long nails, and the whole print might be nearly as large as  a
+     dessert-spoon.
+
+     "It's a dog," said I.
+
+     "Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain?  I found distinct
+     traces that this creature had done so."
+
+     "A monkey, then?"
+
+     "But it is not the print of a monkey."
+
+     "What can it be, then?"
+
+     "Neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar
+     with.  I have tried to reconstruct it from the measurements.  Here
+     are four prints where the beast has been standing motionless.  You
+     see that it is no less than fifteen inches from fore-foot to hind. 
+     Add to that the length of neck and head, and you get a creature not
+     much less than two feet long--probably more if there is any tail. 
+     But now observe this other measurement.  The animal has been moving,
+     and we have the length of its stride.  In each case it is only about
+     three inches.  You have an indication, you see, of a long body with
+     very short legs attached to it.  It has not been considerate enough
+     to leave any of its hair behind it.  But its general shape must be
+     what I have indicated, and it can run up a curtain, and it is
+     carnivorous."
+
+     "How do you deduce that?"
+
+     "Because it ran up the curtain.  A canary's cage was hanging in the
+     window, and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird."
+
+     "Then what was the beast?"
+
+     "Ah, if I could give it a name it might go a long way towards solving
+     the case.  On the whole, it was probably some creature of the weasel
+     and stoat tribe--and yet it is larger than any of these that I have
+     seen."
+
+     "But what had it to do with the crime?"
+
+     "That, also, is still obscure.  But we have learned a good deal, you
+     perceive.  We know that a man stood in the road looking at the
+     quarrel between the Barclays--the blinds were up and the room
+     lighted.  We know, also, that he ran across the lawn, entered the
+     room, accompanied by a strange animal, and that he either struck the
+     Colonel or, as is equally possible, that the Colonel fell down from
+     sheer fright at the sight of him, and cut his head on the corner of
+     the fender.  Finally, we have the curious fact that the intruder
+     carried away the key with him when he left."
+
+     "Your discoveries seem to have left the business more obscure that it
+     was before," said I.
+
+     "Quite so.  They undoubtedly showed that the affair was much deeper
+     than was at first conjectured.  I thought the matter over, and I came
+     to the conclusion that I must approach the case from another aspect. 
+     But really, Watson, I am keeping you up, and I might just as well
+     tell you all this on our way to Aldershot to-morrow."
+
+     "Thank you, you have gone rather too far to stop."
+
+     "It is quite certain that when Mrs. Barclay left the house at
+     half-past seven she was on good terms with her husband.  She was
+     never, as I think I have said, ostentatiously affectionate, but she
+     was heard by the coachman chatting with the Colonel in a friendly
+     fashion.  Now, it was equally certain that, immediately on her
+     return, she had gone to the room in which she was least likely to see
+     her husband, had flown to tea as an agitated woman will, and finally,
+     on his coming in to her, had broken into violent recriminations. 
+     Therefore something had occurred between seven-thirty and nine
+     o'clock which had completely altered her feelings towards him.  But
+     Miss Morrison had been with her during the whole of that hour and a
+     half.  It was absolutely certain, therefore, in spite of her denial,
+     that she must know something of the matter.
+
+     "My first conjecture was, that possibly there had been some passages
+     between this young lady and the old soldier, which the former had now
+     confessed to the wife.  That would account for the angry return, and
+     also for the girl's denial that anything had occurred.  Nor would it
+     be entirely incompatible with most of the words overhead.  But there
+     was the reference to David, and there was the known affection of the
+     Colonel for his wife, to weigh against it, to say nothing of the
+     tragic intrusion of this other man, which might, of course, be
+     entirely disconnected with what had gone before.  It was not easy to
+     pick one's steps, but, on the whole, I was inclined to dismiss the
+     idea that there had been anything between the Colonel and Miss
+     Morrison, but more than ever convinced that the young lady held the
+     clue as to what it was which had turned Mrs. Barclay to hatred of her
+     husband.  I took the obvious course, therefore, of calling upon Miss
+     M., of explaining to her that I was perfectly certain that she held
+     the facts in her possession, and of assuring her that her friend,
+     Mrs. Barclay, might find herself in the dock upon a capital charge
+     unless the matter were cleared up.
+
+     "Miss Morrison is a little ethereal slip of a girl, with timid eyes
+     and blond hair, but I found her by no means wanting in shrewdness and
+     common-sense.  She sat thinking for some time after I had spoken, and
+     then, turning to me with a brisk air of resolution, she broke into a
+     remarkable statement which I will condense for your benefit.
+
+     "'I promised my friend that I would say nothing of the matter, and a
+     promise is a promise,' said she; 'but if I can really help her when
+     so serious a charge is laid against her, and when her own mouth, poor
+     darling, is closed by illness, then I think I am absolved from my
+     promise.  I will tell you exactly what happened upon Monday evening.
+
+     "'We were returning from the Watt Street Mission about a quarter to
+     nine o'clock.  On our way we had to pass through Hudson Street, which
+     is a very quiet thoroughfare.  There is only one lamp in it, upon the
+     left-hand side, and as we approached this lamp I saw a man coming
+     towards us with is back very bent, and something like a box slung
+     over one of his shoulders.  He appeared to be deformed, for he
+     carried his head low and walked with his knees bent.  We were passing
+     him when he raised his face to look at us in the circle of light
+     thrown by the lamp, and as he did so he stopped and screamed out in a
+     dreadful voice, "My God, it's Nancy!"  Mrs. Barclay turned as white
+     as death, and would have fallen down had the dreadful-looking
+     creature not caught hold of her.  I was going to call for the police,
+     but she, to my surprise, spoke quite civilly to the fellow.
+
+     "'"I thought you had been dead this thirty years, Henry," said she,
+     in a shaking voice.
+
+     "'"So I have," said he, and it was awful to hear the tones that he
+     said it in.  He had a very dark, fearsome face, and a gleam in his
+     eyes that comes back to me in my dreams.  His hair and whiskers were
+     shot with gray, and his face was all crinkled and puckered like a
+     withered apple.
+
+     "'"Just walk on a little way, dear," said Mrs. Barclay; "I want to
+     have a word with this man.  There is nothing to be afraid of."  She
+     tried to speak boldly, but she was still deadly pale and could hardly
+     get her words out for the trembling of her lips.
+
+     "'I did as she asked me, and they talked together for a few minutes. 
+     Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing, and I saw the
+     crippled wretch standing by the lamp-post and shaking his clenched
+     fists in the air as if he were mad with rage.  She never said a word
+     until we were at the door here, when she took me by the hand and
+     begged me to tell no one what had happened.
+
+     "'"It's an old acquaintance of mine who has come down in the world,"
+     said she.  When I promised her I would say nothing she kissed me, and
+     I have never seen her since.  I have told you now the whole truth,
+     and if I withheld it from the police it is because I did not realize
+     then the danger in which my dear friend stood.  I know that it can
+     only be to her advantage that everything should be known.'
+
+     "There was her statement, Watson, and to me, as you can imagine, it
+     was like a light on a dark night.  Everything which had been
+     disconnected before began at once to assume its true place, and I had
+     a shadowy presentiment of the whole sequence of events.  My next step
+     obviously was to find the man who had produced such a remarkable
+     impression upon Mrs. Barclay.  If he were still in Aldershot it
+     should not be a very difficult matter.  There are not such a very
+     great number of civilians, and a deformed man was sure to have
+     attracted attention.  I spent a day in the search, and by
+     evening--this very evening, Watson--I had run him down.  The man's
+     name is Henry Wood, and he lives in lodgings in this same street in
+     which the ladies met him.  He has only been five days in the place. 
+     In the character of a registration-agent I had a most interesting
+     gossip with his landlady.  The man is by trade a conjurer and
+     performer, going round the canteens after nightfall, and giving a
+     little entertainment at each.  He carries some creature about with
+     him in that box; about which the landlady seemed to be in
+     considerable trepidation, for she had never seen an animal like it. 
+     He uses it in some of his tricks according to her account.  So much
+     the woman was able to tell me, and also that it was a wonder the man
+     lived, seeing how twisted he was, and that he spoke in a strange
+     tongue sometimes, and that for the last two nights she had heard him
+     groaning and weeping in his bedroom.  He was all right, as far as
+     money went, but in his deposit he had given her what looked like a
+     bad florin.  She showed it to me, Watson, and it was an Indian rupee.
+
+     "So now, my dear fellow, you see exactly how we stand and why it is I
+     want you.  It is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from
+     this man he followed them at a distance, that he saw the quarrel
+     between husband and wife through the window, that he rushed in, and
+     that the creature which he carried in his box got loose.  That is all
+     very certain.  But he is the only person in this world who can tell
+     us exactly what happened in that room."
+
+     "And you intend to ask him?"
+
+     "Most certainly--but in the presence of a witness."
+
+     "And I am the witness?"
+
+     "If you will be so good.  If he can clear the matter up, well and
+     good.  If he refuses, we have no alternative but to apply for a
+     warrant."
+
+     "But how do you know he'll be there when we return?"
+
+     "You may be sure that I took some precautions.  I have one of my
+     Baker Street boys mounting guard over him who would stick to him like
+     a burr, go where he might.  We shall find him in Hudson Street
+     to-morrow, Watson, and meanwhile I should be the criminal myself if I
+     kept you out of bed any longer."
+
+     It was midday when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy,
+     and, under my companion's guidance, we made our way at once to Hudson
+     Street.  In spite of his capacity for concealing his emotions, I
+     could easily see that Holmes was in a state of suppressed excitement,
+     while I was myself tingling with that half-sporting,
+     half-intellectual pleasure which I invariably experienced when I
+     associated myself with him in his investigations.
+
+     "This is the street," said he, as we turned into a short thoroughfare
+     lined with plain two-storied brick houses.  "Ah, here is Simpson to
+     report."
+
+     "He's in all right, Mr. Holmes," cried a small street Arab, running
+     up to us.
+
+     "Good, Simpson!" said Holmes, patting him on the head.  "Come along,
+     Watson.  This is the house."  He sent in his card with a message that
+     he had come on important business, and a moment later we were face to
+     face with the man whom we had come to see.  In spite of the warm
+     weather he was crouching over a fire, and the little room was like an
+     oven.  The man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way
+     which gave an indescribably impression of deformity; but the face
+     which he turned towards us, though worn and swarthy, must at some
+     time have been remarkable for its beauty.  He looked suspiciously at
+     us now out of yellow-shot, bilious eyes, and, without speaking or
+     rising, he waved towards two chairs.
+
+     "Mr. Henry Wood, late of India, I believe," said Holmes, affably. 
+     "I've come over this little matter of Colonel Barclay's death."
+
+     "What should I know about that?"
+
+     "That's what I want to ascertain.  You know, I suppose, that unless
+     the matter is cleared up, Mrs. Barclay, who is an old friend of
+     yours, will in all probability be tried for murder."
+
+     The man gave a violent start.
+
+     "I don't know who you are," he cried, "nor how you come to know what
+     you do know, but will you swear that this is true that you tell me?"
+
+     "Why, they are only waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest
+     her."
+
+     "My God!  Are you in the police yourself?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "What business is it of yours, then?"
+
+     "It's every man's business to see justice done."
+
+     "You can take my word that she is innocent."
+
+     "Then you are guilty."
+
+     "No, I am not."
+
+     "Who killed Colonel James Barclay, then?"
+
+     "It was a just providence that killed him.  But, mind you this, that
+     if I had knocked his brains out, as it was in my heart to do, he
+     would have had no more than his due from my hands.  If his own guilty
+     conscience had not struck him down it is likely enough that I might
+     have had his blood upon my soul.  You want me to tell the story. 
+     Well, I don't know why I shouldn't, for there's no cause for me to be
+     ashamed of it.
+
+     "It was in this way, sir.  You see me now with my back like a camel
+     and by ribs all awry, but there was a time when Corporal Henry Wood
+     was the smartest man in the 117th foot.  We were in India then, in
+     cantonments, at a place we'll call Bhurtee.  Barclay, who died the
+     other day, was sergeant in the same company as myself, and the belle
+     of the regiment, ay, and the finest girl that ever had the breath of
+     life between her lips, was Nancy Devoy, the daughter of the
+     color-sergeant.  There were two men that loved her, and one that she
+     loved, and you'll smile when you look at this poor thing huddled
+     before the fire, and hear me say that it was for my good looks that
+     she loved me.
+
+     "Well, though I had her heart, her father was set upon her marrying
+     Barclay.  I was a harum-scarum, reckless lad, and he had had an
+     education, and was already marked for the sword-belt.  But the girl
+     held true to me, and it seemed that I would have had her when the
+     Mutiny broke out, and all hell was loose in the country.
+
+     "We were shut up in Bhurtee, the regiment of us with half a battery
+     of artillery, a company of Sikhs, and a lot of civilians and
+     women-folk.  There were ten thousand rebels round us, and they were
+     as keen as a set of terriers round a rat-cage.  About the second week
+     of it our water gave out, and it was a question whether we could
+     communicate with General Neill's column, which was moving up country.
+      It was our only chance, for we could not hope to fight our way out
+     with all the women and children, so I volunteered to go out and to
+     warn General Neill of our danger.  My offer was accepted, and I
+     talked it over with Sergeant Barclay, who was supposed to know the
+     ground better than any other man, and who drew up a route by which I
+     might get through the rebel lines.  At ten o'clock the same night I
+     started off upon my journey.  There were a thousand lives to save,
+     but it was of only one that I was thinking when I dropped over the
+     wall that night.
+
+     "My way ran down a dried-up watercourse, which we hoped would screen
+     me from the enemy's sentries; but as I crept round the corner of it I
+     walked right into six of them, who were crouching down in the dark
+     waiting for me.  In an instant I was stunned with a blow and bound
+     hand and foot.  But the real blow was to my heart and not to my head,
+     for as I came to and listened to as much as I could understand of
+     their talk, I heard enough to tell me that my comrade, the very man
+     who had arranged the way that I was to take, had betrayed me by means
+     of a native servant into the hands of the enemy.
+
+     "Well, there's no need for me to dwell on that part of it.  You know
+     now what James Barclay was capable of.  Bhurtee was relieved by Neill
+     next day, but the rebels took me away with them in their retreat, and
+     it was many a long year before ever I saw a white face again.  I was
+     tortured and tried to get away, and was captured and tortured again. 
+     You can see for yourselves the state in which I was left.  Some of
+     them that fled into Nepal took me with them, and then afterwards I
+     was up past Darjeeling.  The hill-folk up there murdered the rebels
+     who had me, and I became their slave for a time until I escaped; but
+     instead of going south I had to go north, until I found myself among
+     the Afghans.  There I wandered about for many a year, and at last
+     came back to the Punjaub, where I lived mostly among the natives and
+     picked up a living by the conjuring tricks that I had learned.  What
+     use was it for me, a wretched cripple, to go back to England or to
+     make myself known to my old comrades?  Even my wish for revenge would
+     not make me do that.  I had rather that Nancy and my old pals should
+     think of Harry Wood as having died with a straight back, than see him
+     living and crawling with a stick like a chimpanzee.  They never
+     doubted that I was dead, and I meant that they never should.  I heard
+     that Barclay had married Nancy, and that he was rising rapidly in the
+     regiment, but even that did not make me speak.
+
+     "But when one gets old one has a longing for home.  For years I've
+     been dreaming of the bright green fields and the hedges of England. 
+     At last I determined to see them before I died.  I saved enough to
+     bring me across, and then I came here where the soldiers are, for I
+     know their ways and how to amuse them and so earn enough to keep me."
+
+     "Your narrative is most interesting," said Sherlock Holmes.  "I have
+     already heard of your meeting with Mrs. Barclay, and your mutual
+     recognition.  You then, as I understand, followed her home and saw
+     through the window an altercation between her husband and her, in
+     which she doubtless cast his conduct to you in his teeth.  Your own
+     feelings overcame you, and you ran across the lawn and broke in upon
+     them."
+
+     "I did, sir, and at the sight of me he looked as I have never seen a
+     man look before, and over he went with his head on the fender.  But
+     he was dead before he fell.  I read death on his face as plain as I
+     can read that text over the fire.  The bare sight of me was like a
+     bullet through his guilty heart."
+
+     "And then?"
+
+     "Then Nancy fainted, and I caught up the key of the door from her
+     hand, intending to unlock it and get help.  But as I was doing it it
+     seemed to me better to leave it alone and get away, for the thing
+     might look black against me, and any way my secret would be out if I
+     were taken.  In my haste I thrust the key into my pocket, and dropped
+     my stick while I was chasing Teddy, who had run up the curtain.  When
+     I got him into his box, from which he had slipped, I was off as fast
+     as I could run."
+
+     "Who's Teddy?" asked Holmes.
+
+     The man leaned over and pulled up the front of a kind of hutch in the
+     corner.  In an instant out there slipped a beautiful reddish-brown
+     creature, thin and lithe, with the legs of a stoat, a long, thin
+     nose, and a pair of the finest red eyes that ever I saw in an
+     animal's head.
+
+     "It's a mongoose," I cried.
+
+     "Well, some call them that, and some call them ichneumon," said the
+     man.  "Snake-catcher is what I call them, and Teddy is amazing quick
+     on cobras.  I have one here without the fangs, and Teddy catches it
+     every night to please the folk in the canteen.
+
+     "Any other point, sir?"
+
+     "Well, we may have to apply to you again if Mrs. Barclay should prove
+     to be in serious trouble."
+
+     "In that case, of course, I'd come forward."
+
+     "But if not, there is no object in raking up this scandal against a
+     dead man, foully as he has acted.  You have at least the satisfaction
+     of knowing that for thirty years of his life his conscience bitterly
+     reproached him for this wicked deed.  Ah, there goes Major Murphy on
+     the other side of the street.  Good-bye, Wood.  I want to learn if
+     anything has happened since yesterday."
+
+     We were in time to overtake the major before he reached the corner.
+
+     "Ah, Holmes," he said:  "I suppose you have heard that all this fuss
+     has come to nothing?"
+
+     "What then?"
+
+     "The inquest is just over.  The medical evidence showed conclusively
+     that death was due to apoplexy.  You see it was quite a simple case
+     after all."
+
+     "Oh, remarkably superficial," said Holmes, smiling.  "Come, Watson, I
+     don't think we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more."
+
+     "There's one thing," said I, as we walked down to the station.  "If
+     the husband's name was James, and the other was Henry, what was this
+     talk about David?"
+
+     "That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole story
+     had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting.  It
+     was evidently a term of reproach."
+
+     "Of reproach?"
+
+     "Yes; David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one
+     occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barclay.  You
+     remember the small affair of Uriah and Bathsheba?  My biblical
+     knowledge is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will find the story in
+     the first or second of Samuel."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE RESIDENT PATIENT
+
+     Glancing over the somewhat incoherent series of Memoirs with which I
+     have endeavored to illustrate a few of the mental peculiarities of my
+     friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I have been struck by the difficulty
+     which I have experienced in picking out examples which shall in every
+     way answer my purpose. For in those cases in which Holmes has
+     performed some tour de force of analytical reasoning, and has
+     demonstrated the value of his peculiar methods of investigation, the
+     facts themselves have often been so slight or so commonplace that I
+     could not feel justified in laying them before the public. On the
+     other hand, it has frequently happened that he has been concerned in
+     some research where the facts have been of the most remarkable and
+     dramatic character, but where the share which he has himself taken in
+     determining their causes has been less pronounced than I, as his
+     biographer, could wish. The small matter which I have chronicled
+     under the heading of "A Study in Scarlet," and that other later one
+     connected with the loss of the Gloria Scott, may serve as examples of
+     this Scylla and Charybdis which are forever threatening the
+     historian. It may be that in the business of which I am now about to
+     write the part which my friend played is not sufficiently
+     accentuated; and yet the whole train of circumstances is so
+     remarkable that I cannot bring myself to omit it entirely from this
+     series.
+
+     It had been a close, rainy day in October. Our blinds were
+     half-drawn, and Holmes lay curled upon the sofa, reading and
+     re-reading a letter which he had received by the morning post. For
+     myself, my term of service in India had trained me to stand heat
+     better than cold, and a thermometer of 90 was no hardship. But the
+     paper was uninteresting. Parliament had risen. Everybody was out of
+     town, and I yearned for the glades of the New Forest or the shingle
+     of Southsea. A depleted bank account had caused me to postpone my
+     holiday, and as to my companion, neither the country nor the sea
+     presented the slightest attraction to him. He loved to lie in the
+     very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching
+     out and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or
+     suspicion of unsolved crime. Appreciation of Nature found no place
+     among his many gifts, and his only change was when he turned his mind
+     from the evil-doer of the town to track down his brother of the
+     country.
+
+     I cannot be sure of the exact date, for some of my memoranda upon the
+     matter have been mislaid, but it must have been towards the end of
+     the first year during which Holmes and I shared chambers in Baker
+     Street. It was boisterous October weather, and we had both remained
+     indoors all day, I because I feared with my shaken health to face the
+     keen autumn wind, while he was deep in some of those abstruse
+     chemical investigations which absorbed him utterly as long as he was
+     engaged upon them. Towards evening, however, the breaking of a
+     test-tube brought his research to a premature ending, and he sprang
+     up from his chair with an exclamation of impatience and a clouded
+     brow.
+
+     "A day's work ruined, Watson," said he, striding across to the
+     window. "Ha! The stars are out and he wind has fallen. What do you
+     say to a ramble through London?"
+
+     I was weary of our little sitting-room and gladly acquiesced. For
+     three hours we strolled about together, watching the ever-changing
+     kaleidoscope of life as it ebbs and flows through Fleet Street and
+     the Strand. His characteristic talk, with its keen observance of
+     detail and subtle power of inference held me amused and enthralled.
+     It was ten o'clock before we reached Baker Street again. A brougham
+     was waiting at our door.
+
+     "Hum! A doctor's--general practitioner, I perceive," said Holmes.
+     "Not been long in practice, but has had a good deal to do. Come to
+     consult us, I fancy! Lucky we came back!"
+
+     I was sufficiently conversant with Holmes's methods to be able to
+     follow his reasoning, and to see that the nature and state of the
+     various medical instruments in the wicker basket which hung in the
+     lamplight inside the brougham had given him the data for his swift
+     deduction. The light in our window above showed that this late visit
+     was indeed intended for us. With some curiosity as to what could have
+     sent a brother medico to us at such an hour, I followed Holmes into
+     our sanctum.
+
+     A pale, taper-faced man with sandy whiskers rose up from a chair by
+     the fire as we entered. His age may not have been more than three or
+     four and thirty, but his haggard expression and unhealthy hue told of
+     a life which has sapped his strength and robbed him of his youth. His
+     manner was nervous and shy, like that of a sensitive gentleman, and
+     the thin white hand which he laid on the mantelpiece as he rose was
+     that of an artist rather than of a surgeon. His dress was quiet and
+     sombre--a black frock-coat, dark trousers, and a touch of color about
+     his necktie.
+
+     "Good-evening, doctor," said Holmes, cheerily. "I am glad to see that
+     you have only been waiting a very few minutes."
+
+     "You spoke to my coachman, then?"
+
+     "No, it was the candle on the side-table that told me. Pray resume
+     your seat and let me know how I can serve you."
+
+     "My name is Doctor Percy Trevelyan," said our visitor, "and I live at
+     403 Brook Street."
+
+     "Are you not the author of a monograph upon obscure nervous lesions?"
+     I asked.
+
+     His pale cheeks flushed with pleasure at hearing that his work was
+     known to me.
+
+     "I so seldom hear of the work that I thought it was quite dead," said
+     he. "My publishers gave me a most discouraging account of its sale.
+     You are yourself, I presume, a medical man?"
+
+     "A retired army surgeon."
+
+     "My own hobby has always been nervous disease. I should wish to make
+     it an absolute specialty, but, of course, a man must take what he can
+     get at first. This, however, is beside the question, Mr. Sherlock
+     Holmes, and I quite appreciate how valuable your time is. The fact is
+     that a very singular train of events has occurred recently at my
+     house in Brook Street, and to-night they came to such a head that I
+     felt it was quite impossible for me to wait another hour before
+     asking for your advice and assistance."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes sat down and lit his pipe. "You are very welcome to
+     both," said he. "Pray let me have a detailed account of what the
+     circumstances are which have disturbed you."
+
+     "One or two of them are so trivial," said Dr. Trevelyan, "that really
+     I am almost ashamed to mention them. But the matter is so
+     inexplicable, and the recent turn which it has taken is so elaborate,
+     that I shall lay it all before you, and you shall judge what is
+     essential and what is not.
+
+     "I am compelled, to begin with, to say something of my own college
+     career. I am a London University man, you know, and I am sure that
+     you will not think that I am unduly singing my own praises if I say
+     that my student career was considered by my professors to be a very
+     promising one. After I had graduated I continued to devote myself to
+     research, occupying a minor position in King's College Hospital, and
+     I was fortunate enough to excite considerable interest by my research
+     into the pathology of catalepsy, and finally to win the Bruce
+     Pinkerton prize and medal by the monograph on nervous lesions to
+     which your friend has just alluded. I should not go too far if I were
+     to say that there was a general impression at that time that a
+     distinguished career lay before me.
+
+     "But the one great stumbling-block lay in my want of capital. As you
+     will readily understand, a specialist who aims high is compelled to
+     start in one of a dozen streets in the Cavendish Square quarter, all
+     of which entail enormous rents and furnishing expenses. Besides this
+     preliminary outlay, he must be prepared to keep himself for some
+     years, and to hire a presentable carriage and horse. To do this was
+     quite beyond my power, and I could only hope that by economy I might
+     in ten years' time save enough to enable me to put up my plate.
+     Suddenly, however, an unexpected incident opened up quite a new
+     prospect to me.
+
+     "This was a visit from a gentleman of the name of Blessington, who
+     was a complete stranger to me. He came up to my room one morning, and
+     plunged into business in an instant.
+
+     "'You are the same Percy Trevelyan who has had so distinguished a
+     career and won a great prize lately?' said he.
+
+     "I bowed.
+
+     "'Answer me frankly,' he continued, 'for you will find it to your
+     interest to do so. You have all the cleverness which makes a
+     successful man. Have you the tact?'
+
+     "I could not help smiling at the abruptness of the question.
+
+     "'I trust that I have my share,' I said.
+
+     "'Any bad habits? Not drawn towards drink, eh?'
+
+     "'Really, sir!' I cried.
+
+     "'Quite right! That's all right! But I was bound to ask. With all
+     these qualities, why are you not in practice?'
+
+     "I shrugged my shoulders.
+
+     "'Come, come!' said he, in his bustling way. 'It's the old story.
+     More in your brains than in your pocket, eh? What would you say if I
+     were to start you in Brook Street?'
+
+     "I stared at him in astonishment.
+
+     "'Oh, it's for my sake, not for yours,' he cried.  'I'll be perfectly
+     frank with you, and if it suits you it will suit me very well. I have
+     a few thousands to invest, d'ye see, and I think I'll sink them in
+     you.'
+
+     "'But why?' I gasped.
+
+     "'Well, it's just like any other speculation, and safer than most.'
+
+     "'What am I to do, then?'
+
+     "'I'll tell you. I'll take the house, furnish it, pay the maids, and
+     run the whole place. All you have to do is just to wear out your
+     chair in the consulting-room. I'll let you have pocket-money and
+     everything. Then you hand over to me three quarters of what you earn,
+     and you keep the other quarter for yourself.'
+
+     "This was the strange proposal, Mr. Holmes, with which the man
+     Blessington approached me. I won't weary you with the account of how
+     we bargained and negotiated. It ended in my moving into the house
+     next Lady Day, and starting in practice on very much the same
+     conditions as he had suggested. He came himself to live with me in
+     the character of a resident patient. His heart was weak, it appears,
+     and he needed constant medical supervision. He turned the two best
+     rooms of the first floor into a sitting-room and bedroom for himself.
+     He was a man of singular habits, shunning company and very seldom
+     going out. His life was irregular, but in one respect he was
+     regularity itself. Every evening, at the same hour, he walked into
+     the consulting-room, examined the books, put down five and
+     three-pence for every guinea that I had earned, and carried the rest
+     off to the strong-box in his own room.
+
+     "I may say with confidence that he never had occasion to regret his
+     speculation. From the first it was a success. A few good cases and
+     the reputation which I had won in the hospital brought me rapidly to
+     the front, and during the last few years I have made him a rich man.
+
+     "So much, Mr. Holmes, for my past history and my relations with Mr.
+     Blessington. It only remains for me now to tell you what has occurred
+     to bring me here to-night.
+
+     "Some weeks ago Mr. Blessington came down to me in, as it seemed to
+     me, a state of considerable agitation. He spoke of some burglary
+     which, he said, had been committed in the West End, and he appeared,
+     I remember, to be quite unnecessarily excited about it, declaring
+     that a day should not pass before we should add stronger bolts to our
+     windows and doors. For a week he continued to be in a peculiar state
+     of restlessness, peering continually out of the windows, and ceasing
+     to take the short walk which had usually been the prelude to his
+     dinner. From his manner it struck me that he was in mortal dread of
+     something or somebody, but when I questioned him upon the point he
+     became so offensive that I was compelled to drop the subject.
+     Gradually, as time passed, his fears appeared to die away, and he had
+     renewed his former habits, when a fresh event reduced him to the
+     pitiable state of prostration in which he now lies.
+
+     "What happened was this. Two days ago I received the letter which I
+     now read to you. Neither address nor date is attached to it.
+
+     "'A Russian nobleman who is now resident in England,' it runs, 'would
+     be glad to avail himself of the professional assistance of Dr. Percy
+     Trevelyan. He has been for some years a victim to cataleptic attacks,
+     on which, as is well known, Dr. Trevelyan is an authority. He
+     proposes to call at about quarter past six to-morrow evening, if Dr.
+     Trevelyan will make it convenient to be at home.'
+
+     "This letter interested me deeply, because the chief difficulty in
+     the study of catalepsy is the rareness of the disease. You may
+     believe, than, that I was in my consulting-room when, at the
+     appointed hour, the page showed in the patient.
+
+     He was an elderly man, thin, demure, and common-place--by no means
+     the conception one forms of a Russian nobleman. I was much more
+     struck by the appearance of his companion. This was a tall young man,
+     surprisingly handsome, with a dark, fierce face, and the limbs and
+     chest of a Hercules. He had his hand under the other's arm as they
+     entered, and helped him to a chair with a tenderness which one would
+     hardly have expected from his appearance.
+
+     "'You will excuse my coming in, doctor,' said he to me, speaking
+     English with a slight lisp. 'This is my father, and his health is a
+     matter of the most overwhelming importance to me.'
+
+     "I was touched by this filial anxiety. 'You would, perhaps, care to
+     remain during the consultation?' said I.
+
+     "'Not for the world,' he cried with a gesture of horror. 'It is more
+     painful to me than I can express. If I were to see my father in one
+     of these dreadful seizures I am convinced that I should never survive
+     it. My own nervous system is an exceptionally sensitive one. With
+     your permission, I will remain in the waiting-room while you go into
+     my father's case.'
+
+     "To this, of course, I assented, and the young man withdrew. The
+     patient and I then plunged into a discussion of his case, of which I
+     took exhaustive notes. He was not remarkable for intelligence, and
+     his answers were frequently obscure, which I attributed to his
+     limited acquaintance with our language. Suddenly, however, as I sat
+     writing, he ceased to give any answer at all to my inquiries, and on
+     my turning towards him I was shocked to see that he was sitting bolt
+     upright in his chair, staring at me with a perfectly blank and rigid
+     face. He was again in the grip of his mysterious malady.
+
+     "My first feeling, as I have just said, was one of pity and horror.
+     My second, I fear, was rather one of professional satisfaction. I
+     made notes of my patient's pulse and temperature, tested the rigidity
+     of his muscles, and examined his reflexes. There was nothing markedly
+     abnormal in any of these conditions, which harmonized with my former
+     experiences. I had obtained good results in such cases by the
+     inhalation of nitrite of amyl, and the present seemed an admirable
+     opportunity of testing its virtues. The bottle was downstairs in my
+     laboratory, so leaving my patient seated in his chair, I ran down to
+     get it. There was some little delay in finding it--five minutes, let
+     us say--and then I returned. Imagine my amazement to find the room
+     empty and the patient gone.
+
+     "Of course, my first act was to run into the waiting-room. The son
+     had gone also. The hall door had been closed, but not shut. My page
+     who admits patients is a new boy and by no means quick. He waits
+     downstairs, and runs up to show patients out when I ring the
+     consulting-room bell. He had heard nothing, and the affair remained a
+     complete mystery. Mr. Blessington came in from his walk shortly
+     afterwards, but I did not say anything to him upon the subject, for,
+     to tell the truth, I have got in the way of late of holding as little
+     communication with him as possible.
+
+     "Well, I never thought that I should see anything more of the Russian
+     and his son, so you can imagine my amazement when, at the very same
+     hour this evening, they both came marching into my consulting-room,
+     just as they had done before.
+
+     "'I feel that I owe you a great many apologies for my abrupt
+     departure yesterday, doctor,' said my patient.
+
+     "'I confess that I was very much surprised at it,' said I.
+
+     "'Well, the fact is,' he remarked, 'that when I recover from these
+     attacks my mind is always very clouded as to all that has gone
+     before. I woke up in a strange room, as it seemed to me, and made my
+     way out into the street in a sort of dazed way when you were absent.'
+
+     "'And I,' said the son, 'seeing my father pass the door of the
+     waiting-room, naturally thought that the consultation had come to an
+     end. It was not until we had reached home that I began to realize the
+     true state of affairs.'
+
+     "'Well,' said I, laughing, 'there is no harm done except that you
+     puzzled me terribly; so if you, sir, would kindly step into the
+     waiting-room I shall be happy to continue our consultation which was
+     brought to so abrupt an ending.'
+
+     "For half an hour or so I discussed that old gentleman's symptoms
+     with him, and then, having prescribed for him, I saw him go off upon
+     the arm of his son.
+
+     "I have told you that Mr. Blessington generally chose this hour of
+     the day for his exercise. He came in shortly afterwards and passed
+     upstairs. An instant later I heard him running down, and he burst
+     into my consulting-room like a man who is mad with panic.
+
+     "'Who has been in my room?' he cried.
+
+     "'No one,' said I.
+
+     "'It's a lie!' He yelled. 'Come up and look!'
+
+     "I passed over the grossness of his language, as he seemed half out
+     of his mind with fear. When I went upstairs with him he pointed to
+     several footprints upon the light carpet.
+
+     "'D'you mean to say those are mine?' he cried.
+
+     "They were certainly very much larger than any which he could have
+     made, and were evidently quite fresh. It rained hard this afternoon,
+     as you know, and my patients were the only people who called. It must
+     have been the case, then, that the man in the waiting-room had, for
+     some unknown reason, while I was busy with the other, ascended to the
+     room of my resident patient. Nothing has been touched or taken, but
+     there were the footprints to prove that the intrusion was an
+     undoubted fact.
+
+     "Mr. Blessington seemed more excited over the matter than I should
+     have thought possible, though of course it was enough to disturb
+     anybody's peace of mind. He actually sat crying in an arm-chair, and
+     I could hardly get him to speak coherently. It was his suggestion
+     that I should come round to you, and of course I at once saw the
+     propriety of it, for certainly the incident is a very singular one,
+     though he appears to completely overrate its importance. If you would
+     only come back with me in my brougham, you would at least be able to
+     soothe him, though I can hardly hope that you will be able to explain
+     this remarkable occurrence."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes had listened to this long narrative with an
+     intentness which showed me that his interest was keenly aroused. His
+     face was as impassive as ever, but his lids had drooped more heavily
+     over his eyes, and his smoke had curled up more thickly from his pipe
+     to emphasize each curious episode in the doctor's tale. As our
+     visitor concluded, Holmes sprang up without a word, handed me my hat,
+     picked his own from the table, and followed Dr. Trevelyan to the
+     door. Within a quarter of an hour we had been dropped at the door of
+     the physician's residence in Brook Street, one of those sombre,
+     flat-faced houses which one associates with a West-End practice. A
+     small page admitted us, and we began at once to ascend the broad,
+     well-carpeted stair.
+
+     But a singular interruption brought us to a standstill. The light at
+     the top was suddenly whisked out, and from the darkness came a reedy,
+     quivering voice.
+
+     "I have a pistol," it cried. "I give you my word that I'll fire if
+     you come any nearer."
+
+     "This really grows outrageous, Mr. Blessington," cried Dr. Trevelyan.
+
+     "Oh, then it is you, doctor," said the voice, with a great heave of
+     relief. "But those other gentlemen, are they what they pretend to
+     be?"
+
+     We were conscious of a long scrutiny out of the darkness.
+
+     "Yes, yes, it's all right," said the voice at last. "You can come up,
+     and I am sorry if my precautions have annoyed you."
+
+     He relit the stair gas as he spoke, and we saw before us a
+     singular-looking man, whose appearance, as well as his voice,
+     testified to his jangled nerves. He was very fat, but had apparently
+     at some time been much fatter, so that the skin hung about his face
+     in loose pouches, like the cheeks of a blood-hound. He was of a
+     sickly color, and his thin, sandy hair seemed to bristle up with the
+     intensity of his emotion. In his hand he held a pistol, but he thrust
+     it into his pocket as we advanced.
+
+     "Good-evening, Mr. Holmes," said he. "I am sure I am very much
+     obliged to you for coming round. No one ever needed your advice more
+     than I do. I suppose that Dr. Trevelyan has told you of this most
+     unwarrantable intrusion into my rooms."
+
+     "Quite so," said Holmes. "Who are these two men Mr. Blessington, and
+     why do they wish to molest you?"
+
+     "Well, well," said the resident patient, in a nervous fashion, "of
+     course it is hard to say that. You can hardly expect me to answer
+     that, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Do you mean that you don't know?"
+
+     "Come in here, if you please. Just have the kindness to step in
+     here."
+
+     He led the way into his bedroom, which was large and comfortably
+     furnished.
+
+     "You see that," said he, pointing to a big black box at the end of
+     his bed. "I have never been a very rich man, Mr. Holmes--never made
+     but one investment in my life, as Dr. Trevelyan would tell you. But I
+     don't believe in bankers. I would never trust a banker, Mr. Holmes.
+     Between ourselves, what little I have is in that box, so you can
+     understand what it means to me when unknown people force themselves
+     into my rooms."
+
+     Holmes looked at Blessington in his questioning way and shook his
+     head.
+
+     "I cannot possibly advise you if you try to deceive me," said he.
+
+     "But I have told you everything."
+
+     Holmes turned on his heel with a gesture of disgust. "Good-night, Dr.
+     Trevelyan," said he.
+
+     "And no advice for me?" cried Blessington, in a breaking voice.
+
+     "My advice to your, sir, is to speak the truth."
+
+     A minute later we were in the street and walking for home. We had
+     crossed Oxford Street and were half way down Harley Street before I
+     could get a word from my companion.
+
+     "Sorry to bring you out on such a fool's errand, Watson," he said at
+     last. "It is an interesting case, too, at the bottom of it."
+
+     "I can make little of it," I confessed.
+
+     "Well, it is quite evident that there are two men--more, perhaps, but
+     at least two--who are determined for some reason to get at this
+     fellow Blessington. I have no doubt in my mind that both on the first
+     and on the second occasion that young man penetrated to Blessington's
+     room, while his confederate, by an ingenious device, kept the doctor
+     from interfering."
+
+     "And the catalepsy?"
+
+     "A fraudulent imitation, Watson, though I should hardly dare to hint
+     as much to our specialist. It is a very easy complaint to imitate. I
+     have done it myself."
+
+     "And then?"
+
+     "By the purest chance Blessington was out on each occasion. Their
+     reason for choosing so unusual an hour for a consultation was
+     obviously to insure that there should be no other patient in the
+     waiting-room. It just happened, however, that this hour coincided
+     with Blessington's constitutional, which seems to show that they were
+     not very well acquainted with his daily routine. Of course, if they
+     had been merely after plunder they would at least have made some
+     attempt to search for it. Besides, I can read in a man's eye when it
+     is his own skin that he is frightened for. It is inconceivable that
+     this fellow could have made two such vindictive enemies as these
+     appear to be without knowing of it. I hold it, therefore, to be
+     certain that he does know who these men are, and that for reasons of
+     his own he suppresses it. It is just possible that to-morrow may find
+     him in a more communicative mood."
+
+     "Is there not one alternative," I suggested, "grotesquely improbably,
+     no doubt, but still just conceivable? Might the whole story of the
+     cataleptic Russian and his son be a concoction of Dr. Trevelyan's,
+     who has, for his own purposes, been in Blessington's rooms?"
+
+     I saw in the gaslight that Holmes wore an amused smile at this
+     brilliant departure of mine.
+
+     "My dear fellow," said he, "it was one of the first solutions which
+     occurred to me, but I was soon able to corroborate the doctor's tale.
+     This young man has left prints upon the stair-carpet which made it
+     quite superfluous for me to ask to see those which he had made in the
+     room. When I tell you that his shoes were square-toed instead of
+     being pointed like Blessington's, and were quite an inch and a third
+     longer than the doctor's, you will acknowledge that there can be no
+     doubt as to his individuality. But we may sleep on it now, for I
+     shall be surprised if we do not hear something further from Brook
+     Street in the morning."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes's prophecy was soon fulfilled, and in a dramatic
+     fashion. At half-past seven next morning, in the first glimmer of
+     daylight, I found him standing by my bedside in his dressing-gown.
+
+     "There's a brougham waiting for us, Watson," said he.
+
+     "What's the matter, then?"
+
+     "The Brook Street business."
+
+     "Any fresh news?"
+
+     "Tragic, but ambiguous," said he, pulling up the blind.  "Look at
+     this--a sheet from a note-book, with 'For God's sake come at once--P.
+     T.,' scrawled upon it in pencil. Our friend, the doctor, was hard put
+     to it when he wrote this. Come along, my dear fellow, for it's an
+     urgent call."
+
+     In a quarter of an hour or so we were back at the physician's house. 
+     He came running out to meet us with a face of horror.
+
+     "Oh, such a business!" he cried, with his hands to his temples.
+
+     "What then?"
+
+     "Blessington has committed suicide!"
+
+     Holmes whistled.
+
+     "Yes, he hanged himself during the night."
+
+     We had entered, and the doctor had preceded us into what was
+     evidently his waiting-room.
+
+     "I really hardly know what I am doing," he cried. "The police are
+     already upstairs. It has shaken me most dreadfully."
+
+     "When did you find it out?"
+
+     "He has a cup of tea taken in to him early every morning. When the
+     maid entered, about seven, there the unfortunate fellow was hanging
+     in the middle of the room. He had tied his cord to the hook on which
+     the heavy lamp used to hang, and he had jumped off from the top of
+     the very box that he showed us yesterday."
+
+     Holmes stood for a moment in deep thought.
+
+     "With your permission," said he at last, "I should like to go
+     upstairs and look into the matter."
+
+     We both ascended, followed by the doctor.
+
+     It was a dreadful sight which met us as we entered the bedroom door.
+     I have spoken of the impression of flabbiness which this man
+     Blessington conveyed. As he dangled from the hook it was exaggerated
+     and intensified until he was scarce human in his appearance. The neck
+     was drawn out like a plucked chicken's, making the rest of him seem
+     the more obese and unnatural by the contrast. He was clad only in his
+     long night-dress, and his swollen ankles and ungainly feet protruded
+     starkly from beneath it. Beside him stood a smart-looking
+     police-inspector, who was taking notes in a pocket-book.
+
+     "Ah, Mr. Holmes," said he, heartily, as my friend entered, "I am
+     delighted to see you."
+
+     "Good-morning, Lanner," answered Holmes; "you won't think me an
+     intruder, I am sure. Have you heard of the events which led up to
+     this affair?"
+
+     "Yes, I heard something of them."
+
+     "Have you formed any opinion?"
+
+     "As far as I can see, the man has been driven out of his senses by
+     fright. The bed has been well slept in, you see. There's his
+     impression deep enough. It's about five in the morning, you know,
+     that suicides are most common. That would be about his time for
+     hanging himself. It seems to have been a very deliberate affair."
+
+     "I should say that he has been dead about three hours, judging by the
+     rigidity of the muscles," said I.
+
+     "Noticed anything peculiar about the room?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Found a screw-driver and some screws on the wash-hand stand. Seems
+     to have smoked heavily during the night, too. Here are four
+     cigar-ends that I picked out of the fireplace."
+
+     "Hum!" said Holmes, "have you got his cigar-holder?"
+
+     "No, I have seen none."
+
+     "His cigar-case, then?"
+
+     "Yes, it was in his coat-pocket."
+
+     Holmes opened it and smelled the single cigar which it contained.
+
+     "Oh, this is an Havana, and these others are cigars of the peculiar
+     sort which are imported by the Dutch from their East Indian colonies.
+     They are usually wrapped in straw, you know, and are thinner for
+     their length than any other brand." He picked up the four ends and
+     examined them with his pocket-lens.
+
+     "Two of these have been smoked from a holder and two without," said
+     he. "Two have been cut by a not very sharp knife, and two have had
+     the ends bitten off by a set of excellent teeth. This is no suicide,
+     Mr. Lanner. It is a very deeply planned and cold-blooded murder."
+
+     "Impossible!" cried the inspector.
+
+     "And why?"
+
+     "Why should any one murder a man in so clumsy a fashion as by hanging
+     him?"
+
+     "That is what we have to find out."
+
+     "How could they get in?"
+
+     "Through the front door."
+
+     "It was barred in the morning."
+
+     "Then it was barred after them."
+
+     "How do you know?"
+
+     "I saw their traces. Excuse me a moment, and I may be able to give
+     you some further information about it."
+
+     He went over to the door, and turning the lock he examined it in his
+     methodical way. Then he took out the key, which was on the inside,
+     and inspected that also. The bed, the carpet, the chairs the
+     mantelpiece, the dead body, and the rope were each in turn examined,
+     until at last he professed himself satisfied, and with my aid and
+     that of the inspector cut down the wretched object and laid it
+     reverently under a sheet.
+
+     "How about this rope?" he asked.
+
+     "It is cut off this," said Dr. Trevelyan, drawing a large coil from
+     under the bed. "He was morbidly nervous of fire, and always kept this
+     beside him, so that he might escape by the window in case the stairs
+     were burning."
+
+     "That must have saved them trouble," said Holmes, thoughtfully. "Yes,
+     the actual facts are very plain, and I shall be surprised if by the
+     afternoon I cannot give you the reasons for them as well. I will take
+     this photograph of Blessington, which I see upon the mantelpiece, as
+     it may help me in my inquiries."
+
+     "But you have told us nothing!" cried the doctor.
+
+     "Oh, there can be no doubt as to the sequence of events," said
+     Holmes. "There were three of them in it: the young man, the old man,
+     and a third, to whose identity I have no clue. The first two, I need
+     hardly remark, are the same who masqueraded as the Russian count and
+     his son, so we can give a very full description of them. They were
+     admitted by a confederate inside the house. If I might offer you a
+     word of advice, Inspector, it would be to arrest the page, who, as I
+     understand, has only recently come into your service, Doctor."
+
+     "The young imp cannot be found," said Dr. Trevelyan; "the maid and
+     the cook have just been searching for him."
+
+     Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "He has played a not unimportant part in this drama," said he. "The
+     three men having ascended the stairs, which they did on tiptoe, the
+     elder man first, the younger man second, and the unknown man in the
+     rear--"
+
+     "My dear Holmes!" I ejaculated.
+
+     "Oh, there could be no question as to the superimposing of the
+     footmarks. I had the advantage of learning which was which last
+     night. They ascended, then, to Mr. Blessington's room, the door of
+     which they found to be locked. With the help of a wire, however, they
+     forced round the key. Even without the lens you will perceive, by the
+     scratches on this ward, where the pressure was applied.
+
+     "On entering the room their first proceeding must have been to gag
+     Mr. Blessington. He may have been asleep, or he may have been so
+     paralyzed with terror as to have been unable to cry out. These walls
+     are thick, and it is conceivable that his shriek, if he had time to
+     utter one, was unheard.
+
+     "Having secured him, it is evident to me that a consultation of some
+     sort was held. Probably it was something in the nature of a judicial
+     proceeding. It must have lasted for some time, for it was then that
+     these cigars were smoked. The older man sat in that wicker chair; it
+     was he who used the cigar-holder. The younger man sat over yonder; he
+     knocked his ash off against the chest of drawers. The third fellow
+     paced up and down. Blessington, I think, sat upright in the bed, but
+     of that I cannot be absolutely certain.
+
+     "Well, it ended by their taking Blessington and hanging him. The
+     matter was so prearranged that it is my belief that they brought with
+     them some sort of block or pulley which might serve as a gallows.
+     That screw-driver and those screws were, as I conceive, for fixing it
+     up. Seeing the hook, however they naturally saved themselves the
+     trouble. Having finished their work they made off, and the door was
+     barred behind them by their confederate."
+
+     We had all listened with the deepest interest to this sketch of the
+     night's doings, which Holmes had deduced from signs so subtle and
+     minute that, even when he had pointed them out to us, we could
+     scarcely follow him in his reasoning. The inspector hurried away on
+     the instant to make inquiries about the page, while Holmes and I
+     returned to Baker Street for breakfast.
+
+     "I'll be back by three," said he, when we had finished our meal.
+     "Both the inspector and the doctor will meet me here at that hour,
+     and I hope by that time to have cleared up any little obscurity which
+     the case may still present."
+
+     Our visitors arrived at the appointed time, but it was a quarter to
+     four before my friend put in an appearance. From his expression as he
+     entered, however, I could see that all had gone well with him.
+
+     "Any news, Inspector?"
+
+     "We have got the boy, sir."
+
+     "Excellent, and I have got the men."
+
+     "You have got them!" we cried, all three.
+
+     "Well, at least I have got their identity. This so-called Blessington
+     is, as I expected, well known at headquarters, and so are his
+     assailants. Their names are Biddle, Hayward, and Moffat."
+
+     "The Worthingdon bank gang," cried the inspector.
+
+     "Precisely," said Holmes.
+
+     "Then Blessington must have been Sutton."
+
+     "Exactly," said Holmes.
+
+     "Why, that makes it as clear as crystal," said the inspector.
+
+     But Trevelyan and I looked at each other in bewilderment.
+
+     "You must surely remember the great Worthingdon bank business," said
+     Holmes. "Five men were in it--these four and a fifth called
+     Cartwright. Tobin, the care-taker, was murdered, and the thieves got
+     away with seven thousand pounds. This was in 1875. They were all five
+     arrested, but the evidence against them was by no means conclusive.
+     This Blessington or Sutton, who was the worst of the gang, turned
+     informer. On his evidence Cartwright was hanged and the other three
+     got fifteen years apiece. When they got out the other day, which was
+     some years before their full term, they set themselves, as you
+     perceive, to hunt down the traitor and to avenge the death of their
+     comrade upon him. Twice they tried to get at him and failed; a third
+     time, you see, it came off. Is there anything further which I can
+     explain, Dr. Trevelyan?"
+
+     "I think you have made it all remarkable clear," said the doctor. "No
+     doubt the day on which he was perturbed was the day when he had seen
+     of their release in the newspapers."
+
+     "Quite so. His talk about a burglary was the merest blind."
+
+     "But why could he not tell you this?"
+
+     "Well, my dear sir, knowing the vindictive character of his old
+     associates, he was trying to hide his own identity from everybody as
+     long as he could. His secret was a shameful one, and he could not
+     bring himself to divulge it. However, wretch as he was, he was still
+     living under the shield of British law, and I have no doubt,
+     Inspector, that you will see that, though that shield may fail to
+     guard, the sword of justice is still there to avenge."
+
+     Such were the singular circumstances in connection with the Resident
+     Patient and the Brook Street Doctor. From that night nothing has been
+     seen of the three murderers by the police, and it is surmised at
+     Scotland Yard that they were among the passengers of the ill-fated
+     steamer Norah Creina, which was lost some years ago with all hands
+     upon the Portuguese coast, some leagues to the north of Oporto. The
+     proceedings against the page broke down for want of evidence, and the
+     Brook Street Mystery, as it was called, has never until now been
+     fully dealt with in any public print.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE GREEK INTERPRETER
+
+     During my long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes I
+     had never heard him refer to his relations, and hardly ever to his
+     own early life.  This reticence upon his part had increased the
+     somewhat inhuman effect which he produced upon me, until sometimes I
+     found myself regarding him as an isolated phenomenon, a brain without
+     a heart, as deficient in human sympathy as he was pre-eminent in
+     intelligence.  His aversion to women and his disinclination to form
+     new friendships were both typical of his unemotional character, but
+     not more so than his complete suppression of every reference to his
+     own people.  I had come to believe that he was an orphan with no
+     relatives living, but one day, to my very great surprise, he began to
+     talk to me about his brother.
+
+     It was after tea on a summer evening, and the conversation, which had
+     roamed in a desultory, spasmodic fashion from golf clubs to the
+     causes of the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic, came round at
+     last to the question of atavism and hereditary aptitudes.  The point
+     under discussion was, how far any singular gift in an individual was
+     due to his ancestry and how far to his own early training.
+
+     "In your own case," said I, "from all that you have told me, it seems
+     obvious that your faculty of observation and your peculiar facility
+     for deduction are due to your own systematic training."
+
+     "To some extent," he answered, thoughtfully.  "My ancestors were
+     country squires, who appear to have led much the same life as is
+     natural to their class.  But, none the less, my turn that way is in
+     my veins, and may have come with my grandmother, who was the sister
+     of Vernet, the French artist.  Art in the blood is liable to take the
+     strangest forms."
+
+     "But how do you know that it is hereditary?"
+
+     "Because my brother Mycroft possesses it in a larger degree than I
+     do."
+
+     This was news to me indeed.  If there were another man with such
+     singular powers in England, how was it that neither police nor public
+     had heard of him?  I put the question, with a hint that it was my
+     companion's modesty which made him acknowledge his brother as his
+     superior.  Holmes laughed at my suggestion.
+
+     "My dear Watson," said he, "I cannot agree with those who rank
+     modesty among the virtues.  To the logician all things should be seen
+     exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a
+     departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers.  When I say,
+     therefore, that Mycroft has better powers of observation than I, you
+     may take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth."
+
+     "Is he your junior?"
+
+     "Seven years my senior."
+
+     "How comes it that he is unknown?"
+
+     "Oh, he is very well known in his own circle."
+
+     "Where, then?"
+
+     "Well, in the Diogenes Club, for example."
+
+     I had never heard of the institution, and my face must have
+     proclaimed as much, for Sherlock Holmes pulled out his watch.
+
+     "The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of
+     the queerest men.  He's always there from quarter to five to twenty
+     to eight.  It's six now, so if you care for a stroll this beautiful
+     evening I shall be very happy to introduce you to two curiosities."
+
+     Five minutes later we were in the street, walking towards Regent's
+     Circus.
+
+     "You wonder," said my companion, "why it is that Mycroft does not use
+     his powers for detective work.  He is incapable of it."
+
+     "But I thought you said--"
+
+     "I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction.  If the
+     art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an arm-chair,
+     my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived.  But
+     he has no ambition and no energy.  He will not even go out of his way
+     to verify his own solution, and would rather be considered wrong than
+     take the trouble to prove himself right.  Again and again I have
+     taken a problem to him, and have received an explanation which has
+     afterwards proved to be the correct one.  And yet he was absolutely
+     incapable of working out the practical points which must be gone into
+     before a case could be laid before a judge or jury."
+
+     "It is not his profession, then?"
+
+     "By no means.  What is to me a means of livelihood is to him the
+     merest hobby of a dilettante.  He has an extraordinary faculty for
+     figures, and audits the books in some of the government departments. 
+     Mycroft lodges in Pall Mall, and he walks round the corner into
+     Whitehall every morning and back every evening.  From year's end to
+     year's end he takes no other exercise, and is seen nowhere else,
+     except only in the Diogenes Club, which is just opposite his rooms."
+
+     "I cannot recall the name."
+
+     "Very likely not.  There are many men in London, you know, who, some
+     from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of
+     their fellows.  Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the
+     latest periodicals.  It is for the convenience of these that the
+     Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable
+     and unclubable men in town.  No member is permitted to take the least
+     notice of any other one.  Save in the Stranger's Room, no talking is,
+     under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to
+     the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. 
+     My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very
+     soothing atmosphere."
+
+     We had reached Pall Mall as we talked, and were walking down it from
+     the St. James's end.  Sherlock Holmes stopped at a door some little
+     distance from the Carlton, and, cautioning me not to speak, he led
+     the way into the hall.  Through the glass paneling I caught a glimpse
+     of a large and luxurious room, in which a considerable number of men
+     were sitting about and reading papers, each in his own little nook. 
+     Holmes showed me into a small chamber which looked out into Pall
+     Mall, and then, leaving me for a minute, he came back with a
+     companion whom I knew could only be his brother.
+
+     Mycroft Holmes was a much larger and stouter man than Sherlock.  His
+     body was absolutely corpulent, but his face, though massive, had
+     preserved something of the sharpness of expression which was so
+     remarkable in that of his brother.  His eyes, which were of a
+     peculiarly light, watery gray, seemed to always retain that far-away,
+     introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock's when he
+     was exerting his full powers.
+
+     "I am glad to meet you, sir," said he, putting out a broad, fat hand
+     like the flipper of a seal.  "I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you
+     became his chronicler.  By the way, Sherlock, I expected to see you
+     round last week, to consult me over that Manor House case.  I thought
+     you might be a little out of your depth."
+
+     "No, I solved it," said my friend, smiling.
+
+     "It was Adams, of course."
+
+     "Yes, it was Adams."
+
+     "I was sure of it from the first."  The two sat down together in the
+     bow-window of the club.  "To any one who wishes to study mankind this
+     is the spot," said Mycroft.  "Look at the magnificent types!  Look at
+     these two men who are coming towards us, for example."
+
+     "The billiard-marker and the other?"
+
+     "Precisely.  What do you make of the other?"
+
+     The two men had stopped opposite the window.  Some chalk marks over
+     the waistcoat pocket were the only signs of billiards which I could
+     see in one of them.  The other was a very small, dark fellow, with
+     his hat pushed back and several packages under his arm.
+
+     "An old soldier, I perceive," said Sherlock.
+
+     "And very recently discharged," remarked the brother.
+
+     "Served in India, I see."
+
+     "And a non-commissioned officer."
+
+     "Royal Artillery, I fancy," said Sherlock.
+
+     "And a widower."
+
+     "But with a child."
+
+     "Children, my dear boy, children."
+
+     "Come," said I, laughing, "this is a little too much."
+
+     "Surely," answered Holmes, "it is not hard to say that a man with
+     that bearing, expression of authority, and sunbaked skin, is a
+     soldier, is more than a private, and is not long from India."
+
+     "That he has not left the service long is shown by his still wearing
+     his 'ammunition boots', as they are called," observed Mycroft.
+
+     "He had not the cavalry stride, yet he wore his hat on one side, as
+     is shown by the lighter skin of that side of his brow.  His weight is
+     against his being a sapper.  He is in the artillery."
+
+     "Then, of course, his complete mourning shows that he has lost some
+     one very dear.  The fact that he is doing his own shopping looks as
+     though it were his wife.  He has been buying things for children, you
+     perceive.  There is a rattle, which shows that one of them is very
+     young.  The wife probably died in childbed.  The fact that he has a
+     picture-book under his arm shows that there is another child to be
+     thought of."
+
+     I began to understand what my friend meant when he said that his
+     brother possessed even keener faculties that he did himself.  He
+     glanced across at me and smiled.  Mycroft took snuff from a
+     tortoise-shell box, and brushed away the wandering grains from his
+     coat front with a large, red silk handkerchief.
+
+     "By the way, Sherlock," said he, "I have had something quite after
+     your own heart--a most singular problem--submitted to my judgment.  I
+     really had not the energy to follow it up save in a very incomplete
+     fashion, but it gave me a basis for some pleasing speculation.  If
+     you would care to hear the facts--"
+
+     "My dear Mycroft, I should be delighted."
+
+     The brother scribbled a note upon a leaf of his pocket-book, and,
+     ringing the bell, he handed it to the waiter.
+
+     "I have asked Mr. Melas to step across," said he.  "He lodges on the
+     floor above me, and I have some slight acquaintance with him, which
+     led him to come to me in his perplexity.  Mr. Melas is a Greek by
+     extraction, as I understand, and he is a remarkable linguist.  He
+     earns his living partly as interpreter in the law courts and partly
+     by acting as guide to any wealthy Orientals who may visit the
+     Northumberland Avenue hotels.  I think I will leave him to tell his
+     very remarkable experience in his own fashion."
+
+     A few minutes later we were joined by a short, stout man whose olive
+     face and coal-black hair proclaimed his Southern origin, though his
+     speech was that of an educated Englishman.  He shook hands eagerly
+     with Sherlock Holmes, and his dark eyes sparkled with pleasure when
+     he understood that the specialist was anxious to hear his story.
+
+     "I do not believe that the police credit me--on my word, I do not,"
+     said he in a wailing voice.  "Just because they have never heard of
+     it before, they think that such a thing cannot be.  But I know that I
+     shall never be easy in my mind until I know what has become of my
+     poor man with the sticking-plaster upon his face."
+
+     "I am all attention," said Sherlock Holmes.
+
+     "This is Wednesday evening," said Mr. Melas.  "Well then, it was
+     Monday night--only two days ago, you understand--that all this
+     happened.  I am an interpreter, as perhaps my neighbor there has told
+     you.  I interpret all languages--or nearly all--but as I am a Greek
+     by birth and with a Grecian name, it is with that particular tongue
+     that I am principally associated.  For many years I have been the
+     chief Greek interpreter in London, and my name is very well known in
+     the hotels.
+
+     It happens not unfrequently that I am sent for at strange hours by
+     foreigners who get into difficulties, or by travelers who arrive late
+     and wish my services.  I was not surprised, therefore, on Monday
+     night when a Mr. Latimer, a very fashionably dressed young man, came
+     up to my rooms and asked me to accompany him in a cab which was
+     waiting at the door.  A Greek friend had come to see him upon
+     business, he said, and as he could speak nothing but his own tongue,
+     the services of an interpreter were indispensable.  He gave me to
+     understand that his house was some little distance off, in
+     Kensington, and he seemed to be in a great hurry, bustling me rapidly
+     into the cab when we had descended to the street.
+
+     "I say into the cab, but I soon became doubtful as to whether it was
+     not a carriage in which I found myself.  It was certainly more roomy
+     than the ordinary four-wheeled disgrace to London, and the fittings,
+     though frayed, were of rich quality.  Mr. Latimer seated himself
+     opposite to me and we started off through Charing Cross and up the
+     Shaftesbury Avenue.  We had come out upon Oxford Street and I had
+     ventured some remark as to this being a roundabout way to Kensington,
+     when my words were arrested by the extraordinary conduct of my
+     companion.
+
+     "He began by drawing a most formidable-looking bludgeon loaded with
+     lead from his pocket, and switching it backward and forward several
+     times, as if to test its weight and strength.  Then he placed it
+     without a word upon the seat beside him.  Having done this, he drew
+     up the windows on each side, and I found to my astonishment that they
+     were covered with paper so as to prevent my seeing through them.
+
+     "'I am sorry to cut off your view, Mr. Melas,' said he.  'The fact is
+     that I have no intention that you should see what the place is to
+     which we are driving.  It might possibly be inconvenient to me if you
+     could find your way there again.'
+
+     "As you can imagine, I was utterly taken aback by such an address. 
+     My companion was a powerful, broad-shouldered young fellow, and,
+     apart from the weapon, I should not have had the slightest chance in
+     a struggle with him.
+
+     "'This is very extraordinary conduct, Mr. Latimer,' I stammered. 
+     'You must be aware that what you are doing is quite illegal.'
+
+     "'It is somewhat of a liberty, no doubt,' said he, 'but we'll make it
+     up to you.  I must warn you, however, Mr. Melas, that if at any time
+     to-night you attempt to raise an alarm or do anything which is
+     against my interests, you will find it a very serious thing.  I beg
+     you to remember that no one knows where you are, and that, whether
+     you are in this carriage or in my house, you are equally in my
+     power.'
+
+     "His words were quiet, but he had a rasping way of saying them which
+     was very menacing.  I sat in silence wondering what on earth could be
+     his reason for kidnapping me in this extraordinary fashion.  Whatever
+     it might be, it was perfectly clear that there was no possible use in
+     my resisting, and that I could only wait to see what might befall.
+
+     "For nearly two hours we drove without my having the least clue as to
+     where we were going.  Sometimes the rattle of the stones told of a
+     paved causeway, and at others our smooth, silent course suggested
+     asphalt; but, save by this variation in sound, there was nothing at
+     all which could in the remotest way help me to form a guess as to
+     where we were.  The paper over each window was impenetrable to light,
+     and a blue curtain was drawn across the glass work in front.  It was
+     a quarter-past seven when we left Pall Mall, and my watch showed me
+     that it was ten minutes to nine when we at last came to a standstill.
+      My companion let down the window, and I caught a glimpse of a low,
+     arched doorway with a lamp burning above it.  As I was hurried from
+     the carriage it swung open, and I found myself inside the house, with
+     a vague impression of a lawn and trees on each side of me as I
+     entered.  Whether these were private grounds, however, or bona-fide
+     country was more than I could possibly venture to say.
+
+     "There was a colored gas-lamp inside which was turned so low that I
+     could see little save that the hall was of some size and hung with
+     pictures.  In the dim light I could make out that the person who had
+     opened the door was a small, mean-looking, middle-aged man with
+     rounded shoulders.  As he turned towards us the glint of the light
+     showed me that he was wearing glasses.
+
+     "'Is this Mr. Melas, Harold?' said he.
+
+     "'Yes.'
+
+     "'Well done, well done!  No ill-will, Mr. Melas, I hope, but we could
+     not get on without you.  If you deal fair with us you'll not regret
+     it, but if you try any tricks, God help you!'  He spoke in a nervous,
+     jerky fashion, and with little giggling laughs in between, but
+     somehow he impressed me with fear more than the other.
+
+     "'What do you want with me?' I asked.
+
+     "'Only to ask a few questions of a Greek gentleman who is visiting
+     us, and to let us have the answers.  But say no more than you are
+     told to say, or--' here came the nervous giggle again--'you had
+     better never have been born.'
+
+     "As he spoke he opened a door and showed the way into a room which
+     appeared to be very richly furnished, but again the only light was
+     afforded by a single lamp half-turned down.  The chamber was
+     certainly large, and the way in which my feet sank into the carpet as
+     I stepped across it told me of its richness.  I caught glimpses of
+     velvet chairs, a high white marble mantel-piece, and what seemed to
+     be a suit of Japanese armor at one side of it.  There was a chair
+     just under the lamp, and the elderly man motioned that I should sit
+     in it.  The younger had left us, but he suddenly returned through
+     another door, leading with him a gentleman clad in some sort of loose
+     dressing-gown who moved slowly towards us.  As he came into the
+     circle of dim light which enabled me to see him more clearly I was
+     thrilled with horror at his appearance.  He was deadly pale and
+     terribly emaciated, with the protruding, brilliant eyes of a man
+     whose spirit was greater than his strength.  But what shocked me more
+     than any signs of physical weakness was that his face was grotesquely
+     criss-crossed with sticking-plaster, and that one large pad of it was
+     fastened over his mouth.
+
+     "'Have you the slate, Harold?' cried the older man, as this strange
+     being fell rather than sat down into a chair.  'Are his hands loose? 
+     Now, then, give him the pencil.  You are to ask the questions, Mr.
+     Melas, and he will write the answers.  Ask him first of all whether
+     he is prepared to sign the papers?'
+
+     "The man's eyes flashed fire.
+
+     "'Never!' he wrote in Greek upon the slate.
+
+     "'On no condition?' I asked, at the bidding of our tyrant.
+
+     "'Only if I see her married in my presence by a Greek priest whom I
+     know.'
+
+     "The man giggled in his venomous way.
+
+     "'You know what awaits you, then?'
+
+     "'I care nothing for myself.'
+
+     "These are samples of the questions and answers which made up our
+     strange half-spoken, half-written conversation.  Again and again I
+     had to ask him whether he would give in and sign the documents. 
+     Again and again I had the same indignant reply.  But soon a happy
+     thought came to me.  I took to adding on little sentences of my own
+     to each question, innocent ones at first, to test whether either of
+     our companions knew anything of the matter, and then, as I found that
+     they showed no signs I played a more dangerous game.  Our
+     conversation ran something like this:
+
+     "'You can do no good by this obstinacy. Who are you?'
+
+     "'I care not. I am a stranger in London.'
+
+     "'Your fate will be upon your own head. How long have you been here?'
+
+     "'Let it be so. Three weeks.'
+
+     "'The property can never be yours. What ails you?'
+
+     "'It shall not go to villains. They are starving me.'
+
+     "'You shall go free if you sign. What house is this?'
+
+     "'I will never sign. I do not know.'
+
+     "'You are not doing her any service. What is your name?'
+
+     "'Let me hear her say so. Kratides.'
+
+     "'You shall see her if you sign. Where are you from?'
+
+     "'Then I shall never see her. Athens.'
+
+     "Another five minutes, Mr. Holmes, and I should have wormed out the
+     whole story under their very noses.  My very next question might have
+     cleared the matter up, but at that instant the door opened and a
+     woman stepped into the room.  I could not see her clearly enough to
+     know more than that she was tall and graceful, with black hair, and
+     clad in some sort of loose white gown.
+
+     "'Harold,' said she, speaking English with a broken accent.  'I could
+     not stay away longer.  It is so lonely up there with only--Oh, my
+     God, it is Paul!'
+
+     "These last words were in Greek, and at the same instant the man with
+     a convulsive effort tore the plaster from his lips, and screaming out
+     'Sophy!  Sophy!' rushed into the woman's arms.  Their embrace was but
+     for an instant, however, for the younger man seized the woman and
+     pushed her out of the room, while the elder easily overpowered his
+     emaciated victim, and dragged him away through the other door.  For a
+     moment I was left alone in the room, and I sprang to my feet with
+     some vague idea that I might in some way get a clue to what this
+     house was in which I found myself.  Fortunately, however, I took no
+     steps, for looking up I saw that the older man was standing in the
+     door-way with his eyes fixed upon me.
+
+     "'That will do, Mr. Melas,' said he.  'You perceive that we have
+     taken you into our confidence over some very private business.  We
+     should not have troubled you, only that our friend who speaks Greek
+     and who began these negotiations has been forced to return to the
+     East.  It was quite necessary for us to find some one to take his
+     place, and we were fortunate in hearing of your powers.'
+
+     "I bowed.
+
+     "'There are five sovereigns here,' said he, walking up to me, 'which
+     will, I hope, be a sufficient fee.  But remember,' he added, tapping
+     me lightly on the chest and giggling, 'if you speak to a human soul
+     about this--one human soul, mind--well, may God have mercy upon your
+     soul!'
+
+     "I cannot tell you the loathing and horror with which this
+     insignificant-looking man inspired me.  I could see him better now as
+     the lamp-light shone upon him.  His features were peaky and sallow,
+     and his little pointed beard was thready and ill-nourished.  He
+     pushed his face forward as he spoke and his lips and eyelids were
+     continually twitching like a man with St. Vitus's dance.  I could not
+     help thinking that his strange, catchy little laugh was also a
+     symptom of some nervous malady.  The terror of his face lay in his
+     eyes, however, steel gray, and glistening coldly with a malignant,
+     inexorable cruelty in their depths.
+
+     "'We shall know if you speak of this,' said he.  'We have our own
+     means of information.  Now you will find the carriage waiting, and my
+     friend will see you on your way.'
+
+     "I was hurried through the hall and into the vehicle, again obtaining
+     that momentary glimpse of trees and a garden.  Mr. Latimer followed
+     closely at my heels, and took his place opposite to me without a
+     word.  In silence we again drove for an interminable distance with
+     the windows raised, until at last, just after midnight, the carriage
+     pulled up.
+
+     "'You will get down here, Mr. Melas,' said my companion.  'I am sorry
+     to leave you so far from your house, but there is no alternative. 
+     Any attempt upon your part to follow the carriage can only end in
+     injury to yourself.'
+
+     "He opened the door as he spoke, and I had hardly time to spring out
+     when the coachman lashed the horse and the carriage rattled away.  I
+     looked around me in astonishment.  I was on some sort of a heathy
+     common mottled over with dark clumps of furze-bushes.  Far away
+     stretched a line of houses, with a light here and there in the upper
+     windows.  On the other side I saw the red signal-lamps of a railway.
+
+     "The carriage which had brought me was already out of sight.  I stood
+     gazing round and wondering where on earth I might be, when I saw some
+     one coming towards me in the darkness.  As he came up to me I made
+     out that he was a railway porter.
+
+     "'Can you tell me what place this is?' I asked.
+
+     "'Wandsworth Common,' said he.
+
+     "'Can I get a train into town?'
+
+     "'If you walk on a mile or so to Clapham Junction,' said he, 'you'll
+     just be in time for the last to Victoria.'
+
+     "So that was the end of my adventure, Mr. Holmes.  I do not know
+     where I was, nor whom I spoke with, nor anything save what I have
+     told you.  But I know that there is foul play going on, and I want to
+     help that unhappy man if I can.  I told the whole story to Mr.
+     Mycroft Holmes next morning, and subsequently to the police."
+
+     We all sat in silence for some little time after listening to this
+     extraordinary narrative.  Then Sherlock looked across at his brother.
+
+     "Any steps?" he asked.
+
+     Mycroft picked up the Daily News, which was lying on the side-table.
+
+     "Anybody supplying any information as to the whereabouts of a Greek
+     gentleman named Paul Kratides, from Athens, who is unable to speak
+     English, will be rewarded.  A similar reward paid to any one giving
+     information about a Greek lady whose first name is Sophy. X 2473.
+
+     "That was in all the dailies.  No answer."
+
+     "How about the Greek Legation?"
+
+     "I have inquired.  They know nothing."
+
+     "A wire to the head of the Athens police, then?"
+
+     "Sherlock has all the energy of the family," said Mycroft, turning to
+     me.  "Well, you take the case up by all means, and let me know if you
+     do any good."
+
+     "Certainly," answered my friend, rising from his chair.  "I'll let
+     you know, and Mr. Melas also.  In the meantime, Mr. Melas, I should
+     certainly be on my guard, if I were you, for of course they must know
+     through these advertisements that you have betrayed them."
+
+     As we walked home together, Holmes stopped at a telegraph office and
+     sent off several wires.
+
+     "You see, Watson," he remarked, "our evening has been by no means
+     wasted.  Some of my most interesting cases have come to me in this
+     way through Mycroft.  The problem which we have just listened to,
+     although it can admit of but one explanation, has still some
+     distinguishing features."
+
+     "You have hopes of solving it?"
+
+     "Well, knowing as much as we do, it will be singular indeed if we
+     fail to discover the rest.  You must yourself have formed some theory
+     which will explain the facts to which we have listened."
+
+     "In a vague way, yes."
+
+     "What was your idea, then?"
+
+     "It seemed to me to be obvious that this Greek girl had been carried
+     off by the young Englishman named Harold Latimer."
+
+     "Carried off from where?"
+
+     "Athens, perhaps."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes shook his head.  "This young man could not talk a
+     word of Greek.  The lady could talk English fairly well. 
+     Inference--that she had been in England some little time, but he had
+     not been in Greece."
+
+     "Well, then, we will presume that she had come on a visit to England,
+     and that this Harold had persuaded her to fly with him."
+
+     "That is more probable."
+
+     "Then the brother--for that, I fancy, must be the relationship--comes
+     over from Greece to interfere.  He imprudently puts himself into the
+     power of the young man and his older associate.  They seize him and
+     use violence towards him in order to make him sign some papers to
+     make over the girl's fortune--of which he may be trustee--to them. 
+     This he refuses to do.  In order to negotiate with him they have to
+     get an interpreter, and they pitch upon this Mr. Melas, having used
+     some other one before.  The girl is not told of the arrival of her
+     brother, and finds it out by the merest accident."
+
+     "Excellent, Watson!" cried Holmes.  "I really fancy that you are not
+     far from the truth.  You see that we hold all the cards, and we have
+     only to fear some sudden act of violence on their part.  If they give
+     us time we must have them."
+
+     "But how can we find where this house lies?"
+
+     "Well, if our conjecture is correct and the girl's name is or was
+     Sophy Kratides, we should have no difficulty in tracing her.  That
+     must be our main hope, for the brother is, of course, a complete
+     stranger.  It is clear that some time has elapsed since this Harold
+     established these relations with the girl--some weeks, at any
+     rate--since the brother in Greece has had time to hear of it and come
+     across.  If they have been living in the same place during this time,
+     it is probable that we shall have some answer to Mycroft's
+     advertisement."
+
+     We had reached our house in Baker Street while we had been talking. 
+     Holmes ascended the stair first, and as he opened the door of our
+     room he gave a start of surprise.  Looking over his shoulder, I was
+     equally astonished.  His brother Mycroft was sitting smoking in the
+     arm-chair.
+
+     "Come in, Sherlock!  Come in, sir," said he blandly, smiling at our
+     surprised faces.  "You don't expect such energy from me, do you,
+     Sherlock?  But somehow this case attracts me."
+
+     "How did you get here?"
+
+     "I passed you in a hansom."
+
+     "There has been some new development?"
+
+     "I had an answer to my advertisement."
+
+     "Ah!"
+
+     "Yes, it came within a few minutes of your leaving."
+
+     "And to what effect?"
+
+     Mycroft Holmes took out a sheet of paper.
+
+     "Here it is," said he, "written with a J pen on royal cream paper by
+     a middle-aged man with a weak constitution.
+
+     "Sir [he says]:
+     "In answer to your advertisement of to-day's date, I beg to inform
+     you that I know the young lady in question very well.  If you should
+     care to call upon me I could give you some particulars as to her
+     painful history.  She is living at present at The Myrtles, Beckenham.
+     "Yours faithfully,
+     "J. Davenport.
+
+     "He writes from Lower Brixton," said Mycroft Holmes.  "Do you not
+     think that we might drive to him now, Sherlock, and learn these
+     particulars?"
+
+     "My dear Mycroft, the brother's life is more valuable than the
+     sister's story.  I think we should call at Scotland Yard for
+     Inspector Gregson, and go straight out to Beckenham.  We know that a
+     man is being done to death, and every hour may be vital."
+
+     "Better pick up Mr. Melas on our way," I suggested.  "We may need an
+     interpreter."
+
+     "Excellent," said Sherlock Holmes.  "Send the boy for a four-wheeler,
+     and we shall be off at once."  He opened the table-drawer as he
+     spoke, and I noticed that he slipped his revolver into his pocket. 
+     "Yes," said he, in answer to my glance; "I should say from what we
+     have heard, that we are dealing with a particularly dangerous gang."
+
+     It was almost dark before we found ourselves in Pall Mall, at the
+     rooms of Mr. Melas.  A gentleman had just called for him, and he was
+     gone.
+
+     "Can you tell me where?" asked Mycroft Holmes.
+
+     "I don't know, sir," answered the woman who had opened the door; "I
+     only know that he drove away with the gentleman in a carriage."
+
+     "Did the gentleman give a name?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "He wasn't a tall, handsome, dark young man?"
+
+     "Oh, no, sir.  He was a little gentleman, with glasses, thin in the
+     face, but very pleasant in his ways, for he was laughing all the time
+     that he was talking."
+
+     "Come along!" cried Sherlock Holmes, abruptly.  "This grows serious,"
+     he observed, as we drove to Scotland Yard.  "These men have got hold
+     of Melas again.  He is a man of no physical courage, as they are well
+     aware from their experience the other night.  This villain was able
+     to terrorize him the instant that he got into his presence.  No doubt
+     they want his professional services, but, having used him, they may
+     be inclined to punish him for what they will regard as his
+     treachery."
+
+     Our hope was that, by taking train, we might get to Beckenham as soon
+     or sooner than the carriage.  On reaching Scotland Yard, however, it
+     was more than an hour before we could get Inspector Gregson and
+     comply with the legal formalities which would enable us to enter the
+     house.  It was a quarter to ten before we reached London Bridge, and
+     half past before the four of us alighted on the Beckenham platform. 
+     A drive of half a mile brought us to The Myrtles--a large, dark house
+     standing back from the road in its own grounds.  Here we dismissed
+     our cab, and made our way up the drive together.
+
+     "The windows are all dark," remarked the inspector.  "The house seems
+     deserted."
+
+     "Our birds are flown and the nest empty," said Holmes.
+
+     "Why do you say so?"
+
+     "A carriage heavily loaded with luggage has passed out during the
+     last hour."
+
+     The inspector laughed.  "I saw the wheel-tracks in the light of the
+     gate-lamp, but where does the luggage come in?"
+
+     "You may have observed the same wheel-tracks going the other way. 
+     But the outward-bound ones were very much deeper--so much so that we
+     can say for a certainty that there was a very considerable weight on
+     the carriage."
+
+     "You get a trifle beyond me there," said the inspector, shrugging his
+     shoulder.  "It will not be an easy door to force, but we will try if
+     we cannot make some one hear us."
+
+     He hammered loudly at the knocker and pulled at the bell, but without
+     any success.  Holmes had slipped away, but he came back in a few
+     minutes.
+
+     "I have a window open," said he.
+
+     "It is a mercy that you are on the side of the force, and not against
+     it, Mr. Holmes," remarked the inspector, as he noted the clever way
+     in which my friend had forced back the catch.  "Well, I think that
+     under the circumstances we may enter without an invitation."
+
+     One after the other we made our way into a large apartment, which was
+     evidently that in which Mr. Melas had found himself.  The inspector
+     had lit his lantern, and by its light we could see the two doors, the
+     curtain, the lamp, and the suit of Japanese mail as he had described
+     them.  On the table lay two glasses, and empty brandy-bottle, and the
+     remains of a meal.
+
+     "What is that?" asked Holmes, suddenly.
+
+     We all stood still and listened.  A low moaning sound was coming from
+     somewhere over our heads.  Holmes rushed to the door and out into the
+     hall.  The dismal noise came from upstairs.  He dashed up, the
+     inspector and I at his heels, while his brother Mycroft followed as
+     quickly as his great bulk would permit.
+
+     Three doors faced up upon the second floor, and it was from the
+     central of these that the sinister sounds were issuing, sinking
+     sometimes into a dull mumble and rising again into a shrill whine. 
+     It was locked, but the key had been left on the outside.  Holmes
+     flung open the door and rushed in, but he was out again in an
+     instant, with his hand to his throat.
+
+     "It's charcoal," he cried.  "Give it time.  It will clear."
+
+     Peering in, we could see that the only light in the room came from a
+     dull blue flame which flickered from a small brass tripod in the
+     centre.  It threw a livid, unnatural circle upon the floor, while in
+     the shadows beyond we saw the vague loom of two figures which
+     crouched against the wall.  From the open door there reeked a
+     horrible poisonous exhalation which set us gasping and coughing. 
+     Holmes rushed to the top of the stairs to draw in the fresh air, and
+     then, dashing into the room, he threw up the window and hurled the
+     brazen tripod out into the garden.
+
+     "We can enter in a minute," he gasped, darting out again.  "Where is
+     a candle?  I doubt if we could strike a match in that atmosphere. 
+     Hold the light at the door and we shall get them out, Mycroft. Now!"
+
+     With a rush we got to the poisoned men and dragged them out into the
+     well-lit hall.  Both of them were blue-lipped and insensible, with
+     swollen, congested faces and protruding eyes.  Indeed, so distorted
+     were their features that, save for his black beard and stout figure,
+     we might have failed to recognize in one of them the Greek
+     interpreter who had parted from us only a few hours before at the
+     Diogenes Club.  His hands and feet were securely strapped together,
+     and he bore over one eye the marks of a violent blow.  The other, who
+     was secured in a similar fashion, was a tall man in the last stage of
+     emaciation, with several strips of sticking-plaster arranged in a
+     grotesque pattern over his face.  He had ceased to moan as we laid
+     him down, and a glance showed me that for him at least our aid had
+     come too late.  Mr. Melas, however, still lived, and in less than an
+     hour, with the aid of ammonia and brandy I had the satisfaction of
+     seeing him open his eyes, and of knowing that my hand had drawn him
+     back from that dark valley in which all paths meet.
+
+     It was a simple story which he had to tell, and one which did but
+     confirm our own deductions.  His visitor, on entering his rooms, had
+     drawn a life-preserver from his sleeve, and had so impressed him with
+     the fear of instant and inevitable death that he had kidnapped him
+     for the second time.  Indeed, it was almost mesmeric, the effect
+     which this giggling ruffian had produced upon the unfortunate
+     linguist, for he could not speak of him save with trembling hands and
+     a blanched cheek.  He had been taken swiftly to Beckenham, and had
+     acted as interpreter in a second interview, even more dramatic than
+     the first, in which the two Englishmen had menaced their prisoner
+     with instant death if he did not comply with their demands.  Finally,
+     finding him proof against every threat, they had hurled him back into
+     his prison, and after reproaching Melas with his treachery, which
+     appeared from the newspaper advertisement, they had stunned him with
+     a blow from a stick, and he remembered nothing more until he found us
+     bending over him.
+
+     And this was the singular case of the Grecian Interpreter, the
+     explanation of which is still involved in some mystery.  We were able
+     to find out, by communicating with the gentleman who had answered the
+     advertisement, that the unfortunate young lady came of a wealthy
+     Grecian family, and that she had been on a visit to some friends in
+     England.  While there she had met a young man named Harold Latimer,
+     who had acquired an ascendancy over her and had eventually persuaded
+     her to fly with him.  Her friends, shocked at the event, had
+     contented themselves with informing her brother at Athens, and had
+     then washed their hands of the matter.  The brother, on his arrival
+     in England, had imprudently placed himself in the power of Latimer
+     and of his associate, whose name was Wilson Kemp--a man of the
+     foulest antecedents. These two, finding that  through his ignorance
+     of the language he was helpless in their hands, had kept him a
+     prisoner, and had endeavored by cruelty and starvation to make him
+     sign away his own and his sister's property.  They had kept him in
+     the house without the girl's knowledge, and the plaster over the face
+     had been for the purpose of making recognition difficult in case she
+     should ever catch a glimpse of him.  Her feminine perception,
+     however, had instantly seen through the disguise when, on the
+     occasion of the interpreter's visit, she had seen him for the first
+     time.  The poor girl, however, was herself a prisoner, for there was
+     no one about the house except the man who acted as coachman, and his
+     wife, both of whom were tools of the conspirators.  Finding that
+     their secret was out, and that their prisoner was not to be coerced,
+     the two villains with the girl had fled away at a few hours' notice
+     from the furnished house which they had hired, having first, as they
+     thought, taken vengeance both upon the man who had defied and the one
+     who had betrayed them.
+
+     Months afterwards a curious newspaper cutting reached us from
+     Buda-Pesth.  It told how two Englishmen who had been traveling with a
+     woman had met with a tragic end.  They had each been stabbed, it
+     seems, and the Hungarian police were of opinion that they had
+     quarreled and had inflicted mortal injuries upon each other.  Holmes,
+     however, is, I fancy, of a different way of thinking, and holds to
+     this day that, if one could find the Grecian girl, one might learn
+     how the wrongs of herself and her brother came to be avenged.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                THE NAVAL TREATY
+
+     The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable
+     by three cases of interest, in which I had the privilege of being
+     associated with Sherlock Holmes and of studying his methods. I find
+     them recorded in my notes under the headings of "The Adventure of the
+     Second Stain," "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty," and "The
+     Adventure of the Tired Captain." The first of these, however, deals
+     with interest of such importance and implicates so many of the first
+     families in the kingdom that for many years it will be impossible to
+     make it public. No case, however, in which Holmes was engaged has
+     ever illustrated the value of his analytical methods so clearly or
+     has impressed those who were associated with him so deeply. I still
+     retain an almost verbatim report of the interview in which he
+     demonstrated the true facts of the case to Monsieur Dubugue of the
+     Paris police, and Fritz von Waldbaum, the well-known specialist of
+     Dantzig, both of whom had wasted their energies upon what proved to
+     be side-issues. The new century will have come, however, before the
+     story can be safely told. Meanwhile I pass on to the second on my
+     list, which promised also at one time to be of national importance,
+     and was marked by several incidents which give it a quite unique
+     character.
+
+     During my school-days I had been intimately associated with a lad
+     named Percy Phelps, who was of much the same age as myself, though he
+     was two classes ahead of me. He was a very brilliant boy, and carried
+     away every prize which the school had to offer, finishing his
+     exploits by winning a scholarship which sent him on to continue his
+     triumphant career at Cambridge. He was, I remember, extremely well
+     connected, and even when we were all little boys together we knew
+     that his mother's brother was Lord Holdhurst, the great conservative
+     politician. This gaudy relationship did him little good at school. On
+     the contrary, it seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevy him
+     about the playground and hit him over the shins with a wicket. But it
+     was another thing when he came out into the world. I heard vaguely
+     that his abilities and the influences which he commanded had won him
+     a good position at the Foreign Office, and then he passed completely
+     out of my mind until the following letter recalled his existence:
+
+     Briarbrae, Woking.
+     My dear Watson:
+     I have no doubt that you can remember "Tadpole" Phelps, who was in
+     the fifth form when you were in the third. It is possible even that
+     you may have heard that through my uncle's influence I obtained a
+     good appointment at the Foreign Office, and that I was in a situation
+     of trust and honor until a horrible misfortune came suddenly to blast
+     my career.
+     There is no use writing of the details of that dreadful event. In the
+     event of your acceding to my request it is probable that I shall have
+     to narrate them to you. I have only just recovered from nine weeks of
+     brain-fever, and am still exceedingly weak. Do you think that you
+     could bring your friend Mr. Holmes down to see me? I should like to
+     have his opinion of the case, though the authorities assure me that
+     nothing more can be done. Do try to bring him down, and as soon as
+     possible. Every minute seems an hour while I live in this state of
+     horrible suspense. Assure him that if I have not asked his advice
+     sooner it was not because I did not appreciate his talents, but
+     because I have been off my head ever since the blow fell. Now I am
+     clear again, though I dare not think of it too much for fear of a
+     relapse. I am still so weak that I have to write, as you see, by
+     dictating. Do try to bring him.
+     Your old school-fellow,
+     Percy Phelps.
+
+     There was something that touched me as I read this letter, something
+     pitiable in the reiterated appeals to bring Holmes. So moved was I
+     that even had it been a difficult matter I should have tried it, but
+     of course I knew well that Holmes loved his art, so that he was ever
+     as ready to bring his aid as his client could be to receive it. My
+     wife agreed with me that not a moment should be lost in laying the
+     matter before him, and so within an hour of breakfast-time I found
+     myself back once more in the old rooms in Baker Street.
+
+     Holmes was seated at his side-table clad in his dressing-gown, and
+     working hard over a chemical investigation. A large curved retort was
+     boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the
+     distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. My friend
+     hardly glanced up as I entered, and I, seeing that his investigation
+     must be of importance, seated myself in an arm-chair and waited. He
+     dipped into this bottle or that, drawing out a few drops of each with
+     his glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a
+     solution over to the table. In his right hand he held a slip of
+     litmus-paper.
+
+     "You come at a crisis, Watson," said he. "If this paper remains blue,
+     all is well. If it turns red, it means a man's life." He dipped it
+     into the test-tube and it flushed at once into a dull, dirty crimson.
+     "Hum! I thought as much!" he cried. "I will be at your service in an
+     instant, Watson. You will find tobacco in the Persian slipper." He
+     turned to his desk and scribbled off several telegrams, which were
+     handed over to the page-boy. Then he threw himself down into the
+     chair opposite, and drew up his knees until his fingers clasped round
+     his long, thin shins.
+
+     "A very commonplace little murder," said he. "You've got something
+     better, I fancy. You are the stormy petrel of crime, Watson. What is
+     it?"
+
+     I handed him the letter, which he read with the most concentrated
+     attention.
+
+     "It does not tell us very much, does it?" he remarked, as he handed
+     it back to me.
+
+     "Hardly anything."
+
+     "And yet the writing is of interest."
+
+     "But the writing is not his own."
+
+     "Precisely. It is a woman's."
+
+     "A man's surely," I cried.
+
+     "No, a woman's, and a woman of rare character. You see, at the
+     commencement of an investigation it is something to know that your
+     client is in close contact with some one who, for good or evil, has
+     an exceptional nature. My interest is already awakened in the case.
+     If you are ready we will start at once for Woking, and see this
+     diplomatist who is in such evil case, and the lady to whom he
+     dictates his letters."
+
+     We were fortunate enough to catch an early train at Waterloo, and in
+     a little under an hour we found ourselves among the fir-woods and the
+     heather of Woking. Briarbrae proved to be a large detached house
+     standing in extensive grounds within a few minutes' walk of the
+     station. On sending in our cards we were shown into an elegantly
+     appointed drawing-room, where we were joined in a few minutes by a
+     rather stout man who received us with much hospitality. His age may
+     have been nearer forty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and
+     his eyes so merry that he still conveyed the impression of a plump
+     and mischievous boy.
+
+     "I am so glad that you have come," said he, shaking our hands with
+     effusion. "Percy has been inquiring for you all morning. Ah, poor old
+     chap, he clings to any straw! His father and his mother asked me to
+     see you, for the mere mention of the subject is very painful to
+     them."
+
+     "We have had no details yet," observed Holmes. "I perceive that you
+     are not yourself a member of the family."
+
+     Our acquaintance looked surprised, and then, glancing down, he began
+     to laugh.
+
+     "Of course you saw the J H monogram on my locket," said he. "For a
+     moment I thought you had done something clever. Joseph Harrison is my
+     name, and as Percy is to marry my sister Annie I shall at least be a
+     relation by marriage. You will find my sister in his room, for she
+     has nursed him hand-and-foot this two months back. Perhaps we'd
+     better go in at once, for I know how impatient he is."
+
+     The chamber in which we were shown was on the same floor as the
+     drawing-room. It was furnished partly as a sitting and partly as a
+     bedroom, with flowers arranged daintily in every nook and corner. A
+     young man, very pale and worn, was lying upon a sofa near the open
+     window, through which came the rich scent of the garden and the balmy
+     summer air. A woman was sitting beside him, who rose as we entered.
+
+     "Shall I leave, Percy?" she asked.
+
+     He clutched her hand to detain her. "How are you, Watson?" said he,
+     cordially. "I should never have known you under that moustache, and I
+     dare say you would not be prepared to swear to me. This I presume is
+     your celebrated friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+     I introduced him in a few words, and we both sat down. The stout
+     young man had left us, but his sister still remained with her hand in
+     that of the invalid. She was a striking-looking woman, a little short
+     and thick for symmetry, but with a beautiful olive complexion, large,
+     dark, Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair. Her rich tints
+     made the white face of her companion the more worn and haggard by the
+     contrast.
+
+     "I won't waste your time," said he, raising himself upon the sofa.
+     "I'll plunge into the matter without further preamble. I was a happy
+     and successful man, Mr. Holmes, and on the eve of being married, when
+     a sudden and dreadful misfortune wrecked all my prospects in life.
+
+     "I was, as Watson may have told you, in the Foreign Office, and
+     through the influences of my uncle, Lord Holdhurst, I rose rapidly to
+     a responsible position. When my uncle became foreign minister in this
+     administration he gave me several missions of trust, and as I always
+     brought them to a successful conclusion, he came at last to have the
+     utmost confidence in my ability and tact.
+
+     "Nearly ten weeks ago--to be more accurate, on the twenty-third of
+     May--he called me into his private room, and, after complimenting me
+     on the good work which I had done, he informed me that he had a new
+     commission of trust for me to execute.
+
+     "'This,' said he, taking a gray roll of paper from his bureau, 'is
+     the original of that secret treaty between England and Italy of
+     which, I regret to say, some rumors have already got into the public
+     press. It is of enormous importance that nothing further should leak
+     out. The French or the Russian embassy would pay an immense sum to
+     learn the contents of these papers. They should not leave my bureau
+     were it not that it is absolutely necessary to have them copied. You
+     have a desk in your office?'
+
+     "'Yes, sir.'
+
+     "'Then take the treaty and lock it up there. I shall give directions
+     that you may remain behind when the others go, so that you may copy
+     it at your leisure without fear of being overlooked. When you have
+     finished, relock both the original and the draft in the desk, and
+     hand them over to me personally to-morrow morning.'
+
+     "I took the papers and--"
+
+     "Excuse me an instant," said Holmes. "Were you alone during this
+     conversation?"
+
+     "Absolutely."
+
+     "In a large room?"
+
+     "Thirty feet each way."
+
+     "In the centre?"
+
+     "Yes, about it."
+
+     "And speaking low?"
+
+     "My uncle's voice is always remarkably low. I hardly spoke at all."
+
+     "Thank you," said Holmes, shutting his eyes; "pray go on."
+
+     "I did exactly what he indicated, and waited until the other clerks
+     had departed. One of them in my room, Charles Gorot, had some arrears
+     of work to make up, so I left him there and went out to dine. When I
+     returned he was gone. I was anxious to hurry my work, for I knew that
+     Joseph--the Mr. Harrison whom you saw just now--was in town, and that
+     he would travel down to Woking by the eleven-o'clock train, and I
+     wanted if possible to catch it.
+
+     "When I came to examine the treaty I saw at once that it was of such
+     importance that my uncle had been guilty of no exaggeration in what
+     he had said. Without going into details, I may say that it defined
+     the position of Great Britain towards the Triple Alliance, and
+     fore-shadowed the policy which this country would pursue in the event
+     of the French fleet gaining a complete ascendancy over that of Italy
+     in the Mediterranean. The questions treated in it were purely naval.
+     At the end were the signatures of the high dignitaries who had signed
+     it. I glanced my eyes over it, and then settled down to my task of
+     copying.
+
+     "It was a long document, written in the French language, and
+     containing twenty-six separate articles. I copied as quickly as I
+     could, but at nine o'clock I had only done nine articles, and it
+     seemed hopeless for me to attempt to catch my train. I was feeling
+     drowsy and stupid, partly from my dinner and also from the effects of
+     a long day's work. A cup of coffee would clear my brain. A
+     commissionaire remains all night in a little lodge at the foot of the
+     stairs, and is in the habit of making coffee at his spirit-lamp for
+     any of the officials who may be working over time. I rang the bell,
+     therefore, to summon him.
+
+     "To my surprise, it was a woman who answered the summons, a large,
+     coarse-faced, elderly woman, in an apron. She explained that she was
+     the commissionaire's wife, who did the charing, and I gave her the
+     order for the coffee.
+
+     "I wrote two more articles and then, feeling more drowsy than ever, I
+     rose and walked up and down the room to stretch my legs. My coffee
+     had not yet come, and I wondered what was the cause of the delay
+     could be. Opening the door, I started down the corridor to find out.
+     There was a straight passage, dimly lighted, which led from the room
+     in which I had been working, and was the only exit from it. It ended
+     in a curving staircase, with the commissionaire's lodge in the
+     passage at the bottom. Half way down this staircase is a small
+     landing, with another passage running into it at right angles. This
+     second one leads by means of a second small stair to a side door,
+     used by servants, and also as a short cut by clerks when coming from
+     Charles Street. Here is a rough chart of the place."
+
+     "Thank you. I think that I quite follow you," said Sherlock Holmes.
+
+     "It is of the utmost importance that you should notice this point. I
+     went down the stairs and into the hall, where I found the
+     commissionaire fast asleep in his box, with the kettle boiling
+     furiously upon the spirit-lamp. I took off the kettle and blew out
+     the lamp, for the water was spurting over the floor. Then I put out
+     my hand and was about to shake the man, who was still sleeping
+     soundly, when a bell over his head rang loudly, and he woke with a
+     start.
+
+     "'Mr. Phelps, sir!' said he, looking at me in bewilderment.
+
+     "'I came down to see if my coffee was ready.'
+
+     "'I was boiling the kettle when I fell asleep, sir.' He looked at me
+     and then up at the still quivering bell with an ever-growing
+     astonishment upon his face.
+
+     "'If you was here, sir, then who rang the bell?' he asked.
+
+     "'The bell!' I cried. 'What bell is it?'
+
+     "'It's the bell of the room you were working in.'
+
+     "A cold hand seemed to close round my heart. Some one, then, was in
+     that room where my precious treaty lay upon the table. I ran
+     frantically up the stair and along the passage. There was no one in
+     the corridors, Mr. Holmes. There was no one in the room. All was
+     exactly as I left it, save only that the papers which had been
+     committed to my care had been taken from the desk on which they lay.
+     The copy was there, and the original was gone."
+
+     Holmes sat up in his chair and rubbed his hands. I could see that the
+     problem was entirely to his heart. "Pray, what did you do then?" he
+     murmured.
+
+     "I recognized in an instant that the thief must have come up the
+     stairs from the side door. Of course I must have met him if he had
+     come the other way."
+
+     "You were satisfied that he could not have been concealed in the room
+     all the time, or in the corridor which you have just described as
+     dimly lighted?"
+
+     "It is absolutely impossible. A rat could not conceal himself either
+     in the room or the corridor. There is no cover at all."
+
+     "Thank you. Pray proceed."
+
+     "The commissionaire, seeing by my pale face that something was to be
+     feared, had followed me upstairs. Now we both rushed along the
+     corridor and down the steep steps which led to Charles Street. The
+     door at the bottom was closed, but unlocked. We flung it open and
+     rushed out. I can distinctly remember that as we did so there came
+     three chimes from a neighboring clock. It was quarter to ten."
+
+     "That is of enormous importance," said Holmes, making a note upon his
+     shirt-cuff.
+
+     "The night was very dark, and a thin, warm rain was falling. There
+     was no one in Charles Street, but a great traffic was going on, as
+     usual, in Whitehall, at the extremity. We rushed along the pavement,
+     bare-headed as we were, and at the far corner we found a policeman
+     standing.
+
+     "'A robbery has been committed,' I gasped. 'A document of immense
+     value has been stolen from the Foreign Office. Has any one passed
+     this way?'
+
+     "'I have been standing here for a quarter of an hour, sir,' said he;
+     'only one person has passed during that time--a woman, tall and
+     elderly, with a Paisley shawl.'
+
+     "'Ah, that is only my wife,' cried the commissionaire; 'has no one
+     else passed?'
+
+     "'No one.'
+
+     "'Then it must be the other way that the thief took,' cried the
+     fellow, tugging at my sleeve.
+
+     "But I was not satisfied, and the attempts which he made to draw me
+     away increased my suspicions.
+
+     "'Which way did the woman go?' I cried.
+
+     "'I don't know, sir. I noticed her pass, but I had no special reason
+     for watching her. She seemed to be in a hurry.'
+
+     "'How long ago was it?'
+
+     "'Oh, not very many minutes.'
+
+     "'Within the last five?'
+
+     "'Well, it could not be more than five.'
+
+     "'You're only wasting your time, sir, and every minute now is of
+     importance,' cried the commissionaire; 'take my word for it that my
+     old woman has nothing to do with it, and come down to the other end
+     of the street. Well, if you won't, I will.' And with that he rushed
+     off in the other direction.
+
+     "But I was after him in an instant and caught him by the sleeve.
+
+     "'Where do you live?' said I.
+
+     "'16 Ivy Lane, Brixton,' he answered. 'But don't let yourself be
+     drawn away upon a false scent, Mr. Phelps. Come to the other end of
+     the street and let us see if we can hear of anything.'
+
+     "Nothing was to be lost by following his advice. With the policeman
+     we both hurried down, but only to find the street full of traffic,
+     many people coming and going, but all only too eager to get to a
+     place of safety upon so wet a night. There was no lounger who could
+     tell us who had passed.
+
+     "Then we returned to the office, and searched the stairs and the
+     passage without result. The corridor which led to the room was laid
+     down with a kind of creamy linoleum which shows an impression very
+     easily. We examined it very carefully, but found no outline of any
+     footmark."
+
+     "Had it been raining all evening?"
+
+     "Since about seven."
+
+     "How is it, then, that the woman who came into the room about nine
+     left no traces with her muddy boots?"
+
+     "I am glad you raised the point. It occurred to me at the time. The
+     charwomen are in the habit of taking off their boots at the
+     commissionaire's office, and putting on list slippers."
+
+     "That is very clear. There were no marks, then, though the night was
+     a wet one? The chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary
+     interest. What did you do next?"
+
+     "We examined the room also. There is no possibility of a secret door,
+     and the windows are quite thirty feet from the ground. Both of them
+     were fastened on the inside. The carpet prevents any possibility of a
+     trap-door, and the ceiling is of the ordinary whitewashed kind. I
+     will pledge my life that whoever stole my papers could only have come
+     through the door."
+
+     "How about the fireplace?"
+
+     "They use none. There is a stove. The bell-rope hangs from the wire
+     just to the right of my desk. Whoever rang it must have come right up
+     to the desk to do it. But why should any criminal wish to ring the
+     bell? It is a most insoluble mystery."
+
+     "Certainly the incident was unusual. What were your next steps? You
+     examined the room, I presume, to see if the intruder had left any
+     traces--any cigar-end or dropped glove or hairpin or other trifle?"
+
+     "There was nothing of the sort."
+
+     "No smell?"
+
+     "Well, we never thought of that."
+
+     "Ah, a scent of tobacco would have been worth a great deal to us in
+     such an investigation."
+
+     "I never smoke myself, so I think I should have observed it if there
+     had been any smell of tobacco. There was absolutely no clue of any
+     kind. The only tangible fact was that the commissionaire's wife--Mrs.
+     Tangey was the name--had hurried out of the place. He could give no
+     explanation save that it was about the time when the woman always
+     went home. The policeman and I agreed that our best plan would be to
+     seize the woman before she could get rid of the papers, presuming
+     that she had them.
+
+     "The alarm had reached Scotland Yard by this time, and Mr. Forbes,
+     the detective, came round at once and took up the case with a great
+     deal of energy. We hired a hansom, and in half an hour we were at the
+     address which had been given to us. A young woman opened the door,
+     who proved to be Mrs. Tangey's eldest daughter. Her mother had not
+     come back yet, and we were shown into the front room to wait.
+
+     "About ten minutes later a knock came at the door, and here we made
+     the one serious mistake for which I blame myself. Instead of opening
+     the door ourselves, we allowed the girl to do so. We heard her say,
+     'Mother, there are two men in the house waiting to see you,' and an
+     instant afterwards we heard the patter of feet rushing down the
+     passage. Forbes flung open the door, and we both ran into the back
+     room or kitchen, but the woman had got there before us. She stared at
+     us with defiant eyes, and then, suddenly recognizing me, an
+     expression of absolute astonishment came over her face.
+
+     "'Why, if it isn't Mr. Phelps, of the office!' she cried.
+
+     "'Come, come, who did you think we were when you ran away from us?'
+     asked my companion.
+
+     "'I thought you were the brokers,' said she, 'we have had some
+     trouble with a tradesman.'
+
+     "'That's not quite good enough,' answered Forbes. 'We have reason to
+     believe that you have taken a paper of importance from the Foreign
+     Office, and that you ran in here to dispose of it. You must come back
+     with us to Scotland Yard to be searched.'
+
+     "It was in vain that she protested and resisted. A four-wheeler was
+     brought, and we all three drove back in it. We had first made an
+     examination of the kitchen, and especially of the kitchen fire, to
+     see whether she might have made away with the papers during the
+     instant that she was alone. There were no signs, however, of any
+     ashes or scraps. When we reached Scotland Yard she was handed over at
+     once to the female searcher. I waited in an agony of suspense until
+     she came back with her report. There were no signs of the papers.
+
+     "Then for the first time the horror of my situation came in its full
+     force. Hitherto I had been acting, and action had numbed thought. I
+     had been so confident of regaining the treaty at once that I had not
+     dared to think of what would be the consequence if I failed to do so.
+     But now there was nothing more to be done, and I had leisure to
+     realize my position. It was horrible. Watson there would tell you
+     that I was a nervous, sensitive boy at school. It is my nature. I
+     thought of my uncle and of his colleagues in the Cabinet, of the
+     shame which I had brought upon him, upon myself, upon every one
+     connected with me. What though I was the victim of an extraordinary
+     accident? No allowance is made for accidents where diplomatic
+     interests are at stake. I was ruined, shamefully, hopelessly ruined.
+     I don't know what I did. I fancy I must have made a scene. I have a
+     dim recollection of a group of officials who crowded round me,
+     endeavoring to soothe me. One of them drove down with me to Waterloo,
+     and saw me into the Woking train. I believe that he would have come
+     all the way had it not been that Dr. Ferrier, who lives near me, was
+     going down by that very train. The doctor most kindly took charge of
+     me, and it was well he did so, for I had a fit in the station, and
+     before we reached home I was practically a raving maniac.
+
+     "You can imagine the state of things here when they were roused from
+     their beds by the doctor's ringing and found me in this condition.
+     Poor Annie here and my mother were broken-hearted. Dr. Ferrier had
+     just heard enough from the detective at the station to be able to
+     give an idea of what had happened, and his story did not mend
+     matters. It was evident to all that I was in for a long illness, so
+     Joseph was bundled out of this cheery bedroom, and it was turned into
+     a sick-room for me. Here I have lain, Mr. Holmes, for over nine
+     weeks, unconscious, and raving with brain-fever. If it had not been
+     for Miss Harrison here and for the doctor's care I should not be
+     speaking to you now. She has nursed me by day and a hired nurse has
+     looked after me by night, for in my mad fits I was capable of
+     anything. Slowly my reason has cleared, but it is only during the
+     last three days that my memory has quite returned. Sometimes I wish
+     that it never had. The first thing that I did was to wire to Mr.
+     Forbes, who had the case in hand. He came out, and assures me that,
+     though everything has been done, no trace of a clue has been
+     discovered. The commissionaire and his wife have been examined in
+     every way without any light being thrown upon the matter. The
+     suspicions of the police then rested upon young Gorot, who, as you
+     may remember, stayed over time in the office that night. His
+     remaining behind and his French name were really the only two points
+     which could suggest suspicion; but, as a matter of fact, I did not
+     begin work until he had gone, and his people are of Huguenot
+     extraction, but as English in sympathy and tradition as you and I
+     are. Nothing was found to implicate him in any way, and there the
+     matter dropped. I turn to you, Mr. Holmes, as absolutely my last
+     hope. If you fail me, then my honor as well as my position are
+     forever forfeited."
+
+     The invalid sank back upon his cushions, tired out by this long
+     recital, while his nurse poured him out a glass of some stimulating
+     medicine. Holmes sat silently, with his head thrown back and his eyes
+     closed, in an attitude which might seem listless to a stranger, but
+     which I knew betokened the most intense self-absorption.
+
+     "You statement has been so explicit," said he at last, "that you have
+     really left me very few questions to ask. There is one of the very
+     utmost importance, however. Did you tell any one that you had this
+     special task to perform?"
+
+     "No one."
+
+     "Not Miss Harrison here, for example?"
+
+     "No. I had not been back to Woking between getting the order and
+     executing the commission."
+
+     "And none of your people had by chance been to see you?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "Did any of them know their way about in the office?"
+
+     "Oh, yes, all of them had been shown over it."
+
+     "Still, of course, if you said nothing to any one about the treaty
+     these inquiries are irrelevant."
+
+     "I said nothing."
+
+     "Do you know anything of the commissionaire?"
+
+     "Nothing except that he is an old soldier."
+
+     "What regiment?"
+
+     "Oh, I have heard--Coldstream Guards."
+
+     "Thank you. I have no doubt I can get details from Forbes. The
+     authorities are excellent at amassing facts, though they do not
+     always use them to advantage. What a lovely thing a rose is!"
+
+     He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping
+     stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and
+     green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never
+     before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.
+
+     "There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,"
+     said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built
+     up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the
+     goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other
+     things, our powers our desires, our food, are all really necessary
+     for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra.
+     Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition
+     of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again
+     that we have much to hope from the flowers."
+
+     Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during this demonstration
+     with surprise and a good deal of disappointment written upon their
+     faces. He had fallen into a reverie, with the moss-rose between his
+     fingers. It had lasted some minutes before the young lady broke in
+     upon it.
+
+     "Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?" she
+     asked, with a touch of asperity in her voice.
+
+     "Oh, the mystery!" he answered, coming back with a start to the
+     realities of life. "Well, it would be absurd to deny that the case is
+     a very abstruse and complicated one, but I can promise you that I
+     will look into the matter and let you know any points which may
+     strike me."
+
+     "Do you see any clue?"
+
+     "You have furnished me with seven, but, of course, I must test them
+     before I can pronounce upon their value."
+
+     "You suspect some one?"
+
+     "I suspect myself."
+
+     "What!"
+
+     "Of coming to conclusions too rapidly."
+
+     "Then go to London and test your conclusions."
+
+     "Your advice is very excellent, Miss Harrison," said Holmes, rising.
+     "I think, Watson, we cannot do better. Do not allow yourself to
+     indulge in false hopes, Mr. Phelps. The affair is a very tangled
+     one."
+
+     "I shall be in a fever until I see you again," cried the diplomatist.
+
+     "Well, I'll come out by the same train to-morrow, though it's more
+     than likely that my report will be a negative one."
+
+     "God bless you for promising to come," cried our client. "It gives me
+     fresh life to know that something is being done. By the way, I have
+     had a letter from Lord Holdhurst."
+
+     "Ha! What did he say?"
+
+     "He was cold, but not harsh. I dare say my severe illness prevented
+     him from being that. He repeated that the matter was of the utmost
+     importance, and added that no steps would be taken about my
+     future--by which he means, of course, my dismissal--until my health
+     was restored and I had an opportunity of repairing my misfortune."
+
+     "Well, that was reasonable and considerate," said Holmes. "Come,
+     Watson, for we have a good day's work before us in town."
+
+     Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soon
+     whirling up in a Portsmouth train. Holmes was sunk in profound
+     thought, and hardly opened his mouth until we had passed Clapham
+     Junction.
+
+     "It's a very cheery thing to come into London by any of these lines
+     which run high, and allow you to look down upon the houses like
+     this."
+
+     I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon
+     explained himself.
+
+     "Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising up above the
+     slates, like brick islands in a lead-colored sea."
+
+     "The board-schools."
+
+     "Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules with hundreds
+     of bright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wise,
+     better England of the future. I suppose that man Phelps does not
+     drink?"
+
+     "I should not think so."
+
+     "Nor should I, but we are bound to take every possibility into
+     account. The poor devil has certainly got himself into very deep
+     water, and it's a question whether we shall ever be able to get him
+     ashore. What did you think of Miss Harrison?"
+
+     "A girl of strong character."
+
+     "Yes, but she is a good sort, or I am mistaken. She and her brother
+     are the only children of an iron-master somewhere up Northumberland
+     way. He got engaged to her when traveling last winter, and she came
+     down to be introduced to his people, with her brother as escort. Then
+     came the smash, and she stayed on to nurse her lover, while brother
+     Joseph, finding himself pretty snug, stayed on too. I've been making
+     a few independent inquiries, you see. But to-day must be a day of
+     inquiries."
+
+     "My practice--" I began.
+
+     "Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than mine--" said
+     Holmes, with some asperity.
+
+     "I was going to say that my practice could get along very well for a
+     day or two, since it is the slackest time in the year."
+
+     "Excellent," said he, recovering his good-humor. "Then we'll look
+     into this matter together. I think that we should begin by seeing
+     Forbes. He can probably tell us all the details we want until we know
+     from what side the case is to be approached."
+
+     "You said you had a clue?"
+
+     "Well, we have several, but we can only test their value by further
+     inquiry. The most difficult crime to track is the one which is
+     purposeless. Now this is not purposeless. Who is it who profits by
+     it? There is the French ambassador, there is the Russian, there is
+     who-ever might sell it to either of these, and there is Lord
+     Holdhurst."
+
+     "Lord Holdhurst!"
+
+     "Well, it is just conceivable that a statesman might find himself in
+     a position where he was not sorry to have such a document
+     accidentally destroyed."
+
+     "Not a statesman with the honorable record of Lord Holdhurst?"
+
+     "It is a possibility and we cannot afford to disregard it. We shall
+     see the noble lord to-day and find out if he can tell us anything.
+     Meanwhile I have already set inquiries on foot."
+
+     "Already?"
+
+     "Yes, I sent wires from Woking station to every evening paper in
+     London. This advertisement will appear in each of them."
+
+     He handed over a sheet torn from a note-book. On it was scribbled in
+     pencil:
+
+     "£10 reward. The number of the cab which dropped a fare at or about
+     the door of the Foreign Office in Charles Street at quarter to ten in
+     the evening of May 23d. Apply 221b, Baker Street."
+
+     "You are confident that the thief came in a cab?"
+
+     "If not, there is no harm done. But if Mr. Phelps is correct in
+     stating that there is no hiding-place either in the room or the
+     corridors, then the person must have come from outside. If he came
+     from outside on so wet a night, and yet left no trace of damp upon
+     the linoleum, which was examined within a few minutes of his passing,
+     then it is exceeding probably that he came in a cab. Yes, I think
+     that we may safely deduce a cab."
+
+     "It sounds plausible."
+
+     "That is one of the clues of which I spoke. It may lead us to
+     something. And then, of course, there is the bell--which is the most
+     distinctive feature of the case. Why should the bell ring? Was it the
+     thief who did it out of bravado? Or was it some one who was with the
+     thief who did it in order to prevent the crime? Or was it an
+     accident? Or was it--?" He sank back into the state of intense and
+     silent thought from which he had emerged; but it seemed to me,
+     accustomed as I was to his every mood, that some new possibility had
+     dawned suddenly upon him.
+
+     It was twenty past three when we reached our terminus, and after a
+     hasty luncheon at the buffet we pushed on at once to Scotland Yard.
+     Holmes had already wired to Forbes, and we found him waiting to
+     receive us--a small, foxy man with a sharp but by no means amiable
+     expression. He was decidedly frigid in his manner to us, especially
+     when he heard the errand upon which we had come.
+
+     "I've heard of your methods before now, Mr. Holmes," said he, tartly.
+     "You are ready enough to use all the information that the police can
+     lay at your disposal, and then you try to finish the case yourself
+     and bring discredit on them."
+
+     "On the contrary," said Holmes, "out of my last fifty-three cases my
+     name has only appeared in four, and the police have had all the
+     credit in forty-nine. I don't blame you for not knowing this, for you
+     are young and inexperienced, but if you wish to get on in your new
+     duties you will work with me and not against me."
+
+     "I'd be very glad of a hint or two," said the detective, changing his
+     manner. "I've certainly had no credit from the case so far."
+
+     "What steps have you taken?"
+
+     "Tangey, the commissionaire, has been shadowed. He left the Guards
+     with a good character and we can find nothing against him. His wife
+     is a bad lot, though. I fancy she knows more about this than
+     appears."
+
+     "Have you shadowed her?"
+
+     "We have set one of our women on to her. Mrs. Tangey drinks, and our
+     woman has been with her twice when she was well on, but she could get
+     nothing out of her."
+
+     "I understand that they have had brokers in the house?"
+
+     "Yes, but they were paid off."
+
+     "Where did the money come from?"
+
+     "That was all right. His pension was due. They have not shown any
+     sign of being in funds."
+
+     "What explanation did she give of having answered the bell when Mr.
+     Phelps rang for the coffee?"
+
+     "She said that he husband was very tired and she wished to relieve
+     him."
+
+     "Well, certainly that would agree with his being found a little later
+     asleep in his chair. There is nothing against them then but the
+     woman's character. Did you ask her why she hurried away that night?
+     Her haste attracted the attention of the police constable."
+
+     "She was later than usual and wanted to get home."
+
+     "Did you point out to her that you and Mr. Phelps, who started at
+     least twenty minutes after he, got home before her?"
+
+     "She explains that by the difference between a 'bus and a hansom."
+
+     "Did she make it clear why, on reaching her house, she ran into the
+     back kitchen?"
+
+     "Because she had the money there with which to pay off the brokers."
+
+     "She has at least an answer for everything. Did you ask her whether
+     in leaving she met any one or saw any one loitering about Charles
+     Street?"
+
+     "She saw no one but the constable."
+
+     "Well, you seem to have cross-examined her pretty thoroughly. What
+     else have you done?"
+
+     "The clerk Gorot has been shadowed all these nine weeks, but without
+     result. We can show nothing against him."
+
+     "Anything else?"
+
+     "Well, we have nothing else to go upon--no evidence of any kind."
+
+     "Have you formed a theory about how that bell rang?"
+
+     "Well, I must confess that it beats me. It was a cool hand, whoever
+     it was, to go and give the alarm like that."
+
+     "Yes, it was a queer thing to do. Many thanks to you for what you
+     have told me. If I can put the man into your hands you shall hear
+     from me. Come along, Watson."
+
+     "Where are we going to now?" I asked, as we left the office.
+
+     "We are now going to interview Lord Holdhurst, the cabinet minister
+     and future premier of England."
+
+     We were fortunate in finding that Lord Holdhurst was still in his
+     chambers in Downing Street, and on Holmes sending in his card we were
+     instantly shown up. The statesman received us with that old-fashioned
+     courtesy for which he is remarkable, and seated us on the two
+     luxuriant lounges on either side of the fireplace. Standing on the
+     rug between us, with his slight, tall figure, his sharp features,
+     thoughtful face, and curling hair prematurely tinged with gray, he
+     seemed to represent that not too common type, a nobleman who is in
+     truth noble.
+
+     "Your name is very familiar to me, Mr. Holmes," said he, smiling.
+     "And, of course, I cannot pretend to be ignorant of the object of
+     your visit. There has only been one occurrence in these offices which
+     could call for your attention. In whose interest are you acting, may
+     I ask?"
+
+     "In that of Mr. Percy Phelps," answered Holmes.
+
+     "Ah, my unfortunate nephew! You can understand that our kinship makes
+     it the more impossible for me to screen him in any way. I fear that
+     the incident must have a very prejudicial effect upon his career."
+
+     "But if the document is found?"
+
+     "Ah, that, of course, would be different."
+
+     "I had one or two questions which I wished to ask you, Lord
+     Holdhurst."
+
+     "I shall be happy to give you any information in my power."
+
+     "Was it in this room that you gave your instructions as to the
+     copying of the document?"
+
+     "It was."
+
+     "Then you could hardly have been overheard?"
+
+     "It is out of the question."
+
+     "Did you ever mention to any one that it was your intention to give
+     any one the treaty to be copied?"
+
+     "Never."
+
+     "You are certain of that?"
+
+     "Absolutely."
+
+     "Well, since you never said so, and Mr. Phelps never said so, and
+     nobody else knew anything of the matter, then the thief's presence in
+     the room was purely accidental. He saw his chance and he took it."
+
+     The statesman smiled. "You take me out of my province there," said
+     he.
+
+     Holmes considered for a moment. "There is another very important
+     point which I wish to discuss with you," said he. "You feared, as I
+     understand, that very grave results might follow from the details of
+     this treaty becoming known."
+
+     A shadow passed over the expressive face of the statesman. "Very
+     grave results indeed."
+
+     "And have they occurred?"
+
+     "Not yet."
+
+     "If the treaty had reached, let us say, the French or Russian Foreign
+     Office, you would expect to hear of it?"
+
+     "I should," said Lord Holdhurst, with a wry face.
+
+     "Since nearly ten weeks have elapsed, then, and nothing has been
+     heard, it is not unfair to suppose that for some reason the treaty
+     has not reached them."
+
+     Lord Holdhurst shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "We can hardly suppose, Mr. Holmes, that the thief took the treaty in
+     order to frame it and hang it up."
+
+     "Perhaps he is waiting for a better price."
+
+     "If he waits a little longer he will get no price at all. The treaty
+     will cease to be secret in a few months."
+
+     "That is most important," said Holmes. "Of course, it is a possible
+     supposition that the thief has had a sudden illness--"
+
+     "An attack of brain-fever, for example?" asked the statesman,
+     flashing a swift glance at him.
+
+     "I did not say so," said Holmes, imperturbably. "And now, Lord
+     Holdhurst, we have already taken up too much of your valuable time,
+     and we shall wish you good-day."
+
+     "Every success to your investigation, be the criminal who it may,"
+     answered the nobleman, as he bowed us out the door.
+
+     "He's a fine fellow," said Holmes, as we came out into Whitehall.
+     "But he has a struggle to keep up his position. He is far from rich
+     and has many calls. You noticed, of course, that his boots had been
+     re-soled? Now, Watson, I won't detain you from your legitimate work
+     any longer. I shall do nothing more to-day, unless I have an answer
+     to my cab advertisement. But I should be extremely obliged to you if
+     you would come down with me to Woking to-morrow, by the same train
+     which we took yesterday."
+
+     I met him accordingly next morning and we traveled down to Woking
+     together. He had had no answer to his advertisement, he said, and no
+     fresh light had been thrown upon the case. He had, when he so willed
+     it, the utter immobility of countenance of a red Indian, and I could
+     not gather from his appearance whether he was satisfied or not with
+     the position of the case. His conversation, I remember, was about the
+     Bertillon system of measurements, and he expressed his enthusiastic
+     admiration of the French savant.
+
+     We found our client still under the charge of his devoted nurse, but
+     looking considerably better than before. He rose from the sofa and
+     greeted us without difficulty when we entered.
+
+     "Any news?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+     "My report, as I expected, is a negative one," said Holmes. "I have
+     seen Forbes, and I have seen your uncle, and I have set one or two
+     trains of inquiry upon foot which may lead to something."
+
+     "You have not lost heart, then?"
+
+     "By no means."
+
+     "God bless you for saying that!" cried Miss Harrison. "If we keep our
+     courage and our patience the truth must come out."
+
+     "We have more to tell you than you have for us," said Phelps,
+     reseating himself upon the couch.
+
+     "I hoped you might have something."
+
+     "Yes, we have had an adventure during the night, and one which might
+     have proved to be a serious one." His expression grew very grave as
+     he spoke, and a look of something akin to fear sprang up in his eyes.
+     "Do you know," said he, "that I begin to believe that I am the
+     unconscious centre of some monstrous conspiracy, and that my life is
+     aimed at as well as my honor?"
+
+     "Ah!" cried Holmes.
+
+     "It sounds incredible, for I have not, as far as I know, an enemy in
+     the world. Yet from last night's experience I can come to no other
+     conclusion."
+
+     "Pray let me hear it."
+
+     "You must know that last night was the very first night that I have
+     ever slept without a nurse in the room. I was so much better that I
+     thought I could dispense with one. I had a night-light burning,
+     however. Well, about two in the morning I had sunk into a light sleep
+     when I was suddenly aroused by a slight noise. It was like the sound
+     which a mouse makes when it is gnawing a plank, and I lay listening
+     to it for some time under the impression that it must come from that
+     cause. Then it grew louder, and suddenly there came from the window a
+     sharp metallic snick. I sat up in amazement. There could be no doubt
+     what the sounds were now. The first ones had been caused by some one
+     forcing an instrument through the slit between the sashes, and the
+     second by the catch being pressed back.
+
+     "There was a pause then for about ten minutes, as if the person were
+     waiting to see whether the noise had awakened me. Then I heard a
+     gentle creaking as the window was very slowly opened. I could stand
+     it no longer, for my nerves are not what they used to be. I sprang
+     out of bed and flung open the shutters. A man was crouching at the
+     window. I could see little of him, for he was gone like a flash. He
+     was wrapped in some sort of cloak which came across the lower part of
+     his face. One thing only I am sure of, and that is that he had some
+     weapon in his hand. It looked to me like a long knife. I distinctly
+     saw the gleam of it as he turned to run."
+
+     "This is most interesting," said Holmes. "Pray what did you do then?"
+
+     "I should have followed him through the open window if I had been
+     stronger. As it was, I rang the bell and roused the house. It took me
+     some little time, for the bell rings in the kitchen and the servants
+     all sleep upstairs. I shouted, however, and that brought Joseph down,
+     and he roused the others. Joseph and the groom found marks on the bed
+     outside the window, but the weather has been so dry lately that they
+     found it hopeless to follow the trail across the grass. There's a
+     place, however, on the wooden fence which skirts the road which shows
+     signs, they tell me, as if some one had got over, and had snapped the
+     top of the rail in doing so. I have said nothing to the local police
+     yet, for I thought I had best have your opinion first."
+
+     This tale of our client's appeared to have an extraordinary effect
+     upon Sherlock Holmes. He rose from his chair and paced about the room
+     in uncontrollable excitement.
+
+     "Misfortunes never come single," said Phelps, smiling, though it was
+     evident that his adventure had somewhat shaken him.
+
+     "You have certainly had your share," said Holmes. "Do you think you
+     could walk round the house with me?"
+
+     "Oh, yes, I should like a little sunshine. Joseph will come, too."
+
+     "And I also," said Miss Harrison.
+
+     "I am afraid not," said Holmes, shaking his head. "I think I must ask
+     you to remain sitting exactly where you are."
+
+     The young lady resumed her seat with an air of displeasure. Her
+     brother, however, had joined us and we set off all four together. We
+     passed round the lawn to the outside of the young diplomatist's
+     window. There were, as he had said, marks upon the bed, but they were
+     hopelessly blurred and vague. Holmes stopped over them for an
+     instant, and then rose shrugging his shoulders.
+
+     "I don't think any one could make much of this," said he. "Let us go
+     round the house and see why this particular room was chose by the
+     burglar. I should have thought those larger windows of the
+     drawing-room and dining-room would have had more attractions for
+     him."
+
+     "They are more visible from the road," suggested Mr. Joseph Harrison.
+
+     "Ah, yes, of course. There is a door here which he might have
+     attempted. What is it for?"
+
+     "It is the side entrance for trades-people. Of course it is locked at
+     night."
+
+     "Have you ever had an alarm like this before?"
+
+     "Never," said our client.
+
+     "Do you keep plate in the house, or anything to attract burglars?"
+
+     "Nothing of value."
+
+     Holmes strolled round the house with his hands in his pockets and a
+     negligent air which was unusual with him.
+
+     "By the way," said he to Joseph Harrison, "you found some place, I
+     understand, where the fellow scaled the fence. Let us have a look at
+     that!"
+
+     The plump young man led us to a spot where the top of one of the
+     wooden rails had been cracked. A small fragment of the wood was
+     hanging down. Holmes pulled it off and examined it critically.
+
+     "Do you think that was done last night? It looks rather old, does it
+     not?"
+
+     "Well, possibly so."
+
+     "There are no marks of any one jumping down upon the other side. No,
+     I fancy we shall get no help here. Let us go back to the bedroom and
+     talk the matter over."
+
+     Percy Phelps was walking very slowly, leaning upon the arm of his
+     future brother-in-law. Holmes walked swiftly across the lawn, and we
+     were at the open window of the bedroom long before the others came
+     up.
+
+     "Miss Harrison," said Holmes, speaking with the utmost intensity of
+     manner, "you must stay where you are all day. Let nothing prevent you
+     from staying where you are all day. It is of the utmost importance."
+
+     "Certainly, if you wish it, Mr. Holmes," said the girl in
+     astonishment.
+
+     "When you go to bed lock the door of this room on the outside and
+     keep the key. Promise to do this."
+
+     "But Percy?"
+
+     "He will come to London with us."
+
+     "And am I to remain here?"
+
+     "It is for his sake. You can serve him. Quick! Promise!"
+
+     She gave a quick nod of assent just as the other two came up.
+
+     "Why do you sit moping there, Annie?" cried her brother. "Come out
+     into the sunshine!"
+
+     "No, thank you, Joseph. I have a slight headache and this room is
+     deliciously cool and soothing."
+
+     "What do you propose now, Mr. Holmes?" asked our client.
+
+     "Well, in investigating this minor affair we must not lose sight of
+     our main inquiry. It would be a very great help to me if you would
+     come up to London with us."
+
+     "At once?"
+
+     "Well, as soon as you conveniently can. Say in an hour."
+
+     "I feel quite strong enough, if I can really be of any help."
+
+     "The greatest possible."
+
+     "Perhaps you would like me to stay there to-night?"
+
+     "I was just going to propose it."
+
+     "Then, if my friend of the night comes to revisit me, he will find
+     the bird flown. We are all in your hands, Mr. Holmes, and you must
+     tell us exactly what you would like done. Perhaps you would prefer
+     that Joseph came with us so as to look after me?"
+
+     "Oh, no; my friend Watson is a medical man, you know, and he'll look
+     after you. We'll have our lunch here, if you will permit us, and then
+     we shall all three set off for town together."
+
+     It was arranged as he suggested, though Miss Harrison excused herself
+     from leaving the bedroom, in accordance with Holmes's suggestion.
+     What the object of my friend's manoeuvres was I could not conceive,
+     unless it were to keep the lady away from Phelps, who, rejoiced by
+     his returning health and by the prospect of action, lunched with us
+     in the dining-room. Holmes had still more startling surprise for us,
+     however, for, after accompanying us down to the station and seeing us
+     into our carriage, he calmly announced that he had no intention of
+     leaving Woking.
+
+     "There are one or two small points which I should desire to clear up
+     before I go," said he. "Your absence, Mr. Phelps, will in some ways
+     rather assist me. Watson, when you reach London you would oblige me
+     by driving at once to Baker Street with our friend here, and
+     remaining with him until I see you again. It is fortunate that you
+     are old school-fellows, as you must have much to talk over. Mr.
+     Phelps can have the spare bedroom to-night, and I will be with you in
+     time for breakfast, for there is a train which will take me into
+     Waterloo at eight."
+
+     "But how about our investigation in London?" asked Phelps, ruefully.
+
+     "We can do that to-morrow. I think that just at present I can be of
+     more immediate use here."
+
+     "You might tell them at Briarbrae that I hope to be back to-morrow
+     night," cried Phelps, as we began to move from the platform.
+
+     "I hardly expect to go back to Briarbrae," answered Holmes, and waved
+     his hand to us cheerily as we shot out from the station.
+
+     Phelps and I talked it over on our journey, but neither of us could
+     devise a satisfactory reason for this new development.
+
+     "I suppose he wants to find out some clue as to the burglary last
+     night, if a burglar it was. For myself, I don't believe it was an
+     ordinary thief."
+
+     "What is your own idea, then?"
+
+     "Upon my word, you may put it down to my weak nerves or not, but I
+     believe there is some deep political intrigue going on around me, and
+     that for some reason that passes my understanding my life is aimed at
+     by the conspirators. It sounds high-flown and absurd, but consider
+     the facts! Why should a thief try to break in at a bedroom window,
+     where there could be no hope of any plunder, and why should he come
+     with a long knife in his hand?"
+
+     "You are sure it was not a house-breaker's jimmy?"
+
+     "Oh, no, it was a knife. I saw the flash of the blade quite
+     distinctly."
+
+     "But why on earth should you be pursued with such animosity?"
+
+     "Ah, that is the question."
+
+     "Well, if Holmes takes the same view, that would account for his
+     action, would it not? Presuming that your theory is correct, if he
+     can lay his hands upon the man who threatened you last night he will
+     have gone a long way towards finding who took the naval treaty. It is
+     absurd to suppose that you have two enemies, one of whom robs you,
+     while the other threatens your life."
+
+     "But Holmes said that he was not going to Briarbrae."
+
+     "I have known him for some time," said I, "but I never knew him do
+     anything yet without a very good reason," and with that our
+     conversation drifted off on to other topics.
+
+     But it was a weary day for me. Phelps was still weak after his long
+     illness, and his misfortune made him querulous and nervous. In vain I
+     endeavored to interest him in Afghanistan, in India, in social
+     questions, in anything which might take his mind out of the groove.
+     He would always come back to his lost treaty, wondering, guessing,
+     speculating, as to what Holmes was doing, what steps Lord Holdhurst
+     was taking, what news we should have in the morning. As the evening
+     wore on his excitement became quite painful.
+
+     "You have implicit faith in Holmes?" he asked.
+
+     "I have seen him do some remarkable things."
+
+     "But he never brought light into anything quite so dark as this?"
+
+     "Oh, yes, I have known him solve questions which presented fewer
+     clues than yours."
+
+     "But not where such large interests are at stake?"
+
+     "I don't know that. To my certain knowledge he has acted on behalf of
+     three of the reigning houses of Europe in very vital matters."
+
+     "But you know him well, Watson. He is such an inscrutable fellow that
+     I never quite know what to make of him. Do you think he is hopeful?
+     Do you think he expects to make a success of it?"
+
+     "He has said nothing."
+
+     "That is a bad sign."
+
+     "On the contrary, I have noticed that when he is off the trail he
+     generally says so. It is when he is on a scent and is not quite
+     absolutely sure yet that it is the right one that he is most
+     taciturn. Now, my dear fellow, we can't help matters by making
+     ourselves nervous about them, so let me implore you to go to bed and
+     so be fresh for whatever may await us to-morrow."
+
+     I was able at last to persuade my companion to take my advice, though
+     I knew from his excited manner that there was not much hope of sleep
+     for him. Indeed, his mood was infectious, for I lay tossing half the
+     night myself, brooding over this strange problem, and inventing a
+     hundred theories, each of which was more impossible than the last.
+     Why had Holmes remained at Woking? Why had he asked Miss Harrison to
+     remain in the sick-room all day? Why had he been so careful not to
+     inform the people at Briarbrae that he intended to remain near them?
+     I cudgelled my brains until I fell asleep in the endeavor to find
+     some explanation which would cover all these facts.
+
+     It was seven o'clock when I awoke, and I set off at once for Phelps's
+     room, to find him haggard and spent after a sleepless night. His
+     first question was whether Holmes had arrived yet.
+
+     "He'll be here when he promised," said I, "and not an instant sooner
+     or later."
+
+     And my words were true, for shortly after eight a hansom dashed up to
+     the door and our friend got out of it. Standing in the window we saw
+     that his left hand was swathed in a bandage and that his face was
+     very grim and pale. He entered the house, but it was some little time
+     before he came upstairs.
+
+     "He looks like a beaten man," cried Phelps.
+
+     I was forced to confess that he was right. "After all," said I, "the
+     clue of the matter lies probably here in town."
+
+     Phelps gave a groan.
+
+     "I don't know how it is," said he, "but I had hoped for so much from
+     his return. But surely his hand was not tied up like that yesterday.
+     What can be the matter?"
+
+     "You are not wounded, Holmes?" I asked, as my friend entered the
+     room.
+
+     "Tut, it is only a scratch through my own clumsiness," he answered,
+     nodding his good-mornings to us. "This case of yours, Mr. Phelps, is
+     certainly one of the darkest which I have ever investigated."
+
+     "I feared that you would find it beyond you."
+
+     "It has been a most remarkable experience."
+
+     "That bandage tells of adventures," said I. "Won't you tell us what
+     has happened?"
+
+     "After breakfast, my dear Watson. Remember that I have breathed
+     thirty miles of Surrey air this morning. I suppose that there has
+     been no answer from my cabman advertisement? Well, well, we cannot
+     expect to score every time."
+
+     The table was all laid, and just as I was about to ring Mrs. Hudson
+     entered with the tea and coffee. A few minutes later she brought in
+     three covers, and we all drew up to the table, Holmes ravenous, I
+     curious, and Phelps in the gloomiest state of depression.
+
+     "Mrs. Hudson has risen to the occasion," said Holmes, uncovering a
+     dish of curried chicken. "Her cuisine is a little limited, but she
+     has as good an idea of breakfast as a Scotch-woman. What have you
+     here, Watson?"
+
+     "Ham and eggs," I answered.
+
+     "Good! What are you going to take, Mr. Phelps--curried fowl or eggs,
+     or will you help yourself?"
+
+     "Thank you. I can eat nothing," said Phelps.
+
+     "Oh, come! Try the dish before you."
+
+     "Thank you, I would really rather not."
+
+     "Well, then," said Holmes, with a mischievous twinkle, "I suppose
+     that you have no objection to helping me?"
+
+     Phelps raised the cover, and as he did so he uttered a scream, and
+     sat there staring with a face as white as the plate upon which he
+     looked. Across the centre of it was lying a little cylinder of
+     blue-gray paper. He caught it up, devoured it with his eyes, and then
+     danced madly about the room, passing it to his bosom and shrieking
+     out in his delight. Then he fell back into an arm-chair so limp and
+     exhausted with his own emotions that we had to pour brandy down his
+     throat to keep him from fainting.
+
+     "There! there!" said Holmes, soothing, patting him upon the shoulder.
+     "It was too bad to spring it on you like this, but Watson here will
+     tell you that I never can resist a touch of the dramatic."
+
+     Phelps seized his hand and kissed it. "God bless you!" he cried. "You
+     have saved my honor."
+
+     "Well, my own was at stake, you know," said Holmes. "I assure you it
+     is just as hateful to me to fail in a case as it can be to you to
+     blunder over a commission."
+
+     Phelps thrust away the precious document into the innermost pocket of
+     his coat.
+
+     "I have not the heart to interrupt your breakfast any further, and
+     yet I am dying to know how you got it and where it was."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes swallowed a cup of coffee, and turned his attention
+     to the ham and eggs. Then he rose, lit his pipe, and settled himself
+     down into his chair.
+
+     "I'll tell you what I did first, and how I came to do it afterwards,"
+     said he. "After leaving you at the station I went for a charming walk
+     through some admirable Surrey scenery to a pretty little village
+     called Ripley, where I had my tea at an inn, and took the precaution
+     of filling my flask and of putting a paper of sandwiches in my
+     pocket. There I remained until evening, when I set off for Woking
+     again, and found myself in the high-road outside Briarbrae just after
+     sunset.
+
+     "Well, I waited until the road was clear--it is never a very
+     frequented one at any time, I fancy--and then I clambered over the
+     fence into the grounds."
+
+     "Surely the gate was open!" ejaculated Phelps.
+
+     "Yes, but I have a peculiar taste in these matters. I chose the place
+     where the three fir-trees stand, and behind their screen I got over
+     without the least chance of any one in the house being able to see
+     me. I crouched down among the bushes on the other side, and crawled
+     from one to the other--witness the disreputable state of my trouser
+     knees--until I had reached the clump of rhododendrons just opposite
+     to your bedroom window. There I squatted down and awaited
+     developments.
+
+     "The blind was not down in your room, and I could see Miss Harrison
+     sitting there reading by the table. It was quarter-past ten when she
+     closed her book, fastened the shutters, and retired.
+
+     "I heard her shut the door, and felt quite sure that she had turned
+     the key in the lock."
+
+     "The key!" ejaculated Phelps.
+
+     "Yes, I had given Miss Harrison instructions to lock the door on the
+     outside and take the key with her when she went to bed. She carried
+     out every one of my injunctions to the letter, and certainly without
+     her cooperation you would not have that paper in you coat-pocket. She
+     departed then and the lights went out, and I was left squatting in
+     the rhododendron-bush.
+
+     "The night was fine, but still it was a very weary vigil. Of course
+     it has the sort of excitement about it that the sportsman feels when
+     he lies beside the water-course and waits for the big game. It was
+     very long, though--almost as long, Watson, as when you and I waited
+     in that deadly room when we looked into the little problem of the
+     Speckled Band. There was a church-clock down at Woking which struck
+     the quarters, and I thought more than once that it had stopped. At
+     last however about two in the morning, I suddenly heard the gentle
+     sound of a bolt being pushed back and the creaking of a key. A moment
+     later the servant's door was opened, and Mr. Joseph Harrison stepped
+     out into the moonlight."
+
+     "Joseph!" ejaculated Phelps.
+
+     "He was bare-headed, but he had a black coat thrown over his shoulder
+     so that he could conceal his face in an instant if there were any
+     alarm. He walked on tiptoe under the shadow of the wall, and when he
+     reached the window he worked a long-bladed knife through the sash and
+     pushed back the catch. Then he flung open the window, and putting his
+     knife through the crack in the shutters, he thrust the bar up and
+     swung them open.
+
+     "From where I lay I had a perfect view of the inside of the room and
+     of every one of his movements. He lit the two candles which stood
+     upon the mantelpiece, and then he proceeded to turn back the corner
+     of the carpet in the neighborhood of the door. Presently he stopped
+     and picked out a square piece of board, such as is usually left to
+     enable plumbers to get at the joints of the gas-pipes. This one
+     covered, as a matter of fact, the T joint which gives off the pipe
+     which supplies the kitchen underneath. Out of this hiding-place he
+     drew that little cylinder of paper, pushed down the board, rearranged
+     the carpet, blew out the candles, and walked straight into my arms as
+     I stood waiting for him outside the window.
+
+     "Well, he has rather more viciousness than I gave him credit for, has
+     Master Joseph. He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grasp him
+     twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper hand
+     of him. He looked murder out of the only eye he could see with when
+     we had finished, but he listened to reason and gave up the papers.
+     Having got them I let my man go, but I wired full particulars to
+     Forbes this morning. If he is quick enough to catch his bird, well
+     and good. But if, as I shrewdly suspect, he finds the nest empty
+     before he gets there, why, all the better for the government. I fancy
+     that Lord Holdhurst for one, and Mr. Percy Phelps for another, would
+     very much rather that the affair never got as far as a police-court.
+
+     "My God!" gasped our client. "Do you tell me that during these long
+     ten weeks of agony the stolen papers were within the very room with
+     me all the time?"
+
+     "So it was."
+
+     "And Joseph! Joseph a villain and a thief!"
+
+     "Hum! I am afraid Joseph's character is a rather deeper and more
+     dangerous one than one might judge from his appearance. From what I
+     have heard from him this morning, I gather that he has lost heavily
+     in dabbling with stocks, and that he is ready to do anything on earth
+     to better his fortunes. Being an absolutely selfish man, when a
+     chance presented itself he did not allow either his sister's
+     happiness or your reputation to hold his hand."
+
+     Percy Phelps sank back in his chair. "My head whirls," said he. "Your
+     words have dazed me."
+
+     "The principal difficulty in your case," remarked Holmes, in his
+     didactic fashion, "lay in the fact of there being too much evidence.
+     What was vital was overlaid and hidden by what was irrelevant. Of all
+     the facts which were presented to us we had to pick just those which
+     we deemed to be essential, and then piece them together in their
+     order, so as to reconstruct this very remarkable chain of events. I
+     had already begun to suspect Joseph, from the fact that you had
+     intended to travel home with him that night, and that therefore it
+     was a likely enough thing that he should call for you, knowing the
+     Foreign Office well, upon his way. When I heard that some one had
+     been so anxious to get into the bedroom, in which no one but Joseph
+     could have concealed anything--you told us in your narrative how you
+     had turned Joseph out when you arrived with the doctor--my suspicions
+     all changed to certainties, especially as the attempt was made on the
+     first night upon which the nurse was absent, showing that the
+     intruder was well acquainted with the ways of the house."
+
+     "How blind I have been!"
+
+     "The facts of the case, as far as I have worked them out, are these:
+     this Joseph Harrison entered the office through the Charles Street
+     door, and knowing his way he walked straight into your room the
+     instant after you left it. Finding no one there he promptly rang the
+     bell, and at the instant that he did so his eyes caught the paper
+     upon the table. A glance showed him that chance had put in his way a
+     State document of immense value, and in an instant he had thrust it
+     into his pocket and was gone. A few minutes elapsed, as you remember,
+     before the sleepy commissionaire drew your attention to the bell, and
+     those were just enough to give the thief time to make his escape.
+
+     "He made his way to Woking by the first train, and having examined
+     his booty and assured himself that it really was of immense value, he
+     had concealed it in what he thought was a very safe place, with the
+     intention of taking it out again in a day or two, and carrying it to
+     the French embassy, or wherever he thought that a long price was to
+     be had. Then came your sudden return. He, without a moment's warning,
+     was bundled out of his room, and from that time onward there were
+     always at least two of you there to prevent him from regaining his
+     treasure. The situation to him must have been a maddening one. But at
+     last he thought he saw his chance. He tried to steal in, but was
+     baffled by your wakefulness. You remember that you did not take your
+     usual draught that night."
+
+     "I remember."
+
+     "I fancy that he had taken steps to make that draught efficacious,
+     and that he quite relied upon your being unconscious. Of course, I
+     understood that he would repeat the attempt whenever it could be done
+     with safety. Your leaving the room gave him the chance he wanted. I
+     kept Miss Harrison in it all day so that he might not anticipate us.
+     Then, having given him the idea that the coast was clear, I kept
+     guard as I have described. I already knew that the papers were
+     probably in the room, but I had no desire to rip up all the planking
+     and skirting in search of them. I let him take them, therefore, from
+     the hiding-place, and so saved myself an infinity of trouble. Is
+     there any other point which I can make clear?"
+
+     "Why did he try the window on the first occasion," I asked, "when he
+     might have entered by the door?"
+
+     "In reaching the door he would have to pass seven bedrooms. On the
+     other hand, he could get out on to the lawn with ease. Anything
+     else?"
+
+     "You do not think," asked Phelps, "that he had any murderous
+     intention? The knife was only meant as a tool."
+
+     "It may be so," answered Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. "I can only
+     say for certain that Mr. Joseph Harrison is a gentleman to whose
+     mercy I should be extremely unwilling to trust."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                THE FINAL PROBLEM
+
+     It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the
+     last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which
+     my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished.  In an incoherent
+     and, as I deeply feel, an entirely inadequate fashion, I have
+     endeavored to give some account of my strange experiences in his
+     company from the chance which first brought us together at the period
+     of the "Study in Scarlet," up to the time of his interference in the
+     matter of the "Naval Treaty"--an interference which had the
+     unquestionable effect of preventing a serious international
+     complication.  It was my intention to have stopped there, and to have
+     said nothing of that event which has created a void in my life which
+     the lapse of two years has done little to fill.  My hand has been
+     forced, however, by the recent letters in which Colonel James
+     Moriarty defends the memory of his brother, and I have no choice but
+     to lay the facts before the public exactly as they occurred.  I alone
+     know the absolute truth of the matter, and I am satisfied that the
+     time has come when no good purpose is to be served by its
+     suppression.  As far as I know, there have been only three accounts
+     in the public press:  that in the Journal de Genève on May 6th, 1891,
+     the Reuter's despatch in the English papers on May 7th, and finally
+     the recent letters to which I have alluded.  Of these the first and
+     second were extremely condensed, while the last is, as I shall now
+     show, an absolute perversion of the facts.  It lies with me to tell
+     for the first time what really took place between Professor Moriarty
+     and Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
+
+     It may be remembered that after my marriage, and my subsequent start
+     in private practice, the very intimate relations which had existed
+     between Holmes and myself became to some extent modified.  He still
+     came to me from time to time when he desired a companion in his
+     investigation, but these occasions grew more and more seldom, until I
+     find that in the year 1890 there were only three cases of which I
+     retain any record.  During the winter of that year and the early
+     spring of 1891, I saw in the papers that he had been engaged by the
+     French government upon a matter of supreme importance, and I received
+     two notes from Holmes, dated from Narbonne and from Nimes, from which
+     I gathered that his stay in France was likely to be a long one.  It
+     was with some surprise, therefore, that I saw him walk into my
+     consulting-room upon the evening of April 24th.  It struck me that he
+     was looking even paler and thinner than usual.
+
+     "Yes, I have been using myself up rather too freely," he remarked, in
+     answer to my look rather than to my words; "I have been a little
+     pressed of late.  Have you any objection to my closing your
+     shutters?"
+
+     The only light in the room came from the lamp upon the table at which
+     I had been reading.  Holmes edged his way round the wall and flinging
+     the shutters together, he bolted them securely.
+
+     "You are afraid of something?" I asked.
+
+     "Well, I am."
+
+     "Of what?"
+
+     "Of air-guns."
+
+     "My dear Holmes, what do you mean?"
+
+     "I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I
+     am by no means a nervous man.  At the same time, it is stupidity
+     rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close
+     upon you.  Might I trouble you for a match?"  He drew in the smoke of
+     his cigarette as if the soothing influence was grateful to him.
+
+     "I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further
+     beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house
+     presently by scrambling over your back garden wall."
+
+     "But what does it all mean?" I asked.
+
+     He held out his hand, and I saw in the light of the lamp that two of
+     his knuckles were burst and bleeding.
+
+     "It is not an airy nothing, you see," said he, smiling.  "On the
+     contrary, it is solid enough for a man to break his hand over.  Is
+     Mrs. Watson in?"
+
+     "She is away upon a visit."
+
+     "Indeed!  You are alone?"
+
+     "Quite."
+
+     "Then it makes it the easier for me to propose that you should come
+     away with me for a week to the Continent."
+
+     "Where?"
+
+     "Oh, anywhere.  It's all the same to me."
+
+     There was something very strange in all this.  It was not Holmes's
+     nature to take an aimless holiday, and something about his pale, worn
+     face told me that his nerves were at their highest tension.  He saw
+     the question in my eyes, and, putting his finger-tips together and
+     his elbows upon his knees, he explained the situation.
+
+     "You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?" said he.
+
+     "Never."
+
+     "Aye, there's the genius and the wonder of the thing!" he cried. 
+     "The man pervades London, and no one has heard of him.  That's what
+     puts him on a pinnacle in the records of crime.  I tell you, Watson,
+     in all seriousness, that if I could beat that man, if I could free
+     society of him, I should feel that my own career had reached its
+     summit, and I should be prepared to turn to some more placid line in
+     life.  Between ourselves, the recent cases in which I have been of
+     assistance to the royal family of Scandinavia, and to the French
+     republic, have left me in such a position that I could continue to
+     live in the quiet fashion which is most congenial to me, and to
+     concentrate my attention upon my chemical researches.  But I could
+     not rest, Watson, I could not sit quiet in my chair, if I thought
+     that such a man as Professor Moriarty were walking the streets of
+     London unchallenged."
+
+     "What has he done, then?"
+
+     "His career has been an extraordinary one.  He is a man of good birth
+     and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal
+     mathematical faculty.  At the age of twenty-one he wrote a treatise
+     upon the Binomial Theorem, which has had a European vogue.  On the
+     strength of it he won the Mathematical Chair at one of our smaller
+     universities, and had, to all appearance, a most brilliant career
+     before him.  But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most
+     diabolical kind.  A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead
+     of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more
+     dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers.  Dark rumors gathered
+     round him in the university town, and eventually he was compelled to
+     resign his chair and to come down to London, where he set up as an
+     army coach.  So much is known to the world, but what I am telling you
+     now is what I have myself discovered.
+
+     "As you are aware, Watson, there is no one who knows the higher
+     criminal world of London so well as I do.  For years past I have
+     continually been conscious of some power behind the malefactor, some
+     deep organizing power which forever stands in the way of the law, and
+     throws its shield over the wrong-doer.  Again and again in cases of
+     the most varying sorts--forgery cases, robberies, murders--I have
+     felt the presence of this force, and I have deduced its action in
+     many of those undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally
+     consulted.  For years I have endeavored to break through the veil
+     which shrouded it, and at last the time came when I seized my thread
+     and followed it, until it led me, after a thousand cunning windings,
+     to ex-Professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity.
+
+     "He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson.  He is the organizer of half
+     that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city.
+      He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker.  He has a brain
+     of the first order.  He sits motionless, like a spider in the center
+     of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well
+     every quiver of each of them.  He does little himself.  He only
+     plans.  But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized.  Is
+     there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a
+     house to be rifled, a man to be removed--the word is passed to the
+     Professor, the matter is organized and carried out.  The agent may be
+     caught.  In that case money is found for his bail or his defence. 
+     But the central power which uses the agent is never caught--never so
+     much as suspected.  This was the organization which I deduced,
+     Watson, and which I devoted my whole energy to exposing and breaking
+     up.
+
+     "But the Professor was fenced round with safeguards so cunningly
+     devised that, do what I would, it seemed impossible to get evidence
+     which would convict in a court of law.  You know my powers, my dear
+     Watson, and yet at the end of three months I was forced to confess
+     that I had at last met an antagonist who was my intellectual equal. 
+     My horror at his crimes was lost in my admiration at his skill.  But
+     at last he made a trip--only a little, little trip--but it was more
+     than he could afford when I was so close upon him.  I had my chance,
+     and, starting from that point, I have woven my net round him until
+     now it is all ready to close.  In three days--that is to say, on
+     Monday next--matters will be ripe, and the Professor, with all the
+     principal members of his gang, will be in the hands of the police. 
+     Then will come the greatest criminal trial of the century, the
+     clearing up of over forty mysteries, and the rope for all of them;
+     but if we move at all prematurely, you understand, they may slip out
+     of our hands even at the last moment.
+
+     "Now, if I could have done this without the knowledge of Professor
+     Moriarty, all would have been well.  But he was too wily for that. 
+     He saw every step which I took to draw my toils round him.  Again and
+     again he strove to break away, but I as often headed him off.  I tell
+     you, my friend, that if a detailed account of that silent contest
+     could be written, it would take its place as the most brilliant bit
+     of thrust-and-parry work in the history of detection.  Never have I
+     risen to such a height, and never have I been so hard pressed by an
+     opponent.  He cut deep, and yet I just undercut him.  This morning
+     the last steps were taken, and three days only were wanted to
+     complete the business.  I was sitting in my room thinking the matter
+     over, when the door opened and Professor Moriarty stood before me.
+
+     "My nerves are fairly proof, Watson, but I must confess to a start
+     when I saw the very man who had been so much in my thoughts standing
+     there on my threshold.  His appearance was quite familiar to me.  He
+     is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve,
+     and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his head.  He is clean-shaven,
+     pale, and ascetic-looking, retaining something of the professor in
+     his features.  His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his
+     face protrudes forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side
+     to side in a curiously reptilian fashion.  He peered at me with great
+     curiosity in his puckered eyes.
+
+     "'You have less frontal development that I should have expected,'
+     said he, at last.  'It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms
+     in the pocket of one's dressing-gown.'
+
+     "The fact is that upon his entrance I had instantly recognized the
+     extreme personal danger in which I lay.  The only conceivable escape
+     for him lay in silencing my tongue.  In an instant I had slipped the
+     revolver from the drawer into my pocket, and was covering him through
+     the cloth.  At his remark I drew the weapon out and laid it cocked
+     upon the table.  He still smiled and blinked, but there was something
+     about his eyes which made me feel very glad that I had it there.
+
+     "'You evidently don't know me,' said he.
+
+     "'On the contrary,' I answered, 'I think it is fairly evident that I
+     do.  Pray take a chair.  I can spare you five minutes if you have
+     anything to say.'
+
+     "'All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,' said he.
+
+     "'Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,' I replied.
+
+     "'You stand fast?'
+
+     "'Absolutely.'
+
+     "He clapped his hand into his pocket, and I raised the pistol from
+     the table.  But he merely drew out a memorandum-book in which he had
+     scribbled some dates.
+
+     "'You crossed my path on the 4th of January,' said he.  'On the 23d
+     you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously
+     inconvenienced by you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered
+     in my plans; and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed in
+     such a position through your continual persecution that I am in
+     positive danger of losing my liberty.  The situation is becoming an
+     impossible one.'
+
+     "'Have you any suggestion to make?' I asked.
+
+     "'You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,' said he, swaying his face about. 
+     'You really must, you know.'
+
+     "'After Monday,' said I.
+
+     "'Tut, tut,' said he.  'I am quite sure that a man of your
+     intelligence will see that there can be but one outcome to this
+     affair.  It is necessary that you should withdraw.  You have worked
+     things in such a fashion that we have only one resource left.  It has
+     been an intellectual treat to me to see the way in which you have
+     grappled with this affair, and I say, unaffectedly, that it would be
+     a grief to me to be forced to take any extreme measure.  You smile,
+     sir, but I assure you that it really would.'
+
+     "'Danger is part of my trade,' I remarked.
+
+     "'That is not danger,' said he.  'It is inevitable destruction.  You
+     stand in the way not merely of an individual, but of a mighty
+     organization, the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness,
+     have been unable to realize.  You must stand clear, Mr. Holmes, or be
+     trodden under foot.'
+
+     "'I am afraid,' said I, rising, 'that in the pleasure of this
+     conversation I am neglecting business of importance which awaits me
+     elsewhere.'
+
+     "He rose also and looked at me in silence, shaking his head sadly.
+
+     "'Well, well,' said he, at last.  'It seems a pity, but I have done
+     what I could.  I know every move of your game.  You can do nothing
+     before Monday.  It has been a duel between you and me, Mr. Holmes. 
+     You hope to place me in the dock.  I tell you that I will never stand
+     in the dock.  You hope to beat me.  I tell you that you will never
+     beat me.  If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest
+     assured that I shall do as much to you.'
+
+     "'You have paid me several compliments, Mr. Moriarty,' said I.  'Let
+     me pay you one in return when I say that if I were assured of the
+     former eventuality I would, in the interests of the public,
+     cheerfully accept the latter.'
+
+     "'I can promise you the one, but not the other,' he snarled, and so
+     turned his rounded back upon me, and went peering and blinking out of
+     the room.
+
+     "That was my singular interview with Professor Moriarty.  I confess
+     that it left an unpleasant effect upon my mind.  His soft, precise
+     fashion of speech leaves a conviction of sincerity which a mere bully
+     could not produce.  Of course, you will say:  'Why not take police
+     precautions against him?'  the reason is that I am well convinced
+     that it is from his agents the blow would fall.  I have the best
+     proofs that it would be so."
+
+     "You have already been assaulted?"
+
+     "My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass
+     grow under his feet.  I went out about mid-day to transact some
+     business in Oxford Street.  As I passed the corner which leads from
+     Bentinck Street on to the Welbeck Street crossing a two-horse van
+     furiously driven whizzed round and was on me like a flash.  I sprang
+     for the foot-path and saved myself by the fraction of a second.  The
+     van dashed round by Marylebone Lane and was gone in an instant.  I
+     kept to the pavement after that, Watson, but as I walked down Vere
+     Street a brick came down from the roof of one of the houses, and was
+     shattered to fragments at my feet.  I called the police and had the
+     place examined.  There were slates and bricks piled up on the roof
+     preparatory to some repairs, and they would have me believe that the
+     wind had toppled over one of these.  Of course I knew better, but I
+     could prove nothing.  I took a cab after that and reached my
+     brother's rooms in Pall Mall, where I spent the day.  Now I have come
+     round to you, and on my way I was attacked by a rough with a
+     bludgeon.  I knocked him down, and the police have him in custody;
+     but I can tell you with the most absolute confidence that no possible
+     connection will ever be traced between the gentleman upon whose front
+     teeth I have barked my knuckles and the retiring mathematical coach,
+     who is, I dare say, working out problems upon a black-board ten miles
+     away.  You will not wonder, Watson, that my first act on entering
+     your rooms was to close your shutters, and that I have been compelled
+     to ask your permission to leave the house by some less conspicuous
+     exit than the front door."
+
+     I had often admired my friend's courage, but never more than now, as
+     he sat quietly checking off a series of incidents which must have
+     combined to make up a day of horror.
+
+     "You will spend the night here?" I said.
+
+     "No, my friend, you might find me a dangerous guest.  I have my plans
+     laid, and all will be well.  Matters have gone so far now that they
+     can move without my help as far as the arrest goes, though my
+     presence is necessary for a conviction.  It is obvious, therefore,
+     that I cannot do better than get away for the few days which remain
+     before the police are at liberty to act.  It would be a great
+     pleasure to me, therefore, if you could come on to the Continent with
+     me."
+
+     "The practice is quiet," said I, "and I have an accommodating
+     neighbor.  I should be glad to come."
+
+     "And to start to-morrow morning?"
+
+     "If necessary."
+
+     "Oh yes, it is most necessary.  Then these are your instructions, and
+     I beg, my dear Watson, that you will obey them to the letter, for you
+     are now playing a double-handed game with me against the cleverest
+     rogue and the most powerful syndicate of criminals in Europe.  Now
+     listen!  You will dispatch whatever luggage you intend to take by a
+     trusty messenger unaddressed to Victoria to-night.  In the morning
+     you will send for a hansom, desiring your man to take neither the
+     first nor the second which may present itself.  Into this hansom you
+     will jump, and you will drive to the Strand end of the Lowther
+     Arcade, handing the address to the cabman upon a slip of paper, with
+     a request that he will not throw it away.  Have your fare ready, and
+     the instant that your cab stops, dash through the Arcade, timing
+     yourself to reach the other side at a quarter-past nine.  You will
+     find a small brougham waiting close to the curb, driven by a fellow
+     with a heavy black cloak tipped at the collar with red.  Into this
+     you will step, and you will reach Victoria in time for the
+     Continental express."
+
+     "Where shall I meet you?"
+
+     "At the station.  The second first-class carriage from the front will
+     be reserved for us."
+
+     "The carriage is our rendezvous, then?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     It was in vain that I asked Holmes to remain for the evening.  It was
+     evident to me that he thought he might bring trouble to the roof he
+     was under, and that that was the motive which impelled him to go. 
+     With a few hurried words as to our plans for the morrow he rose and
+     came out with me into the garden, clambering over the wall which
+     leads into Mortimer Street, and immediately whistling for a hansom,
+     in which I heard him drive away.
+
+     In the morning I obeyed Holmes's injunctions to the letter.  A hansom
+     was procured with such precaution as would prevent its being one
+     which was placed ready for us, and I drove immediately after
+     breakfast to the Lowther Arcade, through which I hurried at the top
+     of my speed.  A brougham was waiting with a very massive driver
+     wrapped in a dark cloak, who, the instant that I had stepped in,
+     whipped up the horse and rattled off to Victoria Station.  On my
+     alighting there he turned the carriage, and dashed away again without
+     so much as a look in my direction.
+
+     So far all had gone admirably.  My luggage was waiting for me, and I
+     had no difficulty in finding the carriage which Holmes had indicated,
+     the less so as it was the only one in the train which was marked
+     "Engaged."  My only source of anxiety now was the non-appearance of
+     Holmes.  The station clock marked only seven minutes from the time
+     when we were due to start.  In vain I searched among the groups of
+     travellers and leave-takers for the lithe figure of my friend.  There
+     was no sign of him.  I spent a few minutes in assisting a venerable
+     Italian priest, who was endeavoring to make a porter understand, in
+     his broken English, that his luggage was to be booked through to
+     Paris.  Then, having taken another look round, I returned to my
+     carriage, where I found that the porter, in spite of the ticket, had
+     given me my decrepit Italian friend as a traveling companion.  It was
+     useless for me to explain to him that his presence was an intrusion,
+     for my Italian was even more limited than his English, so I shrugged
+     my shoulders resignedly, and continued to look out anxiously for my
+     friend.  A chill of fear had come over me, as I thought that his
+     absence might mean that some blow had fallen during the night. 
+     Already the doors had all been shut and the whistle blown, when--
+
+     "My dear Watson," said a voice, "you have not even condescended to
+     say good-morning."
+
+     I turned in uncontrollable astonishment.  The aged ecclesiastic had
+     turned his face towards me.  For an instant the wrinkles were
+     smoothed away, the nose drew away from the chin, the lower lip ceased
+     to protrude and the mouth to mumble, the dull eyes regained their
+     fire, the drooping figure expanded.  The next the whole frame
+     collapsed again, and Holmes had gone as quickly as he had come.
+
+     "Good heavens!" I cried; "how you startled me!"
+
+     "Every precaution is still necessary," he whispered.  "I have reason
+     to think that they are hot upon our trail.  Ah, there is Moriarty
+     himself."
+
+     The train had already begun to move as Holmes spoke.  Glancing back,
+     I saw a tall man pushing his way furiously through the crowd, and
+     waving his hand as if he desired to have the train stopped.  It was
+     too late, however, for we were rapidly gathering momentum, and an
+     instant later had shot clear of the station.
+
+     "With all our precautions, you see that we have cut it rather fine,"
+     said Holmes, laughing.  He rose, and throwing off the black cassock
+     and hat which had formed his disguise, he packed them away in a
+     hand-bag.
+
+     "Have you seen the morning paper, Watson?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "You haven't seen about Baker Street, then?"
+
+     "Baker Street?"
+
+     "They set fire to our rooms last night.  No great harm was done."
+
+     "Good heavens, Holmes, this is intolerable!"
+
+     "They must have lost my track completely after their bludgeon-man was
+     arrested.  Otherwise they could not have imagined that I had returned
+     to my rooms.  They have evidently taken the precaution of watching
+     you, however, and that is what has brought Moriarty to Victoria.  You
+     could not have made any slip in coming?"
+
+     "I did exactly what you advised."
+
+     "Did you find your brougham?"
+
+     "Yes, it was waiting."
+
+     "Did you recognize your coachman?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "It was my brother Mycroft.  It is an advantage to get about in such
+     a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence.  But we must
+     plan what we are to do about Moriarty now."
+
+     "As this is an express, and as the boat runs in connection with it, I
+     should think we have shaken him off very effectively."
+
+     "My dear Watson, you evidently did not realize my meaning when I said
+     that this man may be taken as being quite on the same intellectual
+     plane as myself.  You do not imagine that if I were the pursuer I
+     should allow myself to be baffled by so slight an obstacle.  Why,
+     then, should you think so meanly of him?"
+
+     "What will he do?"
+
+     "What I should do."
+
+     "What would you do, then?"
+
+     "Engage a special."
+
+     "But it must be late."
+
+     "By no means.  This train stops at Canterbury; and there is always at
+     least a quarter of an hour's delay at the boat.  He will catch us
+     there."
+
+     "One would think that we were the criminals.  Let us have him
+     arrested on his arrival."
+
+     "It would be to ruin the work of three months.  We should get the big
+     fish, but the smaller would dart right and left out of the net.  On
+     Monday we should have them all.  No, an arrest is inadmissible."
+
+     "What then?"
+
+     "We shall get out at Canterbury."
+
+     "And then?"
+
+     "Well, then we must make a cross-country journey to Newhaven, and so
+     over to Dieppe.  Moriarty will again do what I should do.  He will
+     get on to Paris, mark down our luggage, and wait for two days at the
+     depot.  In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to a couple of
+     carpet-bags, encourage the manufactures of the countries through
+     which we travel, and make our way at our leisure into Switzerland,
+     via Luxembourg and Basle."
+
+     At Canterbury, therefore, we alighted, only to find that we should
+     have to wait an hour before we could get a train to Newhaven.
+
+     I was still looking rather ruefully after the rapidly disappearing
+     luggage-van which contained my wardrobe, when Holmes pulled my sleeve
+     and pointed up the line.
+
+     "Already, you see," said he.
+
+     Far away, from among the Kentish woods there rose a thin spray of
+     smoke.  A minute later a carriage and engine could be seen flying
+     along the open curve which leads to the station.  We had hardly time
+     to take our place behind a pile of luggage when it passed with a
+     rattle and a roar, beating a blast of hot air into our faces.
+
+     "There he goes," said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing and
+     rock over the point. "There are limits, you see, to our friend's
+     intelligence.  It would have been a coup-de-maître had he deduced
+     what I would deduce and acted accordingly."
+
+     "And what would he have done had he overtaken us?"
+
+     "There cannot be the least doubt that he would have made a murderous
+     attack upon me.  It is, however, a game at which two may play.  The
+     question now is whether we should take a premature lunch here, or run
+     our chance of starving before we reach the buffet at Newhaven."
+
+     We made our way to Brussels that night and spent two days there,
+     moving on upon the third day as far as Strasburg.  On the Monday
+     morning Holmes had telegraphed to the London police, and in the
+     evening we found a reply waiting for us at our hotel.  Holmes tore it
+     open, and then with a bitter curse hurled it into the grate.
+
+     "I might have known it!" he groaned.  "He has escaped!"
+
+     "Moriarty?"
+
+     "They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him.  He has
+     given them the slip.  Of course, when I had left the country there
+     was no one to cope with him.  But I did think that I had put the game
+     in their hands.  I think that you had better return to England,
+     Watson."
+
+     "Why?"
+
+     "Because you will find me a dangerous companion now.  This man's
+     occupation is gone.  He is lost if he returns to London.  If I read
+     his character right he will devote his whole energies to revenging
+     himself upon me.  He said as much in our short interview, and I fancy
+     that he meant it.  I should certainly recommend you to return to your
+     practice."
+
+     It was hardly an appeal to be successful with one who was an old
+     campaigner as well as an old friend.  We sat in the Strasbourg
+     salle-à-manger arguing the question for half an hour, but the same
+     night we had resumed our journey and were well on our way to Geneva.
+
+     For a charming week we wandered up the Valley of the Rhone, and then,
+     branching off at Leuk, we made our way over the Gemmi Pass, still
+     deep in snow, and so, by way of Interlaken, to Meiringen.  It was a
+     lovely trip, the dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white
+     of the winter above; but it was clear to me that never for one
+     instant did Holmes forget the shadow which lay across him.  In the
+     homely Alpine villages or in the lonely mountain passes, I could tell
+     by his quick glancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny of every face that
+     passed us, that he was well convinced that, walk where we would, we
+     could not walk ourselves clear of the danger which was dogging our
+     footsteps.
+
+     Once, I remember, as we passed over the Gemmi, and walked along the
+     border of the melancholy Daubensee, a large rock which had been
+     dislodged from the ridge upon our right clattered down and roared
+     into the lake behind us.  In an instant Holmes had raced up on to the
+     ridge, and, standing upon a lofty pinnacle, craned his neck in every
+     direction.  It was in vain that our guide assured him that a fall of
+     stones was a common chance in the spring-time at that spot.  He said
+     nothing, but he smiled at me with the air of a man who sees the
+     fulfillment of that which he had expected.
+
+     And yet for all his watchfulness he was never depressed.  On the
+     contrary, I can never recollect having seen him in such exuberant
+     spirits.  Again and again he recurred to the fact that if he could be
+     assured that society was freed from Professor Moriarty he would
+     cheerfully bring his own career to a conclusion.
+
+     "I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not
+     lived wholly in vain," he remarked.  "If my record were closed
+     to-night I could still survey it with equanimity.  The air of London
+     is the sweeter for my presence.  In over a thousand cases I am not
+     aware that I have ever used my powers upon the wrong side.  Of late I
+     have been tempted to look into the problems furnished by nature
+     rather than those more superficial ones for which our artificial
+     state of society is responsible.  Your memoirs will draw to an end,
+     Watson, upon the day that I crown my career by the capture or
+     extinction of the most dangerous and capable criminal in Europe."
+
+     I shall be brief, and yet exact, in the little which remains for me
+     to tell.  It is not a subject on which I would willingly dwell, and
+     yet I am conscious that a duty devolves upon me to omit no detail.
+
+     It was on the third of May that we reached the little village of
+     Meiringen, where we put up at the Englischer Hof, then kept by Peter
+     Steiler the elder.  Our landlord was an intelligent  man, and spoke
+     excellent English, having served for three years as waiter at the
+     Grosvenor Hotel in London.  At his advice, on the afternoon of the
+     fourth we set off together, with the intention of crossing the hills
+     and spending the night at the hamlet of Rosenlaui.  We had strict
+     injunctions, however, on no account to pass the falls of Reichenbach,
+     which are about half-way up the hill, without making a small detour
+     to see them.
+
+     It is, indeed, a fearful place.  The torrent, swollen by the melting
+     snow, plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up
+     like the smoke from a burning house.  The shaft into which the river
+     hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening coal-black
+     rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable
+     depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged
+     lip.  The long sweep of green water roaring forever down, and the
+     thick flickering curtain of spray hissing forever upward, turn a man
+     giddy with their constant whirl and clamor.  We stood near the edge
+     peering down at the gleam of the breaking water far below us against
+     the black rocks, and listening to the half-human shout which came
+     booming up with the spray out of the abyss.
+
+     The path has been cut half-way round the fall to afford a complete
+     view, but it ends abruptly, and the traveler has to return as he
+     came.  We had turned to do so, when we saw a Swiss lad come running
+     along it with a letter in his hand.  It bore the mark of the hotel
+     which we had just left, and was addressed to me by the landlord.  It
+     appeared that within a very few minutes of our leaving, an English
+     lady had arrived who was in the last stage of consumption.  She had
+     wintered at Davos Platz, and was journeying now to join her friends
+     at Lucerne, when a sudden hemorrhage had overtaken her.  It was
+     thought that she could hardly live a few hours, but it would be a
+     great consolation to her to see an English doctor, and, if I would
+     only return, etc.  The good Steiler assured me in a postscript that
+     he would himself look upon my compliance as a very great favor, since
+     the lady absolutely refused to see a Swiss physician, and he could
+     not but feel that he was incurring a great responsibility.
+
+     The appeal was one which could not be ignored.  It was impossible to
+     refuse the request of a fellow-countrywoman dying in a strange land. 
+     Yet I had my scruples about leaving Holmes.  It was finally agreed,
+     however, that he should retain the young Swiss messenger with him as
+     guide and companion while I returned to Meiringen.  My friend would
+     stay some little time at the fall, he said, and would then walk
+     slowly over the hill to Rosenlaui, where I was to rejoin him in the
+     evening.  As I turned away I saw Holmes, with his back against a rock
+     and his arms folded, gazing down at the rush of the waters.  It was
+     the last that I was ever destined to see of him in this world.
+
+     When I was near the bottom of the descent I looked back.  It was
+     impossible, from that position, to see the fall, but I could see the
+     curving path which winds over the shoulder of the hill and leads to
+     it.  Along this a man was, I remember, walking very rapidly.
+
+     I could see his black figure clearly outlined against the green
+     behind him.  I noted him, and the energy with which he walked but he
+     passed from my mind again as I hurried on upon my errand.
+
+     It may have been a little over an hour before I reached Meiringen. 
+     Old Steiler was standing at the porch of his hotel.
+
+     "Well," said I, as I came hurrying up, "I trust that she is no
+     worse?"
+
+     A look of surprise passed over his face, and at the first quiver of
+     his eyebrows my heart turned to lead in my breast.
+
+     "You did not write this?" I said, pulling the letter from my pocket. 
+     "There is no sick Englishwoman in the hotel?"
+
+     "Certainly not!" he cried.  "But it has the hotel mark upon it!  Ha,
+     it must have been written by that tall Englishman who came in after
+     you had gone.  He said--"
+
+     But I waited for none of the landlord's explanations.  In a tingle of
+     fear I was already running down the village street, and making for
+     the path which I had so lately descended.  It had taken me an hour to
+     come down.  For all my efforts two more had passed before I found
+     myself at the fall of Reichenbach once more.  There was Holmes's
+     Alpine-stock still leaning against the rock by which I had left him. 
+     But there was no sign of him, and it was in vain that I shouted.  My
+     only answer was my own voice reverberating in a rolling echo from the
+     cliffs around me.
+
+     It was the sight of that Alpine-stock which turned me cold and sick. 
+     He had not gone to Rosenlaui, then.  He had remained on that
+     three-foot path, with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop on the
+     other, until his enemy had overtaken him.  The young Swiss had gone
+     too.  He had probably been in the pay of Moriarty, and had left the
+     two men together.  And then what had happened?  Who was to tell us
+     what had happened then?
+
+     I stood for a minute or two to collect myself, for I was dazed with
+     the horror of the thing.  Then I began to think of Holmes's own
+     methods and to try to practise them in reading this tragedy.  It was,
+     alas, only too easy to do.  During our conversation we had not gone
+     to the end of the path, and the Alpine-stock marked the place where
+     we had stood.  The blackish soil is kept forever soft by the
+     incessant drift of spray, and a bird would leave its tread upon it. 
+     Two lines of footmarks were clearly marked along the farther end of
+     the path, both leading away from me.  There were none returning.  A
+     few yards from the end the soil was all ploughed up into a patch of
+     mud, and the branches and ferns which fringed the chasm were torn and
+     bedraggled.  I lay upon my face and peered over with the spray
+     spouting up all around me.  It had darkened since I left, and now I
+     could only see here and there the glistening of moisture upon the
+     black walls, and far away down at the end of the shaft the gleam of
+     the broken water.  I shouted; but only the same half-human cry of the
+     fall was borne back to my ears.
+
+     But it was destined that I should after all have a last word of
+     greeting from my friend and comrade.  I have said that his
+     Alpine-stock had been left leaning against a rock which jutted on to
+     the path.  From the top of this boulder the gleam of something bright
+     caught my eye, and, raising my hand, I found that it came from the
+     silver cigarette-case which he used to carry.  As I took it up a
+     small square of paper upon which it had lain fluttered down on to the
+     ground.  Unfolding it, I found that it consisted of three pages torn
+     from his note-book and addressed to me.  It was characteristic of the
+     man that the direction was as precise, and the writing as firm and
+     clear, as though it had been written in his study.
+
+     My dear Watson [it said]:
+     I write these few lines through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty, who
+     awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those questions
+     which lie between us.  He has been giving me a sketch of the methods
+     by which he avoided the English police and kept himself informed of
+     our movements.  They certainly confirm the very high opinion which I
+     had formed of his abilities.  I am pleased to think that I shall be
+     able to free society from any further effects of his presence, though
+     I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends, and
+     especially, my dear Watson, to you.  I have already explained to you,
+     however, that my career had in any case reached its crisis, and that
+     no possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to me than this.
+      Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I was quite
+     convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, and I allowed
+     you to depart on that errand under the persuasion that some
+     development of this sort would follow.  Tell Inspector Patterson that
+     the papers which he needs to convict the gang are in pigeonhole M.,
+     done up in a blue envelope and inscribed "Moriarty."  I made every
+     disposition of my property before leaving England, and handed it to
+     my brother Mycroft.  Pray give my greetings to Mrs. Watson, and
+     believe me to be, my dear fellow,
+     Very sincerely yours,
+     Sherlock Holmes
+
+     A few words may suffice to tell the little that remains.  An
+     examination by experts leaves little doubt that a personal contest
+     between the two men ended, as it could hardly fail to end in such a
+     situation, in their reeling over, locked in each other's arms.  Any
+     attempt at recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless, and there,
+     deep down in that dreadful cauldron of swirling water and seething
+     foam, will lie for all time the most dangerous criminal and the
+     foremost champion of the law of their generation.  The Swiss youth
+     was never found again, and there can be no doubt that he was one of
+     the numerous agents whom Moriarty kept in his employ.  As to the
+     gang, it will be within the memory of the public how completely the
+     evidence which Holmes had accumulated exposed their organization, and
+     how heavily the hand of the dead man weighed upon them.  Of their
+     terrible chief few details came out during the proceedings, and if I
+     have now been compelled to make a clear statement of his career it is
+     due to those injudicious champions who have endeavored to clear his
+     memory by attacks upon him whom I shall ever regard as the best and
+     the wisest man whom I have ever known.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+     ----------
+     This text is provided to you "as-is" without any warranty. No
+     warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, are made to you as to
+     the text or any medium it may be on, including but not limited to
+     warranties of merchantablity or fitness for a particular purpose.
+
+     This text was formatted from various free ASCII and HTML variants.
+     See http://sherlock-holm.es for an electronic form of this text and
+     additional information about it.
+
+     Pictures for "The Adventure of the Dancing Men", "The Adventure of
+     the Priory School", "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez" and "The
+     Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter" were taken from a 1911
+     edition of the "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" by Smith, Elder & Co.
+     of London.
+
+     This text comes from the collection's version 3.1.
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+                          THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+
+                               Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+                                Table of contents
+
+               The Adventure of the Empty House
+               The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
+               The Adventure of the Dancing Men
+               The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
+               The Adventure of the Priory School
+               The Adventure of Black Peter
+               The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
+               The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
+               The Adventure of the Three Students
+               The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
+               The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
+               The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
+               The Adventure of the Second Stain
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURE OF THE EMPTY HOUSE
+
+     It was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested,
+     and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable
+     Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances. The
+     public has already learned those particulars of the crime which came
+     out in the police investigation; but a good deal was suppressed upon
+     that occasion, since the case for the prosecution was so
+     overwhelmingly strong that it was not necessary to bring forward all
+     the facts. Only now, at the end of nearly ten years, am I allowed to
+     supply those missing links which make up the whole of that remarkable
+     chain. The crime was of interest in itself, but that interest was as
+     nothing to me compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me
+     the greatest shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life.
+     Even now, after this long interval, I find myself thrilling as I
+     think of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of joy,
+     amazement, and incredulity which utterly submerged my mind. Let me
+     say to that public which has shown some interest in those glimpses
+     which I have occasionally given them of the thoughts and actions of a
+     very remarkable man that they are not to blame me if I have not
+     shared my knowledge with them, for I should have considered it my
+     first duty to have done so had I not been barred by a positive
+     prohibition from his own lips, which was only withdrawn upon the
+     third of last month.
+
+     It can be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had
+     interested me deeply in crime, and that after his disappearance I
+     never failed to read with care the various problems which came before
+     the public, and I even attempted more than once for my own private
+     satisfaction to employ his methods in their solution, though with
+     indifferent success. There was none, however, which appealed to me
+     like this tragedy of Ronald Adair. As I read the evidence at the
+     inquest, which led up to a verdict of wilful murder against some
+     person or persons unknown, I realized more clearly than I had ever
+     done the loss which the community had sustained by the death of
+     Sherlock Holmes. There were points about this strange business which
+     would, I was sure, have specially appealed to him, and the efforts of
+     the police would have been supplemented, or more probably
+     anticipated, by the trained observation and the alert mind of the
+     first criminal agent in Europe. All day as I drove upon my round I
+     turned over the case in my mind, and found no explanation which
+     appeared to me to be adequate. At the risk of telling a twice-told
+     tale I will recapitulate the facts as they were known to the public
+     at the conclusion of the inquest.
+
+     The Honourable Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl of
+     Maynooth, at that time Governor of one of the Australian Colonies.
+     Adair's mother had returned from Australia to undergo the operation
+     for cataract, and she, her son Ronald, and her daughter Hilda were
+     living together at 427, Park Lane. The youth moved in the best
+     society, had, so far as was known, no enemies, and no particular
+     vices. He had been engaged to Miss Edith Woodley, of Carstairs, but
+     the engagement had been broken off by mutual consent some months
+     before, and there was no sign that it had left any very profound
+     feeling behind it. For the rest the man's life moved in a narrow and
+     conventional circle, for his habits were quiet and his nature
+     unemotional. Yet it was upon this easy-going young aristocrat that
+     death came in most strange and unexpected form between the hours of
+     ten and eleven-twenty on the night of March 30, 1894.
+
+     Ronald Adair was fond of cards, playing continually, but never for
+     such stakes as would hurt him. He was a member of the Baldwin, the
+     Cavendish, and the Bagatelle card clubs. It was shown that after
+     dinner on the day of his death he had played a rubber of whist at the
+     latter club. He had also played there in the afternoon. The evidence
+     of those who had played with him--Mr. Murray, Sir John Hardy, and
+     Colonel Moran--showed that the game was whist, and that there was a
+     fairly equal fall of the cards. Adair might have lost five pounds,
+     but not more. His fortune was a considerable one, and such a loss
+     could not in any way affect him. He had played nearly every day at
+     one club or other, but he was a cautious player, and usually rose a
+     winner. It came out in evidence that in partnership with Colonel
+     Moran he had actually won as much as four hundred and twenty pounds
+     in a sitting some weeks before from Godfrey Milner and Lord Balmoral.
+     So much for his recent history, as it came out at the inquest.
+
+     On the evening of the crime he returned from the club exactly at ten.
+     His mother and sister were out spending the evening with a relation.
+     The servant deposed that she heard him enter the front room on the
+     second floor, generally used as his sitting-room. She had lit a fire
+     there, and as it smoked she had opened the window. No sound was heard
+     from the room until eleven-twenty, the hour of the return of Lady
+     Maynooth and her daughter. Desiring to say good-night, she had
+     attempted to enter her son's room. The door was locked on the inside,
+     and no answer could be got to their cries and knocking. Help was
+     obtained and the door forced. The unfortunate young man was found
+     lying near the table. His head had been horribly mutilated by an
+     expanding revolver bullet, but no weapon of any sort was to be found
+     in the room. On the table lay two bank-notes for ten pounds each and
+     seventeen pounds ten in silver and gold, the money arranged in little
+     piles of varying amount. There were some figures also upon a sheet of
+     paper with the names of some club friends opposite to them, from
+     which it was conjectured that before his death he was endeavouring to
+     make out his losses or winnings at cards.
+
+     A minute examination of the circumstances served only to make the
+     case more complex. In the first place, no reason could be given why
+     the young man should have fastened the door upon the inside. There
+     was the possibility that the murderer had done this and had
+     afterwards escaped by the window. The drop was at least twenty feet,
+     however, and a bed of crocuses in full bloom lay beneath. Neither the
+     flowers nor the earth showed any sign of having been disturbed, nor
+     were there any marks upon the narrow strip of grass which separated
+     the house from the road. Apparently, therefore, it was the young man
+     himself who had fastened the door. But how did he come by his death?
+     No one could have climbed up to the window without leaving traces.
+     Suppose a man had fired through the window, it would indeed be a
+     remarkable shot who could with a revolver inflict so deadly a wound.
+     Again, Park Lane is a frequented thoroughfare, and there is a
+     cab-stand within a hundred yards of the house. No one had heard a
+     shot. And yet there was the dead man, and there the revolver bullet,
+     which had mushroomed out, as soft-nosed bullets will, and so
+     inflicted a wound which must have caused instantaneous death. Such
+     were the circumstances of the Park Lane Mystery, which were further
+     complicated by entire absence of motive, since, as I have said, young
+     Adair was not known to have any enemy, and no attempt had been made
+     to remove the money or valuables in the room.
+
+     All day I turned these facts over in my mind, endeavouring to hit
+     upon some theory which could reconcile them all, and to find that
+     line of least resistance which my poor friend had declared to be the
+     starting-point of every investigation. I confess that I made little
+     progress. In the evening I strolled across the Park, and found myself
+     about six o'clock at the Oxford Street end of Park Lane. A group of
+     loafers upon the pavements, all staring up at a particular window,
+     directed me to the house which I had come to see. A tall, thin man
+     with coloured glasses, whom I strongly suspected of being a
+     plain-clothes detective, was pointing out some theory of his own,
+     while the others crowded round to listen to what he said. I got as
+     near him as I could, but his observations seemed to me to be absurd,
+     so I withdrew again in some disgust. As I did so I struck against an
+     elderly deformed man, who had been behind me, and I knocked down
+     several books which he was carrying. I remember that as I picked them
+     up I observed the title of one of them, The Origin of Tree Worship,
+     and it struck me that the fellow must be some poor bibliophile who,
+     either as a trade or as a hobby, was a collector of obscure volumes.
+     I endeavoured to apologize for the accident, but it was evident that
+     these books which I had so unfortunately maltreated were very
+     precious objects in the eyes of their owner. With a snarl of contempt
+     he turned upon his heel, and I saw his curved back and white
+     side-whiskers disappear among the throng.
+
+     My observations of No. 427, Park Lane did little to clear up the
+     problem in which I was interested. The house was separated from the
+     street by a low wall and railing, the whole not more than five feet
+     high. It was perfectly easy, therefore, for anyone to get into the
+     garden, but the window was entirely inaccessible, since there was no
+     water-pipe or anything which could help the most active man to climb
+     it. More puzzled than ever I retraced my steps to Kensington. I had
+     not been in my study five minutes when the maid entered to say that a
+     person desired to see me. To my astonishment it was none other than
+     my strange old book-collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out
+     from a frame of white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them
+     at least, wedged under his right arm.
+
+     "You're surprised to see me, sir," said he, in a strange, croaking
+     voice.
+
+     I acknowledged that I was.
+
+     "Well, I've a conscience, sir, and when I chanced to see you go into
+     this house, as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself, I'll
+     just step in and see that kind gentleman, and tell him that if I was
+     a bit gruff in my manner there was not any harm meant, and that I am
+     much obliged to him for picking up my books."
+
+     "You make too much of a trifle," said I. "May I ask how you knew who
+     I was?"
+
+     "Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour of
+     yours, for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church
+     Street, and very happy to see you, I am sure. Maybe you collect
+     yourself, sir; here's British Birds, and Catullus, and The Holy
+     War--a bargain every one of them. With five volumes you could just
+     fill that gap on that second shelf. It looks untidy, does it not,
+     sir?"
+
+     I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again
+     Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I
+     rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement,
+     and then it appears that I must have fainted for the first and the
+     last time in my life. Certainly a grey mist swirled before my eyes,
+     and when it cleared I found my collar-ends undone and the tingling
+     after-taste of brandy upon my lips. Holmes was bending over my chair,
+     his flask in his hand.
+
+     "My dear Watson," said the well-remembered voice, "I owe you a
+     thousand apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected."
+
+     I gripped him by the arm.
+
+     "Holmes!" I cried. "Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are
+     alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that
+     awful abyss?"
+
+     "Wait a moment," said he. "Are you sure that you are really fit to
+     discuss things? I have given you a serious shock by my unnecessarily
+     dramatic reappearance."
+
+     "I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my eyes.
+     Good heavens, to think that you--you of all men--should be standing
+     in my study!" Again I gripped him by the sleeve and felt the thin,
+     sinewy arm beneath it. "Well, you're not a spirit, anyhow," said I.
+     "My dear chap, I am overjoyed to see you. Sit down and tell me how
+     you came alive out of that dreadful chasm."
+
+     He sat opposite to me and lit a cigarette in his old nonchalant
+     manner. He was dressed in the seedy frock-coat of the book merchant,
+     but the rest of that individual lay in a pile of white hair and old
+     books upon the table. Holmes looked even thinner and keener than of
+     old, but there was a dead-white tinge in his aquiline face which told
+     me that his life recently had not been a healthy one.
+
+     "I am glad to stretch myself, Watson," said he. "It is no joke when a
+     tall man has to take a foot off his stature for several hours on end.
+     Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these explanations we have, if
+     I may ask for your co-operation, a hard and dangerous night's work in
+     front of us. Perhaps it would be better if I gave you an account of
+     the whole situation when that work is finished."
+
+     "I am full of curiosity. I should much prefer to hear now."
+
+     "You'll come with me to-night?"
+
+     "When you like and where you like."
+
+     "This is indeed like the old days. We shall have time for a mouthful
+     of dinner before we need go. Well, then, about that chasm. I had no
+     serious difficulty in getting out of it, for the very simple reason
+     that I never was in it."
+
+     "You never were in it?"
+
+     "No, Watson, I never was in it. My note to you was absolutely
+     genuine. I had little doubt that I had come to the end of my career
+     when I perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the late Professor
+     Moriarty standing upon the narrow pathway which led to safety. I read
+     an inexorable purpose in his grey eyes. I exchanged some remarks with
+     him, therefore, and obtained his courteous permission to write the
+     short note which you afterwards received. I left it with my
+     cigarette-box and my stick and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty
+     still at my heels. When I reached the end I stood at bay. He drew no
+     weapon, but he rushed at me and threw his long arms around me. He
+     knew that his own game was up, and was only anxious to revenge
+     himself upon me. We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I
+     have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of
+     wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped
+     through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a
+     few seconds and clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his
+     efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went. With my face
+     over the brink I saw him fall for a long way. Then he struck a rock,
+     bounded off, and splashed into the water."
+
+     I listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes delivered
+     between the puffs of his cigarette.
+
+     "But the tracks!" I cried. "I saw with my own eyes that two went down
+     the path and none returned."
+
+     "It came about in this way. The instant that the Professor had
+     disappeared it struck me what a really extraordinarily lucky chance
+     Fate had placed in my way. I knew that Moriarty was not the only man
+     who had sworn my death. There were at least three others whose desire
+     for vengeance upon me would only be increased by the death of their
+     leader. They were all most dangerous men. One or other would
+     certainly get me. On the other hand, if all the world was convinced
+     that I was dead they would take liberties, these men, they would lay
+     themselves open, and sooner or later I could destroy them. Then it
+     would be time for me to announce that I was still in the land of the
+     living. So rapidly does the brain act that I believe I had thought
+     this all out before Professor Moriarty had reached the bottom of the
+     Reichenbach Fall.
+
+     "I stood up and examined the rocky wall behind me. In your
+     picturesque account of the matter, which I read with great interest
+     some months later, you assert that the wall was sheer. This was not
+     literally true. A few small footholds presented themselves, and there
+     was some indication of a ledge. The cliff is so high that to climb it
+     all was an obvious impossibility, and it was equally impossible to
+     make my way along the wet path without leaving some tracks. I might,
+     it is true, have reversed my boots, as I have done on similar
+     occasions, but the sight of three sets of tracks in one direction
+     would certainly have suggested a deception. On the whole, then, it
+     was best that I should risk the climb. It was not a pleasant
+     business, Watson. The fall roared beneath me. I am not a fanciful
+     person, but I give you my word that I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice
+     screaming at me out of the abyss. A mistake would have been fatal.
+     More than once, as tufts of grass came out in my hand or my foot
+     slipped in the wet notches of the rock, I thought that I was gone.
+     But I struggled upwards, and at last I reached a ledge several feet
+     deep and covered with soft green moss, where I could lie unseen in
+     the most perfect comfort. There I was stretched when you, my dear
+     Watson, and all your following were investigating in the most
+     sympathetic and inefficient manner the circumstances of my death.
+
+     "At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally
+     erroneous conclusions, you departed for the hotel and I was left
+     alone. I had imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures,
+     but a very unexpected occurrence showed me that there were surprises
+     still in store for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past
+     me, struck the path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant
+     I thought that it was an accident; but a moment later, looking up, I
+     saw a man's head against the darkening sky, and another stone struck
+     the very ledge upon which I was stretched, within a foot of my head.
+     Of course, the meaning of this was obvious. Moriarty had not been
+     alone. A confederate--and even that one glance had told me how
+     dangerous a man that confederate was--had kept guard while the
+     Professor had attacked me. From a distance, unseen by me, he had been
+     a witness of his friend's death and of my escape. He had waited, and
+     then, making his way round to the top of the cliff, he had
+     endeavoured to succeed where his comrade had failed.
+
+     "I did not take long to think about it, Watson. Again I saw that grim
+     face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the precursor of
+     another stone. I scrambled down on to the path. I don't think I could
+     have done it in cold blood. It was a hundred times more difficult
+     than getting up. But I had no time to think of the danger, for
+     another stone sang past me as I hung by my hands from the edge of the
+     ledge. Halfway down I slipped, but by the blessing of God I landed,
+     torn and bleeding, upon the path. I took to my heels, did ten miles
+     over the mountains in the darkness, and a week later I found myself
+     in Florence with the certainty that no one in the world knew what had
+     become of me.
+
+     "I had only one confidant--my brother Mycroft. I owe you many
+     apologies, my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it should be
+     thought I was dead, and it is quite certain that you would not have
+     written so convincing an account of my unhappy end had you not
+     yourself thought that it was true. Several times during the last
+     three years I have taken up my pen to write to you, but always I
+     feared lest your affectionate regard for me should tempt you to some
+     indiscretion which would betray my secret. For that reason I turned
+     away from you this evening when you upset my books, for I was in
+     danger at the time, and any show of surprise and emotion upon your
+     part might have drawn attention to my identity and led to the most
+     deplorable and irreparable results. As to Mycroft, I had to confide
+     in him in order to obtain the money which I needed. The course of
+     events in London did not run so well as I had hoped, for the trial of
+     the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous members, my own most
+     vindictive enemies, at liberty. I travelled for two years in Tibet,
+     therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa and spending some
+     days with the head Llama. You may have read of the remarkable
+     explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it
+     never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend. I
+     then passed through Persia, looked in at Mecca, and paid a short but
+     interesting visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum, the results of which I
+     have communicated to the Foreign Office. Returning to France I spent
+     some months in a research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I
+     conducted in a laboratory at Montpelier, in the South of France.
+     Having concluded this to my satisfaction, and learning that only one
+     of my enemies was now left in London, I was about to return when my
+     movements were hastened by the news of this very remarkable Park Lane
+     Mystery, which not only appealed to me by its own merits, but which
+     seemed to offer some most peculiar personal opportunities. I came
+     over at once to London, called in my own person at Baker Street,
+     threw Mrs. Hudson into violent hysterics, and found that Mycroft had
+     preserved my rooms and my papers exactly as they had always been. So
+     it was, my dear Watson, that at two o'clock to-day I found myself in
+     my old arm-chair in my own old room, and only wishing that I could
+     have seen my old friend Watson in the other chair which he has so
+     often adorned."
+
+     Such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that April
+     evening--a narrative which would have been utterly incredible to me
+     had it not been confirmed by the actual sight of the tall, spare
+     figure and the keen, eager face, which I had never thought to see
+     again. In some manner he had learned of my own sad bereavement, and
+     his sympathy was shown in his manner rather than in his words. "Work
+     is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson," said he, "and I have
+     a piece of work for us both to-night which, if we can bring it to a
+     successful conclusion, will in itself justify a man's life on this
+     planet." In vain I begged him to tell me more. "You will hear and see
+     enough before morning," he answered. "We have three years of the past
+     to discuss. Let that suffice until half-past nine, when we start upon
+     the notable adventure of the empty house."
+
+     It was indeed like old times when, at that hour, I found myself
+     seated beside him in a hansom, my revolver in my pocket and the
+     thrill of adventure in my heart. Holmes was cold and stern and
+     silent. As the gleam of the street-lamps flashed upon his austere
+     features I saw that his brows were drawn down in thought and his thin
+     lips compressed. I knew not what wild beast we were about to hunt
+     down in the dark jungle of criminal London, but I was well assured
+     from the bearing of this master huntsman that the adventure was a
+     most grave one, while the sardonic smile which occasionally broke
+     through his ascetic gloom boded little good for the object of our
+     quest.
+
+     I had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but Holmes
+     stopped the cab at the corner of Cavendish Square. I observed that as
+     he stepped out he gave a most searching glance to right and left, and
+     at every subsequent street corner he took the utmost pains to assure
+     that he was not followed. Our route was certainly a singular one.
+     Holmes's knowledge of the byways of London was extraordinary, and on
+     this occasion he passed rapidly, and with an assured step, through a
+     network of mews and stables the very existence of which I had never
+     known. We emerged at last into a small road, lined with old, gloomy
+     houses, which led us into Manchester Street, and so to Blandford
+     Street. Here he turned swiftly down a narrow passage, passed through
+     a wooden gate into a deserted yard, and then opened with a key the
+     back door of a house. We entered together and he closed it behind us.
+
+     The place was pitch-dark, but it was evident to me that it was an
+     empty house. Our feet creaked and crackled over the bare planking,
+     and my outstretched hand touched a wall from which the paper was
+     hanging in ribbons. Holmes's cold, thin fingers closed round my wrist
+     and led me forwards down a long hall, until I dimly saw the murky
+     fanlight over the door. Here Holmes turned suddenly to the right, and
+     we found ourselves in a large, square, empty room, heavily shadowed
+     in the corners, but faintly lit in the centre from the lights of the
+     street beyond. There was no lamp near and the window was thick with
+     dust, so that we could only just discern each other's figures within.
+     My companion put his hand upon my shoulder and his lips close to my
+     ear.
+
+     "Do you know where we are?" he whispered.
+
+     "Surely that is Baker Street," I answered, staring through the dim
+     window.
+
+     "Exactly. We are in Camden House, which stands opposite to our own
+     old quarters."
+
+     "But why are we here?"
+
+     "Because it commands so excellent a view of that picturesque pile.
+     Might I trouble you, my dear Watson, to draw a little nearer to the
+     window, taking every precaution not to show yourself, and then to
+     look up at our old rooms--the starting-point of so many of our little
+     adventures? We will see if my three years of absence have entirely
+     taken away my power to surprise you."
+
+     I crept forward and looked across at the familiar window. As my eyes
+     fell upon it I gave a gasp and a cry of amazement. The blind was down
+     and a strong light was burning in the room. The shadow of a man who
+     was seated in a chair within was thrown in hard, black outline upon
+     the luminous screen of the window. There was no mistaking the poise
+     of the head, the squareness of the shoulders, the sharpness of the
+     features. The face was turned half-round, and the effect was that of
+     one of those black silhouettes which our grandparents loved to frame.
+     It was a perfect reproduction of Holmes. So amazed was I that I threw
+     out my hand to make sure that the man himself was standing beside me.
+     He was quivering with silent laughter.
+
+     "Well?" said he.
+
+     "Good heavens!" I cried. "It is marvellous."
+
+     "I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite
+     variety,'" said he, and I recognised in his voice the joy and pride
+     which the artist takes in his own creation. "It really is rather like
+     me, is it not?"
+
+     "I should be prepared to swear that it was you."
+
+     "The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar Meunier, of
+     Grenoble, who spent some days in doing the moulding. It is a bust in
+     wax. The rest I arranged myself during my visit to Baker Street this
+     afternoon."
+
+     "But why?"
+
+     "Because, my dear Watson, I had the strongest possible reason for
+     wishing certain people to think that I was there when I was really
+     elsewhere."
+
+     "And you thought the rooms were watched?"
+
+     "I knew that they were watched."
+
+     "By whom?"
+
+     "By my old enemies, Watson. By the charming society whose leader lies
+     in the Reichenbach Fall. You must remember that they knew, and only
+     they knew, that I was still alive. Sooner or later they believed that
+     I should come back to my rooms. They watched them continuously, and
+     this morning they saw me arrive."
+
+     "How do you know?"
+
+     "Because I recognised their sentinel when I glanced out of my window.
+     He is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade,
+     and a remarkable performer upon the Jew's harp. I cared nothing for
+     him. But I cared a great deal for the much more formidable person who
+     was behind him, the bosom friend of Moriarty, the man who dropped the
+     rocks over the cliff, the most cunning and dangerous criminal in
+     London. That is the man who is after me to-night, Watson, and that is
+     the man who is quite unaware that we are after him."
+
+     My friend's plans were gradually revealing themselves. From this
+     convenient retreat the watchers were being watched and the trackers
+     tracked. That angular shadow up yonder was the bait and we were the
+     hunters. In silence we stood together in the darkness and watched the
+     hurrying figures who passed and repassed in front of us. Holmes was
+     silent and motionless; but I could tell that he was keenly alert, and
+     that his eyes were fixed intently upon the stream of passers-by. It
+     was a bleak and boisterous night, and the wind whistled shrilly down
+     the long street. Many people were moving to and fro, most of them
+     muffled in their coats and cravats. Once or twice it seemed to me
+     that I had seen the same figure before, and I especially noticed two
+     men who appeared to be sheltering themselves from the wind in the
+     doorway of a house some distance up the street. I tried to draw my
+     companion's attention to them, but he gave a little ejaculation of
+     impatience and continued to stare into the street. More than once he
+     fidgeted with his feet and tapped rapidly with his fingers upon the
+     wall. It was evident to me that he was becoming uneasy and that his
+     plans were not working out altogether as he had hoped. At last, as
+     midnight approached and the street gradually cleared, he paced up and
+     down the room in uncontrollable agitation. I was about to make some
+     remark to him when I raised my eyes to the lighted window and again
+     experienced almost as great a surprise as before. I clutched Holmes's
+     arm and pointed upwards.
+
+     "The shadow has moved!" I cried.
+
+     It was, indeed, no longer the profile, but the back, which was turned
+     towards us.
+
+     Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper
+     or his impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.
+
+     "Of course it has moved," said he. "Am I such a farcical bungler,
+     Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy and expect that some of
+     the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it? We have been in
+     this room two hours, and Mrs. Hudson has made some change in that
+     figure eight times, or once in every quarter of an hour. She works it
+     from the front so that her shadow may never be seen. Ah!" He drew in
+     his breath with a shrill, excited intake. In the dim light I saw his
+     head thrown forward, his whole attitude rigid with attention.
+     Outside, the street was absolutely deserted. Those two men might
+     still be crouching in the doorway, but I could no longer see them.
+     All was still and dark, save only that brilliant yellow screen in
+     front of us with the black figure outlined upon its centre. Again in
+     the utter silence I heard that thin, sibilant note which spoke of
+     intense suppressed excitement. An instant later he pulled me back
+     into the blackest corner of the room, and I felt his warning hand
+     upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me were quivering. Never had
+     I known my friend more moved, and yet the dark street still stretched
+     lonely and motionless before us.
+
+     But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener senses had already
+     distinguished. A low, stealthy sound came to my ears, not from the
+     direction of Baker Street, but from the back of the very house in
+     which we lay concealed. A door opened and shut. An instant later
+     steps crept down the passage--steps which were meant to be silent,
+     but which reverberated harshly through the empty house. Holmes
+     crouched back against the wall and I did the same, my hand closing
+     upon the handle of my revolver. Peering through the gloom, I saw the
+     vague outline of a man, a shade blacker than the blackness of the
+     open door. He stood for an instant, and then he crept forward,
+     crouching, menacing, into the room. He was within three yards of us,
+     this sinister figure, and I had braced myself to meet his spring,
+     before I realized that he had no idea of our presence. He passed
+     close beside us, stole over to the window, and very softly and
+     noiselessly raised it for half a foot. As he sank to the level of
+     this opening the light of the street, no longer dimmed by the dusty
+     glass, fell full upon his face. The man seemed to be beside himself
+     with excitement. His two eyes shone like stars and his features were
+     working convulsively. He was an elderly man, with a thin, projecting
+     nose, a high, bald forehead, and a huge grizzled moustache. An
+     opera-hat was pushed to the back of his head, and an evening dress
+     shirt-front gleamed out through his open overcoat. His face was gaunt
+     and swarthy, scored with deep, savage lines. In his hand he carried
+     what appeared to be a stick, but as he laid it down upon the floor it
+     gave a metallic clang. Then from the pocket of his overcoat he drew a
+     bulky object, and he busied himself in some task which ended with a
+     loud, sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had fallen into its place.
+     Still kneeling upon the floor he bent forward and threw all his
+     weight and strength upon some lever, with the result that there came
+     a long, whirling, grinding noise, ending once more in a powerful
+     click. He straightened himself then, and I saw that what he held in
+     his hand was a sort of gun, with a curiously misshapen butt. He
+     opened it at the breech, put something in, and snapped the
+     breech-block. Then, crouching down, he rested the end of the barrel
+     upon the ledge of the open window, and I saw his long moustache droop
+     over the stock and his eye gleam as it peered along the sights. I
+     heard a little sigh of satisfaction as he cuddled the butt into his
+     shoulder, and saw that amazing target, the black man on the yellow
+     ground, standing clear at the end of his fore sight. For an instant
+     he was rigid and motionless. Then his finger tightened on the
+     trigger. There was a strange, loud whiz and a long, silvery tinkle of
+     broken glass. At that instant Holmes sprang like a tiger on to the
+     marksman's back and hurled him flat upon his face. He was up again in
+     a moment, and with convulsive strength he seized Holmes by the
+     throat; but I struck him on the head with the butt of my revolver and
+     he dropped again upon the floor. I fell upon him, and as I held him
+     my comrade blew a shrill call upon a whistle. There was the clatter
+     of running feet upon the pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with
+     one plain-clothes detective, rushed through the front entrance and
+     into the room.
+
+     "That you, Lestrade?" said Holmes.
+
+     "Yes, Mr. Holmes. I took the job myself. It's good to see you back in
+     London, sir."
+
+     "I think you want a little unofficial help. Three undetected murders
+     in one year won't do, Lestrade. But you handled the Molesey Mystery
+     with less than your usual--that's to say, you handled it fairly
+     well."
+
+     We had all risen to our feet, our prisoner breathing hard, with a
+     stalwart constable on each side of him. Already a few loiterers had
+     begun to collect in the street. Holmes stepped up to the window,
+     closed it, and dropped the blinds. Lestrade had produced two candles
+     and the policemen had uncovered their lanterns. I was able at last to
+     have a good look at our prisoner.
+
+     It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was turned
+     towards us. With the brow of a philosopher above and the jaw of a
+     sensualist below, the man must have started with great capacities for
+     good or for evil. But one could not look upon his cruel blue eyes,
+     with their drooping, cynical lids, or upon the fierce, aggressive
+     nose and the threatening, deep-lined brow, without reading Nature's
+     plainest danger-signals. He took no heed of any of us, but his eyes
+     were fixed upon Holmes's face with an expression in which hatred and
+     amazement were equally blended. "You fiend!" he kept on muttering.
+     "You clever, clever fiend!"
+
+     "Ah, Colonel!" said Holmes, arranging his rumpled collar; "'journeys
+     end in lovers' meetings,' as the old play says. I don't think I have
+     had the pleasure of seeing you since you favoured me with those
+     attentions as I lay on the ledge above the Reichenbach Fall."
+
+     The Colonel still stared at my friend like a man in a trance. "You
+     cunning, cunning fiend!" was all that he could say.
+
+     "I have not introduced you yet," said Holmes. "This, gentlemen, is
+     Colonel Sebastian Moran, once of Her Majesty's Indian Army, and the
+     best heavy game shot that our Eastern Empire has ever produced. I
+     believe I am correct, Colonel, in saying that your bag of tigers
+     still remains unrivalled?"
+
+     The fierce old man said nothing, but still glared at my companion;
+     with his savage eyes and bristling moustache he was wonderfully like
+     a tiger himself.
+
+     "I wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old a
+     shikari," said Holmes. "It must be very familiar to you. Have you not
+     tethered a young kid under a tree, lain above it with your rifle, and
+     waited for the bait to bring up your tiger? This empty house is my
+     tree and you are my tiger. You have possibly had other guns in
+     reserve in case there should be several tigers, or in the unlikely
+     supposition of your own aim failing you. These," he pointed around,
+     "are my other guns. The parallel is exact."
+
+     Colonel Moran sprang forward, with a snarl of rage, but the
+     constables dragged him back. The fury upon his face was terrible to
+     look at.
+
+     "I confess that you had one small surprise for me," said Holmes. "I
+     did not anticipate that you would yourself make use of this empty
+     house and this convenient front window. I had imagined you as
+     operating from the street, where my friend Lestrade and his merry men
+     were awaiting you. With that exception all has gone as I expected."
+
+     Colonel Moran turned to the official detective.
+
+     "You may or may not have just cause for arresting me," said he, "but
+     at least there can be no reason why I should submit to the gibes of
+     this person. If I am in the hands of the law let things be done in a
+     legal way."
+
+     "Well, that's reasonable enough," said Lestrade. "Nothing further you
+     have to say, Mr. Holmes, before we go?"
+
+     Holmes had picked up the powerful air-gun from the floor and was
+     examining its mechanism.
+
+     "An admirable and unique weapon," said he, "noiseless and of
+     tremendous power. I knew Von Herder, the blind German mechanic, who
+     constructed it to the order of the late Professor Moriarty. For years
+     I have been aware of its existence, though I have never before had
+     the opportunity of handling it. I commend it very specially to your
+     attention, Lestrade, and also the bullets which fit it."
+
+     "You can trust us to look after that, Mr. Holmes," said Lestrade, as
+     the whole party moved towards the door. "Anything further to say?"
+
+     "Only to ask what charge you intend to prefer?"
+
+     "What charge, sir? Why, of course, the attempted murder of Mr.
+     Sherlock Holmes."
+
+     "Not so, Lestrade. I do not propose to appear in the matter at all.
+     To you, and to you only, belongs the credit of the remarkable arrest
+     which you have effected. Yes, Lestrade, I congratulate you! With your
+     usual happy mixture of cunning and audacity you have got him."
+
+     "Got him! Got whom, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "The man that the whole force has been seeking in vain--Colonel
+     Sebastian Moran, who shot the Honourable Ronald Adair with an
+     expanding bullet from an air-gun through the open window of the
+     second-floor front of No. 427, Park Lane, upon the 30th of last
+     month. That's the charge, Lestrade. And now, Watson, if you can
+     endure the draught from a broken window, I think that half an hour in
+     my study over a cigar may afford you some profitable amusement."
+
+     Our old chambers had been left unchanged through the supervision of
+     Mycroft Holmes and the immediate care of Mrs. Hudson. As I entered I
+     saw, it is true, an unwonted tidiness, but the old landmarks were all
+     in their place. There were the chemical corner and the acid-stained,
+     deal-topped table. There upon a shelf was the row of formidable
+     scrap-books and books of reference which many of our fellow-citizens
+     would have been so glad to burn. The diagrams, the violin-case, and
+     the pipe-rack--even the Persian slipper which contained the
+     tobacco--all met my eyes as I glanced round me. There were two
+     occupants of the room--one Mrs. Hudson, who beamed upon us both as we
+     entered; the other the strange dummy which had played so important a
+     part in the evening's adventures. It was a wax-coloured model of my
+     friend, so admirably done that it was a perfect facsimile. It stood
+     on a small pedestal table with an old dressing-gown of Holmes's so
+     draped round it that the illusion from the street was absolutely
+     perfect.
+
+     "I hope you preserved all precautions, Mrs. Hudson?" said Holmes.
+
+     "I went to it on my knees, sir, just as you told me."
+
+     "Excellent. You carried the thing out very well. Did you observe
+     where the bullet went?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. I'm afraid it has spoilt your beautiful bust, for it
+     passed right through the head and flattened itself on the wall. I
+     picked it up from the carpet. Here it is!"
+
+     Holmes held it out to me. "A soft revolver bullet, as you perceive,
+     Watson. There's genius in that, for who would expect to find such a
+     thing fired from an air-gun. All right, Mrs. Hudson, I am much
+     obliged for your assistance. And now, Watson, let me see you in your
+     old seat once more, for there are several points which I should like
+     to discuss with you."
+
+     He had thrown off the seedy frock-coat, and now he was the Holmes of
+     old in the mouse-coloured dressing-gown which he took from his
+     effigy.
+
+     "The old shikari's nerves have not lost their steadiness nor his eyes
+     their keenness," said he, with a laugh, as he inspected the shattered
+     forehead of his bust.
+
+     "Plumb in the middle of the back of the head and smack through the
+     brain. He was the best shot in India, and I expect that there are few
+     better in London. Have you heard the name?"
+
+     "No, I have not."
+
+     "Well, well, such is fame! But, then, if I remember aright, you had
+     not heard the name of Professor James Moriarty, who had one of the
+     great brains of the century. Just give me down my index of
+     biographies from the shelf."
+
+     He turned over the pages lazily, leaning back in his chair and
+     blowing great clouds from his cigar.
+
+     "My collection of M's is a fine one," said he. "Moriarty himself is
+     enough to make any letter illustrious, and here is Morgan the
+     poisoner, and Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews, who knocked
+     out my left canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross, and,
+     finally, here is our friend of to-night."
+
+     He handed over the book, and I read:
+
+     Moran, Sebastian, Colonel. Unemployed. Formerly 1st Bengalore
+     Pioneers. Born London, 1840. Son of Sir Augustus Moran, C.B., once
+     British Minister to Persia. Educated Eton and Oxford. Served in
+     Jowaki Campaign, Afghan Campaign, Charasiab (despatches), Sherpur,
+     and Cabul. Author of Heavy Game of the Western Himalayas, 1881; Three
+     Months in the Jungle, 1884. Address: Conduit Street. Clubs: The
+     Anglo-Indian, the Tankerville, the Bagatelle Card Club.
+
+     On the margin was written, in Holmes's precise hand:
+
+     The second most dangerous man in London.
+
+     "This is astonishing," said I, as I handed back the volume. "The
+     man's career is that of an honourable soldier."
+
+     "It is true," Holmes answered. "Up to a certain point he did well. He
+     was always a man of iron nerve, and the story is still told in India
+     how he crawled down a drain after a wounded man-eating tiger. There
+     are some trees, Watson, which grow to a certain height and then
+     suddenly develop some unsightly eccentricity. You will see it often
+     in humans. I have a theory that the individual represents in his
+     development the whole procession of his ancestors, and that such a
+     sudden turn to good or evil stands for some strong influence which
+     came into the line of his pedigree. The person becomes, as it were,
+     the epitome of the history of his own family."
+
+     "It is surely rather fanciful."
+
+     "Well, I don't insist upon it. Whatever the cause, Colonel Moran
+     began to go wrong. Without any open scandal he still made India too
+     hot to hold him. He retired, came to London, and again acquired an
+     evil name. It was at this time that he was sought out by Professor
+     Moriarty, to whom for a time he was chief of the staff. Moriarty
+     supplied him liberally with money and used him only in one or two
+     very high-class jobs which no ordinary criminal could have
+     undertaken. You may have some recollection of the death of Mrs.
+     Stewart, of Lauder, in 1887. Not? Well, I am sure Moran was at the
+     bottom of it; but nothing could be proved. So cleverly was the
+     Colonel concealed that even when the Moriarty gang was broken up we
+     could not incriminate him. You remember at that date, when I called
+     upon you in your rooms, how I put up the shutters for fear of
+     air-guns? No doubt you thought me fanciful. I knew exactly what I was
+     doing, for I knew of the existence of this remarkable gun, and I knew
+     also that one of the best shots in the world would be behind it. When
+     we were in Switzerland he followed us with Moriarty, and it was
+     undoubtedly he who gave me that evil five minutes on the Reichenbach
+     ledge.
+
+     "You may think that I read the papers with some attention during my
+     sojourn in France, on the look-out for any chance of laying him by
+     the heels. So long as he was free in London my life would really not
+     have been worth living. Night and day the shadow would have been over
+     me, and sooner or later his chance must have come. What could I do? I
+     could not shoot him at sight, or I should myself be in the dock.
+     There was no use appealing to a magistrate. They cannot interfere on
+     the strength of what would appear to them to be a wild suspicion. So
+     I could do nothing. But I watched the criminal news, knowing that
+     sooner or later I should get him. Then came the death of this Ronald
+     Adair. My chance had come at last! Knowing what I did, was it not
+     certain that Colonel Moran had done it? He had played cards with the
+     lad; he had followed him home from the club; he had shot him through
+     the open window. There was not a doubt of it. The bullets alone are
+     enough to put his head in a noose. I came over at once. I was seen by
+     the sentinel, who would, I knew, direct the Colonel's attention to my
+     presence. He could not fail to connect my sudden return with his
+     crime and to be terribly alarmed. I was sure that he would make an
+     attempt to get me out of the way at once, and would bring round his
+     murderous weapon for that purpose. I left him an excellent mark in
+     the window, and, having warned the police that they might be
+     needed--by the way, Watson, you spotted their presence in that
+     doorway with unerring accuracy--I took up what seemed to me to be a
+     judicious post for observation, never dreaming that he would choose
+     the same spot for his attack. Now, my dear Watson, does anything
+     remain for me to explain?"
+
+     "Yes," said I. "You have not made it clear what was Colonel Moran's
+     motive in murdering the Honourable Ronald Adair."
+
+     "Ah! my dear Watson, there we come into those realms of conjecture
+     where the most logical mind may be at fault. Each may form his own
+     hypothesis upon the present evidence, and yours is as likely to be
+     correct as mine."
+
+     "You have formed one, then?"
+
+     "I think that it is not difficult to explain the facts. It came out
+     in evidence that Colonel Moran and young Adair had between them won a
+     considerable amount of money. Now, Moran undoubtedly played foul--of
+     that I have long been aware. I believe that on the day of the murder
+     Adair had discovered that Moran was cheating. Very likely he had
+     spoken to him privately, and had threatened to expose him unless he
+     voluntarily resigned his membership of the club and promised not to
+     play cards again. It is unlikely that a youngster like Adair would at
+     once make a hideous scandal by exposing a well-known man so much
+     older than himself. Probably he acted as I suggest. The exclusion
+     from his clubs would mean ruin to Moran, who lived by his ill-gotten
+     card gains. He therefore murdered Adair, who at the time was
+     endeavouring to work out how much money he should himself return,
+     since he could not profit by his partner's foul play. He locked the
+     door lest the ladies should surprise him and insist upon knowing what
+     he was doing with these names and coins. Will it pass?"
+
+     "I have no doubt that you have hit upon the truth."
+
+     "It will be verified or disproved at the trial. Meanwhile, come what
+     may, Colonel Moran will trouble us no more, the famous air-gun of Von
+     Herder will embellish the Scotland Yard Museum, and once again Mr.
+     Sherlock Holmes is free to devote his life to examining those
+     interesting little problems which the complex life of London so
+     plentifully presents."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER
+
+     "From the point of view of the criminal expert," said Mr. Sherlock
+     Holmes, "London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the
+     death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty."
+
+     "I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens to agree
+     with you," I answered.
+
+     "Well, well, I must not be selfish," said he, with a smile, as he
+     pushed back his chair from the breakfast-table. "The community is
+     certainly the gainer, and no one the loser, save the poor out-of-work
+     specialist, whose occupation has gone. With that man in the field
+     one's morning paper presented infinite possibilities. Often it was
+     only the smallest trace, Watson, the faintest indication, and yet it
+     was enough to tell me that the great malignant brain was there, as
+     the gentlest tremors of the edges of the web remind one of the foul
+     spider which lurks in the centre. Petty thefts, wanton assaults,
+     purposeless outrage--to the man who held the clue all could be worked
+     into one connected whole. To the scientific student of the higher
+     criminal world no capital in Europe offered the advantages which
+     London then possessed. But now--" He shrugged his shoulders in
+     humorous deprecation of the state of things which he had himself done
+     so much to produce.
+
+     At the time of which I speak Holmes had been back for some months,
+     and I, at his request, had sold my practice and returned to share the
+     old quarters in Baker Street. A young doctor, named Verner, had
+     purchased my small Kensington practice, and given with astonishingly
+     little demur the highest price that I ventured to ask--an incident
+     which only explained itself some years later when I found that Verner
+     was a distant relation of Holmes's, and that it was my friend who had
+     really found the money.
+
+     Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had
+     stated, for I find, on looking over my notes, that this period
+     includes the case of the papers of Ex-President Murillo, and also the
+     shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland, which so nearly
+     cost us both our lives. His cold and proud nature was always averse,
+     however, to anything in the shape of public applause, and he bound me
+     in the most stringent terms to say no further word of himself, his
+     methods, or his successes--a prohibition which, as I have explained,
+     has only now been removed.
+
+     Mr. Sherlock Holmes was leaning back in his chair after his whimsical
+     protest, and was unfolding his morning paper in a leisurely fashion,
+     when our attention was arrested by a tremendous ring at the bell,
+     followed immediately by a hollow drumming sound, as if someone were
+     beating on the outer door with his fist. As it opened there came a
+     tumultuous rush into the hall, rapid feet clattered up the stair, and
+     an instant later a wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale,
+     dishevelled, and palpitating, burst into the room. He looked from one
+     to the other of us, and under our gaze of inquiry he became conscious
+     that some apology was needed for this unceremonious entry.
+
+     "I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes," he cried. "You mustn't blame me. I am nearly
+     mad. Mr. Holmes, I am the unhappy John Hector McFarlane."
+
+     He made the announcement as if the name alone would explain both his
+     visit and its manner; but I could see by my companion's unresponsive
+     face that it meant no more to him than to me.
+
+     "Have a cigarette, Mr. McFarlane," said he, pushing his case across.
+     "I am sure that with your symptoms my friend Dr. Watson here would
+     prescribe a sedative. The weather has been so very warm these last
+     few days. Now, if you feel a little more composed, I should be glad
+     if you would sit down in that chair and tell us very slowly and
+     quietly who you are and what it is that you want. You mentioned your
+     name as if I should recognise it, but I assure you that, beyond the
+     obvious facts that you are a bachelor, a solicitor, a Freemason, and
+     an asthmatic, I know nothing whatever about you."
+
+     Familiar as I was with my friend's methods, it was not difficult for
+     me to follow his deductions, and to observe the untidiness of attire,
+     the sheaf of legal papers, the watch-charm, and the breathing which
+     had prompted them. Our client, however, stared in amazement.
+
+     "Yes, I am all that, Mr. Holmes, and in addition I am the most
+     unfortunate man at this moment in London. For Heaven's sake don't
+     abandon me, Mr. Holmes! If they come to arrest me before I have
+     finished my story, make them give me time so that I may tell you the
+     whole truth. I could go to jail happy if I knew that you were working
+     for me outside."
+
+     "Arrest you!" said Holmes. "This is really most grati--most
+     interesting. On what charge do you expect to be arrested?"
+
+     "Upon the charge of murdering Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower Norwood."
+
+     My companion's expressive face showed a sympathy which was not, I am
+     afraid, entirely unmixed with satisfaction.
+
+     "Dear me," said he; "it was only this moment at breakfast that I was
+     saying to my friend, Dr. Watson, that sensational cases had
+     disappeared out of our papers."
+
+     Our visitor stretched forward a quivering hand and picked up the
+     Daily Telegraph, which still lay upon Holmes's knee.
+
+     "If you had looked at it, sir, you would have seen at a glance what
+     the errand is on which I have come to you this morning. I feel as if
+     my name and my misfortune must be in every man's mouth." He turned it
+     over to expose the central page. "Here it is, and with your
+     permission I will read it to you. Listen to this, Mr. Holmes. The
+     head-lines are: 'Mysterious Affair at Lower Norwood. Disappearance of
+     a Well-known Builder. Suspicion of Murder and Arson. A Clue to the
+     Criminal.' That is the clue which they are already following, Mr.
+     Holmes, and I know that it leads infallibly to me. I have been
+     followed from London Bridge Station, and I am sure that they are only
+     waiting for the warrant to arrest me. It will break my mother's
+     heart--it will break her heart!" He wrung his hands in an agony of
+     apprehension, and swayed backwards and forwards in his chair.
+
+     I looked with interest upon this man, who was accused of being the
+     perpetrator of a crime of violence. He was flaxen-haired and handsome
+     in a washed-out negative fashion, with frightened blue eyes and a
+     clean-shaven face, with a weak, sensitive mouth. His age may have
+     been about twenty-seven; his dress and bearing that of a gentleman.
+     From the pocket of his light summer overcoat protruded the bundle of
+     endorsed papers which proclaimed his profession.
+
+     "We must use what time we have," said Holmes. "Watson, would you have
+     the kindness to take the paper and to read me the paragraph in
+     question?"
+
+     Underneath the vigorous head-lines which our client had quoted I read
+     the following suggestive narrative:--
+
+     "Late last night, or early this morning, an incident occurred at
+     Lower Norwood which points, it is feared, to a serious crime. Mr.
+     Jonas Oldacre is a well-known resident of that suburb, where he has
+     carried on his business as a builder for many years. Mr. Oldacre is a
+     bachelor, fifty-two years of age, and lives in Deep Dene House, at
+     the Sydenham end of the road of that name. He has had the reputation
+     of being a man of eccentric habits, secretive and retiring. For some
+     years he has practically withdrawn from the business, in which he is
+     said to have amassed considerable wealth. A small timber-yard still
+     exists, however, at the back of the house, and last night, about
+     twelve o'clock, an alarm was given that one of the stacks was on
+     fire. The engines were soon upon the spot, but the dry wood burned
+     with great fury, and it was impossible to arrest the conflagration
+     until the stack had been entirely consumed. Up to this point the
+     incident bore the appearance of an ordinary accident, but fresh
+     indications seem to point to serious crime. Surprise was expressed at
+     the absence of the master of the establishment from the scene of the
+     fire, and an inquiry followed, which showed that he had disappeared
+     from the house. An examination of his room revealed that the bed had
+     not been slept in, that a safe which stood in it was open, that a
+     number of important papers were scattered about the room, and,
+     finally, that there were signs of a murderous struggle, slight traces
+     of blood being found within the room, and an oaken walking-stick,
+     which also showed stains of blood upon the handle. It is known that
+     Mr. Jonas Oldacre had received a late visitor in his bedroom upon
+     that night, and the stick found has been identified as the property
+     of this person, who is a young London solicitor named John Hector
+     McFarlane, junior partner of Graham and McFarlane, of 426, Gresham
+     Buildings, E.C. The police believe that they have evidence in their
+     possession which supplies a very convincing motive for the crime, and
+     altogether it cannot be doubted that sensational developments will
+     follow.
+     "Later.--It is rumoured as we go to press that Mr. John Hector
+     McFarlane has actually been arrested on the charge of the murder of
+     Mr. Jonas Oldacre. It is at least certain that a warrant has been
+     issued. There have been further and sinister developments in the
+     investigation at Norwood. Besides the signs of a struggle in the room
+     of the unfortunate builder it is now known that the French windows of
+     his bedroom (which is on the ground floor) were found to be open,
+     that there were marks as if some bulky object had been dragged across
+     to the wood-pile, and, finally, it is asserted that charred remains
+     have been found among the charcoal ashes of the fire. The police
+     theory is that a most sensational crime has been committed, that the
+     victim was clubbed to death in his own bedroom, his papers rifled,
+     and his dead body dragged across to the wood-stack, which was then
+     ignited so as to hide all traces of the crime. The conduct of the
+     criminal investigation has been left in the experienced hands of
+     Inspector Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, who is following up the clues
+     with his accustomed energy and sagacity."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes listened with closed eyes and finger-tips together to
+     this remarkable account.
+
+     "The case has certainly some points of interest," said he, in his
+     languid fashion. "May I ask, in the first place, Mr. McFarlane, how
+     it is that you are still at liberty, since there appears to be enough
+     evidence to justify your arrest?"
+
+     "I live at Torrington Lodge, Blackheath, with my parents, Mr. Holmes;
+     but last night, having to do business very late with Mr. Jonas
+     Oldacre, I stayed at an hotel in Norwood, and came to my business
+     from there. I knew nothing of this affair until I was in the train,
+     when I read what you have just heard. I at once saw the horrible
+     danger of my position, and I hurried to put the case into your hands.
+     I have no doubt that I should have been arrested either at my City
+     office or at my home. A man followed me from London Bridge Station,
+     and I have no doubt--Great Heaven, what is that?"
+
+     It was a clang of the bell, followed instantly by heavy steps upon
+     the stair. A moment later our old friend Lestrade appeared in the
+     doorway. Over his shoulder I caught a glimpse of one or two uniformed
+     policemen outside.
+
+     "Mr. John Hector McFarlane?" said Lestrade.
+
+     Our unfortunate client rose with a ghastly face.
+
+     "I arrest you for the wilful murder of Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower
+     Norwood."
+
+     McFarlane turned to us with a gesture of despair, and sank into his
+     chair once more like one who is crushed.
+
+     "One moment, Lestrade," said Holmes. "Half an hour more or less can
+     make no difference to you, and the gentleman was about to give us an
+     account of this very interesting affair, which might aid us in
+     clearing it up."
+
+     "I think there will be no difficulty in clearing it up," said
+     Lestrade, grimly.
+
+     "None the less, with your permission, I should be much interested to
+     hear his account."
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, it is difficult for me to refuse you anything, for
+     you have been of use to the force once or twice in the past, and we
+     owe you a good turn at Scotland Yard," said Lestrade. "At the same
+     time I must remain with my prisoner, and I am bound to warn him that
+     anything he may say will appear in evidence against him."
+
+     "I wish nothing better," said our client. "All I ask is that you
+     should hear and recognise the absolute truth."
+
+     Lestrade looked at his watch. "I'll give you half an hour," said he.
+
+     "I must explain first," said McFarlane, "that I knew nothing of Mr.
+     Jonas Oldacre. His name was familiar to me, for many years ago my
+     parents were acquainted with him, but they drifted apart. I was very
+     much surprised, therefore, when yesterday, about three o'clock in the
+     afternoon, he walked into my office in the City. But I was still more
+     astonished when he told me the object of his visit. He had in his
+     hand several sheets of a note-book, covered with scribbled
+     writing--here they are--and he laid them on my table.
+
+     "'Here is my will,' said he. 'I want you, Mr. McFarlane, to cast it
+     into proper legal shape. I will sit here while you do so.'
+
+     "I set myself to copy it, and you can imagine my astonishment when I
+     found that, with some reservations, he had left all his property to
+     me. He was a strange little, ferret-like man, with white eyelashes,
+     and when I looked up at him I found his keen grey eyes fixed upon me
+     with an amused expression. I could hardly believe my own senses as I
+     read the terms of the will; but he explained that he was a bachelor
+     with hardly any living relation, that he had known my parents in his
+     youth, and that he had always heard of me as a very deserving young
+     man, and was assured that his money would be in worthy hands. Of
+     course, I could only stammer out my thanks. The will was duly
+     finished, signed, and witnessed by my clerk. This is it on the blue
+     paper, and these slips, as I have explained, are the rough draft. Mr.
+     Jonas Oldacre then informed me that there were a number of
+     documents--building leases, title-deeds, mortgages, scrip, and so
+     forth--which it was necessary that I should see and understand. He
+     said that his mind would not be easy until the whole thing was
+     settled, and he begged me to come out to his house at Norwood that
+     night, bringing the will with me, and to arrange matters. 'Remember,
+     my boy, not one word to your parents about the affair until
+     everything is settled. We will keep it as a little surprise for
+     them.' He was very insistent upon this point, and made me promise it
+     faithfully.
+
+     "You can imagine, Mr. Holmes, that I was not in a humour to refuse
+     him anything that he might ask. He was my benefactor, and all my
+     desire was to carry out his wishes in every particular. I sent a
+     telegram home, therefore, to say that I had important business on
+     hand, and that it was impossible for me to say how late I might be.
+     Mr. Oldacre had told me that he would like me to have supper with him
+     at nine, as he might not be home before that hour. I had some
+     difficulty in finding his house, however, and it was nearly half-past
+     before I reached it. I found him--"
+
+     "One moment!" said Holmes. "Who opened the door?"
+
+     "A middle-aged woman, who was, I suppose, his housekeeper."
+
+     "And it was she, I presume, who mentioned your name?"
+
+     "Exactly," said McFarlane.
+
+     "Pray proceed."
+
+     McFarlane wiped his damp brow and then continued his narrative:--
+
+     "I was shown by this woman into a sitting-room, where a frugal supper
+     was laid out. Afterwards Mr. Jonas Oldacre led me into his bedroom,
+     in which there stood a heavy safe. This he opened and took out a mass
+     of documents, which we went over together. It was between eleven and
+     twelve when we finished. He remarked that we must not disturb the
+     housekeeper. He showed me out through his own French window, which
+     had been open all this time."
+
+     "Was the blind down?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "I will not be sure, but I believe that it was only half down. Yes, I
+     remember how he pulled it up in order to swing open the window. I
+     could not find my stick, and he said, 'Never mind, my boy; I shall
+     see a good deal of you now, I hope, and I will keep your stick until
+     you come back to claim it.' I left him there, the safe open, and the
+     papers made up in packets upon the table. It was so late that I could
+     not get back to Blackheath, so I spent the night at the Anerley Arms,
+     and I knew nothing more until I read of this horrible affair in the
+     morning."
+
+     "Anything more that you would like to ask, Mr. Holmes?" said
+     Lestrade, whose eyebrows had gone up once or twice during this
+     remarkable explanation.
+
+     "Not until I have been to Blackheath."
+
+     "You mean to Norwood," said Lestrade.
+
+     "Oh, yes; no doubt that is what I must have meant," said Holmes, with
+     his enigmatical smile. Lestrade had learned by more experiences than
+     he would care to acknowledge that that razor-like brain could cut
+     through that which was impenetrable to him. I saw him look curiously
+     at my companion.
+
+     "I think I should like to have a word with you presently, Mr.
+     Sherlock Holmes," said he. "Now, Mr. McFarlane, two of my constables
+     are at the door and there is a four-wheeler waiting." The wretched
+     young man arose, and with a last beseeching glance at us walked from
+     the room. The officers conducted him to the cab, but Lestrade
+     remained.
+
+     Holmes had picked up the pages which formed the rough draft of the
+     will, and was looking at them with the keenest interest upon his
+     face.
+
+     "There are some points about that document, Lestrade, are there not?"
+     said he, pushing them over.
+
+     The official looked at them with a puzzled expression.
+
+     "I can read the first few lines, and these in the middle of the
+     second page, and one or two at the end. Those are as clear as print,"
+     said he; "but the writing in between is very bad, and there are three
+     places where I cannot read it at all."
+
+     "What do you make of that?" said Holmes.
+
+     "Well, what do you make of it?"
+
+     "That it was written in a train; the good writing represents
+     stations, the bad writing movement, and the very bad writing passing
+     over points. A scientific expert would pronounce at once that this
+     was drawn up on a suburban line, since nowhere save in the immediate
+     vicinity of a great city could there be so quick a succession of
+     points. Granting that his whole journey was occupied in drawing up
+     the will, then the train was an express, only stopping once between
+     Norwood and London Bridge."
+
+     Lestrade began to laugh.
+
+     "You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories, Mr.
+     Holmes," said he. "How does this bear on the case?"
+
+     "Well, it corroborates the young man's story to the extent that the
+     will was drawn up by Jonas Oldacre in his journey yesterday. It is
+     curious--is it not?--that a man should draw up so important a
+     document in so haphazard a fashion. It suggests that he did not think
+     it was going to be of much practical importance. If a man drew up a
+     will which he did not intend ever to be effective he might do it so."
+
+     "Well, he drew up his own death-warrant at the same time," said
+     Lestrade.
+
+     "Oh, you think so?"
+
+     "Don't you?"
+
+     "Well, it is quite possible; but the case is not clear to me yet."
+
+     "Not clear? Well, if that isn't clear, what could be clear? Here is a
+     young man who learns suddenly that if a certain older man dies he
+     will succeed to a fortune. What does he do? He says nothing to
+     anyone, but he arranges that he shall go out on some pretext to see
+     his client that night; he waits until the only other person in the
+     house is in bed, and then in the solitude of a man's room he murders
+     him, burns his body in the wood-pile, and departs to a neighbouring
+     hotel. The blood-stains in the room and also on the stick are very
+     slight. It is probable that he imagined his crime to be a bloodless
+     one, and hoped that if the body were consumed it would hide all
+     traces of the method of his death--traces which for some reason must
+     have pointed to him. Is all this not obvious?"
+
+     "It strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too
+     obvious," said Holmes. "You do not add imagination to your other
+     great qualities; but if you could for one moment put yourself in the
+     place of this young man, would you choose the very night after the
+     will had been made to commit your crime? Would it not seem dangerous
+     to you to make so very close a relation between the two incidents?
+     Again, would you choose an occasion when you are known to be in the
+     house, when a servant has let you in? And, finally, would you take
+     the great pains to conceal the body and yet leave your own stick as a
+     sign that you were the criminal? Confess, Lestrade, that all this is
+     very unlikely."
+
+     "As to the stick, Mr. Holmes, you know as well as I do that a
+     criminal is often flurried and does things which a cool man would
+     avoid. He was very likely afraid to go back to the room. Give me
+     another theory that would fit the facts."
+
+     "I could very easily give you half-a-dozen," said Holmes. "Here, for
+     example, is a very possible and even probable one. I make you a free
+     present of it. The older man is showing documents which are of
+     evident value. A passing tramp sees them through the window, the
+     blind of which is only half down. Exit the solicitor. Enter the
+     tramp! He seizes a stick, which he observes there, kills Oldacre, and
+     departs after burning the body."
+
+     "Why should the tramp burn the body?"
+
+     "For the matter of that why should McFarlane?"
+
+     "To hide some evidence."
+
+     "Possibly the tramp wanted to hide that any murder at all had been
+     committed."
+
+     "And why did the tramp take nothing?"
+
+     "Because they were papers that he could not negotiate."
+
+     Lestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his manner was
+     less absolutely assured than before.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you may look for your tramp, and while
+     you are finding him we will hold on to our man. The future will show
+     which is right. Just notice this point, Mr. Holmes: that so far as we
+     know none of the papers were removed, and that the prisoner is the
+     one man in the world who had no reason for removing them, since he
+     was heir-at-law and would come into them in any case."
+
+     My friend seemed struck by this remark.
+
+     "I don't mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways very strongly
+     in favour of your theory," said he. "I only wish to point out that
+     there are other theories possible. As you say, the future will
+     decide. Good morning! I dare say that in the course of the day I
+     shall drop in at Norwood and see how you are getting on."
+
+     When the detective departed my friend rose and made his preparations
+     for the day's work with the alert air of a man who has a congenial
+     task before him.
+
+     "My first movement, Watson," said he, as he bustled into his
+     frock-coat, "must, as I said, be in the direction of Blackheath."
+
+     "And why not Norwood?"
+
+     "Because we have in this case one singular incident coming close to
+     the heels of another singular incident. The police are making the
+     mistake of concentrating their attention upon the second, because it
+     happens to be the one which is actually criminal. But it is evident
+     to me that the logical way to approach the case is to begin by trying
+     to throw some light upon the first incident--the curious will, so
+     suddenly made, and to so unexpected an heir. It may do something to
+     simplify what followed. No, my dear fellow, I don't think you can
+     help me. There is no prospect of danger, or I should not dream of
+     stirring out without you. I trust that when I see you in the evening
+     I will be able to report that I have been able to do something for
+     this unfortunate youngster who has thrown himself upon my
+     protection."
+
+     It was late when my friend returned, and I could see by a glance at
+     his haggard and anxious face that the high hopes with which he had
+     started had not been fulfilled. For an hour he droned away upon his
+     violin, endeavouring to soothe his own ruffled spirits. At last he
+     flung down the instrument and plunged into a detailed account of his
+     misadventures.
+
+     "It's all going wrong, Watson--all as wrong as it can go. I kept a
+     bold face before Lestrade, but, upon my soul, I believe that for once
+     the fellow is on the right track and we are on the wrong. All my
+     instincts are one way and all the facts are the other, and I much
+     fear that British juries have not yet attained that pitch of
+     intelligence when they will give the preference to my theories over
+     Lestrade's facts."
+
+     "Did you go to Blackheath?"
+
+     "Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the late
+     lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable black-guard. The father
+     was away in search of his son. The mother was at home--a little,
+     fluffy, blue-eyed person, in a tremor of fear and indignation. Of
+     course, she would not admit even the possibility of his guilt. But
+     she would not express either surprise or regret over the fate of
+     Oldacre. On the contrary, she spoke of him with such bitterness that
+     she was unconsciously considerably strengthening the case of the
+     police, for, of course, if her son had heard her speak of the man in
+     this fashion it would predispose him towards hatred and violence. 'He
+     was more like a malignant and cunning ape than a human being,' said
+     she, 'and he always was, ever since he was a young man.'
+
+     "'You knew him at that time?' said I.
+
+     "'Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine. Thank
+     Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and to marry a
+     better, if a poorer, man. I was engaged to him, Mr. Holmes, when I
+     heard a shocking story of how he had turned a cat loose in an aviary,
+     and I was so horrified at his brutal cruelty that I would have
+     nothing more to do with him.' She rummaged in a bureau, and presently
+     she produced a photograph of a woman, shamefully defaced and
+     mutilated with a knife. 'That is my own photograph,' she said. 'He
+     sent it to me in that state, with his curse, upon my wedding
+     morning.'
+
+     "'Well,' said I, 'at least he has forgiven you now, since he has left
+     all his property to your son.'
+
+     "'Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead or
+     alive,' she cried, with a proper spirit. 'There is a God in Heaven,
+     Mr. Holmes, and that same God who has punished that wicked man will
+     show in His own good time that my son's hands are guiltless of his
+     blood.'
+
+     "Well, I tried one or two leads, but could get at nothing which would
+     help our hypothesis, and several points which would make against it.
+     I gave it up at last and off I went to Norwood.
+
+     "This place, Deep Dene House, is a big modern villa of staring brick,
+     standing back in its own grounds, with a laurel-clumped lawn in front
+     of it. To the right and some distance back from the road was the
+     timber-yard which had been the scene of the fire. Here's a rough plan
+     on a leaf of my note-book. This window on the left is the one which
+     opens into Oldacre's room. You can look into it from the road, you
+     see. That is about the only bit of consolation I have had to-day.
+     Lestrade was not there, but his head constable did the honours. They
+     had just made a great treasure-trove. They had spent the morning
+     raking among the ashes of the burned wood-pile, and besides the
+     charred organic remains they had secured several discoloured metal
+     discs. I examined them with care, and there was no doubt that they
+     were trouser buttons. I even distinguished that one of them was
+     marked with the name of 'Hyams,' who was Oldacre's tailor. I then
+     worked the lawn very carefully for signs and traces, but this drought
+     has made everything as hard as iron. Nothing was to be seen save that
+     some body or bundle had been dragged through a low privet hedge which
+     is in a line with the wood-pile. All that, of course, fits in with
+     the official theory. I crawled about the lawn with an August sun on
+     my back, but I got up at the end of an hour no wiser than before.
+
+     "Well, after this fiasco I went into the bedroom and examined that
+     also. The blood-stains were very slight, mere smears and
+     discolorations, but undoubtedly fresh. The stick had been removed,
+     but there also the marks were slight. There is no doubt about the
+     stick belonging to our client. He admits it. Footmarks of both men
+     could be made out on the carpet, but none of any third person, which
+     again is a trick for the other side. They were piling up their score
+     all the time and we were at a standstill.
+
+     "Only one little gleam of hope did I get--and yet it amounted to
+     nothing. I examined the contents of the safe, most of which had been
+     taken out and left on the table. The papers had been made up into
+     sealed envelopes, one or two of which had been opened by the police.
+     They were not, so far as I could judge, of any great value, nor did
+     the bank-book show that Mr. Oldacre was in such very affluent
+     circumstances. But it seemed to me that all the papers were not
+     there. There were allusions to some deeds--possibly the more
+     valuable--which I could not find. This, of course, if we could
+     definitely prove it, would turn Lestrade's argument against himself,
+     for who would steal a thing if he knew that he would shortly inherit
+     it?
+
+     "Finally, having drawn every other cover and picked up no scent, I
+     tried my luck with the housekeeper. Mrs. Lexington is her name, a
+     little, dark, silent person, with suspicious and sidelong eyes. She
+     could tell us something if she would--I am convinced of it. But she
+     was as close as wax. Yes, she had let Mr. McFarlane in at half-past
+     nine. She wished her hand had withered before she had done so. She
+     had gone to bed at half-past ten. Her room was at the other end of
+     the house, and she could hear nothing of what passed. Mr. McFarlane
+     had left his hat, and to the best of her belief his stick, in the
+     hall. She had been awakened by the alarm of fire. Her poor, dear
+     master had certainly been murdered. Had he any enemies? Well, every
+     man had enemies, but Mr. Oldacre kept himself very much to himself,
+     and only met people in the way of business. She had seen the buttons,
+     and was sure that they belonged to the clothes which he had worn last
+     night. The wood-pile was very dry, for it had not rained for a month.
+     It burned like tinder, and by the time she reached the spot nothing
+     could be seen but flames. She and all the firemen smelled the burned
+     flesh from inside it. She knew nothing of the papers, nor of Mr.
+     Oldacre's private affairs.
+
+     "So, my dear Watson, there's my report of a failure. And yet--and
+     yet--"--he clenched his thin hands in a paroxysm of conviction--"I
+     know it's all wrong. I feel it in my bones. There is something that
+     has not come out, and that housekeeper knows it. There was a sort of
+     sulky defiance in her eyes, which only goes with guilty knowledge.
+     However, there's no good talking any more about it, Watson; but
+     unless some lucky chance comes our way I fear that the Norwood
+     Disappearance Case will not figure in that chronicle of our successes
+     which I foresee that a patient public will sooner or later have to
+     endure."
+
+     "Surely," said I, "the man's appearance would go far with any jury?"
+
+     "That is a dangerous argument, my dear Watson. You remember that
+     terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in '87?
+     Was there ever a more mild-mannered, Sunday-school young man?"
+
+     "It is true."
+
+     "Unless we succeed in establishing an alternative theory this man is
+     lost. You can hardly find a flaw in the case which can now be
+     presented against him, and all further investigation has served to
+     strengthen it. By the way, there is one curious little point about
+     those papers which may serve us as the starting-point for an inquiry.
+     On looking over the bank-book I found that the low state of the
+     balance was principally due to large cheques which have been made out
+     during the last year to Mr. Cornelius. I confess that I should be
+     interested to know who this Mr. Cornelius may be with whom a retired
+     builder has such very large transactions. Is it possible that he has
+     had a hand in the affair? Cornelius might be a broker, but we have
+     found no scrip to correspond with these large payments. Failing any
+     other indication my researches must now take the direction of an
+     inquiry at the bank for the gentleman who has cashed these cheques.
+     But I fear, my dear fellow, that our case will end ingloriously by
+     Lestrade hanging our client, which will certainly be a triumph for
+     Scotland Yard."
+
+     I do not know how far Sherlock Holmes took any sleep that night, but
+     when I came down to breakfast I found him pale and harassed, his
+     bright eyes the brighter for the dark shadows round them. The carpet
+     round his chair was littered with cigarette-ends and with the early
+     editions of the morning papers. An open telegram lay upon the table.
+
+     "What do you think of this, Watson?" he asked, tossing it across.
+
+     It was from Norwood, and ran as follows:
+
+     "Important fresh evidence to hand. McFarlane's guilt definitely
+     established. Advise you to abandon case.
+     Lestrade.
+
+     "This sounds serious," said I.
+
+     "It is Lestrade's little cock-a-doodle of victory," Holmes answered,
+     with a bitter smile. "And yet it may be premature to abandon the
+     case. After all, important fresh evidence is a two-edged thing, and
+     may possibly cut in a very different direction to that which Lestrade
+     imagines. Take your breakfast, Watson, and we will go out together
+     and see what we can do. I feel as if I shall need your company and
+     your moral support to-day."
+
+     My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his
+     peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit
+     himself no food, and I have known him presume upon his iron strength
+     until he has fainted from pure inanition. "At present I cannot spare
+     energy and nerve force for digestion," he would say in answer to my
+     medical remonstrances. I was not surprised, therefore, when this
+     morning he left his untouched meal behind him and started with me for
+     Norwood. A crowd of morbid sightseers were still gathered round Deep
+     Dene House, which was just such a suburban villa as I had pictured.
+     Within the gates Lestrade met us, his face flushed with victory, his
+     manner grossly triumphant.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, have you proved us to be wrong yet? Have you found
+     your tramp?" he cried.
+
+     "I have formed no conclusion whatever," my companion answered.
+
+     "But we formed ours yesterday, and now it proves to be correct; so
+     you must acknowledge that we have been a little in front of you this
+     time, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "You certainly have the air of something unusual having occurred,"
+     said Holmes.
+
+     Lestrade laughed loudly.
+
+     "You don't like being beaten any more than the rest of us do," said
+     he. "A man can't expect always to have it his own way, can he, Dr.
+     Watson? Step this way, if you please, gentlemen, and I think I can
+     convince you once for all that it was John McFarlane who did this
+     crime."
+
+     He led us through the passage and out into a dark hall beyond.
+
+     "This is where young McFarlane must have come out to get his hat
+     after the crime was done," said he. "Now, look at this." With
+     dramatic suddenness he struck a match and by its light exposed a
+     stain of blood upon the whitewashed wall. As he held the match nearer
+     I saw that it was more than a stain. It was the well-marked print of
+     a thumb.
+
+     "Look at that with your magnifying glass, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Yes, I am doing so."
+
+     "You are aware that no two thumb marks are alike?"
+
+     "I have heard something of the kind."
+
+     "Well, then, will you please compare that print with this wax
+     impression of young McFarlane's right thumb, taken by my orders this
+     morning?"
+
+     As he held the waxen print close to the blood-stain it did not take a
+     magnifying glass to see that the two were undoubtedly from the same
+     thumb. It was evident to me that our unfortunate client was lost.
+
+     "That is final," said Lestrade.
+
+     "Yes, that is final," I involuntarily echoed.
+
+     "It is final," said Holmes.
+
+     Something in his tone caught my ear, and I turned to look at him. An
+     extraordinary change had come over his face. It was writhing with
+     inward merriment. His two eyes were shining like stars. It seemed to
+     me that he was making desperate efforts to restrain a convulsive
+     attack of laughter.
+
+     "Dear me! Dear me!" he said at last. "Well, now, who would have
+     thought it? And how deceptive appearances may be, to be sure! Such a
+     nice young man to look at! It is a lesson to us not to trust our own
+     judgment, is it not, Lestrade?"
+
+     "Yes, some of us are a little too much inclined to be cocksure, Mr.
+     Holmes," said Lestrade. The man's insolence was maddening, but we
+     could not resent it.
+
+     "What a providential thing that this young man should press his right
+     thumb against the wall in taking his hat from the peg! Such a very
+     natural action, too, if you come to think of it." Holmes was
+     outwardly calm, but his whole body gave a wriggle of suppressed
+     excitement as he spoke. "By the way, Lestrade, who made this
+     remarkable discovery?"
+
+     "It was the housekeeper, Mrs. Lexington, who drew the night
+     constable's attention to it."
+
+     "Where was the night constable?"
+
+     "He remained on guard in the bedroom where the crime was committed,
+     so as to see that nothing was touched."
+
+     "But why didn't the police see this mark yesterday?"
+
+     "Well, we had no particular reason to make a careful examination of
+     the hall. Besides, it's not in a very prominent place, as you see."
+
+     "No, no, of course not. I suppose there is no doubt that the mark was
+     there yesterday?"
+
+     Lestrade looked at Holmes as if he thought he was going out of his
+     mind. I confess that I was myself surprised both at his hilarious
+     manner and at his rather wild observation.
+
+     "I don't know whether you think that McFarlane came out of jail in
+     the dead of the night in order to strengthen the evidence against
+     himself," said Lestrade. "I leave it to any expert in the world
+     whether that is not the mark of his thumb."
+
+     "It is unquestionably the mark of his thumb."
+
+     "There, that's enough," said Lestrade. "I am a practical man, Mr.
+     Holmes, and when I have got my evidence I come to my conclusions. If
+     you have anything to say you will find me writing my report in the
+     sitting-room."
+
+     Holmes had recovered his equanimity, though I still seemed to detect
+     gleams of amusement in his expression.
+
+     "Dear me, this is a very sad development, Watson, is it not?" said
+     he. "And yet there are singular points about it which hold out some
+     hopes for our client."
+
+     "I am delighted to hear it," said I, heartily. "I was afraid it was
+     all up with him."
+
+     "I would hardly go so far as to say that, my dear Watson. The fact is
+     that there is one really serious flaw in this evidence to which our
+     friend attaches so much importance."
+
+     "Indeed, Holmes! What is it?"
+
+     "Only this: that I know that that mark was not there when I examined
+     the hall yesterday. And now, Watson, let us have a little stroll
+     round in the sunshine."
+
+     With a confused brain, but with a heart into which some warmth of
+     hope was returning, I accompanied my friend in a walk round the
+     garden. Holmes took each face of the house in turn and examined it
+     with great interest. He then led the way inside and went over the
+     whole building from basement to attics. Most of the rooms were
+     unfurnished, but none the less Holmes inspected them all minutely.
+     Finally, on the top corridor, which ran outside three untenanted
+     bedrooms, he again was seized with a spasm of merriment.
+
+     "There are really some very unique features about this case, Watson,"
+     said he. "I think it is time now that we took our friend Lestrade
+     into our confidence. He has had his little smile at our expense, and
+     perhaps we may do as much by him if my reading of this problem proves
+     to be correct. Yes, yes; I think I see how we should approach it."
+
+     The Scotland Yard inspector was still writing in the parlour when
+     Holmes interrupted him.
+
+     "I understood that you were writing a report of this case," said he.
+
+     "So I am."
+
+     "Don't you think it may be a little premature? I can't help thinking
+     that your evidence is not complete."
+
+     Lestrade knew my friend too well to disregard his words. He laid down
+     his pen and looked curiously at him.
+
+     "What do you mean, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Only that there is an important witness whom you have not seen."
+
+     "Can you produce him?"
+
+     "I think I can."
+
+     "Then do so."
+
+     "I will do my best. How many constables have you?"
+
+     "There are three within call."
+
+     "Excellent!" said Holmes. "May I ask if they are all large,
+     able-bodied men with powerful voices?"
+
+     "I have no doubt they are, though I fail to see what their voices
+     have to do with it."
+
+     "Perhaps I can help you to see that and one or two other things as
+     well," said Holmes. "Kindly summon your men, and I will try."
+
+     Five minutes later three policemen had assembled in the hall.
+
+     "In the outhouse you will find a considerable quantity of straw,"
+     said Holmes. "I will ask you to carry in two bundles of it. I think
+     it will be of the greatest assistance in producing the witness whom I
+     require. Thank you very much. I believe you have some matches in your
+     pocket, Watson. Now, Mr. Lestrade, I will ask you all to accompany me
+     to the top landing."
+
+     As I have said, there was a broad corridor there, which ran outside
+     three empty bedrooms. At one end of the corridor we were all
+     marshalled by Sherlock Holmes, the constables grinning and Lestrade
+     staring at my friend with amazement, expectation, and derision
+     chasing each other across his features. Holmes stood before us with
+     the air of a conjurer who is performing a trick.
+
+     "Would you kindly send one of your constables for two buckets of
+     water? Put the straw on the floor here, free from the wall on either
+     side. Now I think that we are all ready."
+
+     Lestrade's face had begun to grow red and angry.
+
+     "I don't know whether you are playing a game with us, Mr. Sherlock
+     Holmes," said he. "If you know anything, you can surely say it
+     without all this tomfoolery."
+
+     "I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason for
+     everything that I do. You may possibly remember that you chaffed me a
+     little some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your side of the hedge,
+     so you must not grudge me a little pomp and ceremony now. Might I ask
+     you, Watson, to open that window, and then to put a match to the edge
+     of the straw?"
+
+     I did so, and, driven by the draught, a coil of grey smoke swirled
+     down the corridor, while the dry straw crackled and flamed.
+
+     "Now we must see if we can find this witness for you, Lestrade. Might
+     I ask you all to join in the cry of 'Fire!'? Now, then; one, two,
+     three--"
+
+     "Fire!" we all yelled.
+
+     "Thank you. I will trouble you once again."
+
+     "Fire!"
+
+     "Just once more, gentlemen, and all together."
+
+     "Fire!" The shout must have rung over Norwood.
+
+     It had hardly died away when an amazing thing happened. A door
+     suddenly flew open out of what appeared to be solid wall at the end
+     of the corridor, and a little, wizened man darted out of it, like a
+     rabbit out of its burrow.
+
+     "Capital!" said Holmes, calmly. "Watson, a bucket of water over the
+     straw. That will do! Lestrade, allow me to present you with your
+     principal missing witness, Mr. Jonas Oldacre."
+
+     The detective stared at the new-comer with blank amazement. The
+     latter was blinking in the bright light of the corridor, and peering
+     at us and at the smouldering fire. It was an odious face--crafty,
+     vicious, malignant, with shifty, light-grey eyes and white eyelashes.
+
+     "What's this, then?" said Lestrade at last. "What have you been doing
+     all this time, eh?"
+
+     Oldacre gave an uneasy laugh, shrinking back from the furious red
+     face of the angry detective.
+
+     "I have done no harm."
+
+     "No harm? You have done your best to get an innocent man hanged. If
+     it wasn't for this gentleman here, I am not sure that you would not
+     have succeeded."
+
+     The wretched creature began to whimper.
+
+     "I am sure, sir, it was only my practical joke."
+
+     "Oh! a joke, was it? You won't find the laugh on your side, I promise
+     you. Take him down and keep him in the sitting-room until I come. Mr.
+     Holmes," he continued, when they had gone, "I could not speak before
+     the constables, but I don't mind saying, in the presence of Dr.
+     Watson, that this is the brightest thing that you have done yet,
+     though it is a mystery to me how you did it. You have saved an
+     innocent man's life, and you have prevented a very grave scandal,
+     which would have ruined my reputation in the Force."
+
+     Holmes smiled and clapped Lestrade upon the shoulder.
+
+     "Instead of being ruined, my good sir, you will find that your
+     reputation has been enormously enhanced. Just make a few alterations
+     in that report which you were writing, and they will understand how
+     hard it is to throw dust in the eyes of Inspector Lestrade."
+
+     "And you don't want your name to appear?"
+
+     "Not at all. The work is its own reward. Perhaps I shall get the
+     credit also at some distant day when I permit my zealous historian to
+     lay out his foolscap once more--eh, Watson? Well, now, let us see
+     where this rat has been lurking."
+
+     A lath-and-plaster partition had been run across the passage six feet
+     from the end, with a door cunningly concealed in it. It was lit
+     within by slits under the eaves. A few articles of furniture and a
+     supply of food and water were within, together with a number of books
+     and papers.
+
+     "There's the advantage of being a builder," said Holmes, as we came
+     out. "He was able to fix up his own little hiding-place without any
+     confederate--save, of course, that precious housekeeper of his, whom
+     I should lose no time in adding to your bag, Lestrade."
+
+     "I'll take your advice. But how did you know of this place, Mr.
+     Holmes?"
+
+     "I made up my mind that the fellow was in hiding in the house. When I
+     paced one corridor and found it six feet shorter than the
+     corresponding one below, it was pretty clear where he was. I thought
+     he had not the nerve to lie quiet before an alarm of fire. We could,
+     of course, have gone in and taken him, but it amused me to make him
+     reveal himself; besides, I owed you a little mystification, Lestrade,
+     for your chaff in the morning."
+
+     "Well, sir, you certainly got equal with me on that. But how in the
+     world did you know that he was in the house at all?"
+
+     "The thumb-mark, Lestrade. You said it was final; and so it was, in a
+     very different sense. I knew it had not been there the day before. I
+     pay a good deal of attention to matters of detail, as you may have
+     observed, and I had examined the hall and was sure that the wall was
+     clear. Therefore, it had been put on during the night."
+
+     "But how?"
+
+     "Very simply. When those packets were sealed up, Jonas Oldacre got
+     McFarlane to secure one of the seals by putting his thumb upon the
+     soft wax. It would be done so quickly and so naturally that I dare
+     say the young man himself has no recollection of it. Very likely it
+     just so happened, and Oldacre had himself no notion of the use he
+     would put it to. Brooding over the case in that den of his, it
+     suddenly struck him what absolutely damning evidence he could make
+     against McFarlane by using that thumb-mark. It was the simplest thing
+     in the world for him to take a wax impression from the seal, to
+     moisten it in as much blood as he could get from a pin-prick, and to
+     put the mark upon the wall during the night, either with his own hand
+     or with that of his housekeeper. If you examine among those documents
+     which he took with him into his retreat I will lay you a wager that
+     you find the seal with the thumb-mark upon it."
+
+     "Wonderful!" said Lestrade. "Wonderful! It's all as clear as crystal,
+     as you put it. But what is the object of this deep deception, Mr.
+     Holmes?"
+
+     It was amusing to me to see how the detective's overbearing manner
+     had changed suddenly to that of a child asking questions of its
+     teacher.
+
+     "Well, I don't think that is very hard to explain. A very deep,
+     malicious, vindictive person is the gentleman who is now awaiting us
+     downstairs. You know that he was once refused by McFarlane's mother?
+     You don't! I told you that you should go to Blackheath first and
+     Norwood afterwards. Well, this injury, as he would consider it, has
+     rankled in his wicked, scheming brain, and all his life he has longed
+     for vengeance, but never seen his chance. During the last year or two
+     things have gone against him--secret speculation, I think--and he
+     finds himself in a bad way. He determines to swindle his creditors,
+     and for this purpose he pays large cheques to a certain Mr.
+     Cornelius, who is, I imagine, himself under another name. I have not
+     traced these cheques yet, but I have no doubt that they were banked
+     under that name at some provincial town where Oldacre from time to
+     time led a double existence. He intended to change his name
+     altogether, draw this money, and vanish, starting life again
+     elsewhere."
+
+     "Well, that's likely enough."
+
+     "It would strike him that in disappearing he might throw all pursuit
+     off his track, and at the same time have an ample and crushing
+     revenge upon his old sweetheart, if he could give the impression that
+     he had been murdered by her only child. It was a masterpiece of
+     villainy, and he carried it out like a master. The idea of the will,
+     which would give an obvious motive for the crime, the secret visit
+     unknown to his own parents, the retention of the stick, the blood,
+     and the animal remains and buttons in the wood-pile, all were
+     admirable. It was a net from which it seemed to me a few hours ago
+     that there was no possible escape. But he had not that supreme gift
+     of the artist, the knowledge of when to stop. He wished to improve
+     that which was already perfect--to draw the rope tighter yet round
+     the neck of his unfortunate victim--and so he ruined all. Let us
+     descend, Lestrade. There are just one or two questions that I would
+     ask him."
+
+     The malignant creature was seated in his own parlour with a policeman
+     upon each side of him.
+
+     "It was a joke, my good sir, a practical joke, nothing more," he
+     whined incessantly. "I assure you, sir, that I simply concealed
+     myself in order to see the effect of my disappearance, and I am sure
+     that you would not be so unjust as to imagine that I would have
+     allowed any harm to befall poor young Mr. McFarlane."
+
+     "That's for a jury to decide," said Lestrade. "Anyhow, we shall have
+     you on a charge of conspiracy, if not for attempted murder."
+
+     "And you'll probably find that your creditors will impound the
+     banking account of Mr. Cornelius," said Holmes.
+
+     The little man started and turned his malignant eyes upon my friend.
+
+     "I have to thank you for a good deal," said he. "Perhaps I'll pay my
+     debt some day."
+
+     Holmes smiled indulgently.
+
+     "I fancy that for some few years you will find your time very fully
+     occupied," said he. "By the way, what was it you put into the
+     wood-pile besides your old trousers? A dead dog, or rabbits, or what?
+     You won't tell? Dear me, how very unkind of you! Well, well, I dare
+     say that a couple of rabbits would account both for the blood and for
+     the charred ashes. If ever you write an account, Watson, you can make
+     rabbits serve your turn."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURE OF THE DANCING MEN
+
+     Holmes had been seated for some hours in silence with his long, thin
+     back curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing a
+     particularly malodorous product. His head was sunk upon his breast,
+     and he looked from my point of view like a strange, lank bird, with
+     dull grey plumage and a black top-knot.
+
+     "So, Watson," said he, suddenly, "you do not propose to invest in
+     South African securities?"
+
+     I gave a start of astonishment. Accustomed as I was to Holmes's
+     curious faculties, this sudden intrusion into my most intimate
+     thoughts was utterly inexplicable.
+
+     "How on earth do you know that?" I asked.
+
+     He wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test-tube in his
+     hand and a gleam of amusement in his deep-set eyes.
+
+     "Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback," said he.
+
+     "I am."
+
+     "I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect."
+
+     "Why?"
+
+     "Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so absurdly
+     simple."
+
+     "I am sure that I shall say nothing of the kind."
+
+     "You see, my dear Watson"--he propped his test-tube in the rack and
+     began to lecture with the air of a professor addressing his
+     class--"it is not really difficult to construct a series of
+     inferences, each dependent upon its predecessor and each simple in
+     itself. If, after doing so, one simply knocks out all the central
+     inferences and presents one's audience with the starting-point and
+     the conclusion, one may produce a startling, though possibly a
+     meretricious, effect. Now, it was not really difficult, by an
+     inspection of the groove between your left forefinger and thumb, to
+     feel sure that you did not propose to invest your small capital in
+     the goldfields."
+
+     "I see no connection."
+
+     "Very likely not; but I can quickly show you a close connection. Here
+     are the missing links of the very simple chain: 1. You had chalk
+     between your left finger and thumb when you returned from the club
+     last night. 2. You put chalk there when you play billiards to steady
+     the cue. 3. You never play billiards except with Thurston. 4. You
+     told me four weeks ago that Thurston had an option on some South
+     African property which would expire in a month, and which he desired
+     you to share with him. 5. Your cheque-book is locked in my drawer,
+     and you have not asked for the key. 6. You do not propose to invest
+     your money in this manner."
+
+     "How absurdly simple!" I cried.
+
+     "Quite so!" said he, a little nettled. "Every problem becomes very
+     childish when once it is explained to you. Here is an unexplained
+     one. See what you can make of that, friend Watson." He tossed a sheet
+     of paper upon the table and turned once more to his chemical
+     analysis.
+
+     I looked with amazement at the absurd hieroglyphics upon the paper.
+
+     "Why, Holmes, it is a child's drawing," I cried.
+
+     "Oh, that's your idea!"
+
+     "What else should it be?"
+
+     "That is what Mr. Hilton Cubitt, of Ridling Thorpe Manor, Norfolk, is
+     very anxious to know. This little conundrum came by the first post,
+     and he was to follow by the next train. There's a ring at the bell,
+     Watson. I should not be very much surprised if this were he."
+
+     A heavy step was heard upon the stairs, and an instant later there
+     entered a tall, ruddy, clean-shaven gentleman, whose clear eyes and
+     florid cheeks told of a life led far from the fogs of Baker Street.
+     He seemed to bring a whiff of his strong, fresh, bracing, east-coast
+     air with him as he entered. Having shaken hands with each of us, he
+     was about to sit down when his eye rested upon the paper with the
+     curious markings, which I had just examined and left upon the table.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, what do you make of these?" he cried. "They told
+     me that you were fond of queer mysteries, and I don't think you can
+     find a queerer one than that. I sent the paper on ahead so that you
+     might have time to study it before I came."
+
+     "It is certainly rather a curious production," said Holmes. "At first
+     sight it would appear to be some childish prank. It consists of a
+     number of absurd little figures dancing across the paper upon which
+     they are drawn. Why should you attribute any importance to so
+     grotesque an object?"
+
+     "I never should, Mr. Holmes. But my wife does. It is frightening her
+     to death. She says nothing, but I can see terror in her eyes. That's
+     why I want to sift the matter to the bottom."
+
+     Holmes held up the paper so that the sunlight shone full upon it. It
+     was a page torn from a note-book. The markings were done in pencil,
+     and ran in this way:--
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of several figures of dancing men, some holding
+     flags ]
+
+     Holmes examined it for some time, and then, folding it carefully up,
+     he placed it in his pocket-book.
+
+     "This promises to be a most interesting and unusual case," said he.
+     "You gave me a few particulars in your letter, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, but
+     I should be very much obliged if you would kindly go over it all
+     again for the benefit of my friend, Dr. Watson."
+
+     "I'm not much of a story-teller," said our visitor, nervously
+     clasping and unclasping his great, strong hands. "You'll just ask me
+     anything that I don't make clear. I'll begin at the time of my
+     marriage last year; but I want to say first of all that, though I'm
+     not a rich man, my people have been at Ridling Thorpe for a matter of
+     five centuries, and there is no better known family in the County of
+     Norfolk. Last year I came up to London for the Jubilee, and I stopped
+     at a boarding-house in Russell Square, because Parker, the vicar of
+     our parish, was staying in it. There was an American young lady
+     there--Patrick was the name--Elsie Patrick. In some way we became
+     friends, until before my month was up I was as much in love as a man
+     could be. We were quietly married at a registry office, and we
+     returned to Norfolk a wedded couple. You'll think it very mad, Mr.
+     Holmes, that a man of a good old family should marry a wife in this
+     fashion, knowing nothing of her past or of her people; but if you saw
+     her and knew her it would help you to understand.
+
+     "She was very straight about it, was Elsie. I can't say that she did
+     not give me every chance of getting out of it if I wished to do so.
+     'I have had some very disagreeable associations in my life,' said
+     she; 'I wish to forget all about them. I would rather never allude to
+     the past, for it is very painful to me. If you take me, Hilton, you
+     will take a woman who has nothing that she need be personally ashamed
+     of; but you will have to be content with my word for it, and to allow
+     me to be silent as to all that passed up to the time when I became
+     yours. If these conditions are too hard, then go back to Norfolk and
+     leave me to the lonely life in which you found me.' It was only the
+     day before our wedding that she said those very words to me. I told
+     her that I was content to take her on her own terms, and I have been
+     as good as my word.
+
+     "Well, we have been married now for a year, and very happy we have
+     been. But about a month ago, at the end of June, I saw for the first
+     time signs of trouble. One day my wife received a letter from
+     America. I saw the American stamp. She turned deadly white, read the
+     letter, and threw it into the fire. She made no allusion to it
+     afterwards, and I made none, for a promise is a promise; but she has
+     never known an easy hour from that moment. There is always a look of
+     fear upon her face--a look as if she were waiting and expecting. She
+     would do better to trust me. She would find that I was her best
+     friend. But until she speaks I can say nothing. Mind you, she is a
+     truthful woman, Mr. Holmes, and whatever trouble there may have been
+     in her past life it has been no fault of hers. I am only a simple
+     Norfolk squire, but there is not a man in England who ranks his
+     family honour more highly than I do. She knows it well, and she knew
+     it well before she married me. She would never bring any stain upon
+     it--of that I am sure.
+
+     "Well, now I come to the queer part of my story. About a week ago--it
+     was the Tuesday of last week--I found on one of the window-sills a
+     number of absurd little dancing figures, like these upon the paper.
+     They were scrawled with chalk. I thought that it was the stable-boy
+     who had drawn them, but the lad swore he knew nothing about it.
+     Anyhow, they had come there during the night. I had them washed out,
+     and I only mentioned the matter to my wife afterwards. To my surprise
+     she took it very seriously, and begged me if any more came to let her
+     see them. None did come for a week, and then yesterday morning I
+     found this paper lying on the sun-dial in the garden. I showed it to
+     Elsie, and down she dropped in a dead faint. Since then she has
+     looked like a woman in a dream, half dazed, and with terror always
+     lurking in her eyes. It was then that I wrote and sent the paper to
+     you, Mr. Holmes. It was not a thing that I could take to the police,
+     for they would have laughed at me, but you will tell me what to do. I
+     am not a rich man; but if there is any danger threatening my little
+     woman I would spend my last copper to shield her."
+
+     He was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil, simple,
+     straight, and gentle, with his great, earnest blue eyes and broad,
+     comely face. His love for his wife and his trust in her shone in his
+     features. Holmes had listened to his story with the utmost attention,
+     and now he sat for some time in silent thought.
+
+     "Don't you think, Mr. Cubitt," said he, at last, "that your best plan
+     would be to make a direct appeal to your wife, and to ask her to
+     share her secret with you?"
+
+     Hilton Cubitt shook his massive head.
+
+     "A promise is a promise, Mr. Holmes. If Elsie wished to tell me she
+     would. If not, it is not for me to force her confidence. But I am
+     justified in taking my own line--and I will."
+
+     "Then I will help you with all my heart. In the first place, have you
+     heard of any strangers being seen in your neighbourhood?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "I presume that it is a very quiet place. Any fresh face would cause
+     comment?"
+
+     "In the immediate neighbourhood, yes. But we have several small
+     watering-places not very far away. And the farmers take in lodgers."
+
+     "These hieroglyphics have evidently a meaning. If it is a purely
+     arbitrary one it may be impossible for us to solve it. If, on the
+     other hand, it is systematic, I have no doubt that we shall get to
+     the bottom of it. But this particular sample is so short that I can
+     do nothing, and the facts which you have brought me are so indefinite
+     that we have no basis for an investigation. I would suggest that you
+     return to Norfolk, that you keep a keen look-out, and that you take
+     an exact copy of any fresh dancing men which may appear. It is a
+     thousand pities that we have not a reproduction of those which were
+     done in chalk upon the window-sill. Make a discreet inquiry also as
+     to any strangers in the neighbourhood. When you have collected some
+     fresh evidence come to me again. That is the best advice which I can
+     give you, Mr. Hilton Cubitt. If there are any pressing fresh
+     developments I shall be always ready to run down and see you in your
+     Norfolk home."
+
+     The interview left Sherlock Holmes very thoughtful, and several times
+     in the next few days I saw him take his slip of paper from his
+     note-book and look long and earnestly at the curious figures
+     inscribed upon it. He made no allusion to the affair, however, until
+     one afternoon a fortnight or so later. I was going out when he called
+     me back.
+
+     "You had better stay here, Watson."
+
+     "Why?"
+
+     "Because I had a wire from Hilton Cubitt this morning--you remember
+     Hilton Cubitt, of the dancing men? He was to reach Liverpool Street
+     at one-twenty. He may be here at any moment. I gather from his wire
+     that there have been some new incidents of importance."
+
+     We had not long to wait, for our Norfolk squire came straight from
+     the station as fast as a hansom could bring him. He was looking
+     worried and depressed, with tired eyes and a lined forehead.
+
+     "It's getting on my nerves, this business, Mr. Holmes," said he, as
+     he sank, like a wearied man, into an arm-chair. "It's bad enough to
+     feel that you are surrounded by unseen, unknown folk, who have some
+     kind of design upon you; but when, in addition to that, you know that
+     it is just killing your wife by inches, then it becomes as much as
+     flesh and blood can endure. She's wearing away under it--just wearing
+     away before my eyes."
+
+     "Has she said anything yet?"
+
+     "No, Mr. Holmes, she has not. And yet there have been times when the
+     poor girl has wanted to speak, and yet could not quite bring herself
+     to take the plunge. I have tried to help her; but I dare say I did it
+     clumsily, and scared her off from it. She has spoken about my old
+     family, and our reputation in the county, and our pride in our
+     unsullied honour, and I always felt it was leading to the point; but
+     somehow it turned off before we got there."
+
+     "But you have found out something for yourself?"
+
+     "A good deal, Mr. Holmes. I have several fresh dancing men pictures
+     for you to examine, and, what is more important, I have seen the
+     fellow."
+
+     "What, the man who draws them?"
+
+     "Yes, I saw him at his work. But I will tell you everything in order.
+     When I got back after my visit to you, the very first thing I saw
+     next morning was a fresh crop of dancing men. They had been drawn in
+     chalk upon the black wooden door of the tool-house, which stands
+     beside the lawn in full view of the front windows. I took an exact
+     copy, and here it is." He unfolded a paper and laid it upon the
+     table. Here is a copy of the hieroglyphics:--
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of a few dancing men ]
+
+     "Excellent!" said Holmes. "Excellent! Pray continue."
+
+     "When I had taken the copy I rubbed out the marks; but two mornings
+     later a fresh inscription had appeared. I have a copy of it here":--
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of some more dancing man figures ]
+
+     Holmes rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight.
+
+     "Our material is rapidly accumulating," said he.
+
+     "Three days later a message was left scrawled upon paper, and placed
+     under a pebble upon the sun-dial. Here it is. The characters are, as
+     you see, exactly the same as the last one. After that I determined to
+     lie in wait; so I got out my revolver and I sat up in my study, which
+     overlooks the lawn and garden. About two in the morning I was seated
+     by the window, all being dark save for the moonlight outside, when I
+     heard steps behind me, and there was my wife in her dressing-gown.
+     She implored me to come to bed. I told her frankly that I wished to
+     see who it was who played such absurd tricks upon us. She answered
+     that it was some senseless practical joke, and that I should not take
+     any notice of it.
+
+     "'If it really annoys you, Hilton, we might go and travel, you and I,
+     and so avoid this nuisance.'
+
+     "'What, be driven out of our own house by a practical joker?' said I.
+     'Why, we should have the whole county laughing at us.'
+
+     "'Well, come to bed,' said she, 'and we can discuss it in the
+     morning.'
+
+     "Suddenly, as she spoke, I saw her white face grow whiter yet in the
+     moonlight, and her hand tightened upon my shoulder. Something was
+     moving in the shadow of the tool-house. I saw a dark, creeping figure
+     which crawled round the corner and squatted in front of the door.
+     Seizing my pistol I was rushing out, when my wife threw her arms
+     round me and held me with convulsive strength. I tried to throw her
+     off, but she clung to me most desperately. At last I got clear, but
+     by the time I had opened the door and reached the house the creature
+     was gone. He had left a trace of his presence, however, for there on
+     the door was the very same arrangement of dancing men which had
+     already twice appeared, and which I have copied on that paper. There
+     was no other sign of the fellow anywhere, though I ran all over the
+     grounds. And yet the amazing thing is that he must have been there
+     all the time, for when I examined the door again in the morning he
+     had scrawled some more of his pictures under the line which I had
+     already seen."
+
+     "Have you that fresh drawing?"
+
+     "Yes; it is very short, but I made a copy of it, and here it is."
+
+     Again he produced a paper. The new dance was in this form:--
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of five dancing men figures ]
+
+     "Tell me," said Holmes--and I could see by his eyes that he was much
+     excited--"was this a mere addition to the first, or did it appear to
+     be entirely separate?"
+
+     "It was on a different panel of the door."
+
+     "Excellent! This is far the most important of all for our purpose. It
+     fills me with hopes. Now, Mr. Hilton Cubitt, please continue your
+     most interesting statement."
+
+     "I have nothing more to say, Mr. Holmes, except that I was angry with
+     my wife that night for having held me back when I might have caught
+     the skulking rascal. She said that she feared that I might come to
+     harm. For an instant it had crossed my mind that perhaps what she
+     really feared was that he might come to harm, for I could not doubt
+     that she knew who this man was and what he meant by these strange
+     signals. But there is a tone in my wife's voice, Mr. Holmes, and a
+     look in her eyes which forbid doubt, and I am sure that it was indeed
+     my own safety that was in her mind. There's the whole case, and now I
+     want your advice as to what I ought to do. My own inclination is to
+     put half-a-dozen of my farm lads in the shrubbery, and when this
+     fellow comes again to give him such a hiding that he will leave us in
+     peace for the future."
+
+     "I fear it is too deep a case for such simple remedies," said Holmes.
+     "How long can you stay in London?"
+
+     "I must go back to-day. I would not leave my wife alone all night for
+     anything. She is very nervous and begged me to come back."
+
+     "I dare say you are right. But if you could have stopped I might
+     possibly have been able to return with you in a day or two. Meanwhile
+     you will leave me these papers, and I think that it is very likely
+     that I shall be able to pay you a visit shortly and to throw some
+     light upon your case."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm professional manner until our
+     visitor had left us, although it was easy for me, who knew him so
+     well, to see that he was profoundly excited. The moment that Hilton
+     Cubitt's broad back had disappeared through the door my comrade
+     rushed to the table, laid out all the slips of paper containing
+     dancing men in front of him, and threw himself into an intricate and
+     elaborate calculation. For two hours I watched him as he covered
+     sheet after sheet of paper with figures and letters, so completely
+     absorbed in his task that he had evidently forgotten my presence.
+     Sometimes he was making progress and whistled and sang at his work;
+     sometimes he was puzzled, and would sit for long spells with a
+     furrowed brow and a vacant eye. Finally he sprang from his chair with
+     a cry of satisfaction, and walked up and down the room rubbing his
+     hands together. Then he wrote a long telegram upon a cable form. "If
+     my answer to this is as I hope, you will have a very pretty case to
+     add to your collection, Watson," said he. "I expect that we shall be
+     able to go down to Norfolk to-morrow, and to take our friend some
+     very definite news as to the secret of his annoyance."
+
+     I confess that I was filled with curiosity, but I was aware that
+     Holmes liked to make his disclosures at his own time and in his own
+     way; so I waited until it should suit him to take me into his
+     confidence.
+
+     But there was a delay in that answering telegram, and two days of
+     impatience followed, during which Holmes pricked up his ears at every
+     ring of the bell. On the evening of the second there came a letter
+     from Hilton Cubitt. All was quiet with him, save that a long
+     inscription had appeared that morning upon the pedestal of the
+     sun-dial. He inclosed a copy of it, which is here reproduced:--
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of many dancing men figures ]
+
+     Holmes bent over this grotesque frieze for some minutes, and then
+     suddenly sprang to his feet with an exclamation of surprise and
+     dismay. His face was haggard with anxiety.
+
+     "We have let this affair go far enough," said he. "Is there a train
+     to North Walsham to-night?"
+
+     I turned up the time-table. The last had just gone.
+
+     "Then we shall breakfast early and take the very first in the
+     morning," said Holmes. "Our presence is most urgently needed. Ah!
+     here is our expected cablegram. One moment, Mrs. Hudson; there may be
+     an answer. No, that is quite as I expected. This message makes it
+     even more essential that we should not lose an hour in letting Hilton
+     Cubitt know how matters stand, for it is a singular and a dangerous
+     web in which our simple Norfolk squire is entangled."
+
+     So, indeed, it proved, and as I come to the dark conclusion of a
+     story which had seemed to me to be only childish and bizarre I
+     experience once again the dismay and horror with which I was filled.
+     Would that I had some brighter ending to communicate to my readers,
+     but these are the chronicles of fact, and I must follow to their dark
+     crisis the strange chain of events which for some days made Ridling
+     Thorpe Manor a household word through the length and breadth of
+     England.
+
+     We had hardly alighted at North Walsham, and mentioned the name of
+     our destination, when the station-master hurried towards us. "I
+     suppose that you are the detectives from London?" said he.
+
+     A look of annoyance passed over Holmes's face.
+
+     "What makes you think such a thing?"
+
+     "Because Inspector Martin from Norwich has just passed through. But
+     maybe you are the surgeons. She's not dead--or wasn't by last
+     accounts. You may be in time to save her yet--though it be for the
+     gallows."
+
+     Holmes's brow was dark with anxiety.
+
+     "We are going to Ridling Thorpe Manor," said he, "but we have heard
+     nothing of what has passed there."
+
+     "It's a terrible business," said the station-master. "They are shot,
+     both Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife. She shot him and then
+     herself--so the servants say. He's dead and her life is despaired of.
+     Dear, dear, one of the oldest families in the County of Norfolk, and
+     one of the most honoured."
+
+     Without a word Holmes hurried to a carriage, and during the long
+     seven miles' drive he never opened his mouth. Seldom have I seen him
+     so utterly despondent. He had been uneasy during all our journey from
+     town, and I had observed that he had turned over the morning papers
+     with anxious attention; but now this sudden realization of his worst
+     fears left him in a blank melancholy. He leaned back in his seat,
+     lost in gloomy speculation. Yet there was much around to interest us,
+     for we were passing through as singular a country-side as any in
+     England, where a few scattered cottages represented the population of
+     to-day, while on every hand enormous square-towered churches bristled
+     up from the flat, green landscape and told of the glory and
+     prosperity of old East Anglia. At last the violet rim of the German
+     Ocean appeared over the green edge of the Norfolk coast, and the
+     driver pointed with his whip to two old brick and timber gables which
+     projected from a grove of trees. "That's Ridling Thorpe Manor," said
+     he.
+
+     As we drove up to the porticoed front door I observed in front of it,
+     beside the tennis lawn, the black tool-house and the pedestalled
+     sun-dial with which we had such strange associations. A dapper little
+     man, with a quick, alert manner and a waxed moustache, had just
+     descended from a high dog-cart. He introduced himself as Inspector
+     Martin, of the Norfolk Constabulary, and he was considerably
+     astonished when he heard the name of my companion.
+
+     "Why, Mr. Holmes, the crime was only committed at three this morning.
+     How could you hear of it in London and get to the spot as soon as I?"
+
+     "I anticipated it. I came in the hope of preventing it."
+
+     "Then you must have important evidence of which we are ignorant, for
+     they were said to be a most united couple."
+
+     "I have only the evidence of the dancing men," said Holmes. "I will
+     explain the matter to you later. Meanwhile, since it is too late to
+     prevent this tragedy, I am very anxious that I should use the
+     knowledge which I possess in order to ensure that justice be done.
+     Will you associate me in your investigation, or will you prefer that
+     I should act independently?"
+
+     "I should be proud to feel that we were acting together, Mr. Holmes,"
+     said the inspector, earnestly.
+
+     "In that case I should be glad to hear the evidence and to examine
+     the premises without an instant of unnecessary delay."
+
+     Inspector Martin had the good sense to allow my friend to do things
+     in his own fashion, and contented himself with carefully noting the
+     results. The local surgeon, an old, white-haired man, had just come
+     down from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt's room, and he reported that her
+     injuries were serious, but not necessarily fatal. The bullet had
+     passed through the front of her brain, and it would probably be some
+     time before she could regain consciousness. On the question of
+     whether she had been shot or had shot herself he would not venture to
+     express any decided opinion. Certainly the bullet had been discharged
+     at very close quarters. There was only the one pistol found in the
+     room, two barrels of which had been emptied. Mr. Hilton Cubitt had
+     been shot through the heart. It was equally conceivable that he had
+     shot her and then himself, or that she had been the criminal, for the
+     revolver lay upon the floor midway between them.
+
+     "Has he been moved?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "We have moved nothing except the lady. We could not leave her lying
+     wounded upon the floor."
+
+     "How long have you been here, doctor?"
+
+     "Since four o'clock."
+
+     "Anyone else?"
+
+     "Yes, the constable here."
+
+     "And you have touched nothing?"
+
+     "Nothing."
+
+     "You have acted with great discretion. Who sent for you?"
+
+     "The housemaid, Saunders."
+
+     "Was it she who gave the alarm?"
+
+     "She and Mrs. King, the cook."
+
+     "Where are they now?"
+
+     "In the kitchen, I believe."
+
+     "Then I think we had better hear their story at once."
+
+     The old hall, oak-panelled and high-windowed, had been turned into a
+     court of investigation. Holmes sat in a great, old-fashioned chair,
+     his inexorable eyes gleaming out of his haggard face. I could read in
+     them a set purpose to devote his life to this quest until the client
+     whom he had failed to save should at last be avenged. The trim
+     Inspector Martin, the old, grey-headed country doctor, myself, and a
+     stolid village policeman made up the rest of that strange company.
+
+     The two women told their story clearly enough. They had been aroused
+     from their sleep by the sound of an explosion, which had been
+     followed a minute later by a second one. They slept in adjoining
+     rooms, and Mrs. King had rushed in to Saunders. Together they had
+     descended the stairs. The door of the study was open and a candle was
+     burning upon the table. Their master lay upon his face in the centre
+     of the room. He was quite dead. Near the window his wife was
+     crouching, her head leaning against the wall. She was horribly
+     wounded, and the side of her face was red with blood. She breathed
+     heavily, but was incapable of saying anything. The passage, as well
+     as the room, was full of smoke and the smell of powder. The window
+     was certainly shut and fastened upon the inside. Both women were
+     positive upon the point. They had at once sent for the doctor and for
+     the constable. Then, with the aid of the groom and the stable-boy,
+     they had conveyed their injured mistress to her room. Both she and
+     her husband had occupied the bed. She was clad in her dress--he in
+     his dressing-gown, over his night clothes. Nothing had been moved in
+     the study. So far as they knew there had never been any quarrel
+     between husband and wife. They had always looked upon them as a very
+     united couple.
+
+     These were the main points of the servants' evidence. In answer to
+     Inspector Martin they were clear that every door was fastened upon
+     the inside, and that no one could have escaped from the house. In
+     answer to Holmes they both remembered that they were conscious of the
+     smell of powder from the moment that they ran out of their rooms upon
+     the top floor. "I commend that fact very carefully to your
+     attention," said Holmes to his professional colleague. "And now I
+     think that we are in a position to undertake a thorough examination
+     of the room."
+
+     The study proved to be a small chamber, lined on three sides with
+     books, and with a writing-table facing an ordinary window, which
+     looked out upon the garden. Our first attention was given to the body
+     of the unfortunate squire, whose huge frame lay stretched across the
+     room. His disordered dress showed that he had been hastily aroused
+     from sleep. The bullet had been fired at him from the front, and had
+     remained in his body after penetrating the heart. His death had
+     certainly been instantaneous and painless. There was no
+     powder-marking either upon his dressing-gown or on his hands.
+     According to the country surgeon the lady had stains upon her face,
+     but none upon her hand.
+
+     "The absence of the latter means nothing, though its presence may
+     mean everything," said Holmes. "Unless the powder from a
+     badly-fitting cartridge happens to spurt backwards, one may fire many
+     shots without leaving a sign. I would suggest that Mr. Cubitt's body
+     may now be removed. I suppose, doctor, you have not recovered the
+     bullet which wounded the lady?"
+
+     "A serious operation will be necessary before that can be done. But
+     there are still four cartridges in the revolver. Two have been fired
+     and two wounds inflicted, so that each bullet can be accounted for."
+
+     "So it would seem," said Holmes. "Perhaps you can account also for
+     the bullet which has so obviously struck the edge of the window?"
+
+     He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing to a
+     hole which had been drilled right through the lower window-sash about
+     an inch above the bottom.
+
+     "By George!" cried the inspector. "How ever did you see that?"
+
+     "Because I looked for it."
+
+     "Wonderful!" said the country doctor. "You are certainly right, sir.
+     Then a third shot has been fired, and therefore a third person must
+     have been present. But who could that have been and how could he have
+     got away?"
+
+     "That is the problem which we are now about to solve," said Sherlock
+     Holmes. "You remember, Inspector Martin, when the servants said that
+     on leaving their room they were at once conscious of a smell of
+     powder I remarked that the point was an extremely important one?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; but I confess I did not quite follow you."
+
+     "It suggested that at the time of the firing the window as well as
+     the door of the room had been open. Otherwise the fumes of powder
+     could not have been blown so rapidly through the house. A draught in
+     the room was necessary for that. Both door and window were only open
+     for a very short time, however."
+
+     "How do you prove that?"
+
+     "Because the candle has not guttered."
+
+     "Capital!" cried the inspector. "Capital!"
+
+     "Feeling sure that the window had been open at the time of the
+     tragedy I conceived that there might have been a third person in the
+     affair, who stood outside this opening and fired through it. Any shot
+     directed at this person might hit the sash. I looked, and there, sure
+     enough, was the bullet mark!"
+
+     "But how came the window to be shut and fastened?"
+
+     "The woman's first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window.
+     But, halloa! what is this?"
+
+     It was a lady's hand-bag which stood upon the study table--a trim
+     little hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver. Holmes opened it and
+     turned the contents out. There were twenty fifty-pound notes of the
+     Bank of England, held together by an india-rubber band--nothing else.
+
+     "This must be preserved, for it will figure in the trial," said
+     Holmes, as he handed the bag with its contents to the inspector. "It
+     is now necessary that we should try to throw some light upon this
+     third bullet, which has clearly, from the splintering of the wood,
+     been fired from inside the room. I should like to see Mrs. King, the
+     cook, again. You said, Mrs. King, that you were awakened by a loud
+     explosion. When you said that, did you mean that it seemed to you to
+     be louder than the second one?"
+
+     "Well, sir, it wakened me from my sleep, and so it is hard to judge.
+     But it did seem very loud."
+
+     "You don't think that it might have been two shots fired almost at
+     the same instant?"
+
+     "I am sure I couldn't say, sir."
+
+     "I believe that it was undoubtedly so. I rather think, Inspector
+     Martin, that we have now exhausted all that this room can teach us.
+     If you will kindly step round with me, we shall see what fresh
+     evidence the garden has to offer."
+
+     A flower-bed extended up to the study window, and we all broke into
+     an exclamation as we approached it. The flowers were trampled down,
+     and the soft soil was imprinted all over with footmarks. Large,
+     masculine feet they were, with peculiarly long, sharp toes. Holmes
+     hunted about among the grass and leaves like a retriever after a
+     wounded bird. Then, with a cry of satisfaction, he bent forward and
+     picked up a little brazen cylinder.
+
+     "I thought so," said he; "the revolver had an ejector, and here is
+     the third cartridge. I really think, Inspector Martin, that our case
+     is almost complete."
+
+     The country inspector's face had shown his intense amazement at the
+     rapid and masterful progress of Holmes's investigation. At first he
+     had shown some disposition to assert his own position; but now he was
+     overcome with admiration and ready to follow without question
+     wherever Holmes led.
+
+     "Whom do you suspect?" he asked.
+
+     "I'll go into that later. There are several points in this problem
+     which I have not been able to explain to you yet. Now that I have got
+     so far I had best proceed on my own lines, and then clear the whole
+     matter up once and for all."
+
+     "Just as you wish, Mr. Holmes, so long as we get our man."
+
+     "I have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the
+     moment of action to enter into long and complex explanations. I have
+     the threads of this affair all in my hand. Even if this lady should
+     never recover consciousness we can still reconstruct the events of
+     last night and ensure that justice be done. First of all I wish to
+     know whether there is any inn in this neighbourhood known as
+     'Elrige's'?"
+
+     The servants were cross-questioned, but none of them had heard of
+     such a place. The stable-boy threw a light upon the matter by
+     remembering that a farmer of that name lived some miles off in the
+     direction of East Ruston.
+
+     "Is it a lonely farm?"
+
+     "Very lonely, sir."
+
+     "Perhaps they have not heard yet of all that happened here during the
+     night?"
+
+     "Maybe not, sir."
+
+     Holmes thought for a little and then a curious smile played over his
+     face.
+
+     "Saddle a horse, my lad," said he. "I shall wish you to take a note
+     to Elrige's Farm."
+
+     He took from his pocket the various slips of the dancing men. With
+     these in front of him he worked for some time at the study-table.
+     Finally he handed a note to the boy, with directions to put it into
+     the hands of the person to whom it was addressed, and especially to
+     answer no questions of any sort which might be put to him. I saw the
+     outside of the note, addressed in straggling, irregular characters,
+     very unlike Holmes's usual precise hand. It was consigned to Mr. Abe
+     Slaney, Elrige's Farm, East Ruston, Norfolk.
+
+     "I think, inspector," Holmes remarked, "that you would do well to
+     telegraph for an escort, as, if my calculations prove to be correct,
+     you may have a particularly dangerous prisoner to convey to the
+     county jail. The boy who takes this note could no doubt forward your
+     telegram. If there is an afternoon train to town, Watson, I think we
+     should do well to take it, as I have a chemical analysis of some
+     interest to finish, and this investigation draws rapidly to a close."
+
+     When the youth had been dispatched with the note, Sherlock Holmes
+     gave his instructions to the servants. If any visitor were to call
+     asking for Mrs. Hilton Cubitt no information should be given as to
+     her condition, but he was to be shown at once into the drawing-room.
+     He impressed these points upon them with the utmost earnestness.
+     Finally he led the way into the drawing-room with the remark that the
+     business was now out of our hands, and that we must while away the
+     time as best we might until we could see what was in store for us.
+     The doctor had departed to his patients, and only the inspector and
+     myself remained.
+
+     "I think that I can help you to pass an hour in an interesting and
+     profitable manner," said Holmes, drawing his chair up to the table
+     and spreading out in front of him the various papers upon which were
+     recorded the antics of the dancing men. "As to you, friend Watson, I
+     owe you every atonement for having allowed your natural curiosity to
+     remain so long unsatisfied. To you, inspector, the whole incident may
+     appeal as a remarkable professional study. I must tell you first of
+     all the interesting circumstances connected with the previous
+     consultations which Mr. Hilton Cubitt has had with me in Baker
+     Street." He then shortly recapitulated the facts which have already
+     been recorded. "I have here in front of me these singular
+     productions, at which one might smile had they not proved themselves
+     to be the fore-runners of so terrible a tragedy. I am fairly familiar
+     with all forms of secret writings, and am myself the author of a
+     trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyze one hundred
+     and sixty separate ciphers; but I confess that this is entirely new
+     to me. The object of those who invented the system has apparently
+     been to conceal that these characters convey a message, and to give
+     the idea that they are the mere random sketches of children.
+
+     "Having once recognised, however, that the symbols stood for letters,
+     and having applied the rules which guide us in all forms of secret
+     writings, the solution was easy enough. The first message submitted
+     to me was so short that it was impossible for me to do more than to
+     say with some confidence that the symbol
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of a single dancing man ]
+
+     stood for E. As you are aware, E is the most common letter in the
+     English alphabet, and it predominates to so marked an extent that
+     even in a short sentence one would expect to find it most often. Out
+     of fifteen symbols in the first message four were the same, so it was
+     reasonable to set this down as E. It is true that in some cases the
+     figure was bearing a flag and in some cases not, but it was probable
+     from the way in which the flags were distributed that they were used
+     to break the sentence up into words. I accepted this as a hypothesis,
+     and noted that E was represented by
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of a single dancing man ]
+
+     "But now came the real difficulty of the inquiry. The order of the
+     English letters after E is by no means well marked, and any
+     preponderance which may be shown in an average of a printed sheet may
+     be reversed in a single short sentence. Speaking roughly, T, A, O, I,
+     N, S, H, R, D, and L are the numerical order in which letters occur;
+     but T, A, O, and I are very nearly abreast of each other, and it
+     would be an endless task to try each combination until a meaning was
+     arrived at. I, therefore, waited for fresh material. In my second
+     interview with Mr. Hilton Cubitt he was able to give me two other
+     short sentences and one message, which appeared--since there was no
+     flag--to be a single word. Here are the symbols. Now, in the single
+     word I have already got the two E's coming second and fourth in a
+     word of five letters. It might be 'sever,' or 'lever,' or 'never.'
+     There can be no question that the latter as a reply to an appeal is
+     far the most probable, and the circumstances pointed to its being a
+     reply written by the lady. Accepting it as correct, we are now able
+     to say that the symbols
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of three dancing men ]
+
+     stand respectively for N, V, and R.
+
+     "Even now I was in considerable difficulty, but a happy thought put
+     me in possession of several other letters. It occurred to me that if
+     these appeals came, as I expected, from someone who had been intimate
+     with the lady in her early life, a combination which contained two
+     E's with three letters between might very well stand for the name
+     'ELSIE.' On examination I found that such a combination formed the
+     termination of the message which was three times repeated. It was
+     certainly some appeal to 'Elsie.' In this way I had got my L, S, and
+     I. But what appeal could it be? There were only four letters in the
+     word which preceded 'Elsie,' and it ended in E. Surely the word must
+     be 'COME.' I tried all other four letters ending in E, but could find
+     none to fit the case. So now I was in possession of C, O, and M, and
+     I was in a position to attack the first message once more, dividing
+     it into words and putting dots for each symbol which was still
+     unknown. So treated it worked out in this fashion:
+
+                              .M  .ERE  ..E  SL.NE.
+
+     "Now the first letter can only be A, which is a most useful
+     discovery, since it occurs no fewer than three times in this short
+     sentence, and the H is also apparent in the second word. Now it
+     becomes:--
+
+                              AM  HERE  A.E  SLANE.
+
+     Or, filling in the obvious vacancies in the name:--
+
+                             AM  HERE  ABE  SLANEY.
+
+     I had so many letters now that I could proceed with considerable
+     confidence to the second message, which worked out in this fashion:--
+
+                                   A. ELRI.ES.
+
+     Here I could only make sense by putting T and G for the missing
+     letters, and supposing that the name was that of some house or inn at
+     which the writer was staying."
+
+     Inspector Martin and I had listened with the utmost interest to the
+     full and clear account of how my friend had produced results which
+     had led to so complete a command over our difficulties.
+
+     "What did you do then, sir?" asked the inspector.
+
+     "I had every reason to suppose that this Abe Slaney was an American,
+     since Abe is an American contraction, and since a letter from America
+     had been the starting-point of all the trouble. I had also every
+     cause to think that there was some criminal secret in the matter. The
+     lady's allusions to her past and her refusal to take her husband into
+     her confidence both pointed in that direction. I therefore cabled to
+     my friend, Wilson Hargreave, of the New York Police Bureau, who has
+     more than once made use of my knowledge of London crime. I asked him
+     whether the name of Abe Slaney was known to him. Here is his reply:
+     'The most dangerous crook in Chicago.' On the very evening upon which
+     I had his answer Hilton Cubitt sent me the last message from Slaney.
+     Working with known letters it took this form:--
+
+                       ELSIE  .RE.ARE  TO  MEET  THY  GO.
+
+     The addition of a P and a D completed a message which showed me that
+     the rascal was proceeding from persuasion to threats, and my
+     knowledge of the crooks of Chicago prepared me to find that he might
+     very rapidly put his words into action. I at once came to Norfolk
+     with my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, but, unhappily, only in
+     time to find that the worst had already occurred."
+
+     "It is a privilege to be associated with you in the handling of a
+     case," said the inspector, warmly. "You will excuse me, however, if I
+     speak frankly to you. You are only answerable to yourself, but I have
+     to answer to my superiors. If this Abe Slaney, living at Elrige's, is
+     indeed the murderer, and if he has made his escape while I am seated
+     here, I should certainly get into serious trouble."
+
+     "You need not be uneasy. He will not try to escape."
+
+     "How do you know?"
+
+     "To fly would be a confession of guilt."
+
+     "Then let us go to arrest him."
+
+     "I expect him here every instant."
+
+     "But why should he come?"
+
+     "Because I have written and asked him."
+
+     "But this is incredible, Mr. Holmes! Why should he come because you
+     have asked him? Would not such a request rather rouse his suspicions
+     and cause him to fly?"
+
+     "I think I have known how to frame the letter," said Sherlock Holmes.
+     "In fact, if I am not very much mistaken, here is the gentleman
+     himself coming up the drive."
+
+     A man was striding up the path which led to the door. He was a tall,
+     handsome, swarthy fellow, clad in a suit of grey flannel, with a
+     Panama hat, a bristling black beard, and a great, aggressive hooked
+     nose, and flourishing a cane as he walked. He swaggered up the path
+     as if the place belonged to him, and we heard his loud, confident
+     peal at the bell.
+
+     "I think, gentlemen," said Holmes, quietly, "that we had best take up
+     our position behind the door. Every precaution is necessary when
+     dealing with such a fellow. You will need your handcuffs, inspector.
+     You can leave the talking to me."
+
+     We waited in silence for a minute--one of those minutes which one can
+     never forget. Then the door opened and the man stepped in. In an
+     instant Holmes clapped a pistol to his head and Martin slipped the
+     handcuffs over his wrists. It was all done so swiftly and deftly that
+     the fellow was helpless before he knew that he was attacked. He
+     glared from one to the other of us with a pair of blazing black eyes.
+     Then he burst into a bitter laugh.
+
+     "Well, gentlemen, you have the drop on me this time. I seem to have
+     knocked up against something hard. But I came here in answer to a
+     letter from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt. Don't tell me that she is in this?
+     Don't tell me that she helped to set a trap for me?"
+
+     "Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously injured and is at death's door."
+
+     The man gave a hoarse cry of grief which rang through the house.
+
+     "You're crazy!" he cried, fiercely. "It was he that was hurt, not
+     she. Who would have hurt little Elsie? I may have threatened her, God
+     forgive me, but I would not have touched a hair of her pretty head.
+     Take it back--you! Say that she is not hurt!"
+
+     "She was found badly wounded by the side of her dead husband."
+
+     He sank with a deep groan on to the settee and buried his face in his
+     manacled hands. For five minutes he was silent. Then he raised his
+     face once more, and spoke with the cold composure of despair.
+
+     "I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen," said he. "If I shot the
+     man he had his shot at me, and there's no murder in that. But if you
+     think I could have hurt that woman, then you don't know either me or
+     her. I tell you there was never a man in this world loved a woman
+     more than I loved her. I had a right to her. She was pledged to me
+     years ago. Who was this Englishman that he should come between us? I
+     tell you that I had the first right to her, and that I was only
+     claiming my own."
+
+     "She broke away from your influence when she found the man that you
+     are," said Holmes, sternly. "She fled from America to avoid you, and
+     she married an honourable gentleman in England. You dogged her and
+     followed her and made her life a misery to her in order to induce her
+     to abandon the husband whom she loved and respected in order to fly
+     with you, whom she feared and hated. You have ended by bringing about
+     the death of a noble man and driving his wife to suicide. That is
+     your record in this business, Mr. Abe Slaney, and you will answer for
+     it to the law."
+
+     "If Elsie dies I care nothing what becomes of me," said the American.
+     He opened one of his hands and looked at a note crumpled up in his
+     palm. "See here, mister," he cried, with a gleam of suspicion in his
+     eyes, "you're not trying to scare me over this, are you? If the lady
+     is hurt as bad as you say, who was it that wrote this note?" He
+     tossed it forwards on to the table.
+
+     "I wrote it to bring you here."
+
+     "You wrote it? There was no one on earth outside the Joint who knew
+     the secret of the dancing men. How came you to write it?"
+
+     "What one man can invent another can discover," said Holmes. "There
+     is a cab coming to convey you to Norwich, Mr. Slaney. But, meanwhile,
+     you have time to make some small reparation for the injury you have
+     wrought. Are you aware that Mrs. Hilton Cubitt has herself lain under
+     grave suspicion of the murder of her husband, and that it was only my
+     presence here and the knowledge which I happened to possess which has
+     saved her from the accusation? The least that you owe her is to make
+     it clear to the whole world that she was in no way, directly or
+     indirectly, responsible for his tragic end."
+
+     "I ask nothing better," said the American. "I guess the very best
+     case I can make for myself is the absolute naked truth."
+
+     "It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you," cried
+     the inspector, with the magnificent fair-play of the British criminal
+     law.
+
+     Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "I'll chance that," said he. "First of all, I want you gentlemen to
+     understand that I have known this lady since she was a child. There
+     were seven of us in a gang in Chicago, and Elsie's father was the
+     boss of the Joint. He was a clever man, was old Patrick. It was he
+     who invented that writing, which would pass as a child's scrawl
+     unless you just happened to have the key to it. Well, Elsie learned
+     some of our ways; but she couldn't stand the business, and she had a
+     bit of honest money of her own, so she gave us all the slip and got
+     away to London. She had been engaged to me, and she would have
+     married me, I believe, if I had taken over another profession; but
+     she would have nothing to do with anything on the cross. It was only
+     after her marriage to this Englishman that I was able to find out
+     where she was. I wrote to her, but got no answer. After that I came
+     over, and, as letters were no use, I put my messages where she could
+     read them.
+
+     "Well, I have been here a month now. I lived in that farm, where I
+     had a room down below, and could get in and out every night, and no
+     one the wiser. I tried all I could to coax Elsie away. I knew that
+     she read the messages, for once she wrote an answer under one of
+     them. Then my temper got the better of me, and I began to threaten
+     her. She sent me a letter then, imploring me to go away and saying
+     that it would break her heart if any scandal should come upon her
+     husband. She said that she would come down when her husband was
+     asleep at three in the morning, and speak with me through the end
+     window, if I would go away afterwards and leave her in peace. She
+     came down and brought money with her, trying to bribe me to go. This
+     made me mad, and I caught her arm and tried to pull her through the
+     window. At that moment in rushed the husband with his revolver in his
+     hand. Elsie had sunk down upon the floor, and we were face to face. I
+     was heeled also, and I held up my gun to scare him off and let me get
+     away. He fired and missed me. I pulled off almost at the same
+     instant, and down he dropped. I made away across the garden, and as I
+     went I heard the window shut behind me. That's God's truth,
+     gentlemen, every word of it, and I heard no more about it until that
+     lad came riding up with a note which made me walk in here, like a
+     jay, and give myself into your hands."
+
+     A cab had driven up whilst the American had been talking. Two
+     uniformed policemen sat inside. Inspector Martin rose and touched his
+     prisoner on the shoulder.
+
+     "It is time for us to go."
+
+     "Can I see her first?"
+
+     "No, she is not conscious. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I only hope that if
+     ever again I have an important case I shall have the good fortune to
+     have you by my side."
+
+     We stood at the window and watched the cab drive away. As I turned
+     back my eye caught the pellet of paper which the prisoner had tossed
+     upon the table. It was the note with which Holmes had decoyed him.
+
+     "See if you can read it, Watson," said he, with a smile.
+
+     It contained no word, but this little line of dancing men:--
+
+     [ Picture: Picture of various dancing men ]
+
+     "If you use the code which I have explained," said Holmes, "you will
+     find that it simply means 'Come here at once.' I was convinced that
+     it was an invitation which he would not refuse, since he could never
+     imagine that it could come from anyone but the lady. And so, my dear
+     Watson, we have ended by turning the dancing men to good when they
+     have so often been the agents of evil, and I think that I have
+     fulfilled my promise of giving you something unusual for your
+     note-book. Three-forty is our train, and I fancy we should be back in
+     Baker Street for dinner."
+
+     Only one word of epilogue. The American, Abe Slaney, was condemned to
+     death at the winter assizes at Norwich; but his penalty was changed
+     to penal servitude in consideration of mitigating circumstances, and
+     the certainty that Hilton Cubitt had fired the first shot. Of Mrs.
+     Hilton Cubitt I only know that I have heard she recovered entirely,
+     and that she still remains a widow, devoting her whole life to the
+     care of the poor and to the administration of her husband's estate.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE ADVENTURE OF THE SOLITARY CYCLIST
+
+     From the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a very
+     busy man. It is safe to say that there was no public case of any
+     difficulty in which he was not consulted during those eight years,
+     and there were hundreds of private cases, some of them of the most
+     intricate and extraordinary character, in which he played a prominent
+     part. Many startling successes and a few unavoidable failures were
+     the outcome of this long period of continuous work. As I have
+     preserved very full notes of all these cases, and was myself
+     personally engaged in many of them, it may be imagined that it is no
+     easy task to know which I should select to lay before the public. I
+     shall, however, preserve my former rule, and give the preference to
+     those cases which derive their interest not so much from the
+     brutality of the crime as from the ingenuity and dramatic quality of
+     the solution. For this reason I will now lay before the reader the
+     facts connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist of
+     Charlington, and the curious sequel of our investigation, which
+     culminated in unexpected tragedy. It is true that the circumstances
+     did not admit of any striking illustration of those powers for which
+     my friend was famous, but there were some points about the case which
+     made it stand out in those long records of crime from which I gather
+     the material for these little narratives.
+
+     On referring to my note-book for the year 1895 I find that it was
+     upon Saturday, the 23rd of April, that we first heard of Miss Violet
+     Smith. Her visit was, I remember, extremely unwelcome to Holmes, for
+     he was immersed at the moment in a very abstruse and complicated
+     problem concerning the peculiar persecution to which John Vincent
+     Harden, the well-known tobacco millionaire, had been subjected. My
+     friend, who loved above all things precision and concentration of
+     thought, resented anything which distracted his attention from the
+     matter in hand. And yet without a harshness which was foreign to his
+     nature it was impossible to refuse to listen to the story of the
+     young and beautiful woman, tall, graceful, and queenly, who presented
+     herself at Baker Street late in the evening and implored his
+     assistance and advice. It was vain to urge that his time was already
+     fully occupied, for the young lady had come with the determination to
+     tell her story, and it was evident that nothing short of force could
+     get her out of the room until she had done so. With a resigned air
+     and a somewhat weary smile, Holmes begged the beautiful intruder to
+     take a seat and to inform us what it was that was troubling her.
+
+     "At least it cannot be your health," said he, as his keen eyes darted
+     over her; "so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy."
+
+     She glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the
+     slight roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction of
+     the edge of the pedal.
+
+     "Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something to do
+     with my visit to you to-day."
+
+     My friend took the lady's ungloved hand and examined it with as close
+     an attention and as little sentiment as a scientist would show to a
+     specimen.
+
+     "You will excuse me, I am sure. It is my business," said he, as he
+     dropped it. "I nearly fell into the error of supposing that you were
+     typewriting. Of course, it is obvious that it is music. You observe
+     the spatulate finger-end, Watson, which is common to both
+     professions? There is a spirituality about the face, however"--he
+     gently turned it towards the light--"which the typewriter does not
+     generate. This lady is a musician."
+
+     "Yes, Mr. Holmes, I teach music."
+
+     "In the country, I presume, from your complexion."
+
+     "Yes, sir; near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey."
+
+     "A beautiful neighbourhood and full of the most interesting
+     associations. You remember, Watson, that it was near there that we
+     took Archie Stamford, the forger. Now, Miss Violet, what has happened
+     to you near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey?"
+
+     The young lady, with great clearness and composure, made the
+     following curious statement:--
+
+     "My father is dead, Mr. Holmes. He was James Smith, who conducted the
+     orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre. My mother and I were left
+     without a relation in the world except one uncle, Ralph Smith, who
+     went to Africa twenty-five years ago, and we have never had a word
+     from him since. When father died we were left very poor, but one day
+     we were told that there was an advertisement in the Times inquiring
+     for our whereabouts. You can imagine how excited we were, for we
+     thought that someone had left us a fortune. We went at once to the
+     lawyer whose name was given in the paper. There we met two gentlemen,
+     Mr. Carruthers and Mr. Woodley, who were home on a visit from South
+     Africa. They said that my uncle was a friend of theirs, that he died
+     some months before in great poverty in Johannesburg, and that he had
+     asked them with his last breath to hunt up his relations and see that
+     they were in no want. It seemed strange to us that Uncle Ralph, who
+     took no notice of us when he was alive, should be so careful to look
+     after us when he was dead; but Mr. Carruthers explained that the
+     reason was that my uncle had just heard of the death of his brother,
+     and so felt responsible for our fate."
+
+     "Excuse me," said Holmes; "when was this interview?"
+
+     "Last December--four months ago."
+
+     "Pray proceed."
+
+     "Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person. He was for ever
+     making eyes at me--a coarse, puffy-faced, red-moustached young man,
+     with his hair plastered down on each side of his forehead. I thought
+     that he was perfectly hateful--and I was sure that Cyril would not
+     wish me to know such a person."
+
+     "Oh, Cyril is his name!" said Holmes, smiling.
+
+     The young lady blushed and laughed.
+
+     "Yes, Mr. Holmes; Cyril Morton, an electrical engineer, and we hope
+     to be married at the end of the summer. Dear me, how did I get
+     talking about him? What I wished to say was that Mr. Woodley was
+     perfectly odious, but that Mr. Carruthers, who was a much older man,
+     was more agreeable. He was a dark, sallow, clean-shaven, silent
+     person; but he had polite manners and a pleasant smile. He inquired
+     how we were left, and on finding that we were very poor he suggested
+     that I should come and teach music to his only daughter, aged ten. I
+     said that I did not like to leave my mother, on which he suggested
+     that I should go home to her every week-end, and he offered me a
+     hundred a year, which was certainly splendid pay. So it ended by my
+     accepting, and I went down to Chiltern Grange, about six miles from
+     Farnham. Mr. Carruthers was a widower, but he had engaged a
+     lady-housekeeper, a very respectable, elderly person, called Mrs.
+     Dixon, to look after his establishment. The child was a dear, and
+     everything promised well. Mr. Carruthers was very kind and very
+     musical, and we had most pleasant evenings together. Every week-end I
+     went home to my mother in town.
+
+     "The first flaw in my happiness was the arrival of the red-moustached
+     Mr. Woodley. He came for a visit of a week, and oh, it seemed three
+     months to me! He was a dreadful person, a bully to everyone else, but
+     to me something infinitely worse. He made odious love to me, boasted
+     of his wealth, said that if I married him I would have the finest
+     diamonds in London, and finally, when I would have nothing to do with
+     him, he seized me in his arms one day after dinner--he was hideously
+     strong--and he swore that he would not let me go until I had kissed
+     him. Mr. Carruthers came in and tore him off from me, on which he
+     turned upon his own host, knocking him down and cutting his face
+     open. That was the end of his visit, as you can imagine. Mr.
+     Carruthers apologized to me next day, and assured me that I should
+     never be exposed to such an insult again. I have not seen Mr. Woodley
+     since.
+
+     "And now, Mr. Holmes, I come at last to the special thing which has
+     caused me to ask your advice to-day. You must know that every
+     Saturday forenoon I ride on my bicycle to Farnham Station in order to
+     get the 12.22 to town. The road from Chiltern Grange is a lonely one,
+     and at one spot it is particularly so, for it lies for over a mile
+     between Charlington Heath upon one side and the woods which lie round
+     Charlington Hall upon the other. You could not find a more lonely
+     tract of road anywhere, and it is quite rare to meet so much as a
+     cart, or a peasant, until you reach the high road near Crooksbury
+     Hill. Two weeks ago I was passing this place when I chanced to look
+     back over my shoulder, and about two hundred yards behind me I saw a
+     man, also on a bicycle. He seemed to be a middle-aged man, with a
+     short, dark beard. I looked back before I reached Farnham, but the
+     man was gone, so I thought no more about it. But you can imagine how
+     surprised I was, Mr. Holmes, when on my return on the Monday I saw
+     the same man on the same stretch of road. My astonishment was
+     increased when the incident occurred again, exactly as before, on the
+     following Saturday and Monday. He always kept his distance and did
+     not molest me in any way, but still it certainly was very odd. I
+     mentioned it to Mr. Carruthers, who seemed interested in what I said,
+     and told me that he had ordered a horse and trap, so that in future I
+     should not pass over these lonely roads without some companion.
+
+     "The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some reason
+     they were not delivered, and again I had to cycle to the station.
+     That was this morning. You can think that I looked out when I came to
+     Charlington Heath, and there, sure enough, was the man, exactly as he
+     had been the two weeks before. He always kept so far from me that I
+     could not clearly see his face, but it was certainly someone whom I
+     did not know. He was dressed in a dark suit with a cloth cap. The
+     only thing about his face that I could clearly see was his dark
+     beard. To-day I was not alarmed, but I was filled with curiosity, and
+     I determined to find out who he was and what he wanted. I slowed down
+     my machine, but he slowed down his. Then I stopped altogether, but he
+     stopped also. Then I laid a trap for him. There is a sharp turning of
+     the road, and I pedalled very quickly round this, and then I stopped
+     and waited. I expected him to shoot round and pass me before he could
+     stop. But he never appeared. Then I went back and looked round the
+     corner. I could see a mile of road, but he was not on it. To make it
+     the more extraordinary, there was no side road at this point down
+     which he could have gone."
+
+     Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands. "This case certainly presents
+     some features of its own," said he. "How much time elapsed between
+     your turning the corner and your discovery that the road was clear?"
+
+     "Two or three minutes."
+
+     "Then he could not have retreated down the road, and you say that
+     there are no side roads?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "Then he certainly took a footpath on one side or the other."
+
+     "It could not have been on the side of the heath or I should have
+     seen him."
+
+     "So by the process of exclusion we arrive at the fact that he made
+     his way towards Charlington Hall, which, as I understand, is situated
+     in its own grounds on one side of the road. Anything else?"
+
+     "Nothing, Mr. Holmes, save that I was so perplexed that I felt I
+     should not be happy until I had seen you and had your advice."
+
+     Holmes sat in silence for some little time.
+
+     "Where is the gentleman to whom you are engaged?" he asked, at last.
+
+     "He is in the Midland Electrical Company, at Coventry."
+
+     "He would not pay you a surprise visit?"
+
+     "Oh, Mr. Holmes! As if I should not know him!"
+
+     "Have you had any other admirers?"
+
+     "Several before I knew Cyril."
+
+     "And since?"
+
+     "There was this dreadful man, Woodley, if you can call him an
+     admirer."
+
+     "No one else?"
+
+     Our fair client seemed a little confused.
+
+     "Who was he?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Oh, it may be a mere fancy of mine; but it has seemed to me
+     sometimes that my employer, Mr. Carruthers, takes a great deal of
+     interest in me. We are thrown rather together. I play his
+     accompaniments in the evening. He has never said anything. He is a
+     perfect gentleman. But a girl always knows."
+
+     "Ha!" Holmes looked grave. "What does he do for a living?"
+
+     "He is a rich man."
+
+     "No carriages or horses?"
+
+     "Well, at least he is fairly well-to-do. But he goes into the City
+     two or three times a week. He is deeply interested in South African
+     gold shares."
+
+     "You will let me know any fresh development, Miss Smith. I am very
+     busy just now, but I will find time to make some inquiries into your
+     case. In the meantime take no step without letting me know. Good-bye,
+     and I trust that we shall have nothing but good news from you."
+
+     "It is part of the settled order of Nature that such a girl should
+     have followers," said Holmes, as he pulled at his meditative pipe,
+     "but for choice not on bicycles in lonely country roads. Some
+     secretive lover, beyond all doubt. But there are curious and
+     suggestive details about the case, Watson."
+
+     "That he should appear only at that point?"
+
+     "Exactly. Our first effort must be to find who are the tenants of
+     Charlington Hall. Then, again, how about the connection between
+     Carruthers and Woodley, since they appear to be men of such a
+     different type? How came they both to be so keen upon looking up
+     Ralph Smith's relations? One more point. What sort of a menage is it
+     which pays double the market price for a governess, but does not keep
+     a horse although six miles from the station? Odd, Watson--very odd!"
+
+     "You will go down?"
+
+     "No, my dear fellow, you will go down. This may be some trifling
+     intrigue, and I cannot break my other important research for the sake
+     of it. On Monday you will arrive early at Farnham; you will conceal
+     yourself near Charlington Heath; you will observe these facts for
+     yourself, and act as your own judgment advises. Then, having inquired
+     as to the occupants of the Hall, you will come back to me and report.
+     And now, Watson, not another word of the matter until we have a few
+     solid stepping-stones on which we may hope to get across to our
+     solution."
+
+     We had ascertained from the lady that she went down upon the Monday
+     by the train which leaves Waterloo at 9.50, so I started early and
+     caught the 9.13. At Farnham Station I had no difficulty in being
+     directed to Charlington Heath. It was impossible to mistake the scene
+     of the young lady's adventure, for the road runs between the open
+     heath on one side and an old yew hedge upon the other, surrounding a
+     park which is studded with magnificent trees. There was a main
+     gateway of lichen-studded stone, each side pillar surmounted by
+     mouldering heraldic emblems; but besides this central carriage drive
+     I observed several points where there were gaps in the hedge and
+     paths leading through them. The house was invisible from the road,
+     but the surroundings all spoke of gloom and decay.
+
+     The heath was covered with golden patches of flowering gorse,
+     gleaming magnificently in the light of the bright spring sunshine.
+     Behind one of these clumps I took up my position, so as to command
+     both the gateway of the Hall and a long stretch of the road upon
+     either side. It had been deserted when I left it, but now I saw a
+     cyclist riding down it from the opposite direction to that in which I
+     had come. He was clad in a dark suit, and I saw that he had a black
+     beard. On reaching the end of the Charlington grounds he sprang from
+     his machine and led it through a gap in the hedge, disappearing from
+     my view.
+
+     A quarter of an hour passed and then a second cyclist appeared. This
+     time it was the young lady coming from the station. I saw her look
+     about her as she came to the Charlington hedge. An instant later the
+     man emerged from his hiding-place, sprang upon his cycle, and
+     followed her. In all the broad landscape those were the only moving
+     figures, the graceful girl sitting very straight upon her machine,
+     and the man behind her bending low over his handle-bar, with a
+     curiously furtive suggestion in every movement. She looked back at
+     him and slowed her pace. He slowed also. She stopped. He at once
+     stopped too, keeping two hundred yards behind her. Her next movement
+     was as unexpected as it was spirited. She suddenly whisked her wheels
+     round and dashed straight at him! He was as quick as she, however,
+     and darted off in desperate flight. Presently she came back up the
+     road again, her head haughtily in the air, not deigning to take any
+     further notice of her silent attendant. He had turned also, and still
+     kept his distance until the curve of the road hid them from my sight.
+
+     I remained in my hiding-place, and it was well that I did so, for
+     presently the man reappeared cycling slowly back. He turned in at the
+     Hall gates and dismounted from his machine. For some few minutes I
+     could see him standing among the trees. His hands were raised and he
+     seemed to be settling his necktie. Then he mounted his cycle and rode
+     away from me down the drive towards the Hall. I ran across the heath
+     and peered through the trees. Far away I could catch glimpses of the
+     old grey building with its bristling Tudor chimneys, but the drive
+     ran through a dense shrubbery, and I saw no more of my man.
+
+     However, it seemed to me that I had done a fairly good morning's
+     work, and I walked back in high spirits to Farnham. The local
+     house-agent could tell me nothing about Charlington Hall, and
+     referred me to a well-known firm in Pall Mall. There I halted on my
+     way home, and met with courtesy from the representative. No, I could
+     not have Charlington Hall for the summer. I was just too late. It had
+     been let about a month ago. Mr. Williamson was the name of the
+     tenant. He was a respectable elderly gentleman. The polite agent was
+     afraid he could say no more, as the affairs of his clients were not
+     matters which he could discuss.
+
+     Mr. Sherlock Holmes listened with attention to the long report which
+     I was able to present to him that evening, but it did not elicit that
+     word of curt praise which I had hoped for and should have valued. On
+     the contrary, his austere face was even more severe than usual as he
+     commented upon the things that I had done and the things that I had
+     not.
+
+     "Your hiding-place, my dear Watson, was very faulty. You should have
+     been behind the hedge; then you would have had a close view of this
+     interesting person. As it is you were some hundreds of yards away,
+     and can tell me even less than Miss Smith. She thinks she does not
+     know the man; I am convinced she does. Why, otherwise, should he be
+     so desperately anxious that she should not get so near him as to see
+     his features? You describe him as bending over the handle-bar.
+     Concealment again, you see. You really have done remarkably badly. He
+     returns to the house and you want to find out who he is. You come to
+     a London house-agent!"
+
+     "What should I have done?" I cried, with some heat.
+
+     "Gone to the nearest public-house. That is the centre of country
+     gossip. They would have told you every name, from the master to the
+     scullery-maid. Williamson! It conveys nothing to my mind. If he is an
+     elderly man he is not this active cyclist who sprints away from that
+     athletic young lady's pursuit. What have we gained by your
+     expedition? The knowledge that the girl's story is true. I never
+     doubted it. That there is a connection between the cyclist and the
+     Hall. I never doubted that either. That the Hall is tenanted by
+     Williamson. Who's the better for that? Well, well, my dear sir, don't
+     look so depressed. We can do little more until next Saturday, and in
+     the meantime I may make one or two inquiries myself."
+
+     Next morning we had a note from Miss Smith, recounting shortly and
+     accurately the very incidents which I had seen, but the pith of the
+     letter lay in the postscript:
+
+     "I am sure that you will respect my confidence, Mr. Holmes, when I
+     tell you that my place here has become difficult owing to the fact
+     that my employer has proposed marriage to me. I am convinced that his
+     feelings are most deep and most honourable. At the same time my
+     promise is, of course, given. He took my refusal very seriously, but
+     also very gently. You can understand, however, that the situation is
+     a little strained."
+
+     "Our young friend seems to be getting into deep waters," said Holmes,
+     thoughtfully, as he finished the letter. "The case certainly presents
+     more features of interest and more possibility of development than I
+     had originally thought. I should be none the worse for a quiet,
+     peaceful day in the country, and I am inclined to run down this
+     afternoon and test one or two theories which I have formed."
+
+     Holmes's quiet day in the country had a singular termination, for he
+     arrived at Baker Street late in the evening with a cut lip and a
+     discoloured lump upon his forehead, besides a general air of
+     dissipation which would have made his own person the fitting object
+     of a Scotland Yard investigation. He was immensely tickled by his own
+     adventures, and laughed heartily as he recounted them.
+
+     "I get so little active exercise that it is always a treat," said he.
+     "You are aware that I have some proficiency in the good old British
+     sport of boxing. Occasionally it is of service. To-day, for example,
+     I should have come to very ignominious grief without it."
+
+     I begged him to tell me what had occurred.
+
+     "I found that country pub which I had already recommended to your
+     notice, and there I made my discreet inquiries. I was in the bar, and
+     a garrulous landlord was giving me all that I wanted. Williamson is a
+     white-bearded man, and he lives alone with a small staff of servants
+     at the Hall. There is some rumour that he is or has been a clergyman;
+     but one or two incidents of his short residence at the Hall struck me
+     as peculiarly unecclesiastical. I have already made some inquiries at
+     a clerical agency, and they tell me that there was a man of that name
+     in orders whose career has been a singularly dark one. The landlord
+     further informed me that there are usually week-end visitors--'a warm
+     lot, sir'--at the Hall, and especially one gentleman with a red
+     moustache, Mr. Woodley by name, who was always there. We had got as
+     far as this when who should walk in but the gentleman himself, who
+     had been drinking his beer in the tap-room and had heard the whole
+     conversation. Who was I? What did I want? What did I mean by asking
+     questions? He had a fine flow of language, and his adjectives were
+     very vigorous. He ended a string of abuse by a vicious back-hander
+     which I failed to entirely avoid. The next few minutes were
+     delicious. It was a straight left against a slogging ruffian. I
+     emerged as you see me. Mr. Woodley went home in a cart. So ended my
+     country trip, and it must be confessed that, however enjoyable, my
+     day on the Surrey border has not been much more profitable than your
+     own."
+
+     The Thursday brought us another letter from our client.
+
+     You will not be surprised, Mr. Holmes [said she] to hear that I am
+     leaving Mr. Carruthers's employment. Even the high pay cannot
+     reconcile me to the discomforts of my situation. On Saturday I come
+     up to town and I do not intend to return. Mr. Carruthers has got a
+     trap, and so the dangers of the lonely road, if there ever were any
+     dangers, are now over.
+     As to the special cause of my leaving, it is not merely the strained
+     situation with Mr. Carruthers, but it is the reappearance of that
+     odious man, Mr. Woodley. He was always hideous, but he looks more
+     awful than ever now, for he appears to have had an accident and he is
+     much disfigured. I saw him out of the window, but I am glad to say I
+     did not meet him. He had a long talk with Mr. Carruthers, who seemed
+     much excited afterwards. Woodley must be staying in the
+     neighbourhood, for he did not sleep here, and yet I caught a glimpse
+     of him again this morning slinking about in the shrubbery. I would
+     sooner have a savage wild animal loose about the place. I loathe and
+     fear him more than I can say. How can Mr. Carruthers endure such a
+     creature for a moment? However, all my troubles will be over on
+     Saturday.
+
+     "So I trust, Watson; so I trust," said Holmes, gravely. "There is
+     some deep intrigue going on round that little woman, and it is our
+     duty to see that no one molests her upon that last journey. I think,
+     Watson, that we must spare time to run down together on Saturday
+     morning, and make sure that this curious and inconclusive
+     investigation has no untoward ending."
+
+     I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view of the
+     case, which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre than
+     dangerous. That a man should lie in wait for and follow a very
+     handsome woman is no unheard-of thing, and if he had so little
+     audacity that he not only dared not address her, but even fled from
+     her approach, he was not a very formidable assailant. The ruffian
+     Woodley was a very different person, but, except on one occasion, he
+     had not molested our client, and now he visited the house of
+     Carruthers without intruding upon her presence. The man on the
+     bicycle was doubtless a member of those week-end parties at the Hall
+     of which the publican had spoken; but who he was or what he wanted
+     was as obscure as ever. It was the severity of Holmes's manner and
+     the fact that he slipped a revolver into his pocket before leaving
+     our rooms which impressed me with the feeling that tragedy might
+     prove to lurk behind this curious train of events.
+
+     A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the
+     heath-covered country-side with the glowing clumps of flowering gorse
+     seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of the duns
+     and drabs and slate-greys of London. Holmes and I walked along the
+     broad, sandy road inhaling the fresh morning air, and rejoicing in
+     the music of the birds and the fresh breath of the spring. From a
+     rise of the road on the shoulder of Crooksbury Hill we could see the
+     grim Hall bristling out from amidst the ancient oaks, which, old as
+     they were, were still younger than the building which they
+     surrounded. Holmes pointed down the long tract of road which wound, a
+     reddish yellow band, between the brown of the heath and the budding
+     green of the woods. Far away, a black dot, we could see a vehicle
+     moving in our direction. Holmes gave an exclamation of impatience.
+
+     "I had given a margin of half an hour," said he. "If that is her trap
+     she must be making for the earlier train. I fear, Watson, that she
+     will be past Charlington before we can possibly meet her."
+
+     From the instant that we passed the rise we could no longer see the
+     vehicle, but we hastened onwards at such a pace that my sedentary
+     life began to tell upon me, and I was compelled to fall behind.
+     Holmes, however, was always in training, for he had inexhaustible
+     stores of nervous energy upon which to draw. His springy step never
+     slowed until suddenly, when he was a hundred yards in front of me, he
+     halted, and I saw him throw up his hand with a gesture of grief and
+     despair. At the same instant an empty dog-cart, the horse cantering,
+     the reins trailing, appeared round the curve of the road and rattled
+     swiftly towards us.
+
+     "Too late, Watson; too late!" cried Holmes, as I ran panting to his
+     side. "Fool that I was not to allow for that earlier train! It's
+     abduction, Watson--abduction! Murder! Heaven knows what! Block the
+     road! Stop the horse! That's right. Now, jump in, and let us see if I
+     can repair the consequences of my own blunder."
+
+     We had sprung into the dog-cart, and Holmes, after turning the horse,
+     gave it a sharp cut with the whip, and we flew back along the road.
+     As we turned the curve the whole stretch of road between the Hall and
+     the heath was opened up. I grasped Holmes's arm.
+
+     "That's the man!" I gasped.
+
+     A solitary cyclist was coming towards us. His head was down and his
+     shoulders rounded as he put every ounce of energy that he possessed
+     on to the pedals. He was flying like a racer. Suddenly he raised his
+     bearded face, saw us close to him, and pulled up, springing from his
+     machine. That coal-black beard was in singular contrast to the pallor
+     of his face, and his eyes were as bright as if he had a fever. He
+     stared at us and at the dog-cart. Then a look of amazement came over
+     his face.
+
+     "Halloa! Stop there!" he shouted, holding his bicycle to block our
+     road. "Where did you get that dog-cart? Pull up, man!" he yelled,
+     drawing a pistol from his side pocket. "Pull up, I say, or, by
+     George, I'll put a bullet into your horse."
+
+     Holmes threw the reins into my lap and sprang down from the cart.
+
+     "You're the man we want to see. Where is Miss Violet Smith?" he said,
+     in his quick, clear way.
+
+     "That's what I am asking you. You're in her dog-cart. You ought to
+     know where she is."
+
+     "We met the dog-cart on the road. There was no one in it. We drove
+     back to help the young lady."
+
+     "Good Lord! Good Lord! what shall I do?" cried the stranger, in an
+     ecstasy of despair. "They've got her, that hellhound Woodley and the
+     blackguard parson. Come, man, come, if you really are her friend.
+     Stand by me and we'll save her, if I have to leave my carcass in
+     Charlington Wood."
+
+     He ran distractedly, his pistol in his hand, towards a gap in the
+     hedge. Holmes followed him, and I, leaving the horse grazing beside
+     the road, followed Holmes.
+
+     "This is where they came through," said he, pointing to the marks of
+     several feet upon the muddy path. "Halloa! Stop a minute! Who's this
+     in the bush?"
+
+     It was a young fellow about seventeen, dressed like an ostler, with
+     leather cords and gaiters. He lay upon his back, his knees drawn up,
+     a terrible cut upon his head. He was insensible, but alive. A glance
+     at his wound told me that it had not penetrated the bone.
+
+     "That's Peter, the groom," cried the stranger. "He drove her. The
+     beasts have pulled him off and clubbed him. Let him lie; we can't do
+     him any good, but we may save her from the worst fate that can befall
+     a woman."
+
+     We ran frantically down the path, which wound among the trees. We had
+     reached the shrubbery which surrounded the house when Holmes pulled
+     up.
+
+     "They didn't go to the house. Here are their marks on the left--here,
+     beside the laurel bushes! Ah, I said so!"
+
+     As he spoke a woman's shrill scream--a scream which vibrated with a
+     frenzy of horror--burst from the thick green clump of bushes in front
+     of us. It ended suddenly on its highest note with a choke and a
+     gurgle.
+
+     "This way! This way! They are in the bowling alley," cried the
+     stranger, darting through the bushes. "Ah, the cowardly dogs! Follow
+     me, gentlemen! Too late! too late! by the living Jingo!"
+
+     We had broken suddenly into a lovely glade of greensward surrounded
+     by ancient trees. On the farther side of it, under the shadow of a
+     mighty oak, there stood a singular group of three people. One was a
+     woman, our client, drooping and faint, a handkerchief round her
+     mouth. Opposite her stood a brutal, heavy-faced, red-moustached young
+     man, his gaitered legs parted wide, one arm akimbo, the other waving
+     a riding-crop, his whole attitude suggestive of triumphant bravado.
+     Between them an elderly, grey-bearded man, wearing a short surplice
+     over a light tweed suit, had evidently just completed the wedding
+     service, for he pocketed his prayer-book as we appeared and slapped
+     the sinister bridegroom upon the back in jovial congratulation.
+
+     "They're married!" I gasped.
+
+     "Come on!" cried our guide; "come on!" He rushed across the glade,
+     Holmes and I at his heels. As we approached, the lady staggered
+     against the trunk of the tree for support. Williamson, the
+     ex-clergyman, bowed to us with mock politeness, and the bully Woodley
+     advanced with a shout of brutal and exultant laughter.
+
+     "You can take your beard off, Bob," said he. "I know you right
+     enough. Well, you and your pals have just come in time for me to be
+     able to introduce you to Mrs. Woodley."
+
+     Our guide's answer was a singular one. He snatched off the dark beard
+     which had disguised him and threw it on the ground, disclosing a
+     long, sallow, clean-shaven face below it. Then he raised his revolver
+     and covered the young ruffian, who was advancing upon him with his
+     dangerous riding-crop swinging in his hand.
+
+     "Yes," said our ally, "I am Bob Carruthers, and I'll see this woman
+     righted if I have to swing for it. I told you what I'd do if you
+     molested her, and, by the Lord, I'll be as good as my word!"
+
+     "You're too late. She's my wife!"
+
+     "No, she's your widow."
+
+     His revolver cracked, and I saw the blood spurt from the front of
+     Woodley's waistcoat. He spun round with a scream and fell upon his
+     back, his hideous red face turning suddenly to a dreadful mottled
+     pallor. The old man, still clad in his surplice, burst into such a
+     string of foul oaths as I have never heard, and pulled out a revolver
+     of his own, but before he could raise it he was looking down the
+     barrel of Holmes's weapon.
+
+     "Enough of this," said my friend, coldly. "Drop that pistol! Watson,
+     pick it up! Hold it to his head! Thank you. You, Carruthers, give me
+     that revolver. We'll have no more violence. Come, hand it over!"
+
+     "Who are you, then?"
+
+     "My name is Sherlock Holmes."
+
+     "Good Lord!"
+
+     "You have heard of me, I see. I will represent the official police
+     until their arrival. Here, you!" he shouted to a frightened groom who
+     had appeared at the edge of the glade. "Come here. Take this note as
+     hard as you can ride to Farnham." He scribbled a few words upon a
+     leaf from his note-book. "Give it to the superintendent at the
+     police-station. Until he comes I must detain you all under my
+     personal custody."
+
+     The strong, masterful personality of Holmes dominated the tragic
+     scene, and all were equally puppets in his hands. Williamson and
+     Carruthers found themselves carrying the wounded Woodley into the
+     house, and I gave my arm to the frightened girl. The injured man was
+     laid on his bed, and at Holmes's request I examined him. I carried my
+     report to where he sat in the old tapestry-hung dining-room with his
+     two prisoners before him.
+
+     "He will live," said I.
+
+     "What!" cried Carruthers, springing out of his chair. "I'll go
+     upstairs and finish him first. Do you tell me that that girl, that
+     angel, is to be tied to Roaring Jack Woodley for life?"
+
+     "You need not concern yourself about that," said Holmes. "There are
+     two very good reasons why she should under no circumstances be his
+     wife. In the first place, we are very safe in questioning Mr.
+     Williamson's right to solemnize a marriage."
+
+     "I have been ordained," cried the old rascal.
+
+     "And also unfrocked."
+
+     "Once a clergyman, always a clergyman."
+
+     "I think not. How about the license?"
+
+     "We had a license for the marriage. I have it here in my pocket."
+
+     "Then you got it by a trick. But in any case a forced marriage is no
+     marriage, but it is a very serious felony, as you will discover
+     before you have finished. You'll have time to think the point out
+     during the next ten years or so, unless I am mistaken. As to you,
+     Carruthers, you would have done better to keep your pistol in your
+     pocket."
+
+     "I begin to think so, Mr. Holmes; but when I thought of all the
+     precaution I had taken to shield this girl--for I loved her, Mr.
+     Holmes, and it is the only time that ever I knew what love was--it
+     fairly drove me mad to think that she was in the power of the
+     greatest brute and bully in South Africa, a man whose name is a holy
+     terror from Kimberley to Johannesburg. Why, Mr. Holmes, you'll hardly
+     believe it, but ever since that girl has been in my employment I
+     never once let her go past this house, where I knew these rascals
+     were lurking, without following her on my bicycle just to see that
+     she came to no harm. I kept my distance from her, and I wore a beard
+     so that she should not recognise me, for she is a good and
+     high-spirited girl, and she wouldn't have stayed in my employment
+     long if she had thought that I was following her about the country
+     roads."
+
+     "Why didn't you tell her of her danger?"
+
+     "Because then, again, she would have left me, and I couldn't bear to
+     face that. Even if she couldn't love me it was a great deal to me
+     just to see her dainty form about the house, and to hear the sound of
+     her voice."
+
+     "Well," said I, "you call that love, Mr. Carruthers, but I should
+     call it selfishness."
+
+     "Maybe the two things go together. Anyhow, I couldn't let her go.
+     Besides, with this crowd about, it was well that she should have
+     someone near to look after her. Then when the cable came I knew they
+     were bound to make a move."
+
+     "What cable?"
+
+     Carruthers took a telegram from his pocket.
+
+     "That's it," said he.
+
+     It was short and concise:
+
+     The old man is dead.
+     "Hum!" said Holmes. "I think I see how things worked, and I can
+     understand how this message would, as you say, bring them to a head.
+     But while we wait you might tell me what you can."
+
+     The old reprobate with the surplice burst into a volley of bad
+     language.
+
+     "By Heaven," said he, "if you squeal on us, Bob Carruthers, I'll
+     serve you as you served Jack Woodley. You can bleat about the girl to
+     your heart's content, for that's your own affair, but if you round on
+     your pals to this plain-clothes copper it will be the worst day's
+     work that ever you did."
+
+     "Your reverence need not be excited," said Holmes, lighting a
+     cigarette. "The case is clear enough against you, and all I ask is a
+     few details for my private curiosity. However, if there's any
+     difficulty in your telling me I'll do the talking, and then you will
+     see how far you have a chance of holding back your secrets. In the
+     first place, three of you came from South Africa on this game--you
+     Williamson, you Carruthers, and Woodley."
+
+     "Lie number one," said the old man; "I never saw either of them until
+     two months ago, and I have never been in Africa in my life, so you
+     can put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Busybody Holmes!"
+
+     "What he says is true," said Carruthers.
+
+     "Well, well, two of you came over. His reverence is our own home-made
+     article. You had known Ralph Smith in South Africa. You had reason to
+     believe he would not live long. You found out that his niece would
+     inherit his fortune. How's that--eh?"
+
+     Carruthers nodded and Williamson swore.
+
+     "She was next-of-kin, no doubt, and you were aware that the old
+     fellow would make no will."
+
+     "Couldn't read or write," said Carruthers.
+
+     "So you came over, the two of you, and hunted up the girl. The idea
+     was that one of you was to marry her and the other have a share of
+     the plunder. For some reason Woodley was chosen as the husband. Why
+     was that?"
+
+     "We played cards for her on the voyage. He won."
+
+     "I see. You got the young lady into your service, and there Woodley
+     was to do the courting. She recognised the drunken brute that he was,
+     and would have nothing to do with him. Meanwhile, your arrangement
+     was rather upset by the fact that you had yourself fallen in love
+     with the lady. You could no longer bear the idea of this ruffian
+     owning her."
+
+     "No, by George, I couldn't!"
+
+     "There was a quarrel between you. He left you in a rage, and began to
+     make his own plans independently of you."
+
+     "It strikes me, Williamson, there isn't very much that we can tell
+     this gentleman," cried Carruthers, with a bitter laugh. "Yes, we
+     quarreled, and he knocked me down. I am level with him on that,
+     anyhow. Then I lost sight of him. That was when he picked up with
+     this cast padre here. I found that they had set up house-keeping
+     together at this place on the line that she had to pass for the
+     station. I kept my eye on her after that, for I knew there was some
+     devilry in the wind. I saw them from time to time, for I was anxious
+     to know what they were after. Two days ago Woodley came up to my
+     house with this cable, which showed that Ralph Smith was dead. He
+     asked me if I would stand by the bargain. I said I would not. He
+     asked me if I would marry the girl myself and give him a share. I
+     said I would willingly do so, but that she would not have me. He
+     said, 'Let us get her married first, and after a week or two she may
+     see things a bit different.' I said I would have nothing to do with
+     violence. So he went off cursing, like the foul-mouthed blackguard
+     that he was, and swearing that he would have her yet. She was leaving
+     me this week-end, and I had got a trap to take her to the station,
+     but I was so uneasy in my mind that I followed her on my bicycle. She
+     had got a start, however, and before I could catch her the mischief
+     was done. The first thing I knew about it was when I saw you two
+     gentlemen driving back in her dog-cart."
+
+     Holmes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the grate. "I
+     have been very obtuse, Watson," said he. "When in your report you
+     said that you had seen the cyclist as you thought arrange his necktie
+     in the shrubbery, that alone should have told me all. However, we may
+     congratulate ourselves upon a curious and in some respects a unique
+     case. I perceive three of the county constabulary in the drive, and I
+     am glad to see that the little ostler is able to keep pace with them;
+     so it is likely that neither he nor the interesting bridegroom will
+     be permanently damaged by their morning's adventures. I think,
+     Watson, that in your medical capacity you might wait upon Miss Smith
+     and tell her that if she is sufficiently recovered we shall be happy
+     to escort her to her mother's home. If she is not quite convalescent
+     you will find that a hint that we were about to telegraph to a young
+     electrician in the Midlands would probably complete the cure. As to
+     you, Mr. Carruthers, I think that you have done what you could to
+     make amends for your share in an evil plot. There is my card, sir,
+     and if my evidence can be of help to you in your trial it shall be at
+     your disposal."
+
+     In the whirl of our incessant activity it has often been difficult
+     for me, as the reader has probably observed, to round off my
+     narratives, and to give those final details which the curious might
+     expect. Each case has been the prelude to another, and the crisis
+     once over the actors have passed for ever out of our busy lives. I
+     find, however, a short note at the end of my manuscripts dealing with
+     this case, in which I have put it upon record that Miss Violet Smith
+     did indeed inherit a large fortune, and that she is now the wife of
+     Cyril Morton, the senior partner of Morton & Kennedy, the famous
+     Westminster electricians. Williamson and Woodley were both tried for
+     abduction and assault, the former getting seven years and the latter
+     ten. Of the fate of Carruthers I have no record, but I am sure that
+     his assault was not viewed very gravely by the Court, since Woodley
+     had the reputation of being a most dangerous ruffian, and I think
+     that a few months were sufficient to satisfy the demands of justice.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE PRIORY SCHOOL
+
+     We have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small stage at
+     Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more sudden and
+     startling than the first appearance of Thorneycroft Huxtable, M.A.,
+     Ph.D., etc. His card, which seemed too small to carry the weight of
+     his academic distinctions, preceded him by a few seconds, and then he
+     entered himself--so large, so pompous, and so dignified that he was
+     the very embodiment of self-possession and solidity. And yet his
+     first action when the door had closed behind him was to stagger
+     against the table, whence he slipped down upon the floor, and there
+     was that majestic figure prostrate and insensible upon our bearskin
+     hearthrug.
+
+     We had sprung to our feet, and for a few moments we stared in silent
+     amazement at this ponderous piece of wreckage, which told of some
+     sudden and fatal storm far out on the ocean of life. Then Holmes
+     hurried with a cushion for his head and I with brandy for his lips.
+     The heavy white face was seamed with lines of trouble, the hanging
+     pouches under the closed eyes were leaden in colour, the loose mouth
+     drooped dolorously at the corners, the rolling chins were unshaven.
+     Collar and shirt bore the grime of a long journey, and the hair
+     bristled unkempt from the well-shaped head. It was a sorely-stricken
+     man who lay before us.
+
+     "What is it, Watson?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Absolute exhaustion--possibly mere hunger and fatigue," said I, with
+     my finger on the thready pulse, where the stream of life trickled
+     thin and small.
+
+     "Return ticket from Mackleton, in the North of England," said Holmes,
+     drawing it from the watch-pocket. "It is not twelve o'clock yet. He
+     has certainly been an early starter."
+
+     The puckered eyelids had begun to quiver, and now a pair of vacant,
+     grey eyes looked up at us. An instant later the man had scrambled on
+     to his feet, his face crimson with shame.
+
+     "Forgive this weakness, Mr. Holmes; I have been a little overwrought.
+     Thank you, if I might have a glass of milk and a biscuit I have no
+     doubt that I should be better. I came personally, Mr. Holmes, in
+     order to ensure that you would return with me. I feared that no
+     telegram would convince you of the absolute urgency of the case."
+
+     "When you are quite restored--
+
+     "I am quite well again. I cannot imagine how I came to be so weak. I
+     wish you, Mr. Holmes, to come to Mackleton with me by the next
+     train."
+
+     My friend shook his head.
+
+     "My colleague, Dr. Watson, could tell you that we are very busy at
+     present. I am retained in this case of the Ferrers Documents, and the
+     Abergavenny murder is coming up for trial. Only a very important
+     issue could call me from London at present."
+
+     "Important!" Our visitor threw up his hands. "Have you heard nothing
+     of the abduction of the only son of the Duke of Holdernesse?"
+
+     "What! the late Cabinet Minister?"
+
+     "Exactly. We had tried to keep it out of the papers, but there was
+     some rumour in the Globe last night. I thought it might have reached
+     your ears."
+
+     Holmes shot out his long, thin arm and picked out Volume "H" in his
+     encyclopaedia of reference.
+
+     "'Holdernesse, 6th Duke, K.G., P.C.'--half the alphabet! 'Baron
+     Beverley, Earl of Carston'--dear me, what a list! 'Lord Lieutenant of
+     Hallamshire since 1900. Married Edith, daughter of Sir Charles
+     Appledore, 1888. Heir and only child, Lord Saltire. Owns about two
+     hundred and fifty thousand acres. Minerals in Lancashire and Wales.
+     Address: Carlton House Terrace; Holdernesse Hall, Hallamshire;
+     Carston Castle, Bangor, Wales. Lord of the Admiralty, 1872; Chief
+     Secretary of State for--' Well, well, this man is certainly one of
+     the greatest subjects of the Crown!"
+
+     "The greatest and perhaps the wealthiest. I am aware, Mr. Holmes,
+     that you take a very high line in professional matters, and that you
+     are prepared to work for the work's sake. I may tell you, however,
+     that his Grace has already intimated that a cheque for five thousand
+     pounds will be handed over to the person who can tell him where his
+     son is, and another thousand to him who can name the man, or men, who
+     have taken him."
+
+     "It is a princely offer," said Holmes. "Watson, I think that we shall
+     accompany Dr. Huxtable back to the North of England. And now, Dr.
+     Huxtable, when you have consumed that milk you will kindly tell me
+     what has happened, when it happened, how it happened, and, finally,
+     what Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable, of the Priory School, near Mackleton,
+     has to do with the matter, and why he comes three days after an
+     event--the state of your chin gives the date--to ask for my humble
+     services."
+
+     Our visitor had consumed his milk and biscuits. The light had come
+     back to his eyes and the colour to his cheeks as he set himself with
+     great vigour and lucidity to explain the situation.
+
+     "I must inform you, gentlemen, that the Priory is a preparatory
+     school, of which I am the founder and principal. 'Huxtable's
+     Sidelights on Horace' may possibly recall my name to your memories.
+     The Priory is, without exception, the best and most select
+     preparatory school in England. Lord Leverstoke, the Earl of
+     Blackwater, Sir Cathcart Soames--they all have entrusted their sons
+     to me. But I felt that my school had reached its zenith when, three
+     weeks ago, the Duke of Holdernesse sent Mr. James Wilder, his
+     secretary, with the intimation that young Lord Saltire, ten years
+     old, his only son and heir, was about to be committed to my charge.
+     Little did I think that this would be the prelude to the most
+     crushing misfortune of my life.
+
+     "On May 1st the boy arrived, that being the beginning of the summer
+     term. He was a charming youth, and he soon fell into our ways. I may
+     tell you--I trust that I am not indiscreet, but half-confidences are
+     absurd in such a case--that he was not entirely happy at home. It is
+     an open secret that the Duke's married life had not been a peaceful
+     one, and the matter had ended in a separation by mutual consent, the
+     Duchess taking up her residence in the South of France. This had
+     occurred very shortly before, and the boy's sympathies are known to
+     have been strongly with his mother. He moped after her departure from
+     Holdernesse Hall, and it was for this reason that the Duke desired to
+     send him to my establishment. In a fortnight the boy was quite at
+     home with us, and was apparently absolutely happy.
+
+     "He was last seen on the night of May 13th--that is, the night of
+     last Monday. His room was on the second floor, and was approached
+     through another larger room in which two boys were sleeping. These
+     boys saw and heard nothing, so that it is certain that young Saltire
+     did not pass out that way. His window was open, and there is a stout
+     ivy plant leading to the ground. We could trace no footmarks below,
+     but it is sure that this is the only possible exit.
+
+     "His absence was discovered at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning. His
+     bed had been slept in. He had dressed himself fully before going off
+     in his usual school suit of black Eton jacket and dark grey trousers.
+     There were no signs that anyone had entered the room, and it is quite
+     certain that anything in the nature of cries, or a struggle, would
+     have been heard, since Caunter, the elder boy in the inner room, is a
+     very light sleeper.
+
+     "When Lord Saltire's disappearance was discovered I at once called a
+     roll of the whole establishment, boys, masters, and servants. It was
+     then that we ascertained that Lord Saltire had not been alone in his
+     flight. Heidegger, the German master, was missing. His room was on
+     the second floor, at the farther end of the building, facing the same
+     way as Lord Saltire's. His bed had also been slept in; but he had
+     apparently gone away partly dressed, since his shirt and socks were
+     lying on the floor. He had undoubtedly let himself down by the ivy,
+     for we could see the marks of his feet where he had landed on the
+     lawn. His bicycle was kept in a small shed beside this lawn, and it
+     also was gone.
+
+     "He had been with me for two years, and came with the best
+     references; but he was a silent, morose man, not very popular either
+     with masters or boys. No trace could be found of the fugitives, and
+     now on Thursday morning we are as ignorant as we were on Tuesday.
+     Inquiry was, of course, made at once at Holdernesse Hall. It is only
+     a few miles away, and we imagined that in some sudden attack of
+     home-sickness he had gone back to his father; but nothing had been
+     heard of him. The Duke is greatly agitated--and as to me, you have
+     seen yourselves the state of nervous prostration to which the
+     suspense and the responsibility have reduced me. Mr. Holmes, if ever
+     you put forward your full powers, I implore you to do so now, for
+     never in your life could you have a case which is more worthy of
+     them."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes had listened with the utmost intentness to the
+     statement of the unhappy schoolmaster. His drawn brows and the deep
+     furrow between them showed that he needed no exhortation to
+     concentrate all his attention upon a problem which, apart from the
+     tremendous interests involved, must appeal so directly to his love of
+     the complex and the unusual. He now drew out his note-book and jotted
+     down one or two memoranda.
+
+     "You have been very remiss in not coming to me sooner," said he,
+     severely. "You start me on my investigation with a very serious
+     handicap. It is inconceivable, for example, that this ivy and this
+     lawn would have yielded nothing to an expert observer."
+
+     "I am not to blame, Mr. Holmes. His Grace was extremely desirous to
+     avoid all public scandal. He was afraid of his family unhappiness
+     being dragged before the world. He has a deep horror of anything of
+     the kind."
+
+     "But there has been some official investigation?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, and it has proved most disappointing. An apparent clue was
+     at once obtained, since a boy and a young man were reported to have
+     been seen leaving a neighbouring station by an early train. Only last
+     night we had news that the couple had been hunted down in Liverpool,
+     and they prove to have no connection whatever with the matter in
+     hand. Then it was that in my despair and disappointment, after a
+     sleepless night, I came straight to you by the early train."
+
+     "I suppose the local investigation was relaxed while this false clue
+     was being followed up?"
+
+     "It was entirely dropped."
+
+     "So that three days have been wasted. The affair has been most
+     deplorably handled."
+
+     "I feel it, and admit it."
+
+     "And yet the problem should be capable of ultimate solution. I shall
+     be very happy to look into it. Have you been able to trace any
+     connection between the missing boy and this German master?"
+
+     "None at all."
+
+     "Was he in the master's class?"
+
+     "No; he never exchanged a word with him so far as I know."
+
+     "That is certainly very singular. Had the boy a bicycle?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Was any other bicycle missing?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Is that certain?"
+
+     "Quite."
+
+     "Well, now, you do not mean to seriously suggest that this German
+     rode off upon a bicycle in the dead of the night bearing the boy in
+     his arms?"
+
+     "Certainly not."
+
+     "Then what is the theory in your mind?"
+
+     "The bicycle may have been a blind. It may have been hidden somewhere
+     and the pair gone off on foot."
+
+     "Quite so; but it seems rather an absurd blind, does it not? Were
+     there other bicycles in this shed?"
+
+     "Several."
+
+     "Would he not have hidden a couple he desired to give the idea that
+     they had gone off upon them?"
+
+     "I suppose he would."
+
+     "Of course he would. The blind theory won't do. But the incident is
+     an admirable starting-point for an investigation. After all, a
+     bicycle is not an easy thing to conceal or to destroy. One other
+     question. Did anyone call to see the boy on the day before he
+     disappeared?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Did he get any letters?"
+
+     "Yes; one letter."
+
+     "From whom?"
+
+     "From his father."
+
+     "Do you open the boys' letters?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "How do you know it was from the father?"
+
+     "The coat of arms was on the envelope, and it was addressed in the
+     Duke's peculiar stiff hand. Besides, the Duke remembers having
+     written."
+
+     "When had he a letter before that?"
+
+     "Not for several days."
+
+     "Had he ever one from France?"
+
+     "No; never."
+
+     "You see the point of my questions, of course. Either the boy was
+     carried off by force or he went of his own free will. In the latter
+     case you would expect that some prompting from outside would be
+     needed to make so young a lad do such a thing. If he has had no
+     visitors, that prompting must have come in letters. Hence I try to
+     find out who were his correspondents."
+
+     "I fear I cannot help you much. His only correspondent, so far as I
+     know, was his own father."
+
+     "Who wrote to him on the very day of his disappearance. Were the
+     relations between father and son very friendly?"
+
+     "His Grace is never very friendly with anyone. He is completely
+     immersed in large public questions, and is rather inaccessible to all
+     ordinary emotions. But he was always kind to the boy in his own way."
+
+     "But the sympathies of the latter were with the mother?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Did he say so?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "The Duke, then?"
+
+     "Good heavens, no!"
+
+     "Then how could you know?"
+
+     "I have had some confidential talks with Mr. James Wilder, his
+     Grace's secretary. It was he who gave me the information about Lord
+     Saltire's feelings."
+
+     "I see. By the way, that last letter of the Duke's--was it found in
+     the boy's room after he was gone?"
+
+     "No; he had taken it with him. I think, Mr. Holmes, it is time that
+     we were leaving for Euston."
+
+     "I will order a four-wheeler. In a quarter of an hour we shall be at
+     your service. If you are telegraphing home, Mr. Huxtable, it would be
+     well to allow the people in your neighbourhood to imagine that the
+     inquiry is still going on in Liverpool, or wherever else that red
+     herring led your pack. In the meantime I will do a little quiet work
+     at your own doors, and perhaps the scent is not so cold but that two
+     old hounds like Watson and myself may get a sniff of it."
+
+     That evening found us in the cold, bracing atmosphere of the Peak
+     country, in which Dr. Huxtable's famous school is situated. It was
+     already dark when we reached it. A card was lying on the hall table,
+     and the butler whispered something to his master, who turned to us
+     with agitation in every heavy feature.
+
+     "The Duke is here," said he. "The Duke and Mr. Wilder are in the
+     study. Come, gentlemen, and I will introduce you."
+
+     I was, of course, familiar with the pictures of the famous statesman,
+     but the man himself was very different from his representation. He
+     was a tall and stately person, scrupulously dressed, with a drawn,
+     thin face, and a nose which was grotesquely curved and long. His
+     complexion was of a dead pallor, which was more startling by contrast
+     with a long, dwindling beard of vivid red, which flowed down over his
+     white waistcoat, with his watch-chain gleaming through its fringe.
+     Such was the stately presence who looked stonily at us from the
+     centre of Dr. Huxtable's hearthrug. Beside him stood a very young
+     man, whom I understood to be Wilder, the private secretary. He was
+     small, nervous, alert, with intelligent, light-blue eyes and mobile
+     features. It was he who at once, in an incisive and positive tone,
+     opened the conversation.
+
+     "I called this morning, Dr. Huxtable, too late to prevent you from
+     starting for London. I learned that your object was to invite Mr.
+     Sherlock Holmes to undertake the conduct of this case. His Grace is
+     surprised, Dr. Huxtable, that you should have taken such a step
+     without consulting him."
+
+     "When I learned that the police had failed--"
+
+     "His Grace is by no means convinced that the police have failed."
+
+     "But surely, Mr. Wilder--"
+
+     "You are well aware, Dr. Huxtable, that his Grace is particularly
+     anxious to avoid all public scandal. He prefers to take as few people
+     as possible into his confidence."
+
+     "The matter can be easily remedied," said the brow-beaten doctor;
+     "Mr. Sherlock Holmes can return to London by the morning train."
+
+     "Hardly that, Doctor, hardly that," said Holmes, in his blandest
+     voice. "This northern air is invigorating and pleasant, so I propose
+     to spend a few days upon your moors, and to occupy my mind as best I
+     may. Whether I have the shelter of your roof or of the village inn
+     is, of course, for you to decide."
+
+     I could see that the unfortunate doctor was in the last stage of
+     indecision, from which he was rescued by the deep, sonorous voice of
+     the red-bearded Duke, which boomed out like a dinner-gong.
+
+     "I agree with Mr. Wilder, Dr. Huxtable, that you would have done
+     wisely to consult me. But since Mr. Holmes has already been taken
+     into your confidence, it would indeed be absurd that we should not
+     avail ourselves of his services. Far from going to the inn, Mr.
+     Holmes, I should be pleased if you would come and stay with me at
+     Holdernesse Hall."
+
+     "I thank your Grace. For the purposes of my investigation I think
+     that it would be wiser for me to remain at the scene of the mystery."
+
+     "Just as you like, Mr. Holmes. Any information which Mr. Wilder or I
+     can give you is, of course, at your disposal."
+
+     "It will probably be necessary for me to see you at the Hall," said
+     Holmes. "I would only ask you now, sir, whether you have formed any
+     explanation in your own mind as to the mysterious disappearance of
+     your son?"
+
+     "No, sir, I have not."
+
+     "Excuse me if I allude to that which is painful to you, but I have no
+     alternative. Do you think that the Duchess had anything to do with
+     the matter?"
+
+     The great Minister showed perceptible hesitation.
+
+     "I do not think so," he said, at last.
+
+     "The other most obvious explanation is that the child has been
+     kidnapped for the purpose of levying ransom. You have not had any
+     demand of the sort?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "One more question, your Grace. I understand that you wrote to your
+     son upon the day when this incident occurred."
+
+     "No; I wrote upon the day before."
+
+     "Exactly. But he received it on that day?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Was there anything in your letter which might have unbalanced him or
+     induced him to take such a step?"
+
+     "No, sir, certainly not."
+
+     "Did you post that letter yourself?"
+
+     The nobleman's reply was interrupted by his secretary, who broke in
+     with some heat.
+
+     "His Grace is not in the habit of posting letters himself," said he.
+     "This letter was laid with others upon the study table, and I myself
+     put them in the post-bag."
+
+     "You are sure this one was among them?"
+
+     "Yes; I observed it."
+
+     "How many letters did your Grace write that day?"
+
+     "Twenty or thirty. I have a large correspondence. But surely this is
+     somewhat irrelevant?"
+
+     "Not entirely," said Holmes.
+
+     "For my own part," the Duke continued, "I have advised the police to
+     turn their attention to the South of France. I have already said that
+     I do not believe that the Duchess would encourage so monstrous an
+     action, but the lad had the most wrong-headed opinions, and it is
+     possible that he may have fled to her, aided and abetted by this
+     German. I think, Dr. Huxtable, that we will now return to the Hall."
+
+     I could see that there were other questions which Holmes would have
+     wished to put; but the nobleman's abrupt manner showed that the
+     interview was at an end. It was evident that to his intensely
+     aristocratic nature this discussion of his intimate family affairs
+     with a stranger was most abhorrent, and that he feared lest every
+     fresh question would throw a fiercer light into the discreetly
+     shadowed corners of his ducal history.
+
+     When the nobleman and his secretary had left, my friend flung himself
+     at once with characteristic eagerness into the investigation.
+
+     The boy's chamber was carefully examined, and yielded nothing save
+     the absolute conviction that it was only through the window that he
+     could have escaped. The German master's room and effects gave no
+     further clue. In his case a trailer of ivy had given way under his
+     weight, and we saw by the light of a lantern the mark on the lawn
+     where his heels had come down. That one dint in the short green grass
+     was the only material witness left of this inexplicable nocturnal
+     flight.
+
+     Sherlock Holmes left the house alone, and only returned after eleven.
+     He had obtained a large ordnance map of the neighbourhood, and this
+     he brought into my room, where he laid it out on the bed, and, having
+     balanced the lamp in the middle of it, he began to smoke over it, and
+     occasionally to point out objects of interest with the reeking amber
+     of his pipe.
+
+     "This case grows upon me, Watson," said he. "There are decidedly some
+     points of interest in connection with it. In this early stage I want
+     you to realize those geographical features which may have a good deal
+     to do with our investigation.
+
+     "Look at this map. This dark square is the Priory School. I'll put a
+     pin in it. Now, this line is the main road. You see that it runs east
+     and west past the school, and you see also that there is no side road
+     for a mile either way. If these two folk passed away by road it was
+     this road."
+
+     [ Picture: Chart of the surrounding area ]
+
+     "Exactly."
+
+     "By a singular and happy chance we are able to some extent to check
+     what passed along this road during the night in question. At this
+     point, where my pipe is now resting, a country constable was on duty
+     from twelve to six. It is, as you perceive, the first cross road on
+     the east side. This man declares that he was not absent from his post
+     for an instant, and he is positive that neither boy nor man could
+     have gone that way unseen. I have spoken with this policeman
+     to-night, and he appears to me to be a perfectly reliable person.
+     That blocks this end. We have now to deal with the other. There is an
+     inn here, the Red Bull, the landlady of which was ill. She had sent
+     to Mackleton for a doctor, but he did not arrive until morning, being
+     absent at another case. The people at the inn were alert all night,
+     awaiting his coming, and one or other of them seems to have
+     continually had an eye upon the road. They declare that no one
+     passed. If their evidence is good, then we are fortunate enough to be
+     able to block the west, and also to be able to say that the fugitives
+     did not use the road at all."
+
+     "But the bicycle?" I objected.
+
+     "Quite so. We will come to the bicycle presently. To continue our
+     reasoning: if these people did not go by the road, they must have
+     traversed the country to the north of the house or to the south of
+     the house. That is certain. Let us weigh the one against the other.
+     On the south of the house is, as you perceive, a large district of
+     arable land, cut up into small fields, with stone walls between them.
+     There, I admit that a bicycle is impossible. We can dismiss the idea.
+     We turn to the country on the north. Here there lies a grove of
+     trees, marked as the 'Ragged Shaw,' and on the farther side stretches
+     a great rolling moor, Lower Gill Moor, extending for ten miles and
+     sloping gradually upwards. Here, at one side of this wilderness, is
+     Holdernesse Hall, ten miles by road, but only six across the moor. It
+     is a peculiarly desolate plain. A few moor farmers have small
+     holdings, where they rear sheep and cattle. Except these, the plover
+     and the curlew are the only inhabitants until you come to the
+     Chesterfield high road. There is a church there, you see, a few
+     cottages, and an inn. Beyond that the hills become precipitous.
+     Surely it is here to the north that our quest must lie."
+
+     "But the bicycle?" I persisted.
+
+     "Well, well!" said Holmes, impatiently. "A good cyclist does not need
+     a high road. The moor is intersected with paths and the moon was at
+     the full. Halloa! what is this?"
+
+     There was an agitated knock at the door, and an instant afterwards
+     Dr. Huxtable was in the room. In his hand he held a blue cricket-cap,
+     with a white chevron on the peak.
+
+     "At last we have a clue!" he cried. "Thank Heaven! at last we are on
+     the dear boy's track! It is his cap."
+
+     "Where was it found?"
+
+     "In the van of the gipsies who camped on the moor. They left on
+     Tuesday. To-day the police traced them down and examined their
+     caravan. This was found."
+
+     "How do they account for it?"
+
+     "They shuffled and lied--said that they found it on the moor on
+     Tuesday morning. They know where he is, the rascals! Thank goodness,
+     they are all safe under lock and key. Either the fear of the law or
+     the Duke's purse will certainly get out of them all that they know."
+
+     "So far, so good," said Holmes, when the doctor had at last left the
+     room. "It at least bears out the theory that it is on the side of the
+     Lower Gill Moor that we must hope for results. The police have really
+     done nothing locally, save the arrest of these gipsies. Look here,
+     Watson! There is a watercourse across the moor. You see it marked
+     here in the map. In some parts it widens into a morass. This is
+     particularly so in the region between Holdernesse Hall and the
+     school. It is vain to look elsewhere for tracks in this dry weather;
+     but at that point there is certainly a chance of some record being
+     left. I will call you early to-morrow morning, and you and I will try
+     if we can throw some little light upon the mystery."
+
+     The day was just breaking when I woke to find the long, thin form of
+     Holmes by my bedside. He was fully dressed, and had apparently
+     already been out.
+
+     "I have done the lawn and the bicycle shed," said he. "I have also
+     had a ramble through the Ragged Shaw. Now, Watson, there is cocoa
+     ready in the next room. I must beg you to hurry, for we have a great
+     day before us."
+
+     His eyes shone, and his cheek was flushed with the exhilaration of
+     the master workman who sees his work lie ready before him. A very
+     different Holmes, this active, alert man, from the introspective and
+     pallid dreamer of Baker Street. I felt, as I looked upon that supple
+     figure, alive with nervous energy, that it was indeed a strenuous day
+     that awaited us.
+
+     And yet it opened in the blackest disappointment. With high hopes we
+     struck across the peaty, russet moor, intersected with a thousand
+     sheep paths, until we came to the broad, light-green belt which
+     marked the morass between us and Holdernesse. Certainly, if the lad
+     had gone homewards, he must have passed this, and he could not pass
+     it without leaving his traces. But no sign of him or the German could
+     be seen. With a darkening face my friend strode along the margin,
+     eagerly observant of every muddy stain upon the mossy surface.
+     Sheep-marks there were in profusion, and at one place, some miles
+     down, cows had left their tracks. Nothing more.
+
+     "Check number one," said Holmes, looking gloomily over the rolling
+     expanse of the moor. "There is another morass down yonder and a
+     narrow neck between. Halloa! halloa! halloa! what have we here?"
+
+     We had come on a small black ribbon of pathway. In the middle of it,
+     clearly marked on the sodden soil, was the track of a bicycle.
+
+     "Hurrah!" I cried. "We have it."
+
+     But Holmes was shaking his head, and his face was puzzled and
+     expectant rather than joyous.
+
+     "A bicycle, certainly, but not the bicycle," said he. "I am familiar
+     with forty-two different impressions left by tyres. This, as you
+     perceive, is a Dunlop, with a patch upon the outer cover. Heidegger's
+     tyres were Palmer's, leaving longitudinal stripes. Aveling, the
+     mathematical master, was sure upon the point. Therefore, it is not
+     Heidegger's track."
+
+     "The boy's, then?"
+
+     "Possibly, if we could prove a bicycle to have been in his
+     possession. But this we have utterly failed to do. This track, as you
+     perceive, was made by a rider who was going from the direction of the
+     school."
+
+     "Or towards it?"
+
+     "No, no, my dear Watson. The more deeply sunk impression is, of
+     course, the hind wheel, upon which the weight rests. You perceive
+     several places where it has passed across and obliterated the more
+     shallow mark of the front one. It was undoubtedly heading away from
+     the school. It may or may not be connected with our inquiry, but we
+     will follow it backwards before we go any farther."
+
+     We did so, and at the end of a few hundred yards lost the tracks as
+     we emerged from the boggy portion of the moor. Following the path
+     backwards, we picked out another spot, where a spring trickled across
+     it. Here, once again, was the mark of the bicycle, though nearly
+     obliterated by the hoofs of cows. After that there was no sign, but
+     the path ran right on into Ragged Shaw, the wood which backed on to
+     the school. From this wood the cycle must have emerged. Holmes sat
+     down on a boulder and rested his chin in his hands. I had smoked two
+     cigarettes before he moved.
+
+     "Well, well," said he, at last. "It is, of course, possible that a
+     cunning man might change the tyre of his bicycle in order to leave
+     unfamiliar tracks. A criminal who was capable of such a thought is a
+     man whom I should be proud to do business with. We will leave this
+     question undecided and hark back to our morass again, for we have
+     left a good deal unexplored."
+
+     We continued our systematic survey of the edge of the sodden portion
+     of the moor, and soon our perseverance was gloriously rewarded. Right
+     across the lower part of the bog lay a miry path. Holmes gave a cry
+     of delight as he approached it. An impression like a fine bundle of
+     telegraph wires ran down the centre of it. It was the Palmer tyre.
+
+     "Here is Herr Heidegger, sure enough!" cried Holmes, exultantly. "My
+     reasoning seems to have been pretty sound, Watson."
+
+     "I congratulate you."
+
+     "But we have a long way still to go. Kindly walk clear of the path.
+     Now let us follow the trail. I fear that it will not lead very far."
+
+     We found, however, as we advanced that this portion of the moor is
+     intersected with soft patches, and, though we frequently lost sight
+     of the track, we always succeeded in picking it up once more.
+
+     "Do you observe," said Holmes, "that the rider is now undoubtedly
+     forcing the pace? There can be no doubt of it. Look at this
+     impression, where you get both tyres clear. The one is as deep as the
+     other. That can only mean that the rider is throwing his weight on to
+     the handle-bar, as a man does when he is sprinting. By Jove! he has
+     had a fall."
+
+     There was a broad, irregular smudge covering some yards of the track.
+     Then there were a few footmarks, and the tyre reappeared once more.
+
+     "A side-slip," I suggested.
+
+     Holmes held up a crumpled branch of flowering gorse. To my horror I
+     perceived that the yellow blossoms were all dabbled with crimson. On
+     the path, too, and among the heather were dark stains of clotted
+     blood.
+
+     "Bad!" said Holmes. "Bad! Stand clear, Watson! Not an unnecessary
+     footstep! What do I read here? He fell wounded, he stood up, he
+     remounted, he proceeded. But there is no other track. Cattle on this
+     side path. He was surely not gored by a bull? Impossible! But I see
+     no traces of anyone else. We must push on, Watson. Surely with stains
+     as well as the track to guide us he cannot escape us now."
+
+     Our search was not a very long one. The tracks of the tyre began to
+     curve fantastically upon the wet and shining path. Suddenly, as I
+     looked ahead, the gleam of metal caught my eye from amid the thick
+     gorse bushes. Out of them we dragged a bicycle, Palmer-tyred, one
+     pedal bent, and the whole front of it horribly smeared and slobbered
+     with blood. On the other side of the bushes a shoe was projecting. We
+     ran round, and there lay the unfortunate rider. He was a tall man,
+     full bearded, with spectacles, one glass of which had been knocked
+     out. The cause of his death was a frightful blow upon the head, which
+     had crushed in part of his skull. That he could have gone on after
+     receiving such an injury said much for the vitality and courage of
+     the man. He wore shoes, but no socks, and his open coat disclosed a
+     night-shirt beneath it. It was undoubtedly the German master.
+
+     Holmes turned the body over reverently, and examined it with great
+     attention. He then sat in deep thought for a time, and I could see by
+     his ruffled brow that this grim discovery had not, in his opinion,
+     advanced us much in our inquiry.
+
+     "It is a little difficult to know what to do, Watson," said he, at
+     last. "My own inclinations are to push this inquiry on, for we have
+     already lost so much time that we cannot afford to waste another
+     hour. On the other hand, we are bound to inform the police of the
+     discovery, and to see that this poor fellow's body is looked after."
+
+     "I could take a note back."
+
+     "But I need your company and assistance. Wait a bit! There is a
+     fellow cutting peat up yonder. Bring him over here, and he will guide
+     the police."
+
+     I brought the peasant across, and Holmes dispatched the frightened
+     man with a note to Dr. Huxtable.
+
+     "Now, Watson," said he, "we have picked up two clues this morning.
+     One is the bicycle with the Palmer tyre, and we see what that has led
+     to. The other is the bicycle with the patched Dunlop. Before we start
+     to investigate that, let us try to realize what we do know so as to
+     make the most of it, and to separate the essential from the
+     accidental."
+
+     "First of all I wish to impress upon you that the boy certainly left
+     of his own free will. He got down from his window and he went off,
+     either alone or with someone. That is sure."
+
+     I assented.
+
+     "Well, now, let us turn to this unfortunate German master. The boy
+     was fully dressed when he fled. Therefore, he foresaw what he would
+     do. But the German went without his socks. He certainly acted on very
+     short notice."
+
+     "Undoubtedly."
+
+     "Why did he go? Because, from his bedroom window, he saw the flight
+     of the boy. Because he wished to overtake him and bring him back. He
+     seized his bicycle, pursued the lad, and in pursuing him met his
+     death."
+
+     "So it would seem."
+
+     "Now I come to the critical part of my argument. The natural action
+     of a man in pursuing a little boy would be to run after him. He would
+     know that he could overtake him. But the German does not do so. He
+     turns to his bicycle. I am told that he was an excellent cyclist. He
+     would not do this if he did not see that the boy had some swift means
+     of escape."
+
+     "The other bicycle."
+
+     "Let us continue our reconstruction. He meets his death five miles
+     from the school--not by a bullet, mark you, which even a lad might
+     conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt by a vigorous arm.
+     The lad, then, had a companion in his flight. And the flight was a
+     swift one, since it took five miles before an expert cyclist could
+     overtake them. Yet we survey the ground round the scene of the
+     tragedy. What do we find? A few cattle tracks, nothing more. I took a
+     wide sweep round, and there is no path within fifty yards. Another
+     cyclist could have had nothing to do with the actual murder. Nor were
+     there any human footmarks."
+
+     "Holmes," I cried, "this is impossible."
+
+     "Admirable!" he said. "A most illuminating remark. It is impossible
+     as I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it
+     wrong. Yet you saw for yourself. Can you suggest any fallacy?"
+
+     "He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?"
+
+     "In a morass, Watson?"
+
+     "I am at my wit's end."
+
+     "Tut, tut; we have solved some worse problems. At least we have
+     plenty of material, if we can only use it. Come, then, and, having
+     exhausted the Palmer, let us see what the Dunlop with the patched
+     cover has to offer us."
+
+     We picked up the track and followed it onwards for some distance; but
+     soon the moor rose into a long, heather-tufted curve, and we left the
+     watercourse behind us. No further help from tracks could be hoped
+     for. At the spot where we saw the last of the Dunlop tyre it might
+     equally have led to Holdernesse Hall, the stately towers of which
+     rose some miles to our left, or to a low, grey village which lay in
+     front of us, and marked the position of the Chesterfield high road.
+
+     As we approached the forbidding and squalid inn, with the sign of a
+     game-cock above the door, Holmes gave a sudden groan and clutched me
+     by the shoulder to save himself from falling. He had had one of those
+     violent strains of the ankle which leave a man helpless. With
+     difficulty he limped up to the door, where a squat, dark, elderly man
+     was smoking a black clay pipe.
+
+     "How are you, Mr. Reuben Hayes?" said Holmes.
+
+     "Who are you, and how do you get my name so pat?" the countryman
+     answered, with a suspicious flash of a pair of cunning eyes.
+
+     "Well, it's printed on the board above your head. It's easy to see a
+     man who is master of his own house. I suppose you haven't such a
+     thing as a carriage in your stables?"
+
+     "No; I have not."
+
+     "I can hardly put my foot to the ground."
+
+     "Don't put it to the ground."
+
+     "But I can't walk."
+
+     "Well, then, hop."
+
+     Mr. Reuben Hayes's manner was far from gracious, but Holmes took it
+     with admirable good-humour.
+
+     "Look here, my man," said he. "This is really rather an awkward fix
+     for me. I don't mind how I get on."
+
+     "Neither do I," said the morose landlord.
+
+     "The matter is very important. I would offer you a sovereign for the
+     use of a bicycle."
+
+     The landlord pricked up his ears.
+
+     "Where do you want to go?"
+
+     "To Holdernesse Hall."
+
+     "Pals of the Dook, I suppose?" said the landlord, surveying our
+     mud-stained garments with ironical eyes.
+
+     Holmes laughed good-naturedly.
+
+     "He'll be glad to see us, anyhow."
+
+     "Why?"
+
+     "Because we bring him news of his lost son."
+
+     The landlord gave a very visible start.
+
+     "What, you're on his track?"
+
+     "He has been heard of in Liverpool. They expect to get him every
+     hour."
+
+     Again a swift change passed over the heavy, unshaven face. His manner
+     was suddenly genial.
+
+     "I've less reason to wish the Dook well than most men," said he, "for
+     I was his head coachman once, and cruel bad he treated me. It was him
+     that sacked me without a character on the word of a lying
+     corn-chandler. But I'm glad to hear that the young lord was heard of
+     in Liverpool, and I'll help you to take the news to the Hall."
+
+     "Thank you," said Holmes. "We'll have some food first. Then you can
+     bring round the bicycle."
+
+     "I haven't got a bicycle."
+
+     Holmes held up a sovereign.
+
+     "I tell you, man, that I haven't got one. I'll let you have two
+     horses as far as the Hall."
+
+     "Well, well," said Holmes, "we'll talk about it when we've had
+     something to eat."
+
+     When we were left alone in the stone-flagged kitchen it was
+     astonishing how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered. It was nearly
+     nightfall, and we had eaten nothing since early morning, so that we
+     spent some time over our meal. Holmes was lost in thought, and once
+     or twice he walked over to the window and stared earnestly out. It
+     opened on to a squalid courtyard. In the far corner was a smithy,
+     where a grimy lad was at work. On the other side were the stables.
+     Holmes had sat down again after one of these excursions, when he
+     suddenly sprang out of his chair with a loud exclamation.
+
+     "By Heaven, Watson, I believe that I've got it!" he cried. "Yes, yes,
+     it must be so. Watson, do you remember seeing any cow-tracks to-day?"
+
+     "Yes, several."
+
+     "Where?"
+
+     "Well, everywhere. They were at the morass, and again on the path,
+     and again near where poor Heidegger met his death."
+
+     "Exactly. Well, now, Watson, how many cows did you see on the moor?"
+
+     "I don't remember seeing any."
+
+     "Strange, Watson, that we should see tracks all along our line, but
+     never a cow on the whole moor; very strange, Watson, eh?"
+
+     "Yes, it is strange."
+
+     "Now, Watson, make an effort; throw your mind back! Can you see those
+     tracks upon the path?"
+
+     "Yes, I can."
+
+     "Can you recall that the tracks were sometimes like that, Watson"--he
+     arranged a number of bread-crumbs in this fashion--: : : : :--"and
+     sometimes like this"--: ` : ` : ` : `--"and occasionally like
+     this"--. ` . ` . ` . "Can you remember that?"
+
+     "No, I cannot."
+
+     "But I can. I could swear to it. However, we will go back at our
+     leisure and verify it. What a blind beetle I have been not to draw my
+     conclusion!"
+
+     "And what is your conclusion?"
+
+     "Only that it is a remarkable cow which walks, canters, and gallops.
+     By George, Watson, it was no brain of a country publican that thought
+     out such a blind as that! The coast seems to be clear, save for that
+     lad in the smithy. Let us slip out and see what we can see."
+
+     There were two rough-haired, unkempt horses in the tumble-down
+     stable. Holmes raised the hind leg of one of them and laughed aloud.
+
+     "Old shoes, but newly shod--old shoes, but new nails. This case
+     deserves to be a classic. Let us go across to the smithy."
+
+     The lad continued his work without regarding us. I saw Holmes's eye
+     darting to right and left among the litter of iron and wood which was
+     scattered about the floor. Suddenly, however, we heard a step behind
+     us, and there was the landlord, his heavy eyebrows drawn over his
+     savage eyes, his swarthy features convulsed with passion. He held a
+     short, metal-headed stick in his hand, and he advanced in so menacing
+     a fashion that I was right glad to feel the revolver in my pocket.
+
+     "You infernal spies!" the man cried. "What are you doing there?"
+
+     "Why, Mr. Reuben Hayes," said Holmes, coolly, "one might think that
+     you were afraid of our finding something out."
+
+     The man mastered himself with a violent effort, and his grim mouth
+     loosened into a false laugh, which was more menacing than his frown.
+
+     "You're welcome to all you can find out in my smithy," said he. "But
+     look here, mister, I don't care for folk poking about my place
+     without my leave, so the sooner you pay your score and get out of
+     this the better I shall be pleased."
+
+     "All right, Mr. Hayes--no harm meant," said Holmes. "We have been
+     having a look at your horses, but I think I'll walk after all. It's
+     not far, I believe."
+
+     "Not more than two miles to the Hall gates. That's the road to the
+     left." He watched us with sullen eyes until we had left his premises.
+
+     We did not go very far along the road, for Holmes stopped the instant
+     that the curve hid us from the landlord's view.
+
+     "We were warm, as the children say, at that inn," said he. "I seem to
+     grow colder every step that I take away from it. No, no; I can't
+     possibly leave it."
+
+     "I am convinced," said I, "that this Reuben Hayes knows all about it.
+     A more self-evident villain I never saw."
+
+     "Oh! he impressed you in that way, did he? There are the horses,
+     there is the smithy. Yes, it is an interesting place, this Fighting
+     Cock. I think we shall have another look at it in an unobtrusive
+     way."
+
+     A long, sloping hillside, dotted with grey limestone boulders,
+     stretched behind us. We had turned off the road, and were making our
+     way up the hill, when, looking in the direction of Holdernesse Hall,
+     I saw a cyclist coming swiftly along.
+
+     "Get down, Watson!" cried Holmes, with a heavy hand upon my shoulder.
+     We had hardly sunk from view when the man flew past us on the road.
+     Amid a rolling cloud of dust I caught a glimpse of a pale, agitated
+     face--a face with horror in every lineament, the mouth open, the eyes
+     staring wildly in front. It was like some strange caricature of the
+     dapper James Wilder whom we had seen the night before.
+
+     "The Duke's secretary!" cried Holmes. "Come, Watson, let us see what
+     he does."
+
+     We scrambled from rock to rock until in a few moments we had made our
+     way to a point from which we could see the front door of the inn.
+     Wilder's bicycle was leaning against the wall beside it. No one was
+     moving about the house, nor could we catch a glimpse of any faces at
+     the windows. Slowly the twilight crept down as the sun sank behind
+     the high towers of Holdernesse Hall. Then in the gloom we saw the two
+     side-lamps of a trap light up in the stable yard of the inn, and
+     shortly afterwards heard the rattle of hoofs, as it wheeled out into
+     the road and tore off at a furious pace in the direction of
+     Chesterfield.
+
+     "What do you make of that, Watson?" Holmes whispered.
+
+     "It looks like a flight."
+
+     "A single man in a dog-cart, so far as I could see. Well, it
+     certainly was not Mr. James Wilder, for there he is at the door."
+
+     A red square of light had sprung out of the darkness. In the middle
+     of it was the black figure of the secretary, his head advanced,
+     peering out into the night. It was evident that he was expecting
+     someone. Then at last there were steps in the road, a second figure
+     was visible for an instant against the light, the door shut, and all
+     was black once more. Five minutes later a lamp was lit in a room upon
+     the first floor.
+
+     "It seems to be a curious class of custom that is done by the
+     Fighting Cock," said Holmes.
+
+     "The bar is on the other side."
+
+     "Quite so. These are what one may call the private guests. Now, what
+     in the world is Mr. James Wilder doing in that den at this hour of
+     night, and who is the companion who comes to meet him there? Come,
+     Watson, we must really take a risk and try to investigate this a
+     little more closely."
+
+     Together we stole down to the road and crept across to the door of
+     the inn. The bicycle still leaned against the wall. Holmes struck a
+     match and held it to the back wheel, and I heard him chuckle as the
+     light fell upon a patched Dunlop tyre. Up above us was the lighted
+     window.
+
+     "I must have a peep through that, Watson. If you bend your back and
+     support yourself upon the wall, I think that I can manage."
+
+     An instant later his feet were on my shoulders. But he was hardly up
+     before he was down again.
+
+     "Come, my friend," said he, "our day's work has been quite long
+     enough. I think that we have gathered all that we can. It's a long
+     walk to the school, and the sooner we get started the better."
+
+     He hardly opened his lips during that weary trudge across the moor,
+     nor would he enter the school when he reached it, but went on to
+     Mackleton Station, whence he could send some telegrams. Late at night
+     I heard him consoling Dr. Huxtable, prostrated by the tragedy of his
+     master's death, and later still he entered my room as alert and
+     vigorous as he had been when he started in the morning. "All goes
+     well, my friend," said he. "I promise that before to-morrow evening
+     we shall have reached the solution of the mystery."
+
+     At eleven o'clock next morning my friend and I were walking up the
+     famous yew avenue of Holdernesse Hall. We were ushered through the
+     magnificent Elizabethan doorway and into his Grace's study. There we
+     found Mr. James Wilder, demure and courtly, but with some trace of
+     that wild terror of the night before still lurking in his furtive
+     eyes and in his twitching features.
+
+     "You have come to see his Grace? I am sorry; but the fact is that the
+     Duke is far from well. He has been very much upset by the tragic
+     news. We received a telegram from Dr. Huxtable yesterday afternoon,
+     which told us of your discovery."
+
+     "I must see the Duke, Mr. Wilder."
+
+     "But he is in his room."
+
+     "Then I must go to his room."
+
+     "I believe he is in his bed."
+
+     "I will see him there."
+
+     Holmes's cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary that it was
+     useless to argue with him.
+
+     "Very good, Mr. Holmes; I will tell him that you are here."
+
+     After half an hour's delay the great nobleman appeared. His face was
+     more cadaverous than ever, his shoulders had rounded, and he seemed
+     to me to be an altogether older man than he had been the morning
+     before. He greeted us with a stately courtesy and seated himself at
+     his desk, his red beard streaming down on to the table.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes?" said he.
+
+     But my friend's eyes were fixed upon the secretary, who stood by his
+     master's chair.
+
+     "I think, your Grace, that I could speak more freely in Mr. Wilder's
+     absence."
+
+     The man turned a shade paler and cast a malignant glance at Holmes.
+
+     "If your Grace wishes--"
+
+     "Yes, yes; you had better go. Now, Mr. Holmes, what have you to say?"
+
+     My friend waited until the door had closed behind the retreating
+     secretary.
+
+     "The fact is, your Grace," said he, "that my colleague, Dr. Watson,
+     and myself had an assurance from Dr. Huxtable that a reward had been
+     offered in this case. I should like to have this confirmed from your
+     own lips."
+
+     "Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "It amounted, if I am correctly informed, to five thousand pounds to
+     anyone who will tell you where your son is?"
+
+     "Exactly."
+
+     "And another thousand to the man who will name the person or persons
+     who keep him in custody?"
+
+     "Exactly."
+
+     "Under the latter heading is included, no doubt, not only those who
+     may have taken him away, but also those who conspire to keep him in
+     his present position?"
+
+     "Yes, yes," cried the Duke, impatiently. "If you do your work well,
+     Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you will have no reason to complain of niggardly
+     treatment."
+
+     My friend rubbed his thin hands together with an appearance of
+     avidity which was a surprise to me, who knew his frugal tastes.
+
+     "I fancy that I see your Grace's cheque-book upon the table," said
+     he. "I should be glad if you would make me out a cheque for six
+     thousand pounds. It would be as well, perhaps, for you to cross it.
+     The Capital and Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch, are my agents."
+
+     His Grace sat very stern and upright in his chair, and looked stonily
+     at my friend.
+
+     "Is this a joke, Mr. Holmes? It is hardly a subject for pleasantry."
+
+     "Not at all, your Grace. I was never more earnest in my life."
+
+     "What do you mean, then?"
+
+     "I mean that I have earned the reward. I know where your son is, and
+     I know some, at least, of those who are holding him."
+
+     The Duke's beard had turned more aggressively red than ever against
+     his ghastly white face.
+
+     "Where is he?" he gasped. 
+
+     "He is, or was last night, at the Fighting Cock Inn, about two miles
+     from your park gate."
+
+     The Duke fell back in his chair.
+
+     "And whom do you accuse?"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes's answer was an astounding one. He stepped swiftly
+     forward and touched the Duke upon the shoulder.
+
+     "I accuse you," said he. "And now, your Grace, I'll trouble you for
+     that cheque."
+
+     Never shall I forget the Duke's appearance as he sprang up and clawed
+     with his hands like one who is sinking into an abyss. Then, with an
+     extraordinary effort of aristocratic self-command, he sat down and
+     sank his face in his hands. It was some minutes before he spoke.
+
+     "How much do you know?" he asked at last, without raising his head.
+
+     "I saw you together last night."
+
+     "Does anyone else besides your friend know?"
+
+     "I have spoken to no one."
+
+     The Duke took a pen in his quivering fingers and opened his
+     cheque-book.
+
+     "I shall be as good as my word, Mr. Holmes. I am about to write your
+     cheque, however unwelcome the information which you have gained may
+     be to me. When the offer was first made I little thought the turn
+     which events might take. But you and your friend are men of
+     discretion, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "I hardly understand your Grace."
+
+     "I must put it plainly, Mr. Holmes. If only you two know of this
+     incident, there is no reason why it should go any farther. I think
+     twelve thousand pounds is the sum that I owe you, is it not?"
+
+     But Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+     "I fear, your Grace, that matters can hardly be arranged so easily.
+     There is the death of this schoolmaster to be accounted for."
+
+     "But James knew nothing of that. You cannot hold him responsible for
+     that. It was the work of this brutal ruffian whom he had the
+     misfortune to employ."
+
+     "I must take the view, your Grace, that when a man embarks upon a
+     crime he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from
+     it."
+
+     "Morally, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right. But surely not in the
+     eyes of the law. A man cannot be condemned for a murder at which he
+     was not present, and which he loathes and abhors as much as you do.
+     The instant that he heard of it he made a complete confession to me,
+     so filled was he with horror and remorse. He lost not an hour in
+     breaking entirely with the murderer. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save
+     him--you must save him! I tell you that you must save him!" The Duke
+     had dropped the last attempt at self-command, and was pacing the room
+     with a convulsed face and with his clenched hands raving in the air.
+     At last he mastered himself and sat down once more at his desk. "I
+     appreciate your conduct in coming here before you spoke to anyone
+     else," said he. "At least, we may take counsel how far we can
+     minimize this hideous scandal."
+
+     "Exactly," said Holmes. "I think, your Grace, that this can only be
+     done by absolute and complete frankness between us. I am disposed to
+     help your Grace to the best of my ability; but in order to do so I
+     must understand to the last detail how the matter stands. I realize
+     that your words applied to Mr. James Wilder, and that he is not the
+     murderer."
+
+     "No; the murderer has escaped."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes smiled demurely.
+
+     "Your Grace can hardly have heard of any small reputation which I
+     possess, or you would not imagine that it is so easy to escape me.
+     Mr. Reuben Hayes was arrested at Chesterfield on my information at
+     eleven o'clock last night. I had a telegram from the head of the
+     local police before I left the school this morning."
+
+     The Duke leaned back in his chair and stared with amazement at my
+     friend.
+
+     "You seem to have powers that are hardly human," said he. "So Reuben
+     Hayes is taken? I am right glad to hear it, if it will not react upon
+     the fate of James."
+
+     "Your secretary?"
+
+     "No, sir; my son."
+
+     It was Holmes's turn to look astonished.
+
+     "I confess that this is entirely new to me, your Grace. I must beg
+     you to be more explicit."
+
+     "I will conceal nothing from you. I agree with you that complete
+     frankness, however painful it may be to me, is the best policy in
+     this desperate situation to which James's folly and jealousy have
+     reduced us. When I was a very young man, Mr. Holmes, I loved with
+     such a love as comes only once in a lifetime. I offered the lady
+     marriage, but she refused it on the grounds that such a match might
+     mar my career. Had she lived I would certainly never have married
+     anyone else. She died, and left this one child, whom for her sake I
+     have cherished and cared for. I could not acknowledge the paternity
+     to the world; but I gave him the best of educations, and since he
+     came to manhood I have kept him near my person. He surprised my
+     secret, and has presumed ever since upon the claim which he has upon
+     me and upon his power of provoking a scandal, which would be
+     abhorrent to me. His presence had something to do with the unhappy
+     issue of my marriage. Above all, he hated my young legitimate heir
+     from the first with a persistent hatred. You may well ask me why,
+     under these circumstances, I still kept James under my roof. I answer
+     that it was because I could see his mother's face in his, and that
+     for her dear sake there was no end to my long-suffering. All her
+     pretty ways, too--there was not one of them which he could not
+     suggest and bring back to my memory. I could not send him away. But I
+     feared so much lest he should do Arthur--that is, Lord Saltire--a
+     mischief that I dispatched him for safety to Dr. Huxtable's school.
+
+     "James came into contact with this fellow Hayes because the man was a
+     tenant of mine, and James acted as agent. The fellow was a rascal
+     from the beginning; but in some extraordinary way James became
+     intimate with him. He had always a taste for low company. When James
+     determined to kidnap Lord Saltire it was of this man's service that
+     he availed himself. You remember that I wrote to Arthur upon that
+     last day. Well, James opened the letter and inserted a note asking
+     Arthur to meet him in a little wood called the Ragged Shaw, which is
+     near to the school. He used the Duchess's name, and in that way got
+     the boy to come. That evening James bicycled over--I am telling you
+     what he has himself confessed to me--and he told Arthur, whom he met
+     in the wood, that his mother longed to see him, that she was awaiting
+     him on the moor, and that if he would come back into the wood at
+     midnight he would find a man with a horse, who would take him to her.
+     Poor Arthur fell into the trap. He came to the appointment and found
+     this fellow Hayes with a led pony. Arthur mounted, and they set off
+     together. It appears--though this James only heard yesterday--that
+     they were pursued, that Hayes struck the pursuer with his stick, and
+     that the man died of his injuries. Hayes brought Arthur to his
+     public-house, the Fighting Cock, where he was confined in an upper
+     room, under the care of Mrs. Hayes, who is a kindly woman, but
+     entirely under the control of her brutal husband.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, that was the state of affairs when I first saw you
+     two days ago. I had no more idea of the truth than you. You will ask
+     me what was James's motive in doing such a deed. I answer that there
+     was a great deal which was unreasoning and fanatical in the hatred
+     which he bore my heir. In his view he should himself have been heir
+     of all my estates, and he deeply resented those social laws which
+     made it impossible. At the same time he had a definite motive also.
+     He was eager that I should break the entail, and he was of opinion
+     that it lay in my power to do so. He intended to make a bargain with
+     me--to restore Arthur if I would break the entail, and so make it
+     possible for the estate to be left to him by will. He knew well that
+     I should never willingly invoke the aid of the police against him. I
+     say that he would have proposed such a bargain to me, but he did not
+     actually do so, for events moved too quickly for him, and he had not
+     time to put his plans into practice.
+
+     "What brought all his wicked scheme to wreck was your discovery of
+     this man Heidegger's dead body. James was seized with horror at the
+     news. It came to us yesterday as we sat together in this study. Dr.
+     Huxtable had sent a telegram. James was so overwhelmed with grief and
+     agitation that my suspicions, which had never been entirely absent,
+     rose instantly to a certainty, and I taxed him with the deed. He made
+     a complete voluntary confession. Then he implored me to keep his
+     secret for three days longer, so as to give his wretched accomplice a
+     chance of saving his guilty life. I yielded--as I have always
+     yielded--to his prayers, and instantly James hurried off to the
+     Fighting Cock to warn Hayes and give him the means of flight. I could
+     not go there by daylight without provoking comment, but as soon as
+     night fell I hurried off to see my dear Arthur. I found him safe and
+     well, but horrified beyond expression by the dreadful deed he had
+     witnessed. In deference to my promise, and much against my will, I
+     consented to leave him there for three days under the charge of Mrs.
+     Hayes, since it was evident that it was impossible to inform the
+     police where he was without telling them also who was the murderer,
+     and I could not see how that murderer could be punished without ruin
+     to my unfortunate James. You asked for frankness, Mr. Holmes, and I
+     have taken you at your word, for I have now told you everything
+     without an attempt at circumlocution or concealment. Do you in turn
+     be as frank with me."
+
+     "I will," said Holmes. "In the first place, your Grace, I am bound to
+     tell you that you have placed yourself in a most serious position in
+     the eyes of the law. You have condoned a felony and you have aided
+     the escape of a murderer; for I cannot doubt that any money which was
+     taken by James Wilder to aid his accomplice in his flight came from
+     your Grace's purse."
+
+     The Duke bowed his assent.
+
+     "This is indeed a most serious matter. Even more culpable in my
+     opinion, your Grace, is your attitude towards your younger son. You
+     leave him in this den for three days."
+
+     "Under solemn promises--"
+
+     "What are promises to such people as these? You have no guarantee
+     that he will not be spirited away again. To humour your guilty elder
+     son you have exposed your innocent younger son to imminent and
+     unnecessary danger. It was a most unjustifiable action."
+
+     The proud lord of Holdernesse was not accustomed to be so rated in
+     his own ducal hall. The blood flushed into his high forehead, but his
+     conscience held him dumb.
+
+     "I will help you, but on one condition only. It is that you ring for
+     the footman and let me give such orders as I like."
+
+     Without a word the Duke pressed the electric bell. A servant entered.
+
+     "You will be glad to hear," said Holmes, "that your young master is
+     found. It is the Duke's desire that the carriage shall go at once to
+     the Fighting Cock Inn to bring Lord Saltire home.
+
+     "Now," said Holmes, when the rejoicing lackey had disappeared,
+     "having secured the future, we can afford to be more lenient with the
+     past. I am not in an official position, and there is no reason, so
+     long as the ends of justice are served, why I should disclose all
+     that I know. As to Hayes I say nothing. The gallows awaits him, and I
+     would do nothing to save him from it. What he will divulge I cannot
+     tell, but I have no doubt that your Grace could make him understand
+     that it is to his interest to be silent. From the police point of
+     view he will have kidnapped the boy for the purpose of ransom. If
+     they do not themselves find it out I see no reason why I should
+     prompt them to take a broader point of view. I would warn your Grace,
+     however, that the continued presence of Mr. James Wilder in your
+     household can only lead to misfortune."
+
+     "I understand that, Mr. Holmes, and it is already settled that he
+     shall leave me for ever and go to seek his fortune in Australia."
+
+     "In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated that any
+     unhappiness in your married life was caused by his presence, I would
+     suggest that you make such amends as you can to the Duchess, and that
+     you try to resume those relations which have been so unhappily
+     interrupted."
+
+     "That also I have arranged, Mr. Holmes. I wrote to the Duchess this
+     morning."
+
+     "In that case," said Holmes, rising, "I think that my friend and I
+     can congratulate ourselves upon several most happy results from our
+     little visit to the North. There is one other small point upon which
+     I desire some light. This fellow Hayes had shod his horses with shoes
+     which counterfeited the tracks of cows. Was it from Mr. Wilder that
+     he learned so extraordinary a device?"
+
+     The Duke stood in thought for a moment, with a look of intense
+     surprise on his face. Then he opened a door and showed us into a
+     large room furnished as a museum. He led the way to a glass case in a
+     corner, and pointed to the inscription.
+
+     "These shoes," it ran, "were dug up in the moat of Holdernesse Hall.
+     They are for the use of horses; but they are shaped below with a
+     cloven foot of iron, so as to throw pursuers off the track. They are
+     supposed to have belonged to some of the marauding Barons of
+     Holdernesse in the Middle Ages."
+
+     Holmes opened the case, and moistening his finger he passed it along
+     the shoe. A thin film of recent mud was left upon his skin.
+
+     "Thank you," said he, as he replaced the glass. "It is the second
+     most interesting object that I have seen in the North."
+
+     "And the first?"
+
+     Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his note-book.
+     "I am a poor man," said he, as he patted it affectionately and thrust
+     it into the depths of his inner pocket.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          THE ADVENTURE OF BLACK PETER
+
+     I have never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and
+     physical, than in the year '95. His increasing fame had brought with
+     it an immense practice, and I should be guilty of an indiscretion if
+     I were even to hint at the identity of some of the illustrious
+     clients who crossed our humble threshold in Baker Street. Holmes,
+     however, like all great artists, lived for his art's sake, and, save
+     in the case of the Duke of Holdernesse, I have seldom known him claim
+     any large reward for his inestimable services. So unworldly was
+     he--or so capricious--that he frequently refused his help to the
+     powerful and wealthy where the problem made no appeal to his
+     sympathies, while he would devote weeks of most intense application
+     to the affairs of some humble client whose case presented those
+     strange and dramatic qualities which appealed to his imagination and
+     challenged his ingenuity.
+
+     In this memorable year '95 a curious and incongruous succession of
+     cases had engaged his attention, ranging from his famous
+     investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca--an inquiry which
+     was carried out by him at the express desire of His Holiness the
+     Pope--down to his arrest of Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer,
+     which removed a plague-spot from the East-End of London. Close on the
+     heels of these two famous cases came the tragedy of Woodman's Lee,
+     and the very obscure circumstances which surrounded the death of
+     Captain Peter Carey. No record of the doings of Mr. Sherlock Holmes
+     would be complete which did not include some account of this very
+     unusual affair.
+
+     During the first week of July my friend had been absent so often and
+     so long from our lodgings that I knew he had something on hand. The
+     fact that several rough-looking men called during that time and
+     inquired for Captain Basil made me understand that Holmes was working
+     somewhere under one of the numerous disguises and names with which he
+     concealed his own formidable identity. He had at least five small
+     refuges in different parts of London in which he was able to change
+     his personality. He said nothing of his business to me, and it was
+     not my habit to force a confidence. The first positive sign which he
+     gave me of the direction which his investigation was taking was an
+     extraordinary one. He had gone out before breakfast, and I had sat
+     down to mine, when he strode into the room, his hat upon his head and
+     a huge barbed-headed spear tucked like an umbrella under his arm.
+
+     "Good gracious, Holmes!" I cried. "You don't mean to say that you
+     have been walking about London with that thing?"
+
+     "I drove to the butcher's and back."
+
+     "The butcher's?"
+
+     "And I return with an excellent appetite. There can be no question,
+     my dear Watson, of the value of exercise before breakfast. But I am
+     prepared to bet that you will not guess the form that my exercise has
+     taken."
+
+     "I will not attempt it."
+
+     He chuckled as he poured out the coffee.
+
+     "If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would have
+     seen a dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a gentleman in
+     his shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with this weapon. I was
+     that energetic person, and I have satisfied myself that by no
+     exertion of my strength can I transfix the pig with a single blow.
+     Perhaps you would care to try?"
+
+     "Not for worlds. But why were you doing this?"
+
+     "Because it seemed to me to have an indirect bearing upon the mystery
+     of Woodman's Lee. Ah, Hopkins, I got your wire last night, and I have
+     been expecting you. Come and join us."
+
+     Our visitor was an exceedingly alert man, thirty years of age,
+     dressed in a quiet tweed suit, but retaining the erect bearing of one
+     who was accustomed to official uniform. I recognised him at once as
+     Stanley Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose future Holmes had
+     high hopes, while he in turn professed the admiration and respect of
+     a pupil for the scientific methods of the famous amateur. Hopkins's
+     brow was clouded, and he sat down with an air of deep dejection.
+
+     "No, thank you, sir. I breakfasted before I came round. I spent the
+     night in town, for I came up yesterday to report."
+
+     "And what had you to report?"
+
+     "Failure, sir; absolute failure."
+
+     "You have made no progress?"
+
+     "None."
+
+     "Dear me! I must have a look at the matter."
+
+     "I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes. It's my first big
+     chance, and I am at my wit's end. For goodness' sake come down and
+     lend me a hand."
+
+     "Well, well, it just happens that I have already read all the
+     available evidence, including the report of the inquest, with some
+     care. By the way, what do you make of that tobacco-pouch found on the
+     scene of the crime? Is there no clue there?"
+
+     Hopkins looked surprised.
+
+     "It was the man's own pouch, sir. His initials were inside it. And it
+     was of seal-skin--and he an old sealer."
+
+     "But he had no pipe."
+
+     "No, sir, we could find no pipe; indeed, he smoked very little. And
+     yet he might have kept some tobacco for his friends."
+
+     "No doubt. I only mention it because if I had been handling the case
+     I should have been inclined to make that the starting-point of my
+     investigation. However, my friend Dr. Watson knows nothing of this
+     matter, and I should be none the worse for hearing the sequence of
+     events once more. Just give us some short sketch of the essentials."
+
+     Stanley Hopkins drew a slip of paper from his pocket.
+
+     "I have a few dates here which will give you the career of the dead
+     man, Captain Peter Carey. He was born in '45--fifty years of age. He
+     was a most daring and successful seal and whale fisher. In 1883 he
+     commanded the steam sealer Sea Unicorn, of Dundee. He had then had
+     several successful voyages in succession, and in the following year,
+     1884, he retired. After that he travelled for some years, and finally
+     he bought a small place called Woodman's Lee, near Forest Row, in
+     Sussex. There he has lived for six years, and there he died just a
+     week ago to-day.
+
+     "There were some most singular points about the man. In ordinary life
+     he was a strict Puritan--a silent, gloomy fellow. His household
+     consisted of his wife, his daughter, aged twenty, and two female
+     servants. These last were continually changing, for it was never a
+     very cheery situation, and sometimes it became past all bearing. The
+     man was an intermittent drunkard, and when he had the fit on him he
+     was a perfect fiend. He has been known to drive his wife and his
+     daughter out of doors in the middle of the night, and flog them
+     through the park until the whole village outside the gates was
+     aroused by their screams.
+
+     "He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar, who
+     had called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his conduct. In
+     short, Mr. Holmes, you would go far before you found a more dangerous
+     man than Peter Carey, and I have heard that he bore the same
+     character when he commanded his ship. He was known in the trade as
+     Black Peter, and the name was given him, not only on account of his
+     swarthy features and the colour of his huge beard, but for the
+     humours which were the terror of all around him. I need not say that
+     he was loathed and avoided by every one of his neighbours, and that I
+     have not heard one single word of sorrow about his terrible end.
+
+     "You must have read in the account of the inquest about the man's
+     cabin, Mr. Holmes; but perhaps your friend here has not heard of it.
+     He had built himself a wooden outhouse--he always called it 'the
+     cabin'--a few hundred yards from his house, and it was here that he
+     slept every night. It was a little, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet
+     by ten. He kept the key in his pocket, made his own bed, cleaned it
+     himself, and allowed no other foot to cross the threshold. There are
+     small windows on each side, which were covered by curtains and never
+     opened. One of these windows was turned towards the high road, and
+     when the light burned in it at night the folk used to point it out to
+     each other and wonder what Black Peter was doing in there. That's the
+     window, Mr. Holmes, which gave us one of the few bits of positive
+     evidence that came out at the inquest.
+
+     "You remember that a stonemason, named Slater, walking from Forest
+     Row about one o'clock in the morning--two days before the
+     murder--stopped as he passed the grounds and looked at the square of
+     light still shining among the trees. He swears that the shadow of a
+     man's head turned sideways was clearly visible on the blind, and that
+     this shadow was certainly not that of Peter Carey, whom he knew well.
+     It was that of a bearded man, but the beard was short and bristled
+     forwards in a way very different from that of the captain. So he
+     says, but he had been two hours in the public-house, and it is some
+     distance from the road to the window. Besides, this refers to the
+     Monday, and the crime was done upon the Wednesday.
+
+     "On the Tuesday Peter Carey was in one of his blackest moods, flushed
+     with drink and as savage as a dangerous wild beast. He roamed about
+     the house, and the women ran for it when they heard him coming. Late
+     in the evening he went down to his own hut. About two o'clock the
+     following morning his daughter, who slept with her window open, heard
+     a most fearful yell from that direction, but it was no unusual thing
+     for him to bawl and shout when he was in drink, so no notice was
+     taken. On rising at seven one of the maids noticed that the door of
+     the hut was open, but so great was the terror which the man caused
+     that it was midday before anyone would venture down to see what had
+     become of him. Peeping into the open door they saw a sight which sent
+     them flying with white faces into the village. Within an hour I was
+     on the spot and had taken over the case.
+
+     "Well, I have fairly steady nerves, as you know, Mr. Holmes, but I
+     give you my word that I got a shake when I put my head into that
+     little house. It was droning like a harmonium with the flies and
+     bluebottles, and the floor and walls were like a slaughter-house. He
+     had called it a cabin, and a cabin it was sure enough, for you would
+     have thought that you were in a ship. There was a bunk at one end, a
+     sea-chest, maps and charts, a picture of the Sea Unicorn, a line of
+     log-books on a shelf, all exactly as one would expect to find it in a
+     captain's room. And there in the middle of it was the man himself,
+     his face twisted like a lost soul in torment, and his great brindled
+     beard stuck upwards in his agony. Right through his broad breast a
+     steel harpoon had been driven, and it had sunk deep into the wood of
+     the wall behind him. He was pinned like a beetle on a card. Of
+     course, he was quite dead, and had been so from the instant that he
+     had uttered that last yell of agony.
+
+     "I know your methods, sir, and I applied them. Before I permitted
+     anything to be moved I examined most carefully the ground outside,
+     and also the floor of the room. There were no footmarks."
+
+     "Meaning that you saw none?"
+
+     "I assure you, sir, that there were none."
+
+     "My good Hopkins, I have investigated many crimes, but I have never
+     yet seen one which was committed by a flying creature. As long as the
+     criminal remains upon two legs so long must there be some
+     indentation, some abrasion, some trifling displacement which can be
+     detected by the scientific searcher. It is incredible that this
+     blood-bespattered room contained no trace which could have aided us.
+     I understand, however, from the inquest that there were some objects
+     which you failed to overlook?"
+
+     The young inspector winced at my companion's ironical comments.
+
+     "I was a fool not to call you in at the time, Mr. Holmes. However,
+     that's past praying for now. Yes, there were several objects in the
+     room which called for special attention. One was the harpoon with
+     which the deed was committed. It had been snatched down from a rack
+     on the wall. Two others remained there, and there was a vacant place
+     for the third. On the stock was engraved 'S.S.. Sea Unicorn, Dundee.'
+     This seemed to establish that the crime had been done in a moment of
+     fury, and that the murderer had seized the first weapon which came in
+     his way. The fact that the crime was committed at two in the morning,
+     and yet Peter Carey was fully dressed, suggested that he had an
+     appointment with the murderer, which is borne out by the fact that a
+     bottle of rum and two dirty glasses stood upon the table."
+
+     "Yes," said Holmes; "I think that both inferences are permissible.
+     Was there any other spirit but rum in the room?"
+
+     "Yes; there was a tantalus containing brandy and whisky on the
+     sea-chest. It is of no importance to us, however, since the decanters
+     were full, and it had therefore not been used."
+
+     "For all that its presence has some significance," said Holmes.
+     "However, let us hear some more about the objects which do seem to
+     you to bear upon the case."
+
+     "There was this tobacco-pouch upon the table."
+
+     "What part of the table?"
+
+     "It lay in the middle. It was of coarse seal-skin--the
+     straight-haired skin, with a leather thong to bind it. Inside was
+     'P.C.' on the flap. There was half an ounce of strong ship's tobacco
+     in it."
+
+     "Excellent! What more?"
+
+     Stanley Hopkins drew from his pocket a drab-covered note-book. The
+     outside was rough and worn, the leaves discoloured. On the first page
+     were written the initials "J.H.N." and the date "1883." Holmes laid
+     it on the table and examined it in his minute way, while Hopkins and
+     I gazed over each shoulder. On the second page were the printed
+     letters "C.P.R.," and then came several sheets of numbers. Another
+     heading was Argentine, another Costa Rica, and another San Paulo,
+     each with pages of signs and figures after it.
+
+     "What do you make of these?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "They appear to be lists of Stock Exchange securities. I thought that
+     'J.H.N.' were the initials of a broker, and that 'C.P.R.' may have
+     been his client."
+
+     "Try Canadian Pacific Railway," said Holmes.
+
+     Stanley Hopkins swore between his teeth and struck his thigh with his
+     clenched hand.
+
+     "What a fool I have been!" he cried. "Of course, it is as you say.
+     Then 'J.H.N.' are the only initials we have to solve. I have already
+     examined the old Stock Exchange lists, and I can find no one in 1883
+     either in the House or among the outside brokers whose initials
+     correspond with these. Yet I feel that the clue is the most important
+     one that I hold. You will admit, Mr. Holmes, that there is a
+     possibility that these initials are those of the second person who
+     was present--in other words, of the murderer. I would also urge that
+     the introduction into the case of a document relating to large masses
+     of valuable securities gives us for the first time some indication of
+     a motive for the crime."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes's face showed that he was thoroughly taken aback by
+     this new development.
+
+     "I must admit both your points," said he. "I confess that this
+     note-book, which did not appear at the inquest, modifies any views
+     which I may have formed. I had come to a theory of the crime in which
+     I can find no place for this. Have you endeavoured to trace any of
+     the securities here mentioned?"
+
+     "Inquiries are now being made at the offices, but I fear that the
+     complete register of the stockholders of these South American
+     concerns is in South America, and that some weeks must elapse before
+     we can trace the shares."
+
+     Holmes had been examining the cover of the note-book with his
+     magnifying lens.
+
+     "Surely there is some discolouration here," said he.
+
+     "Yes, sir, it is a blood-stain. I told you that I picked the book off
+     the floor."
+
+     "Was the blood-stain above or below?"
+
+     "On the side next the boards."
+
+     "Which proves, of course, that the book was dropped after the crime
+     was committed."
+
+     "Exactly, Mr. Holmes. I appreciated that point, and I conjectured
+     that it was dropped by the murderer in his hurried flight. It lay
+     near the door."
+
+     "I suppose that none of these securities have been found among the
+     property of the dead man?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "Have you any reason to suspect robbery?"
+
+     "No, sir. Nothing seemed to have been touched."
+
+     "Dear me, it is certainly a very interesting case. Then there was a
+     knife, was there not?"
+
+     "A sheath-knife, still in its sheath. It lay at the feet of the dead
+     man. Mrs. Carey has identified it as being her husband's property."
+
+     Holmes was lost in thought for some time.
+
+     "Well," said he, at last, "I suppose I shall have to come out and
+     have a look at it."
+
+     Stanley Hopkins gave a cry of joy.
+
+     "Thank you, sir. That will indeed be a weight off my mind."
+
+     Holmes shook his finger at the inspector.
+
+     "It would have been an easier task a week ago," said he. "But even
+     now my visit may not be entirely fruitless. Watson, if you can spare
+     the time I should be very glad of your company. If you will call a
+     four-wheeler, Hopkins, we shall be ready to start for Forest Row in a
+     quarter of an hour."
+
+     Alighting at the small wayside station, we drove for some miles
+     through the remains of widespread woods, which were once part of that
+     great forest which for so long held the Saxon invaders at bay--the
+     impenetrable "weald," for sixty years the bulwark of Britain. Vast
+     sections of it have been cleared, for this is the seat of the first
+     iron-works of the country, and the trees have been felled to smelt
+     the ore. Now the richer fields of the North have absorbed the trade,
+     and nothing save these ravaged groves and great scars in the earth
+     show the work of the past. Here in a clearing upon the green slope of
+     a hill stood a long, low stone house, approached by a curving drive
+     running through the fields. Nearer the road, and surrounded on three
+     sides by bushes, was a small outhouse, one window and the door facing
+     in our direction. It was the scene of the murder.
+
+     Stanley Hopkins led us first to the house, where he introduced us to
+     a haggard, grey-haired woman, the widow of the murdered man, whose
+     gaunt and deep-lined face, with the furtive look of terror in the
+     depths of her red-rimmed eyes, told of the years of hardship and
+     ill-usage which she had endured. With her was her daughter, a pale,
+     fair-haired girl, whose eyes blazed defiantly at us as she told us
+     that she was glad that her father was dead, and that she blessed the
+     hand which had struck him down. It was a terrible household that
+     Black Peter Carey had made for himself, and it was with a sense of
+     relief that we found ourselves in the sunlight again and making our
+     way along a path which had been worn across the fields by the feet of
+     the dead man.
+
+     The outhouse was the simplest of dwellings, wooden-walled,
+     shingle-roofed, one window beside the door and one on the farther
+     side. Stanley Hopkins drew the key from his pocket, and had stooped
+     to the lock, when he paused with a look of attention and surprise
+     upon his face.
+
+     "Someone has been tampering with it," he said.
+
+     There could be no doubt of the fact. The woodwork was cut and the
+     scratches showed white through the paint, as if they had been that
+     instant done. Holmes had been examining the window.
+
+     "Someone has tried to force this also. Whoever it was has failed to
+     make his way in. He must have been a very poor burglar."
+
+     "This is a most extraordinary thing," said the inspector; "I could
+     swear that these marks were not here yesterday evening."
+
+     "Some curious person from the village, perhaps," I suggested.
+
+     "Very unlikely. Few of them would dare to set foot in the grounds,
+     far less try to force their way into the cabin. What do you think of
+     it, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "I think that fortune is very kind to us."
+
+     "You mean that the person will come again?"
+
+     "It is very probable. He came expecting to find the door open. He
+     tried to get in with the blade of a very small penknife. He could not
+     manage it. What would he do?"
+
+     "Come again next night with a more useful tool."
+
+     "So I should say. It will be our fault if we are not there to receive
+     him. Meanwhile, let me see the inside of the cabin."
+
+     The traces of the tragedy had been removed, but the furniture within
+     the little room still stood as it had been on the night of the crime.
+     For two hours, with most intense concentration, Holmes examined every
+     object in turn, but his face showed that his quest was not a
+     successful one. Once only he paused in his patient investigation.
+
+     "Have you taken anything off this shelf, Hopkins?"
+
+     "No; I have moved nothing."
+
+     "Something has been taken. There is less dust in this corner of the
+     shelf than elsewhere. It may have been a book lying on its side. It
+     may have been a box. Well, well, I can do nothing more. Let us walk
+     in these beautiful woods, Watson, and give a few hours to the birds
+     and the flowers. We shall meet you here later, Hopkins, and see if we
+     can come to closer quarters with the gentleman who has paid this
+     visit in the night."
+
+     It was past eleven o'clock when we formed our little ambuscade.
+     Hopkins was for leaving the door of the hut open, but Holmes was of
+     the opinion that this would rouse the suspicions of the stranger. The
+     lock was a perfectly simple one, and only a strong blade was needed
+     to push it back. Holmes also suggested that we should wait, not
+     inside the hut, but outside it among the bushes which grew round the
+     farther window. In this way we should be able to watch our man if he
+     struck a light, and see what his object was in this stealthy
+     nocturnal visit.
+
+     It was a long and melancholy vigil, and yet brought with it something
+     of the thrill which the hunter feels when he lies beside the water
+     pool and waits for the coming of the thirsty beast of prey. What
+     savage creature was it which might steal upon us out of the darkness?
+     Was it a fierce tiger of crime, which could only be taken fighting
+     hard with flashing fang and claw, or would it prove to be some
+     skulking jackal, dangerous only to the weak and unguarded?
+
+     In absolute silence we crouched amongst the bushes, waiting for
+     whatever might come. At first the steps of a few belated villagers,
+     or the sound of voices from the village, lightened our vigil; but one
+     by one these interruptions died away and an absolute stillness fell
+     upon us, save for the chimes of the distant church, which told us of
+     the progress of the night, and for the rustle and whisper of a fine
+     rain falling amid the foliage which roofed us in.
+
+     Half-past two had chimed, and it was the darkest hour which precedes
+     the dawn, when we all started as a low but sharp click came from the
+     direction of the gate. Someone had entered the drive. Again there was
+     a long silence, and I had begun to fear that it was a false alarm,
+     when a stealthy step was heard upon the other side of the hut, and a
+     moment later a metallic scraping and clinking. The man was trying to
+     force the lock! This time his skill was greater or his tool was
+     better, for there was a sudden snap and the creak of the hinges. Then
+     a match was struck, and next instant the steady light from a candle
+     filled the interior of the hut. Through the gauze curtain our eyes
+     were all riveted upon the scene within.
+
+     The nocturnal visitor was a young man, frail and thin, with a black
+     moustache which intensified the deadly pallor of his face. He could
+     not have been much above twenty years of age. I have never seen any
+     human being who appeared to be in such a pitiable fright, for his
+     teeth were visibly chattering and he was shaking in every limb. He
+     was dressed like a gentleman, in Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers,
+     with a cloth cap upon his head. We watched him staring round with
+     frightened eyes. Then he laid the candle-end upon the table and
+     disappeared from our view into one of the corners. He returned with a
+     large book, one of the log-books which formed a line upon the
+     shelves. Leaning on the table he rapidly turned over the leaves of
+     this volume until he came to the entry which he sought. Then, with an
+     angry gesture of his clenched hand, he closed the book, replaced it
+     in the corner, and put out the light. He had hardly turned to leave
+     the hut when Hopkins's hand was on the fellow's collar, and I heard
+     his loud gasp of terror as he understood that he was taken. The
+     candle was re-lit, and there was our wretched captive shivering and
+     cowering in the grasp of the detective. He sank down upon the
+     sea-chest, and looked helplessly from one of us to the other.
+
+     "Now, my fine fellow," said Stanley Hopkins, "who are you, and what
+     do you want here?"
+
+     The man pulled himself together and faced us with an effort at
+     self-composure.
+
+     "You are detectives, I suppose?" said he. "You imagine I am connected
+     with the death of Captain Peter Carey. I assure you that I am
+     innocent."
+
+     "We'll see about that," said Hopkins. "First of all, what is your
+     name?"
+
+     "It is John Hopley Neligan."
+
+     I saw Holmes and Hopkins exchange a quick glance.
+
+     "What are you doing here?"
+
+     "Can I speak confidentially?"
+
+     "No, certainly not."
+
+     "Why should I tell you?"
+
+     "If you have no answer it may go badly with you at the trial."
+
+     The young man winced.
+
+     "Well, I will tell you," he said. "Why should I not? And yet I hate
+     to think of this old scandal gaining a new lease of life. Did you
+     ever hear of Dawson and Neligan?"
+
+     I could see from Hopkins's face that he never had; but Holmes was
+     keenly interested.
+
+     "You mean the West-country bankers," said he. "They failed for a
+     million, ruined half the county families of Cornwall, and Neligan
+     disappeared."
+
+     "Exactly. Neligan was my father."
+
+     At last we were getting something positive, and yet it seemed a long
+     gap between an absconding banker and Captain Peter Carey pinned
+     against the wall with one of his own harpoons. We all listened
+     intently to the young man's words.
+
+     "It was my father who was really concerned. Dawson had retired. I was
+     only ten years of age at the time, but I was old enough to feel the
+     shame and horror of it all. It has always been said that my father
+     stole all the securities and fled. It is not true. It was his belief
+     that if he were given time in which to realize them all would be well
+     and every creditor paid in full. He started in his little yacht for
+     Norway just before the warrant was issued for his arrest. I can
+     remember that last night when he bade farewell to my mother. He left
+     us a list of the securities he was taking, and he swore that he would
+     come back with his honour cleared, and that none who had trusted him
+     would suffer. Well, no word was ever heard from him again. Both the
+     yacht and he vanished utterly. We believed, my mother and I, that he
+     and it, with the securities that he had taken with him, were at the
+     bottom of the sea. We had a faithful friend, however, who is a
+     business man, and it was he who discovered some time ago that some of
+     the securities which my father had with him have reappeared on the
+     London market. You can imagine our amazement. I spent months in
+     trying to trace them, and at last, after many doublings and
+     difficulties, I discovered that the original seller had been Captain
+     Peter Carey, the owner of this hut.
+
+     "Naturally, I made some inquiries about the man. I found that he had
+     been in command of a whaler which was due to return from the Arctic
+     seas at the very time when my father was crossing to Norway. The
+     autumn of that year was a stormy one, and there was a long succession
+     of southerly gales. My father's yacht may well have been blown to the
+     north, and there met by Captain Peter Carey's ship. If that were so,
+     what had become of my father? In any case, if I could prove from
+     Peter Carey's evidence how these securities came on the market it
+     would be a proof that my father had not sold them, and that he had no
+     view to personal profit when he took them.
+
+     "I came down to Sussex with the intention of seeing the captain, but
+     it was at this moment that his terrible death occurred. I read at the
+     inquest a description of his cabin, in which it stated that the old
+     log-books of his vessel were preserved in it. It struck me that if I
+     could see what occurred in the month of August, 1883, on board the
+     Sea Unicorn, I might settle the mystery of my father's fate. I tried
+     last night to get at these log-books, but was unable to open the
+     door. To-night I tried again, and succeeded; but I find that the
+     pages which deal with that month have been torn from the book. It was
+     at that moment I found myself a prisoner in your hands."
+
+     "Is that all?" asked Hopkins.
+
+     "Yes, that is all." His eyes shifted as he said it.
+
+     "You have nothing else to tell us?"
+
+     He hesitated.
+
+     "No; there is nothing."
+
+     "You have not been here before last night?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Then how do you account for that?" cried Hopkins, as he held up the
+     damning note-book, with the initials of our prisoner on the first
+     leaf and the blood-stain on the cover.
+
+     The wretched man collapsed. He sank his face in his hands and
+     trembled all over.
+
+     "Where did you get it?" he groaned. "I did not know. I thought I had
+     lost it at the hotel."
+
+     "That is enough," said Hopkins, sternly. "Whatever else you have to
+     say you must say in court. You will walk down with me now to the
+     police-station. Well, Mr. Holmes, I am very much obliged to you and
+     to your friend for coming down to help me. As it turns out your
+     presence was unnecessary, and I would have brought the case to this
+     successful issue without you; but none the less I am very grateful.
+     Rooms have been reserved for you at the Brambletye Hotel, so we can
+     all walk down to the village together."
+
+     "Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" asked Holmes, as we
+     travelled back next morning.
+
+     "I can see that you are not satisfied."
+
+     "Oh, yes, my dear Watson, I am perfectly satisfied. At the same time
+     Stanley Hopkins's methods do not commend themselves to me. I am
+     disappointed in Stanley Hopkins. I had hoped for better things from
+     him. One should always look for a possible alternative and provide
+     against it. It is the first rule of criminal investigation."
+
+     "What, then, is the alternative?"
+
+     "The line of investigation which I have myself been pursuing. It may
+     give us nothing. I cannot tell. But at least I shall follow it to the
+     end."
+
+     Several letters were waiting for Holmes at Baker Street. He snatched
+     one of them up, opened it, and burst out into a triumphant chuckle of
+     laughter.
+
+     "Excellent, Watson. The alternative develops. Have you telegraph
+     forms? Just write a couple of messages for me: 'Sumner, Shipping
+     Agent, Ratcliff Highway. Send three men on, to arrive ten to-morrow
+     morning.--Basil.' That's my name in those parts. The other is:
+     'Inspector Stanley Hopkins, 46, Lord Street, Brixton. Come breakfast
+     to-morrow at nine-thirty. Important. Wire if unable to
+     come.--Sherlock Holmes.' There, Watson, this infernal case has
+     haunted me for ten days. I hereby banish it completely from my
+     presence. To-morrow I trust that we shall hear the last of it for
+     ever."
+
+     Sharp at the hour named Inspector Stanley Hopkins appeared, and we
+     sat down together to the excellent breakfast which Mrs. Hudson had
+     prepared. The young detective was in high spirits at his success.
+
+     "You really think that your solution must be correct?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "I could not imagine a more complete case."
+
+     "It did not seem to me conclusive."
+
+     "You astonish me, Mr. Holmes. What more could one ask for?"
+
+     "Does your explanation cover every point?"
+
+     "Undoubtedly. I find that young Neligan arrived at the Brambletye
+     Hotel on the very day of the crime. He came on the pretence of
+     playing golf. His room was on the ground-floor, and he could get out
+     when he liked. That very night he went down to Woodman's Lee, saw
+     Peter Carey at the hut, quarrelled with him, and killed him with the
+     harpoon. Then, horrified by what he had done, he fled out of the hut,
+     dropping the note-book which he had brought with him in order to
+     question Peter Carey about these different securities. You may have
+     observed that some of them were marked with ticks, and the
+     others--the great majority--were not. Those which are ticked have
+     been traced on the London market; but the others presumably were
+     still in the possession of Carey, and young Neligan, according to his
+     own account, was anxious to recover them in order to do the right
+     thing by his father's creditors. After his flight he did not dare to
+     approach the hut again for some time; but at last he forced himself
+     to do so in order to obtain the information which he needed. Surely
+     that is all simple and obvious?"
+
+     Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+     "It seems to me to have only one drawback, Hopkins, and that is that
+     it is intrinsically impossible. Have you tried to drive a harpoon
+     through a body? No? Tut, tut, my dear sir, you must really pay
+     attention to these details. My friend Watson could tell you that I
+     spent a whole morning in that exercise. It is no easy matter, and
+     requires a strong and practised arm. But this blow was delivered with
+     such violence that the head of the weapon sank deep into the wall. Do
+     you imagine that this anaemic youth was capable of so frightful an
+     assault? Is he the man who hobnobbed in rum and water with Black
+     Peter in the dead of the night? Was it his profile that was seen on
+     the blind two nights before? No, no, Hopkins; it is another and a
+     more formidable person for whom we must seek."
+
+     The detective's face had grown longer and longer during Holmes's
+     speech. His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him. But
+     he would not abandon his position without a struggle.
+
+     "You can't deny that Neligan was present that night, Mr. Holmes. The
+     book will prove that. I fancy that I have evidence enough to satisfy
+     a jury, even if you are able to pick a hole in it. Besides, Mr.
+     Holmes, I have laid my hand upon my man. As to this terrible person
+     of yours, where is he?"
+
+     "I rather fancy that he is on the stair," said Holmes, serenely. "I
+     think, Watson, that you would do well to put that revolver where you
+     can reach it." He rose, and laid a written paper upon a side-table.
+     "Now we are ready," said he.
+
+     There had been some talking in gruff voices outside, and now Mrs.
+     Hudson opened the door to say that there were three men inquiring for
+     Captain Basil.
+
+     "Show them in one by one," said Holmes.
+
+     The first who entered was a little ribston-pippin of a man, with
+     ruddy cheeks and fluffy white side-whiskers. Holmes had drawn a
+     letter from his pocket.
+
+     "What name?" he asked.
+
+     "James Lancaster."
+
+     "I am sorry, Lancaster, but the berth is full. Here is half a
+     sovereign for your trouble. Just step into this room and wait there
+     for a few minutes."
+
+     The second man was a long, dried-up creature, with lank hair and
+     sallow cheeks. His name was Hugh Pattins. He also received his
+     dismissal, his half-sovereign, and the order to wait.
+
+     The third applicant was a man of remarkable appearance. A fierce
+     bull-dog face was framed in a tangle of hair and beard, and two bold
+     dark eyes gleamed behind the cover of thick, tufted, overhung
+     eyebrows. He saluted and stood sailor-fashion, turning his cap round
+     in his hands.
+
+     "Your name?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "Patrick Cairns."
+
+     "Harpooner?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. Twenty-six voyages."
+
+     "Dundee, I suppose?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "And ready to start with an exploring ship?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "What wages?"
+
+     "Eight pounds a month."
+
+     "Could you start at once?"
+
+     "As soon as I get my kit."
+
+     "Have you your papers?"
+
+     "Yes, sir." He took a sheaf of worn and greasy forms from his pocket.
+     Holmes glanced over them and returned them.
+
+     "You are just the man I want," said he. "Here's the agreement on the
+     side-table. If you sign it the whole matter will be settled."
+
+     The seaman lurched across the room and took up the pen.
+
+     "Shall I sign here?" he asked, stooping over the table.
+
+     Holmes leaned over his shoulder and passed both hands over his neck.
+
+     "This will do," said he.
+
+     I heard a click of steel and a bellow like an enraged bull. The next
+     instant Holmes and the seaman were rolling on the ground together. He
+     was a man of such gigantic strength that, even with the handcuffs
+     which Holmes had so deftly fastened upon his wrists, he would have
+     very quickly overpowered my friend had Hopkins and I not rushed to
+     his rescue. Only when I pressed the cold muzzle of the revolver to
+     his temple did he at last understand that resistance was vain. We
+     lashed his ankles with cord and rose breathless from the struggle.
+
+     "I must really apologize, Hopkins," said Sherlock Holmes; "I fear
+     that the scrambled eggs are cold. However, you will enjoy the rest of
+     your breakfast all the better, will you not, for the thought that you
+     have brought your case to a triumphant conclusion."
+
+     Stanley Hopkins was speechless with amazement.
+
+     "I don't know what to say, Mr. Holmes," he blurted out at last, with
+     a very red face. "It seems to me that I have been making a fool of
+     myself from the beginning. I understand now, what I should never have
+     forgotten, that I am the pupil and you are the master. Even now I see
+     what you have done, but I don't know how you did it, or what it
+     signifies."
+
+     "Well, well," said Holmes, good-humouredly. "We all learn by
+     experience, and your lesson this time is that you should never lose
+     sight of the alternative. You were so absorbed in young Neligan that
+     you could not spare a thought to Patrick Cairns, the true murderer of
+     Peter Carey."
+
+     The hoarse voice of the seaman broke in on our conversation.
+
+     "See here, mister," said he, "I make no complaint of being
+     man-handled in this fashion, but I would have you call things by
+     their right names. You say I murdered Peter Carey; I say I killed
+     Peter Carey, and there's all the difference. Maybe you don't believe
+     what I say. Maybe you think I am just slinging you a yarn."
+
+     "Not at all," said Holmes. "Let us hear what you have to say."
+
+     "It's soon told, and, by the Lord, every word of it is truth. I knew
+     Black Peter, and when he pulled out his knife I whipped a harpoon
+     through him sharp, for I knew that it was him or me. That's how he
+     died. You can call it murder. Anyhow, I'd as soon die with a rope
+     round my neck as with Black Peter's knife in my heart."
+
+     "How came you there?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "I'll tell it you from the beginning. Just sit me up a little so as I
+     can speak easy. It was in '83 that it happened--August of that year.
+     Peter Carey was master of the Sea Unicorn, and I was spare harpooner.
+     We were coming out of the ice-pack on our way home, with head winds
+     and a week's southerly gale, when we picked up a little craft that
+     had been blown north. There was one man on her--a landsman. The crew
+     had thought she would founder, and had made for the Norwegian coast
+     in the dinghy. I guess they were all drowned. Well, we took him on
+     board, this man, and he and the skipper had some long talks in the
+     cabin. All the baggage we took off with him was one tin box. So far
+     as I know, the man's name was never mentioned, and on the second
+     night he disappeared as if he had never been. It was given out that
+     he had either thrown himself overboard or fallen overboard in the
+     heavy weather that we were having. Only one man knew what had
+     happened to him, and that was me, for with my own eyes I saw the
+     skipper tip up his heels and put him over the rail in the middle
+     watch of a dark night, two days before we sighted the Shetland
+     lights.
+
+     "Well, I kept my knowledge to myself and waited to see what would
+     come of it. When we got back to Scotland it was easily hushed up, and
+     nobody asked any questions. A stranger died by an accident, and it
+     was nobody's business to inquire. Shortly after Peter Carey gave up
+     the sea, and it was long years before I could find where he was. I
+     guessed that he had done the deed for the sake of what was in that
+     tin box, and that he could afford now to pay me well for keeping my
+     mouth shut.
+
+     "I found out where he was through a sailor man that had met him in
+     London, and down I went to squeeze him. The first night he was
+     reasonable enough, and was ready to give me what would make me free
+     of the sea for life. We were to fix it all two nights later. When I
+     came I found him three parts drunk and in a vile temper. We sat down
+     and we drank and we yarned about old times, but the more he drank the
+     less I liked the look on his face. I spotted that harpoon upon the
+     wall, and I thought I might need it before I was through. Then at
+     last he broke out at me, spitting and cursing, with murder in his
+     eyes and a great clasp-knife in his hand. He had not time to get it
+     from the sheath before I had the harpoon through him. Heavens! what a
+     yell he gave; and his face gets between me and my sleep! I stood
+     there, with his blood splashing round me, and I waited for a bit; but
+     all was quiet, so I took heart once more. I looked round, and there
+     was the tin box on a shelf. I had as much right to it as Peter Carey,
+     anyhow, so I took it with me and left the hut. Like a fool I left my
+     baccy-pouch upon the table.
+
+     "Now I'll tell you the queerest part of the whole story. I had hardly
+     got outside the hut when I heard someone coming, and I hid among the
+     bushes. A man came slinking along, went into the hut, gave a cry as
+     if he had seen a ghost, and legged it as hard as he could run until
+     he was out of sight. Who he was or what he wanted is more than I can
+     tell. For my part I walked ten miles, got a train at Tunbridge Wells,
+     and so reached London, and no one the wiser.
+
+     "Well, when I came to examine the box I found there was no money in
+     it, and nothing but papers that I would not dare to sell. I had lost
+     my hold on Black Peter, and was stranded in London without a
+     shilling. There was only my trade left. I saw these advertisements
+     about harpooners and high wages, so I went to the shipping agents,
+     and they sent me here. That's all I know, and I say again that if I
+     killed Black Peter the law should give me thanks, for I saved them
+     the price of a hempen rope."
+
+     "A very clear statement," said Holmes, rising and lighting his pipe.
+     "I think, Hopkins, that you should lose no time in conveying your
+     prisoner to a place of safety. This room is not well adapted for a
+     cell, and Mr. Patrick Cairns occupies too large a proportion of our
+     carpet."
+
+     "Mr. Holmes," said Hopkins, "I do not know how to express my
+     gratitude. Even now I do not understand how you attained this
+     result."
+
+     "Simply by having the good fortune to get the right clue from the
+     beginning. It is very possible if I had known about this note-book it
+     might have led away my thoughts, as it did yours. But all I heard
+     pointed in the one direction. The amazing strength, the skill in the
+     use of the harpoon, the rum and water, the seal-skin tobacco-pouch,
+     with the coarse tobacco--all these pointed to a seaman, and one who
+     had been a whaler. I was convinced that the initials 'P.C.' upon the
+     pouch were a coincidence, and not those of Peter Carey, since he
+     seldom smoked, and no pipe was found in his cabin. You remember that
+     I asked whether whisky and brandy were in the cabin. You said they
+     were. How many landsmen are there who would drink rum when they could
+     get these other spirits? Yes, I was certain it was a seaman."
+
+     "And how did you find him?"
+
+     "My dear sir, the problem had become a very simple one. If it were a
+     seaman, it could only be a seaman who had been with him on the Sea
+     Unicorn. So far as I could learn he had sailed in no other ship. I
+     spent three days in wiring to Dundee, and at the end of that time I
+     had ascertained the names of the crew of the Sea Unicorn in 1883.
+     When I found Patrick Cairns among the harpooners my research was
+     nearing its end. I argued that the man was probably in London, and
+     that he would desire to leave the country for a time. I therefore
+     spent some days in the East-end, devised an Arctic expedition, put
+     forth tempting terms for harpooners who would serve under Captain
+     Basil--and behold the result!"
+
+     "Wonderful!" cried Hopkins. "Wonderful!"
+
+     "You must obtain the release of young Neligan as soon as possible,"
+     said Holmes. "I confess that I think you owe him some apology. The
+     tin box must be returned to him, but, of course, the securities which
+     Peter Carey has sold are lost for ever. There's the cab, Hopkins, and
+     you can remove your man. If you want me for the trial, my address and
+     that of Watson will be somewhere in Norway--I'll send particulars
+     later."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                   THE ADVENTURE OF CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON
+
+     It is years since the incidents of which I speak took place, and yet
+     it is with diffidence that I allude to them. For a long time, even
+     with the utmost discretion and reticence, it would have been
+     impossible to make the facts public; but now the principal person
+     concerned is beyond the reach of human law, and with due suppression
+     the story may be told in such fashion as to injure no one. It records
+     an absolutely unique experience in the career both of Mr. Sherlock
+     Holmes and of myself. The reader will excuse me if I conceal the date
+     or any other fact by which he might trace the actual occurrence.
+
+     We had been out for one of our evening rambles, Holmes and I, and had
+     returned about six o'clock on a cold, frosty winter's evening. As
+     Holmes turned up the lamp the light fell upon a card on the table. He
+     glanced at it, and then, with an ejaculation of disgust, threw it on
+     the floor. I picked it up and read:--
+
+                                        
+                             Charles Augustus Milverton,
+                                        
+                                  Appledore Towers,
+                                        
+                                     Hampstead.
+                                        
+                                       Agent.
+                                         
+
+     "Who is he?" I asked.
+
+     "The worst man in London," Holmes answered, as he sat down and
+     stretched his legs before the fire. "Is anything on the back of the
+     card?"
+
+     I turned it over.
+
+     "Will call at 6.30--C.A.M.," I read.
+
+     "Hum! He's about due. Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation,
+     Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo and see the
+     slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly eyes and
+     wicked, flattened faces? Well, that's how Milverton impresses me.
+     I've had to do with fifty murderers in my career, but the worst of
+     them never gave me the repulsion which I have for this fellow. And
+     yet I can't get out of doing business with him--indeed, he is here at
+     my invitation."
+
+     "But who is he?"
+
+     "I'll tell you, Watson. He is the king of all the blackmailers.
+     Heaven help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and
+     reputation come into the power of Milverton. With a smiling face and
+     a heart of marble he will squeeze and squeeze until he has drained
+     them dry. The fellow is a genius in his way, and would have made his
+     mark in some more savoury trade. His method is as follows: He allows
+     it to be known that he is prepared to pay very high sums for letters
+     which compromise people of wealth or position. He receives these
+     wares not only from treacherous valets or maids, but frequently from
+     genteel ruffians who have gained the confidence and affection of
+     trusting women. He deals with no niggard hand. I happen to know that
+     he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note two lines in
+     length, and that the ruin of a noble family was the result.
+     Everything which is in the market goes to Milverton, and there are
+     hundreds in this great city who turn white at his name. No one knows
+     where his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too cunning
+     to work from hand to mouth. He will hold a card back for years in
+     order to play it at the moment when the stake is best worth winning.
+     I have said that he is the worst man in London, and I would ask you
+     how could one compare the ruffian who in hot blood bludgeons his mate
+     with this man, who methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul
+     and wrings the nerves in order to add to his already swollen
+     money-bags?"
+
+     I had seldom heard my friend speak with such intensity of feeling.
+
+     "But surely," said I, "the fellow must be within the grasp of the
+     law?"
+
+     "Technically, no doubt, but practically not. What would it profit a
+     woman, for example, to get him a few months' imprisonment if her own
+     ruin must immediately follow? His victims dare not hit back. If ever
+     he blackmailed an innocent person, then, indeed, we should have him;
+     but he is as cunning as the Evil One. No, no; we must find other ways
+     to fight him."
+
+     "And why is he here?"
+
+     "Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case in my
+     hands. It is the Lady Eva Brackwell, the most beautiful debutante of
+     last season. She is to be married in a fortnight to the Earl of
+     Dovercourt. This fiend has several imprudent letters--imprudent,
+     Watson, nothing worse--which were written to an impecunious young
+     squire in the country. They would suffice to break off the match.
+     Milverton will send the letters to the Earl unless a large sum of
+     money is paid him. I have been commissioned to meet him, and--to make
+     the best terms I can."
+
+     At that instant there was a clatter and a rattle in the street below.
+     Looking down I saw a stately carriage and pair, the brilliant lamps
+     gleaming on the glossy haunches of the noble chestnuts. A footman
+     opened the door, and a small, stout man in a shaggy astrachan
+     overcoat descended. A minute later he was in the room.
+
+     Charles Augustus Milverton was a man of fifty, with a large,
+     intellectual head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual frozen
+     smile, and two keen grey eyes, which gleamed brightly from behind
+     broad, golden-rimmed glasses. There was something of Mr. Pickwick's
+     benevolence in his appearance, marred only by the insincerity of the
+     fixed smile and by the hard glitter of those restless and penetrating
+     eyes. His voice was as smooth and suave as his countenance, as he
+     advanced with a plump little hand extended, murmuring his regret for
+     having missed us at his first visit. Holmes disregarded the
+     outstretched hand and looked at him with a face of granite.
+     Milverton's smile broadened; he shrugged his shoulders, removed his
+     overcoat, folded it with great deliberation over the back of a chair,
+     and then took a seat.
+
+     "This gentleman?" said he, with a wave in my direction. "Is it
+     discreet? Is it right?"
+
+     "Dr. Watson is my friend and partner."
+
+     "Very good, Mr. Holmes. It is only in your client's interests that I
+     protested. The matter is so very delicate--"
+
+     "Dr. Watson has already heard of it."
+
+     "Then we can proceed to business. You say that you are acting for
+     Lady Eva. Has she empowered you to accept my terms?"
+
+     "What are your terms?"
+
+     "Seven thousand pounds."
+
+     "And the alternative?"
+
+     "My dear sir, it is painful for me to discuss it; but if the money is
+     not paid on the 14th there certainly will be no marriage on the
+     18th." His insufferable smile was more complacent than ever.
+
+     Holmes thought for a little.
+
+     "You appear to me," he said, at last, "to be taking matters too much
+     for granted. I am, of course, familiar with the contents of these
+     letters. My client will certainly do what I may advise. I shall
+     counsel her to tell her future husband the whole story and to trust
+     to his generosity."
+
+     Milverton chuckled.
+
+     "You evidently do not know the Earl," said he.
+
+     From the baffled look upon Holmes's face I could see clearly that he
+     did.
+
+     "What harm is there in the letters?" he asked.
+
+     "They are sprightly--very sprightly," Milverton answered. "The lady
+     was a charming correspondent. But I can assure you that the Earl of
+     Dovercourt would fail to appreciate them. However, since you think
+     otherwise, we will let it rest at that. It is purely a matter of
+     business. If you think that it is in the best interests of your
+     client that these letters should be placed in the hands of the Earl,
+     then you would indeed be foolish to pay so large a sum of money to
+     regain them." He rose and seized his astrachan coat.
+
+     Holmes was grey with anger and mortification.
+
+     "Wait a little," he said. "You go too fast. We would certainly make
+     every effort to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter."
+
+     Milverton relapsed into his chair.
+
+     "I was sure that you would see it in that light," he purred.
+
+     "At the same time," Holmes continued, "Lady Eva is not a wealthy
+     woman. I assure you that two thousand pounds would be a drain upon
+     her resources, and that the sum you name is utterly beyond her power.
+     I beg, therefore, that you will moderate your demands, and that you
+     will return the letters at the price I indicate, which is, I assure
+     you, the highest that you can get."
+
+     Milverton's smile broadened and his eyes twinkled humorously.
+
+     "I am aware that what you say is true about the lady's resources,"
+     said he. "At the same time, you must admit that the occasion of a
+     lady's marriage is a very suitable time for her friends and relatives
+     to make some little effort upon her behalf. They may hesitate as to
+     an acceptable wedding present. Let me assure them that this little
+     bundle of letters would give more joy than all the candelabra and
+     butter-dishes in London."
+
+     "It is impossible," said Holmes.
+
+     "Dear me, dear me, how unfortunate!" cried Milverton, taking out a
+     bulky pocket-book. "I cannot help thinking that ladies are
+     ill-advised in not making an effort. Look at this!" He held up a
+     little note with a coat-of-arms upon the envelope. "That belongs
+     to--well, perhaps it is hardly fair to tell the name until to-morrow
+     morning. But at that time it will be in the hands of the lady's
+     husband. And all because she will not find a beggarly sum which she
+     could get by turning her diamonds into paste. It is such a pity. Now,
+     you remember the sudden end of the engagement between the Honourable
+     Miss Miles and Colonel Dorking? Only two days before the wedding
+     there was a paragraph in the Morning Post to say that it was all off.
+     And why? It is almost incredible, but the absurd sum of twelve
+     hundred pounds would have settled the whole question. Is it not
+     pitiful? And here I find you, a man of sense, boggling about terms
+     when your client's future and honour are at stake. You surprise me,
+     Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "What I say is true," Holmes answered. "The money cannot be found.
+     Surely it is better for you to take the substantial sum which I offer
+     than to ruin this woman's career, which can profit you in no way?"
+
+     "There you make a mistake, Mr. Holmes. An exposure would profit me
+     indirectly to a considerable extent. I have eight or ten similar
+     cases maturing. If it was circulated among them that I had made a
+     severe example of the Lady Eva I should find all of them much more
+     open to reason. You see my point?"
+
+     Holmes sprang from his chair.
+
+     "Get behind him, Watson! Don't let him out! Now, sir, let us see the
+     contents of that note-book."
+
+     Milverton had glided as quick as a rat to the side of the room, and
+     stood with his back against the wall.
+
+     "Mr. Holmes, Mr. Holmes," he said, turning the front of his coat and
+     exhibiting the butt of a large revolver, which projected from the
+     inside pocket. "I have been expecting you to do something original.
+     This has been done so often, and what good has ever come from it? I
+     assure you that I am armed to the teeth, and I am perfectly prepared
+     to use my weapons, knowing that the law will support me. Besides,
+     your supposition that I would bring the letters here in a note-book
+     is entirely mistaken. I would do nothing so foolish. And now,
+     gentlemen, I have one or two little interviews this evening, and it
+     is a long drive to Hampstead." He stepped forward, took up his coat,
+     laid his hand on his revolver, and turned to the door. I picked up a
+     chair, but Holmes shook his head and I laid it down again. With bow,
+     a smile, and a twinkle Milverton was out of the room, and a few
+     moments after we heard the slam of the carriage door and the rattle
+     of the wheels as he drove away.
+
+     Holmes sat motionless by the fire, his hands buried deep in his
+     trouser pockets, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes fixed upon
+     the glowing embers. For half an hour he was silent and still. Then,
+     with the gesture of a man who has taken his decision, he sprang to
+     his feet and passed into his bedroom. A little later a rakish young
+     workman with a goatee beard and a swagger lit his clay pipe at the
+     lamp before descending into the street. "I'll be back some time,
+     Watson," said he, and vanished into the night. I understood that he
+     had opened his campaign against Charles Augustus Milverton; but I
+     little dreamed the strange shape which that campaign was destined to
+     take.
+
+     For some days Holmes came and went at all hours in this attire, but
+     beyond a remark that his time was spent at Hampstead, and that it was
+     not wasted, I knew nothing of what he was doing. At last, however, on
+     a wild, tempestuous evening, when the wind screamed and rattled
+     against the windows, he returned from his last expedition, and having
+     removed his disguise he sat before the fire and laughed heartily in
+     his silent inward fashion.
+
+     "You would not call me a marrying man, Watson?"
+
+     "No, indeed!"
+
+     "You'll be interested to hear that I am engaged."
+
+     "My dear fellow! I congrat--"
+
+     "To Milverton's housemaid."
+
+     "Good heavens, Holmes!"
+
+     "I wanted information, Watson."
+
+     "Surely you have gone too far?"
+
+     "It was a most necessary step. I am a plumber with a rising business,
+     Escott by name. I have walked out with her each evening, and I have
+     talked with her. Good heavens, those talks! However, I have got all I
+     wanted. I know Milverton's house as I know the palm of my hand."
+
+     "But the girl, Holmes?"
+
+     He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "You can't help it, my dear Watson. You must play your cards as best
+     you can when such a stake is on the table. However, I rejoice to say
+     that I have a hated rival who will certainly cut me out the instant
+     that my back is turned. What a splendid night it is!"
+
+     "You like this weather?"
+
+     "It suits my purpose. Watson, I mean to burgle Milverton's house
+     to-night."
+
+     I had a catching of the breath, and my skin went cold at the words,
+     which were slowly uttered in a tone of concentrated resolution. As a
+     flash of lightning in the night shows up in an instant every detail
+     of a wide landscape, so at one glance I seemed to see every possible
+     result of such an action--the detection, the capture, the honoured
+     career ending in irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself
+     lying at the mercy of the odious Milverton.
+
+     "For Heaven's sake, Holmes, think what you are doing," I cried.
+
+     "My dear fellow, I have given it every consideration. I am never
+     precipitate in my actions, nor would I adopt so energetic and indeed
+     so dangerous a course if any other were possible. Let us look at the
+     matter clearly and fairly. I suppose that you will admit that the
+     action is morally justifiable, though technically criminal. To burgle
+     his house is no more than to forcibly take his pocket-book--an action
+     in which you were prepared to aid me."
+
+     I turned it over in my mind.
+
+     "Yes," I said; "it is morally justifiable so long as our object is to
+     take no articles save those which are used for an illegal purpose."
+
+     "Exactly. Since it is morally justifiable I have only to consider the
+     question of personal risk. Surely a gentleman should not lay much
+     stress upon this when a lady is in most desperate need of his help?"
+
+     "You will be in such a false position."
+
+     "Well, that is part of the risk. There is no other possible way of
+     regaining these letters. The unfortunate lady has not the money, and
+     there are none of her people in whom she could confide. To-morrow is
+     the last day of grace, and unless we can get the letters to-night
+     this villain will be as good as his word and will bring about her
+     ruin. I must, therefore, abandon my client to her fate or I must play
+     this last card. Between ourselves, Watson, it's a sporting duel
+     between this fellow Milverton and me. He had, as you saw, the best of
+     the first exchanges; but my self-respect and my reputation are
+     concerned to fight it to a finish."
+
+     "Well, I don't like it; but I suppose it must be," said I. "When do
+     we start?"
+
+     "You are not coming."
+
+     "Then you are not going," said I. "I give you my word of honour--and
+     I never broke it in my life--that I will take a cab straight to the
+     police-station and give you away unless you let me share this
+     adventure with you."
+
+     "You can't help me."
+
+     "How do you know that? You can't tell what may happen. Anyway, my
+     resolution is taken. Other people beside you have self-respect and
+     even reputations."
+
+     Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on
+     the shoulder.
+
+     "Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared the same room
+     for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the
+     same cell. You know, Watson, I don't mind confessing to you that I
+     have always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient
+     criminal. This is the chance of my lifetime in that direction. See
+     here!" He took a neat little leather case out of a drawer, and
+     opening it he exhibited a number of shining instruments. "This is a
+     first-class, up-to-date burgling kit, with nickel-plated jemmy,
+     diamond-tipped glass-cutter, adaptable keys, and every modern
+     improvement which the march of civilization demands. Here, too, is my
+     dark lantern. Everything is in order. Have you a pair of silent
+     shoes?"
+
+     "I have rubber-soled tennis shoes."
+
+     "Excellent. And a mask?"
+
+     "I can make a couple out of black silk."
+
+     "I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort of
+     thing. Very good; do you make the masks. We shall have some cold
+     supper before we start. It is now nine-thirty. At eleven we shall
+     drive as far as Church Row. It is a quarter of an hour's walk from
+     there to Appledore Towers. We shall be at work before midnight.
+     Milverton is a heavy sleeper and retires punctually at ten-thirty.
+     With any luck we should be back here by two, with the Lady Eva's
+     letters in my pocket."
+
+     Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might appear to be
+     two theatre-goers homeward bound. In Oxford Street we picked up a
+     hansom and drove to an address in Hampstead. Here we paid off our
+     cab, and with our great-coats buttoned up, for it was bitterly cold
+     and the wind seemed to blow through us, we walked along the edge of
+     the Heath.
+
+     "It's a business that needs delicate treatment," said Holmes. "These
+     documents are contained in a safe in the fellow's study, and the
+     study is the ante-room of his bed-chamber. On the other hand, like
+     all these stout, little men who do themselves well, he is a plethoric
+     sleeper. Agatha--that's my fiancee--says it is a joke in the
+     servants' hall that it's impossible to wake the master. He has a
+     secretary who is devoted to his interests and never budges from the
+     study all day. That's why we are going at night. Then he has a beast
+     of a dog which roams the garden. I met Agatha late the last two
+     evenings, and she locks the brute up so as to give me a clear run.
+     This is the house, this big one in its own grounds. Through the
+     gate--now to the right among the laurels. We might put on our masks
+     here, I think. You see, there is not a glimmer of light in any of the
+     windows, and everything is working splendidly."
+
+     With our black silk face-coverings, which turned us into two of the
+     most truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent, gloomy
+     house. A sort of tiled veranda extended along one side of it, lined
+     by several windows and two doors.
+
+     "That's his bedroom," Holmes whispered. "This door opens straight
+     into the study. It would suit us best, but it is bolted as well as
+     locked, and we should make too much noise getting in. Come round
+     here. There's a greenhouse which opens into the drawing-room."
+
+     The place was locked, but Holmes removed a circle of glass and turned
+     the key from the inside. An instant afterwards he had closed the door
+     behind us, and we had become felons in the eyes of the law. The
+     thick, warm air of the conservatory and the rich, choking fragrance
+     of exotic plants took us by the throat. He seized my hand in the
+     darkness and led me swiftly past banks of shrubs which brushed
+     against our faces. Holmes had remarkable powers, carefully
+     cultivated, of seeing in the dark. Still holding my hand in one of
+     his he opened a door, and I was vaguely conscious that we had entered
+     a large room in which a cigar had been smoked not long before. He
+     felt his way among the furniture, opened another door, and closed it
+     behind us. Putting out my hand I felt several coats hanging from the
+     wall, and I understood that I was in a passage. We passed along it,
+     and Holmes very gently opened a door upon the right-hand side.
+     Something rushed out at us and my heart sprang into my mouth, but I
+     could have laughed when I realized that it was the cat. A fire was
+     burning in this new room, and again the air was heavy with tobacco
+     smoke. Holmes entered on tiptoe, waited for me to follow, and then
+     very gently closed the door. We were in Milverton's study, and a
+     portiere at the farther side showed the entrance to his bedroom.
+
+     It was a good fire, and the room was illuminated by it. Near the door
+     I saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it was unnecessary, even
+     if it had been safe, to turn it on. At one side of the fireplace was
+     a heavy curtain, which covered the bay window we had seen from
+     outside. On the other side was the door which communicated with the
+     veranda. A desk stood in the centre, with a turning chair of shining
+     red leather. Opposite was a large bookcase, with a marble bust of
+     Athene on the top. In the corner between the bookcase and the wall
+     there stood a tall green safe, the firelight flashing back from the
+     polished brass knobs upon its face. Holmes stole across and looked at
+     it. Then he crept to the door of the bedroom, and stood with slanting
+     head listening intently. No sound came from within. Meanwhile it had
+     struck me that it would be wise to secure our retreat through the
+     outer door, so I examined it. To my amazement it was neither locked
+     nor bolted! I touched Holmes on the arm, and he turned his masked
+     face in that direction. I saw him start, and he was evidently as
+     surprised as I.
+
+     "I don't like it," he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear. "I
+     can't quite make it out. Anyhow, we have no time to lose."
+
+     "Can I do anything?"
+
+     "Yes; stand by the door. If you hear anyone come, bolt it on the
+     inside, and we can get away as we came. If they come the other way,
+     we can get through the door if our job is done, or hide behind these
+     window curtains if it is not. Do you understand?"
+
+     I nodded and stood by the door. My first feeling of fear had passed
+     away, and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had ever enjoyed
+     when we were the defenders of the law instead of its defiers. The
+     high object of our mission, the consciousness that it was unselfish
+     and chivalrous, the villainous character of our opponent, all added
+     to the sporting interest of the adventure. Far from feeling guilty, I
+     rejoiced and exulted in our dangers. With a glow of admiration I
+     watched Holmes unrolling his case of instruments and choosing his
+     tool with the calm, scientific accuracy of a surgeon who performs a
+     delicate operation. I knew that the opening of safes was a particular
+     hobby with him, and I understood the joy which it gave him to be
+     confronted with this green and gold monster, the dragon which held in
+     its maw the reputations of many fair ladies. Turning up the cuffs of
+     his dress-coat--he had placed his overcoat on a chair--Holmes laid
+     out two drills, a jemmy, and several skeleton keys. I stood at the
+     centre door with my eyes glancing at each of the others, ready for
+     any emergency; though, indeed, my plans were somewhat vague as to
+     what I should do if we were interrupted. For half an hour Holmes
+     worked with concentrated energy, laying down one tool, picking up
+     another, handling each with the strength and delicacy of the trained
+     mechanic. Finally I heard a click, the broad green door swung open,
+     and inside I had a glimpse of a number of paper packets, each tied,
+     sealed, and inscribed. Holmes picked one out, but it was hard to read
+     by the flickering fire, and he drew out his little dark lantern, for
+     it was too dangerous, with Milverton in the next room, to switch on
+     the electric light. Suddenly I saw him halt, listen intently, and
+     then in an instant he had swung the door of the safe to, picked up
+     his coat, stuffed his tools into the pockets, and darted behind the
+     window curtain, motioning me to do the same.
+
+     It was only when I had joined him there that I heard what had alarmed
+     his quicker senses. There was a noise somewhere within the house. A
+     door slammed in the distance. Then a confused, dull murmur broke
+     itself into the measured thud of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching.
+     They were in the passage outside the room. They paused at the door.
+     The door opened. There was a sharp snick as the electric light was
+     turned on. The door closed once more, and the pungent reek of a
+     strong cigar was borne to our nostrils. Then the footsteps continued
+     backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, within a few yards of
+     us. Finally, there was a creak from a chair, and the footsteps
+     ceased. Then a key clicked in a lock and I heard the rustle of
+     papers.
+
+     So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the
+     division of the curtains in front of me and peeped through. From the
+     pressure of Holmes's shoulder against mine I knew that he was sharing
+     my observations. Right in front of us, and almost within our reach,
+     was the broad, rounded back of Milverton. It was evident that we had
+     entirely miscalculated his movements, that he had never been to his
+     bedroom, but that he had been sitting up in some smoking or billiard
+     room in the farther wing of the house, the windows of which we had
+     not seen. His broad, grizzled head, with its shining patch of
+     baldness, was in the immediate foreground of our vision. He was
+     leaning far back in the red leather chair, his legs outstretched, a
+     long black cigar projecting at an angle from his mouth. He wore a
+     semi-military smoking jacket, claret-coloured, with a black velvet
+     collar. In his hand he held a long legal document, which he was
+     reading in an indolent fashion, blowing rings of tobacco smoke from
+     his lips as he did so. There was no promise of a speedy departure in
+     his composed bearing and his comfortable attitude.
+
+     I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake,
+     as if to say that the situation was within his powers and that he was
+     easy in his mind. I was not sure whether he had seen what was only
+     too obvious from my position, that the door of the safe was
+     imperfectly closed, and that Milverton might at any moment observe
+     it. In my own mind I had determined that if I were sure, from the
+     rigidity of his gaze, that it had caught his eye, I would at once
+     spring out, throw my great-coat over his head, pinion him, and leave
+     the rest to Holmes. But Milverton never looked up. He was languidly
+     interested by the papers in his hand, and page after page was turned
+     as he followed the argument of the lawyer. At least, I thought, when
+     he has finished the document and the cigar he will go to his room;
+     but before he had reached the end of either there came a remarkable
+     development which turned our thoughts into quite another channel.
+
+     Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his watch, and
+     once he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture of impatience.
+     The idea, however, that he might have an appointment at so strange an
+     hour never occurred to me until a faint sound reached my ears from
+     the veranda outside. Milverton dropped his papers and sat rigid in
+     his chair. The sound was repeated, and then there came a gentle tap
+     at the door. Milverton rose and opened it.
+
+     "Well," said he, curtly, "you are nearly half an hour late."
+
+     So this was the explanation of the unlocked door and of the nocturnal
+     vigil of Milverton. There was the gentle rustle of a woman's dress. I
+     had closed the slit between the curtains as Milverton's face had
+     turned in our direction, but now I ventured very carefully to open it
+     once more. He had resumed his seat, the cigar still projecting at an
+     insolent angle from the corner of his mouth. In front of him, in the
+     full glare of the electric light, there stood a tall, slim, dark
+     woman, a veil over her face, a mantle drawn round her chin. Her
+     breath came quick and fast, and every inch of the lithe figure was
+     quivering with strong emotion.
+
+     "Well," said Milverton, "you've made me lose a good night's rest, my
+     dear. I hope you'll prove worth it. You couldn't come any other
+     time--eh?"
+
+     The woman shook her head.
+
+     "Well, if you couldn't you couldn't. If the Countess is a hard
+     mistress you have your chance to get level with her now. Bless the
+     girl, what are you shivering about? That's right! Pull yourself
+     together! Now, let us get down to business." He took a note from the
+     drawer of his desk. "You say that you have five letters which
+     compromise the Countess d'Albert. You want to sell them. I want to
+     buy them. So far so good. It only remains to fix a price. I should
+     want to inspect the letters, of course. If they are really good
+     specimens--Great heavens, is it you?"
+
+     The woman without a word had raised her veil and dropped the mantle
+     from her chin. It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face which
+     confronted Milverton, a face with a curved nose, strong, dark
+     eyebrows shading hard, glittering eyes, and a straight, thin-lipped
+     mouth set in a dangerous smile.
+
+     "It is I," she said; "the woman whose life you have ruined."
+
+     Milverton laughed, but fear vibrated in his voice. "You were so very
+     obstinate," said he. "Why did you drive me to such extremities? I
+     assure you I wouldn't hurt a fly of my own accord, but every man has
+     his business, and what was I to do? I put the price well within your
+     means. You would not pay."
+
+     "So you sent the letters to my husband, and he--the noblest gentleman
+     that ever lived, a man whose boots I was never worthy to lace--he
+     broke his gallant heart and died. You remember that last night when I
+     came through that door I begged and prayed you for mercy, and you
+     laughed in my face as you are trying to laugh now, only your coward
+     heart cannot keep your lips from twitching? Yes, you never thought to
+     see me here again, but it was that night which taught me how I could
+     meet you face to face, and alone. Well, Charles Milverton, what have
+     you to say?"
+
+     "Don't imagine that you can bully me," said he, rising to his feet.
+     "I have only to raise my voice, and I could call my servants and have
+     you arrested. But I will make allowance for your natural anger. Leave
+     the room at once as you came, and I will say no more."
+
+     The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom, and the same
+     deadly smile on her thin lips.
+
+     "You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine. You will wring no
+     more hearts as you wrung mine. I will free the world of a poisonous
+     thing. Take that, you hound, and that!--and that!--and that!"
+
+     She had drawn a little, gleaming revolver, and emptied barrel after
+     barrel into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet of his shirt
+     front. He shrank away and then fell forward upon the table, coughing
+     furiously and clawing among the papers. Then he staggered to his
+     feet, received another shot, and rolled upon the floor. "You've done
+     me," he cried, and lay still. The woman looked at him intently and
+     ground her heel into his upturned face. She looked again, but there
+     was no sound or movement. I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew
+     into the heated room, and the avenger was gone.
+
+     No interference upon our part could have saved the man from his fate;
+     but as the woman poured bullet after bullet into Milverton's
+     shrinking body I was about to spring out, when I felt Holmes's cold,
+     strong grasp upon my wrist. I understood the whole argument of that
+     firm, restraining grip--that it was no affair of ours; that justice
+     had overtaken a villain; that we had our own duties and our own
+     objects which were not to be lost sight of. But hardly had the woman
+     rushed from the room when Holmes, with swift, silent steps, was over
+     at the other door. He turned the key in the lock. At the same instant
+     we heard voices in the house and the sound of hurrying feet. The
+     revolver shots had roused the household. With perfect coolness Holmes
+     slipped across to the safe, filled his two arms with bundles of
+     letters, and poured them all into the fire. Again and again he did
+     it, until the safe was empty. Someone turned the handle and beat upon
+     the outside of the door. Holmes looked swiftly round. The letter
+     which had been the messenger of death for Milverton lay, all mottled
+     with his blood, upon the table. Holmes tossed it in among the blazing
+     papers. Then he drew the key from the outer door, passed through
+     after me, and locked it on the outside. "This way, Watson," said he;
+     "we can scale the garden wall in this direction."
+
+     I could not have believed that an alarm could have spread so swiftly.
+     Looking back, the huge house was one blaze of light. The front door
+     was open, and figures were rushing down the drive. The whole garden
+     was alive with people, and one fellow raised a view-halloa as we
+     emerged from the veranda and followed hard at our heels. Holmes
+     seemed to know the ground perfectly, and he threaded his way swiftly
+     among a plantation of small trees, I close at his heels, and our
+     foremost pursuer panting behind us. It was a six-foot wall which
+     barred our path, but he sprang to the top and over. As I did the same
+     I felt the hand of the man behind me grab at my ankle; but I kicked
+     myself free and scrambled over a glass-strewn coping. I fell upon my
+     face among some bushes; but Holmes had me on my feet in an instant,
+     and together we dashed away across the huge expanse of Hampstead
+     Heath. We had run two miles, I suppose, before Holmes at last halted
+     and listened intently. All was absolute silence behind us. We had
+     shaken off our pursuers and were safe.
+
+     We had breakfasted and were smoking our morning pipe on the day after
+     the remarkable experience which I have recorded when Mr. Lestrade, of
+     Scotland Yard, very solemn and impressive, was ushered into our
+     modest sitting-room.
+
+     "Good morning, Mr. Holmes," said he; "good morning. May I ask if you
+     are very busy just now?"
+
+     "Not too busy to listen to you."
+
+     "I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand, you
+     might care to assist us in a most remarkable case which occurred only
+     last night at Hampstead."
+
+     "Dear me!" said Holmes. "What was that?"
+
+     "A murder--a most dramatic and remarkable murder. I know how keen you
+     are upon these things, and I would take it as a great favour if you
+     would step down to Appledore Towers and give us the benefit of your
+     advice. It is no ordinary crime. We have had our eyes upon this Mr.
+     Milverton for some time, and, between ourselves, he was a bit of a
+     villain. He is known to have held papers which he used for
+     blackmailing purposes. These papers have all been burned by the
+     murderers. No article of value was taken, as it is probable that the
+     criminals were men of good position, whose sole object was to prevent
+     social exposure."
+
+     "Criminals!" said Holmes. "Plural!"
+
+     "Yes, there were two of them. They were, as nearly as possible,
+     captured red-handed. We have their foot-marks, we have their
+     description; it's ten to one that we trace them. The first fellow was
+     a bit too active, but the second was caught by the under-gardener and
+     only got away after a struggle. He was a middle-sized, strongly-built
+     man--square jaw, thick neck, moustache, a mask over his eyes."
+
+     "That's rather vague," said Sherlock Holmes. "Why, it might be a
+     description of Watson!"
+
+     "It's true," said the inspector, with much amusement. "It might be a
+     description of Watson."
+
+     "Well, I am afraid I can't help you, Lestrade," said Holmes. "The
+     fact is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I considered him one
+     of the most dangerous men in London, and that I think there are
+     certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to
+     some extent, justify private revenge. No, it's no use arguing. I have
+     made up my mind. My sympathies are with the criminals rather than
+     with the victim, and I will not handle this case."
+
+     Holmes had not said one word to me about the tragedy which we had
+     witnessed, but I observed all the morning that he was in his most
+     thoughtful mood, and he gave me the impression, from his vacant eyes
+     and his abstracted manner, of a man who is striving to recall
+     something to his memory. We were in the middle of our lunch when he
+     suddenly sprang to his feet. "By Jove, Watson; I've got it!" he
+     cried. "Take your hat! Come with me!" He hurried at his top speed
+     down Baker Street and along Oxford Street, until we had almost
+     reached Regent Circus. Here on the left hand there stands a shop
+     window filled with photographs of the celebrities and beauties of the
+     day. Holmes's eyes fixed themselves upon one of them, and following
+     his gaze I saw the picture of a regal and stately lady in Court
+     dress, with a high diamond tiara upon her noble head. I looked at
+     that delicately-curved nose, at the marked eyebrows, at the straight
+     mouth, and the strong little chin beneath it. Then I caught my breath
+     as I read the time-honoured title of the great nobleman and statesman
+     whose wife she had been. My eyes met those of Holmes, and he put his
+     finger to his lips as we turned away from the window.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE SIX NAPOLEONS
+
+     It was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to
+     look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to
+     Sherlock Holmes, for they enabled him to keep in touch with all that
+     was going on at the police head-quarters. In return for the news
+     which Lestrade would bring, Holmes was always ready to listen with
+     attention to the details of any case upon which the detective was
+     engaged, and was able occasionally, without any active interference,
+     to give some hint or suggestion drawn from his own vast knowledge and
+     experience.
+
+     On this particular evening Lestrade had spoken of the weather and the
+     newspapers. Then he had fallen silent, puffing thoughtfully at his
+     cigar. Holmes looked keenly at him.
+
+     "Anything remarkable on hand?" he asked.
+
+     "Oh, no, Mr. Holmes, nothing very particular."
+
+     "Then tell me about it."
+
+     Lestrade laughed.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there is something on
+     my mind. And yet it is such an absurd business that I hesitated to
+     bother you about it. On the other hand, although it is trivial, it is
+     undoubtedly queer, and I know that you have a taste for all that is
+     out of the common. But in my opinion it comes more in Dr. Watson's
+     line than ours."
+
+     "Disease?" said I.
+
+     "Madness, anyhow. And a queer madness too! You wouldn't think there
+     was anyone living at this time of day who had such a hatred of
+     Napoleon the First that he would break any image of him that he could
+     see."
+
+     Holmes sank back in his chair.
+
+     "That's no business of mine," said he.
+
+     "Exactly. That's what I said. But then, when the man commits burglary
+     in order to break images which are not his own, that brings it away
+     from the doctor and on to the policeman."
+
+     Holmes sat up again.
+
+     "Burglary! This is more interesting. Let me hear the details."
+
+     Lestrade took out his official note-book and refreshed his memory
+     from its pages.
+
+     "The first case reported was four days ago," said he. "It was at the
+     shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of pictures and
+     statues in the Kennington Road. The assistant had left the front shop
+     for an instant when he heard a crash, and hurrying in he found a
+     plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art
+     upon the counter, lying shivered into fragments. He rushed out into
+     the road, but, although several passers-by declared that they had
+     noticed a man run out of the shop, he could neither see anyone nor
+     could he find any means of identifying the rascal. It seemed to be
+     one of those senseless acts of Hooliganism which occur from time to
+     time, and it was reported to the constable on the beat as such. The
+     plaster cast was not worth more than a few shillings, and the whole
+     affair appeared to be too childish for any particular investigation.
+
+     "The second case, however, was more serious and also more singular.
+     It occurred only last night.
+
+     "In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of Morse Hudson's
+     shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner, named Dr.
+     Barnicot, who has one of the largest practices upon the south side of
+     the Thames. His residence and principal consulting-room is at
+     Kennington Road, but he has a branch surgery and dispensary at Lower
+     Brixton Road, two miles away. This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic
+     admirer of Napoleon, and his house is full of books, pictures, and
+     relics of the French Emperor. Some little time ago he purchased from
+     Morse Hudson two duplicate plaster casts of the famous head of
+     Napoleon by the French sculptor, Devine. One of these he placed in
+     his hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the other on the
+     mantelpiece of the surgery at Lower Brixton. Well, when Dr. Barnicot
+     came down this morning he was astonished to find that his house had
+     been burgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save
+     the plaster head from the hall. It had been carried out and had been
+     dashed savagely against the garden wall, under which its splintered
+     fragments were discovered."
+
+     Holmes rubbed his hands.
+
+     "This is certainly very novel," said he.
+
+     "I thought it would please you. But I have not got to the end yet.
+     Dr. Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o'clock, and you can
+     imagine his amazement when, on arriving there, he found that the
+     window had been opened in the night, and that the broken pieces of
+     his second bust were strewn all over the room. It had been smashed to
+     atoms where it stood. In neither case were there any signs which
+     could give us a clue as to the criminal or lunatic who had done the
+     mischief. Now, Mr. Holmes, you have got the facts."
+
+     "They are singular, not to say grotesque," said Holmes. "May I ask
+     whether the two busts smashed in Dr. Barnicot's rooms were the exact
+     duplicates of the one which was destroyed in Morse Hudson's shop?"
+
+     "They were taken from the same mould."
+
+     "Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man who breaks
+     them is influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon. Considering how
+     many hundreds of statues of the great Emperor must exist in London,
+     it is too much to suppose such a coincidence as that a promiscuous
+     iconoclast should chance to begin upon three specimens of the same
+     bust."
+
+     "Well, I thought as you do," said Lestrade. "On the other hand, this
+     Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part of London, and
+     these three were the only ones which had been in his shop for years.
+     So, although, as you say, there are many hundreds of statues in
+     London, it is very probable that these three were the only ones in
+     that district. Therefore, a local fanatic would begin with them. What
+     do you think, Dr. Watson?"
+
+     "There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania," I answered.
+     "There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have
+     called the 'idée fixe,' which may be trifling in character, and
+     accompanied by complete sanity in every other way. A man who had read
+     deeply about Napoleon, or who had possibly received some hereditary
+     family injury through the great war, might conceivably form such an
+     idée fixe and under its influence be capable of any fantastic
+     outrage."
+
+     "That won't do, my dear Watson," said Holmes, shaking his head; "for
+     no amount of idée fixe would enable your interesting monomaniac to
+     find out where these busts were situated."
+
+     "Well, how do you explain it?"
+
+     "I don't attempt to do so. I would only observe that there is a
+     certain method in the gentleman's eccentric proceedings. For example,
+     in Dr. Barnicot's hall, where a sound might arouse the family, the
+     bust was taken outside before being broken, whereas in the surgery,
+     where there was less danger of an alarm, it was smashed where it
+     stood. The affair seems absurdly trifling, and yet I dare call
+     nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my most classic cases
+     have had the least promising commencement. You will remember, Watson,
+     how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first brought
+     to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter
+     upon a hot day. I can't afford, therefore, to smile at your three
+     broken busts, Lestrade, and I shall be very much obliged to you if
+     you will let me hear of any fresh developments of so singular a chain
+     of events."
+
+     The development for which my friend had asked came in a quicker and
+     an infinitely more tragic form than he could have imagined. I was
+     still dressing in my bedroom next morning when there was a tap at the
+     door and Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand. He read it aloud:
+
+     "Come instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington.
+     "Lestrade."
+
+     "What is it, then?" I asked.
+
+     "Don't know--may be anything. But I suspect it is the sequel of the
+     story of the statues. In that case our friend, the image-breaker, has
+     begun operations in another quarter of London. There's coffee on the
+     table, Watson, and I have a cab at the door."
+
+     In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little backwater
+     just beside one of the briskest currents of London life. No. 131 was
+     one of a row, all flat-chested, respectable, and most unromantic
+     dwellings. As we drove up we found the railings in front of the house
+     lined by a curious crowd. Holmes whistled.
+
+     "By George! it's attempted murder at the least. Nothing less will
+     hold the London message-boy. There's a deed of violence indicated in
+     that fellow's round shoulders and outstretched neck. What's this,
+     Watson? The top steps swilled down and the other ones dry. Footsteps
+     enough, anyhow! Well, well, there's Lestrade at the front window, and
+     we shall soon know all about it."
+
+     The official received us with a very grave face and showed us into a
+     sitting-room, where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated elderly man,
+     clad in a flannel dressing-gown, was pacing up and down. He was
+     introduced to us as the owner of the house--Mr. Horace Harker, of the
+     Central Press Syndicate.
+
+     "It's the Napoleon bust business again," said Lestrade. "You seemed
+     interested last night, Mr. Holmes, so I thought perhaps you would be
+     glad to be present now that the affair has taken a very much graver
+     turn."
+
+     "What has it turned to, then?"
+
+     "To murder. Mr. Harker, will you tell these gentlemen exactly what
+     has occurred?"
+
+     The man in the dressing-gown turned upon us with a most melancholy
+     face.
+
+     "It's an extraordinary thing," said he, "that all my life I have been
+     collecting other people's news, and now that a real piece of news has
+     come my own way I am so confused and bothered that I can't put two
+     words together. If I had come in here as a journalist I should have
+     interviewed myself and had two columns in every evening paper. As it
+     is I am giving away valuable copy by telling my story over and over
+     to a string of different people, and I can make no use of it myself.
+     However, I've heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and if you'll
+     only explain this queer business I shall be paid for my trouble in
+     telling you the story."
+
+     Holmes sat down and listened.
+
+     "It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I bought
+     for this very room about four months ago. I picked it up cheap from
+     Harding Brothers, two doors from the High Street Station. A great
+     deal of my journalistic work is done at night, and I often write
+     until the early morning. So it was to-day. I was sitting in my den,
+     which is at the back of the top of the house, about three o'clock,
+     when I was convinced that I heard some sounds downstairs. I listened,
+     but they were not repeated, and I concluded that they came from
+     outside. Then suddenly, about five minutes later, there came a most
+     horrible yell--the most dreadful sound, Mr. Holmes, that ever I
+     heard. It will ring in my ears as long as I live. I sat frozen with
+     horror for a minute or two. Then I seized the poker and went
+     downstairs. When I entered this room I found the window wide open,
+     and I at once observed that the bust was gone from the mantelpiece.
+     Why any burglar should take such a thing passes my understanding, for
+     it was only a plaster cast and of no real value whatever.
+
+     "You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that open
+     window could reach the front doorstep by taking a long stride. This
+     was clearly what the burglar had done, so I went round and opened the
+     door. Stepping out into the dark I nearly fell over a dead man who
+     was lying there. I ran back for a light, and there was the poor
+     fellow, a great gash in his throat and the whole place swimming in
+     blood. He lay on his back, his knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly
+     open. I shall see him in my dreams. I had just time to blow on my
+     police-whistle, and then I must have fainted, for I knew nothing more
+     until I found the policeman standing over me in the hall."
+
+     "Well, who was the murdered man?" asked Holmes.
+
+     "There's nothing to show who he was," said Lestrade. "You shall see
+     the body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up to now.
+     He is a tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than thirty. He
+     is poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to be a labourer. A
+     horn-handled clasp knife was lying in a pool of blood beside him.
+     Whether it was the weapon which did the deed, or whether it belonged
+     to the dead man, I do not know. There was no name on his clothing,
+     and nothing in his pockets save an apple, some string, a shilling map
+     of London, and a photograph. Here it is."
+
+     It was evidently taken by a snap-shot from a small camera. It
+     represented an alert, sharp-featured simian man with thick eyebrows,
+     and a very peculiar projection of the lower part of the face like the
+     muzzle of a baboon.
+
+     "And what became of the bust?" asked Holmes, after a careful study of
+     this picture.
+
+     "We had news of it just before you came. It has been found in the
+     front garden of an empty house in Campden House Road. It was broken
+     into fragments. I am going round now to see it. Will you come?"
+
+     "Certainly. I must just take one look round." He examined the carpet
+     and the window. "The fellow had either very long legs or was a most
+     active man," said he. "With an area beneath, it was no mean feat to
+     reach that window-ledge and open that window. Getting back was
+     comparatively simple. Are you coming with us to see the remains of
+     your bust, Mr. Harker?"
+
+     The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.
+
+     "I must try and make something of it," said he, "though I have no
+     doubt that the first editions of the evening papers are out already
+     with full details. It's like my luck! You remember when the stand
+     fell at Doncaster? Well, I was the only journalist in the stand, and
+     my journal the only one that had no account of it, for I was too
+     shaken to write it. And now I'll be too late with a murder done on my
+     own doorstep."
+
+     As we left the room we heard his pen travelling shrilly over the
+     foolscap.
+
+     The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only a
+     few hundred yards away. For the first time our eyes rested upon this
+     presentment of the great Emperor, which seemed to raise such frantic
+     and destructive hatred in the mind of the unknown. It lay scattered
+     in splintered shards upon the grass. Holmes picked up several of them
+     and examined them carefully. I was convinced from his intent face and
+     his purposeful manner that at last he was upon a clue.
+
+     "Well?" asked Lestrade.
+
+     Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "We have a long way to go yet," said he. "And yet--and yet--well, we
+     have some suggestive facts to act upon. The possession of this
+     trifling bust was worth more in the eyes of this strange criminal
+     than a human life. That is one point. Then there is the singular fact
+     that he did not break it in the house, or immediately outside the
+     house, if to break it was his sole object."
+
+     "He was rattled and bustled by meeting this other fellow. He hardly
+     knew what he was doing."
+
+     "Well, that's likely enough. But I wish to call your attention very
+     particularly to the position of this house in the garden of which the
+     bust was destroyed."
+
+     Lestrade looked about him.
+
+     "It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be disturbed
+     in the garden."
+
+     "Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street which he
+     must have passed before he came to this one. Why did he not break it
+     there, since it is evident that every yard that he carried it
+     increased the risk of someone meeting him?"
+
+     "I give it up," said Lestrade.
+
+     Holmes pointed to the street lamp above our heads.
+
+     "He could see what he was doing here and he could not there. That was
+     his reason."
+
+     "By Jove! that's true," said the detective. "Now that I come to think
+     of it, Dr. Barnicot's bust was broken not far from his red lamp.
+     Well, Mr. Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?"
+
+     "To remember it--to docket it. We may come on something later which
+     will bear upon it. What steps do you propose to take now, Lestrade?"
+
+     "The most practical way of getting at it, in my opinion, is to
+     identify the dead man. There should be no difficulty about that. When
+     we have found who he is and who his associates are, we should have a
+     good start in learning what he was doing in Pitt Street last night,
+     and who it was who met him and killed him on the doorstep of Mr.
+     Horace Harker. Don't you think so?"
+
+     "No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should approach
+     the case."
+
+     "What would you do, then?"
+
+     "Oh, you must not let me influence you in any way! I suggest that you
+     go on your line and I on mine. We can compare notes afterwards, and
+     each will supplement the other."
+
+     "Very good," said Lestrade.
+
+     "If you are going back to Pitt Street you might see Mr. Horace
+     Harker. Tell him from me that I have quite made up my mind, and that
+     it is certain that a dangerous homicidal lunatic with Napoleonic
+     delusions was in his house last night. It will be useful for his
+     article."
+
+     Lestrade stared.
+
+     "You don't seriously believe that?"
+
+     Holmes smiled.
+
+     "Don't I? Well, perhaps I don't. But I am sure that it will interest
+     Mr. Horace Harker and the subscribers of the Central Press Syndicate.
+     Now, Watson, I think that we shall find that we have a long and
+     rather complex day's work before us. I should be glad, Lestrade, if
+     you could make it convenient to meet us at Baker Street at six
+     o'clock this evening. Until then I should like to keep this
+     photograph found in the dead man's pocket. It is possible that I may
+     have to ask your company and assistance upon a small expedition which
+     will have be undertaken to-night, if my chain of reasoning should
+     prove to be correct. Until then, good-bye and good luck!"
+
+     Sherlock Holmes and I walked together to the High Street, where he
+     stopped at the shop of Harding Brothers, whence the bust had been
+     purchased. A young assistant informed us that Mr. Harding would be
+     absent until after noon, and that he was himself a newcomer who could
+     give us no information. Holmes's face showed his disappointment and
+     annoyance.
+
+     "Well, well, we can't expect to have it all our own way, Watson," he
+     said, at last. "We must come back in the afternoon if Mr. Harding
+     will not be here until then. I am, as you have no doubt surmised,
+     endeavouring to trace these busts to their source, in order to find
+     if there is not something peculiar which may account for their
+     remarkable fate. Let us make for Mr. Morse Hudson, of the Kennington
+     Road, and see if he can throw any light upon the problem."
+
+     A drive of an hour brought us to the picture-dealer's establishment.
+     He was a small, stout man with a red face and a peppery manner.
+
+     "Yes, sir. On my very counter, sir," said he. "What we pay rates and
+     taxes for I don't know, when any ruffian can come in and break one's
+     goods. Yes, sir, it was I who sold Dr. Barnicot his two statues.
+     Disgraceful, sir! A Nihilist plot, that's what I make it. No one but
+     an Anarchist would go about breaking statues. Red republicans, that's
+     what I call 'em. Who did I get the statues from? I don't see what
+     that has to do with it. Well, if you really want to know, I got them
+     from Gelder & Co., in Church Street, Stepney. They are a well-known
+     house in the trade, and have been this twenty years. How many had I?
+     Three--two and one are three--two of Dr. Barnicot's and one smashed
+     in broad daylight on my own counter. Do I know that photograph? No, I
+     don't. Yes, I do, though. Why, it's Beppo. He was a kind of Italian
+     piece-work man, who made himself useful in the shop. He could carve a
+     bit and gild and frame, and do odd jobs. The fellow left me last
+     week, and I've heard nothing of him since. No, I don't know where he
+     came from nor where he went to. I have nothing against him while he
+     was here. He was gone two days before the bust was smashed."
+
+     "Well, that's all we could reasonably expect to get from Morse
+     Hudson," said Holmes, as we emerged from the shop. "We have this
+     Beppo as a common factor, both in Kennington and in Kensington, so
+     that is worth a ten-mile drive. Now, Watson, let us make for Gelder &
+     Co., of Stepney, the source and origin of busts. I shall be surprised
+     if we don't get some help down there."
+
+     In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable
+     London, hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, commercial
+     London, and, finally, maritime London, till we came to a riverside
+     city of a hundred thousand souls, where the tenement houses swelter
+     and reek with the outcasts of Europe. Here, in a broad thoroughfare,
+     once the abode of wealthy City merchants, we found the sculpture
+     works for which we searched. Outside was a considerable yard full of
+     monumental masonry. Inside was a large room in which fifty workers
+     were carving or moulding. The manager, a big blond German, received
+     us civilly, and gave a clear answer to all Holmes's questions. A
+     reference to his books showed that hundreds of casts had been taken
+     from a marble copy of Devine's head of Napoleon, but that the three
+     which had been sent to Morse Hudson a year or so before had been half
+     of a batch of six, the other three being sent to Harding Brothers, of
+     Kensington. There was no reason why those six should be different to
+     any of the other casts. He could suggest no possible cause why anyone
+     should wish to destroy them--in fact, he laughed at the idea. Their
+     wholesale price was six shillings, but the retailer would get twelve
+     or more. The cast was taken in two moulds from each side of the face,
+     and then these two profiles of plaster of Paris were joined together
+     to make the complete bust. The work was usually done by Italians in
+     the room we were in. When finished the busts were put on a table in
+     the passage to dry, and afterwards stored. That was all he could tell
+     us.
+
+     But the production of the photograph had a remarkable effect upon the
+     manager. His face flushed with anger, and his brows knotted over his
+     blue Teutonic eyes.
+
+     "Ah, the rascal!" he cried. "Yes, indeed, I know him very well. This
+     has always been a respectable establishment, and the only time that
+     we have ever had the police in it was over this very fellow. It was
+     more than a year ago now. He knifed another Italian in the street,
+     and then he came to the works with the police on his heels, and he
+     was taken here. Beppo was his name--his second name I never knew.
+     Serve me right for engaging a man with such a face. But he was a good
+     workman, one of the best."
+
+     "What did he get?"
+
+     "The man lived and he got off with a year. I have no doubt he is out
+     now; but he has not dared to show his nose here. We have a cousin of
+     his here, and I dare say he could tell you where he is."
+
+     "No, no," cried Holmes, "not a word to the cousin--not a word, I beg
+     you. The matter is very important, and the farther I go with it the
+     more important it seems to grow. When you referred in your ledger to
+     the sale of those casts I observed that the date was June 3rd of last
+     year. Could you give me the date when Beppo was arrested?"
+
+     "I could tell you roughly by the pay-list," the manager answered.
+     "Yes," he continued, after some turning over of pages, "he was paid
+     last on May 20th."
+
+     "Thank you," said Holmes. "I don't think that I need intrude upon
+     your time and patience any more." With a last word of caution that he
+     should say nothing as to our researches we turned our faces westward
+     once more.
+
+     The afternoon was far advanced before we were able to snatch a hasty
+     luncheon at a restaurant. A news-bill at the entrance announced
+     "Kensington Outrage. Murder by a Madman," and the contents of the
+     paper showed that Mr. Horace Harker had got his account into print
+     after all. Two columns were occupied with a highly sensational and
+     flowery rendering of the whole incident. Holmes propped it against
+     the cruet-stand and read it while he ate. Once or twice he chuckled.
+
+     "This is all right, Watson," said he. "Listen to this:
+
+     "It is satisfactory to know that there can be no difference of
+     opinion upon this case, since Mr. Lestrade, one of the most
+     experienced members of the official force, and Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
+     the well-known consulting expert, have each come to the conclusion
+     that the grotesque series of incidents, which have ended in so tragic
+     a fashion, arise from lunacy rather than from deliberate crime. No
+     explanation save mental aberration can cover the facts.
+
+     "The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution if you only know
+     how to use it. And now, if you have quite finished, we will hark back
+     to Kensington and see what the manager of Harding Brothers has to say
+     to the matter."
+
+     The founder of that great emporium proved to be a brisk, crisp little
+     person, very dapper and quick, with a clear head and a ready tongue.
+
+     "Yes, sir, I have already read the account in the evening papers. Mr.
+     Horace Harker is a customer of ours. We supplied him with the bust
+     some months ago. We ordered three busts of that sort from Gelder &
+     Co., of Stepney. They are all sold now. To whom? Oh, I dare say by
+     consulting our sales book we could very easily tell you. Yes, we have
+     the entries here. One to Mr. Harker, you see, and one to Mr. Josiah
+     Brown, of Laburnum Lodge, Laburnum Vale, Chiswick, and one to Mr.
+     Sandeford, of Lower Grove Road, Reading. No, I have never seen this
+     face which you show me in the photograph. You would hardly forget it,
+     would you, sir, for I've seldom seen an uglier. Have we any Italians
+     on the staff? Yes, sir, we have several among our workpeople and
+     cleaners. I dare say they might get a peep at that sales book if they
+     wanted to. There is no particular reason for keeping a watch upon
+     that book. Well, well, it's a very strange business, and I hope that
+     you'll let me know if anything comes of your inquiries."
+
+     Holmes had taken several notes during Mr. Harding's evidence, and I
+     could see that he was thoroughly satisfied by the turn which affairs
+     were taking. He made no remark, however, save that, unless we
+     hurried, we should be late for our appointment with Lestrade. Sure
+     enough, when we reached Baker Street the detective was already there,
+     and we found him pacing up and down in a fever of impatience. His
+     look of importance showed that his day's work had not been in vain.
+
+     "Well?" he asked. "What luck, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "We have had a very busy day, and not entirely a wasted one," my
+     friend explained. "We have seen both the retailers and also the
+     wholesale manufacturers. I can trace each of the busts now from the
+     beginning."
+
+     "The busts!" cried Lestrade. "Well, well, you have your own methods,
+     Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and it is not for me to say a word against them,
+     but I think I have done a better day's work than you. I have
+     identified the dead man."
+
+     "You don't say so?"
+
+     "And found a cause for the crime."
+
+     "Splendid!"
+
+     "We have an inspector who makes a specialty of Saffron Hill and the
+     Italian quarter. Well, this dead man had some Catholic emblem round
+     his neck, and that, along with his colour, made me think he was from
+     the South. Inspector Hill knew him the moment he caught sight of him.
+     His name is Pietro Venucci, from Naples, and he is one of the
+     greatest cut-throats in London. He is connected with the Mafia,
+     which, as you know, is a secret political society, enforcing its
+     decrees by murder. Now you see how the affair begins to clear up. The
+     other fellow is probably an Italian also, and a member of the Mafia.
+     He has broken the rules in some fashion. Pietro is set upon his
+     track. Probably the photograph we found in his pocket is the man
+     himself, so that he may not knife the wrong person. He dogs the
+     fellow, he sees him enter a house, he waits outside for him, and in
+     the scuffle he receives his own death-wound. How is that, Mr.
+     Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+     Holmes clapped his hands approvingly.
+
+     "Excellent, Lestrade, excellent!" he cried. "But I didn't quite
+     follow your explanation of the destruction of the busts."
+
+     "The busts! You never can get those busts out of your head. After
+     all, that is nothing; petty larceny, six months at the most. It is
+     the murder that we are really investigating, and I tell you that I am
+     gathering all the threads into my hands."
+
+     "And the next stage?"
+
+     "Is a very simple one. I shall go down with Hill to the Italian
+     quarter, find the man whose photograph we have got, and arrest him on
+     the charge of murder. Will you come with us?"
+
+     "I think not. I fancy we can attain our end in a simpler way. I can't
+     say for certain, because it all depends--well, it all depends upon a
+     factor which is completely outside our control. But I have great
+     hopes--in fact, the betting is exactly two to one--that if you will
+     come with us to-night I shall be able to help you to lay him by the
+     heels."
+
+     "In the Italian quarter?"
+
+     "No; I fancy Chiswick is an address which is more likely to find him.
+     If you will come with me to Chiswick to-night, Lestrade, I'll promise
+     to go to the Italian quarter with you to-morrow, and no harm will be
+     done by the delay. And now I think that a few hours' sleep would do
+     us all good, for I do not propose to leave before eleven o'clock, and
+     it is unlikely that we shall be back before morning. You'll dine with
+     us, Lestrade, and then you are welcome to the sofa until it is time
+     for us to start. In the meantime, Watson, I should be glad if you
+     would ring for an express messenger, for I have a letter to send, and
+     it is important that it should go at once."
+
+     Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the old
+     daily papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed. When at
+     last he descended it was with triumph in his eyes, but he said
+     nothing to either of us as to the result of his researches. For my
+     own part, I had followed step by step the methods by which he had
+     traced the various windings of this complex case, and, though I could
+     not yet perceive the goal which we would reach, I understood clearly
+     that Holmes expected this grotesque criminal to make an attempt upon
+     the two remaining busts, one of which, I remembered, was at Chiswick.
+     No doubt the object of our journey was to catch him in the very act,
+     and I could not but admire the cunning with which my friend had
+     inserted a wrong clue in the evening paper, so as to give the fellow
+     the idea that he could continue his scheme with impunity. I was not
+     surprised when Holmes suggested that I should take my revolver with
+     me. He had himself picked up the loaded hunting-crop which was his
+     favourite weapon.
+
+     A four-wheeler was at the door at eleven, and in it we drove to a
+     spot at the other side of Hammersmith Bridge. Here the cabman was
+     directed to wait. A short walk brought us to a secluded road fringed
+     with pleasant houses, each standing in its own grounds. In the light
+     of a street lamp we read "Laburnum Villa" upon the gate-post of one
+     of them. The occupants had evidently retired to rest, for all was
+     dark save for a fanlight over the hall door, which shed a single
+     blurred circle on to the garden path. The wooden fence which
+     separated the grounds from the road threw a dense black shadow upon
+     the inner side, and here it was that we crouched.
+
+     "I fear that you'll have a long wait," Holmes whispered. "We may
+     thank our stars that it is not raining. I don't think we can even
+     venture to smoke to pass the time. However, it's a two to one chance
+     that we get something to pay us for our trouble."
+
+     It proved, however, that our vigil was not to be so long as Holmes
+     had led us to fear, and it ended in a very sudden and singular
+     fashion. In an instant, without the least sound to warn us of his
+     coming, the garden gate swung open, and a lithe, dark figure, as
+     swift and active as an ape, rushed up the garden path. We saw it
+     whisk past the light thrown from over the door and disappear against
+     the black shadow of the house. There was a long pause, during which
+     we held our breath, and then a very gentle creaking sound came to our
+     ears. The window was being opened. The noise ceased, and again there
+     was a long silence. The fellow was making his way into the house. We
+     saw the sudden flash of a dark lantern inside the room. What he
+     sought was evidently not there, for again we saw the flash through
+     another blind, and then through another.
+
+     "Let us get to the open window. We will nab him as he climbs out,"
+     Lestrade whispered.
+
+     But before we could move the man had emerged again. As he came out
+     into the glimmering patch of light we saw that he carried something
+     white under his arm. He looked stealthily all round him. The silence
+     of the deserted street reassured him. Turning his back upon us he
+     laid down his burden, and the next instant there was the sound of a
+     sharp tap, followed by a clatter and rattle. The man was so intent
+     upon what he was doing that he never heard our steps as we stole
+     across the grass plot. With the bound of a tiger Holmes was on his
+     back, and an instant later Lestrade and I had him by either wrist and
+     the handcuffs had been fastened. As we turned him over I saw a
+     hideous, sallow face, with writhing, furious features, glaring up at
+     us, and I knew that it was indeed the man of the photograph whom we
+     had secured.
+
+     But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was giving his attention.
+     Squatted on the doorstep, he was engaged in most carefully examining
+     that which the man had brought from the house. It was a bust of
+     Napoleon like the one which we had seen that morning, and it had been
+     broken into similar fragments. Carefully Holmes held each separate
+     shard to the light, but in no way did it differ from any other
+     shattered piece of plaster. He had just completed his examination
+     when the hall lights flew up, the door opened, and the owner of the
+     house, a jovial, rotund figure in shirt and trousers, presented
+     himself.
+
+     "Mr. Josiah Brown, I suppose?" said Holmes.
+
+     "Yes, sir; and you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes? I had the note
+     which you sent by the express messenger, and I did exactly what you
+     told me. We locked every door on the inside and awaited developments.
+     Well, I'm very glad to see that you have got the rascal. I hope,
+     gentlemen, that you will come in and have some refreshment."
+
+     However, Lestrade was anxious to get his man into safe quarters, so
+     within a few minutes our cab had been summoned and we were all four
+     upon our way to London. Not a word would our captive say; but he
+     glared at us from the shadow of his matted hair, and once, when my
+     hand seemed within his reach, he snapped at it like a hungry wolf. We
+     stayed long enough at the police-station to learn that a search of
+     his clothing revealed nothing save a few shillings and a long sheath
+     knife, the handle of which bore copious traces of recent blood.
+
+     "That's all right," said Lestrade, as we parted. "Hill knows all
+     these gentry, and he will give a name to him. You'll find that my
+     theory of the Mafia will work out all right. But I'm sure I am
+     exceedingly obliged to you, Mr. Holmes, for the workmanlike way in
+     which you laid hands upon him. I don't quite understand it all yet."
+
+     "I fear it is rather too late an hour for explanations," said Holmes.
+     "Besides, there are one or two details which are not finished off,
+     and it is one of those cases which are worth working out to the very
+     end. If you will come round once more to my rooms at six o'clock
+     to-morrow I think I shall be able to show you that even now you have
+     not grasped the entire meaning of this business, which presents some
+     features which make it absolutely original in the history of crime.
+     If ever I permit you to chronicle any more of my little problems,
+     Watson, I foresee that you will enliven your pages by an account of
+     the singular adventure of the Napoleonic busts."
+
+     When we met again next evening Lestrade was furnished with much
+     information concerning our prisoner. His name, it appeared, was
+     Beppo, second name unknown. He was a well-known ne'er-do-well among
+     the Italian colony. He had once been a skilful sculptor and had
+     earned an honest living, but he had taken to evil courses and had
+     twice already been in jail--once for a petty theft and once, as we
+     had already heard, for stabbing a fellow-countryman. He could talk
+     English perfectly well. His reasons for destroying the busts were
+     still unknown, and he refused to answer any questions upon the
+     subject; but the police had discovered that these same busts might
+     very well have been made by his own hands, since he was engaged in
+     this class of work at the establishment of Gelder & Co. To all this
+     information, much of which we already knew, Holmes listened with
+     polite attention; but I, who knew him so well, could clearly see that
+     his thoughts were elsewhere, and I detected a mixture of mingled
+     uneasiness and expectation beneath that mask which he was wont to
+     assume. At last he started in his chair and his eyes brightened.
+     There had been a ring at the bell. A minute later we heard steps upon
+     the stairs, and an elderly, red-faced man with grizzled side-whiskers
+     was ushered in. In his right hand he carried an old-fashioned
+     carpet-bag, which he placed upon the table.
+
+     "Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?"
+
+     My friend bowed and smiled. "Mr. Sandeford, of Reading, I suppose?"
+     said he.
+
+     "Yes, sir, I fear that I am a little late; but the trains were
+     awkward. You wrote to me about a bust that is in my possession."
+
+     "Exactly."
+
+     "I have your letter here. You said, 'I desire to possess a copy of
+     Devine's Napoleon, and am prepared to pay you ten pounds for the one
+     which is in your possession.' Is that right?"
+
+     "Certainly."
+
+     "I was very much surprised at your letter, for I could not imagine
+     how you knew that I owned such a thing."
+
+     "Of course you must have been surprised, but the explanation is very
+     simple. Mr. Harding, of Harding Brothers, said that they had sold you
+     their last copy, and he gave me your address."
+
+     "Oh, that was it, was it? Did he tell you what I paid for it?"
+
+     "No, he did not."
+
+     "Well, I am an honest man, though not a very rich one. I only gave
+     fifteen shillings for the bust, and I think you ought to know that
+     before I take ten pounds from you."
+
+     "I am sure the scruple does you honour, Mr. Sandeford. But I have
+     named that price, so I intend to stick to it."
+
+     "Well, it is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes. I brought the bust up
+     with me, as you asked me to do. Here it is!" He opened his bag, and
+     at last we saw placed upon our table a complete specimen of that bust
+     which we had already seen more than once in fragments.
+
+     Holmes took a paper from his pocket and laid a ten-pound note upon
+     the table.
+
+     "You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence of
+     these witnesses. It is simply to say that you transfer every possible
+     right that you ever had in the bust to me. I am a methodical man, you
+     see, and you never know what turn events might take afterwards. Thank
+     you, Mr. Sandeford; here is your money, and I wish you a very good
+     evening."
+
+     When our visitor had disappeared Sherlock Holmes's movements were
+     such as to rivet our attention. He began by taking a clean white
+     cloth from a drawer and laying it over the table. Then he placed his
+     newly-acquired bust in the centre of the cloth. Finally, he picked up
+     his hunting-crop and struck Napoleon a sharp blow on the top of the
+     head. The figure broke into fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over
+     the shattered remains. Next instant, with a loud shout of triumph, he
+     held up one splinter, in which a round, dark object was fixed like a
+     plum in a pudding.
+
+     "Gentlemen," he cried, "let me introduce you to the famous black
+     pearl of the Borgias."
+
+     Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous
+     impulse, we both broke out clapping as at the well-wrought crisis of
+     a play. A flush of colour sprang to Holmes's pale cheeks, and he
+     bowed to us like the master dramatist who receives the homage of his
+     audience. It was at such moments that for an instant he ceased to be
+     a reasoning machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and
+     applause. The same singularly proud and reserved nature which turned
+     away with disdain from popular notoriety was capable of being moved
+     to its depths by spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend.
+
+     "Yes, gentlemen," said he, "it is the most famous pearl now existing
+     in the world, and it has been my good fortune, by a connected chain
+     of inductive reasoning, to trace it from the Prince of Colonna's
+     bedroom at the Dacre Hotel, where it was lost, to the interior of
+     this, the last of the six busts of Napoleon which were manufactured
+     by Gelder & Co., of Stepney. You will remember, Lestrade, the
+     sensation caused by the disappearance of this valuable jewel, and the
+     vain efforts of the London police to recover it. I was myself
+     consulted upon the case; but I was unable to throw any light upon it.
+     Suspicion fell upon the maid of the Princess, who was an Italian, and
+     it was proved that she had a brother in London, but we failed to
+     trace any connection between them. The maid's name was Lucretia
+     Venucci, and there is no doubt in my mind that this Pietro who was
+     murdered two nights ago was the brother. I have been looking up the
+     dates in the old files of the paper, and I find that the
+     disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days before the arrest of
+     Beppo for some crime of violence, an event which took place in the
+     factory of Gelder & Co., at the very moment when these busts were
+     being made. Now you clearly see the sequence of events, though you
+     see them, of course, in the inverse order to the way in which they
+     presented themselves to me. Beppo had the pearl in his possession. He
+     may have stolen it from Pietro, he may have been Pietro's
+     confederate, he may have been the go-between of Pietro and his
+     sister. It is of no consequence to us which is the correct solution.
+
+     "The main fact is that he had the pearl, and at that moment, when it
+     was on his person, he was pursued by the police. He made for the
+     factory in which he worked, and he knew that he had only a few
+     minutes in which to conceal this enormously valuable prize, which
+     would otherwise be found on him when he was searched. Six plaster
+     casts of Napoleon were drying in the passage. One of them was still
+     soft. In an instant Beppo, a skilful workman, made a small hole in
+     the wet plaster, dropped in the pearl, and with a few touches covered
+     over the aperture once more. It was an admirable hiding-place. No one
+     could possibly find it. But Beppo was condemned to a year's
+     imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his six busts were scattered over
+     London. He could not tell which contained his treasure. Only by
+     breaking them could he see. Even shaking would tell him nothing, for
+     as the plaster was wet it was probable that the pearl would adhere to
+     it--as, in fact, it has done. Beppo did not despair, and he conducted
+     his search with considerable ingenuity and perseverance. Through a
+     cousin who works with Gelder he found out the retail firms who had
+     bought the busts. He managed to find employment with Morse Hudson,
+     and in that way tracked down three of them. The pearl was not there.
+     Then, with the help of some Italian employe, he succeeded in finding
+     out where the other three busts had gone. The first was at Harker's.
+     There he was dogged by his confederate, who held Beppo responsible
+     for the loss of the pearl, and he stabbed him in the scuffle which
+     followed."
+
+     "If he was his confederate why should he carry his photograph?" I
+     asked.
+
+     "As a means of tracing him if he wished to inquire about him from any
+     third person. That was the obvious reason. Well, after the murder I
+     calculated that Beppo would probably hurry rather than delay his
+     movements. He would fear that the police would read his secret, and
+     so he hastened on before they should get ahead of him. Of course, I
+     could not say that he had not found the pearl in Harker's bust. I had
+     not even concluded for certain that it was the pearl; but it was
+     evident to me that he was looking for something, since he carried the
+     bust past the other houses in order to break it in the garden which
+     had a lamp overlooking it. Since Harker's bust was one in three the
+     chances were exactly as I told you, two to one against the pearl
+     being inside it. There remained two busts, and it was obvious that he
+     would go for the London one first. I warned the inmates of the house,
+     so as to avoid a second tragedy, and we went down with the happiest
+     results. By that time, of course, I knew for certain that it was the
+     Borgia pearl that we were after. The name of the murdered man linked
+     the one event with the other. There only remained a single bust--the
+     Reading one--and the pearl must be there. I bought it in your
+     presence from the owner--and there it lies."
+
+     We sat in silence for a moment.
+
+     "Well," said Lestrade, "I've seen you handle a good many cases, Mr.
+     Holmes, but I don't know that I ever knew a more workmanlike one than
+     that. We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No, sir, we are very
+     proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow there's not a man, from
+     the oldest inspector to the youngest constable, who wouldn't be glad
+     to shake you by the hand."
+
+     "Thank you!" said Holmes. "Thank you!" and as he turned away it
+     seemed to me that he was more nearly moved by the softer human
+     emotions than I had ever seen him. A moment later he was the cold and
+     practical thinker once more. "Put the pearl in the safe, Watson,"
+     said he, "and get out the papers of the Conk-Singleton forgery case.
+     Good-bye, Lestrade. If any little problem comes your way I shall be
+     happy, if I can, to give you a hint or two as to its solution."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE STUDENTS
+
+     It was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which I
+     need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some
+     weeks in one of our great University towns, and it was during this
+     time that the small but instructive adventure which I am about to
+     relate befell us. It will be obvious that any details which would
+     help the reader to exactly identify the college or the criminal would
+     be injudicious and offensive. So painful a scandal may well be
+     allowed to die out. With due discretion the incident itself may,
+     however, be described, since it serves to illustrate some of those
+     qualities for which my friend was remarkable. I will endeavour in my
+     statement to avoid such terms as would serve to limit the events to
+     any particular place, or give a clue as to the people concerned.
+
+     We were residing at the time in furnished lodgings close to a library
+     where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious researches in early
+     English charters--researches which led to results so striking that
+     they may be the subject of one of my future narratives. Here it was
+     that one evening we received a visit from an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton
+     Soames, tutor and lecturer at the College of St. Luke's. Mr. Soames
+     was a tall, spare man, of a nervous and excitable temperament. I had
+     always known him to be restless in his manner, but on this particular
+     occasion he was in such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it
+     was clear something very unusual had occurred.
+
+     "I trust, Mr. Holmes, that you can spare me a few hours of your
+     valuable time. We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke's, and
+     really, but for the happy chance of your being in the town, I should
+     have been at a loss what to do."
+
+     "I am very busy just now, and I desire no distractions," my friend
+     answered. "I should much prefer that you called in the aid of the
+     police."
+
+     "No, no, my dear sir; such a course is utterly impossible. When once
+     the law is evoked it cannot be stayed again, and this is just one of
+     those cases where, for the credit of the college, it is most
+     essential to avoid scandal. Your discretion is as well known as your
+     powers, and you are the one man in the world who can help me. I beg
+     you, Mr. Holmes, to do what you can."
+
+     My friend's temper had not improved since he had been deprived of the
+     congenial surroundings of Baker Street. Without his scrap-books, his
+     chemicals, and his homely untidiness, he was an uncomfortable man. He
+     shrugged his shoulders in ungracious acquiescence, while our visitor
+     in hurried words and with much excitable gesticulation poured forth
+     his story.
+
+     "I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first day
+     of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship. I am one of the
+     examiners. My subject is Greek, and the first of the papers consists
+     of a large passage of Greek translation which the candidate has not
+     seen. This passage is printed on the examination paper, and it would
+     naturally be an immense advantage if the candidate could prepare it
+     in advance. For this reason great care is taken to keep the paper
+     secret.
+
+     "To-day about three o'clock the proofs of this paper arrived from the
+     printers. The exercise consists of half a chapter of Thucydides. I
+     had to read it over carefully, as the text must be absolutely
+     correct. At four-thirty my task was not yet completed. I had,
+     however, promised to take tea in a friend's rooms, so I left the
+     proof upon my desk. I was absent rather more than an hour.
+
+     "You are aware, Mr. Holmes, that our college doors are double--a
+     green baize one within and a heavy oak one without. As I approached
+     my outer door I was amazed to see a key in it. For an instant I
+     imagined that I had left my own there, but on feeling in my pocket I
+     found that it was all right. The only duplicate which existed, so far
+     as I knew, was that which belonged to my servant, Bannister, a man
+     who has looked after my room for ten years, and whose honesty is
+     absolutely above suspicion. I found that the key was indeed his, that
+     he had entered my room to know if I wanted tea, and that he had very
+     carelessly left the key in the door when he came out. His visit to my
+     room must have been within a very few minutes of my leaving it. His
+     forgetfulness about the key would have mattered little upon any other
+     occasion, but on this one day it has produced the most deplorable
+     consequences.
+
+     "The moment I looked at my table I was aware that someone had
+     rummaged among my papers. The proof was in three long slips. I had
+     left them all together. Now, I found that one of them was lying on
+     the floor, one was on the side table near the window, and the third
+     was where I had left it."
+
+     Holmes stirred for the first time.
+
+     "The first page on the floor, the second in the window, the third
+     where you left it," said he.
+
+     "Exactly, Mr. Holmes. You amaze me. How could you possibly know
+     that?"
+
+     "Pray continue your very interesting statement."
+
+     "For an instant I imagined that Bannister had taken the unpardonable
+     liberty of examining my papers. He denied it, however, with the
+     utmost earnestness, and I am convinced that he was speaking the
+     truth. The alternative was that someone passing had observed the key
+     in the door, had known that I was out, and had entered to look at the
+     papers. A large sum of money is at stake, for the scholarship is a
+     very valuable one, and an unscrupulous man might very well run a risk
+     in order to gain an advantage over his fellows.
+
+     "Bannister was very much upset by the incident. He had nearly fainted
+     when we found that the papers had undoubtedly been tampered with. I
+     gave him a little brandy and left him collapsed in a chair while I
+     made a most careful examination of the room. I soon saw that the
+     intruder had left other traces of his presence besides the rumpled
+     papers. On the table in the window were several shreds from a pencil
+     which had been sharpened. A broken tip of lead was lying there also.
+     Evidently the rascal had copied the paper in a great hurry, had
+     broken his pencil, and had been compelled to put a fresh point to
+     it."
+
+     "Excellent!" said Holmes, who was recovering his good-humour as his
+     attention became more engrossed by the case. "Fortune has been your
+     friend."
+
+     "This was not all. I have a new writing-table with a fine surface of
+     red leather. I am prepared to swear, and so is Bannister, that it was
+     smooth and unstained. Now I found a clean cut in it about three
+     inches long--not a mere scratch, but a positive cut. Not only this,
+     but on the table I found a small ball of black dough, or clay, with
+     specks of something which looks like sawdust in it. I am convinced
+     that these marks were left by the man who rifled the papers. There
+     were no footmarks and no other evidence as to his identity. I was at
+     my wits' ends, when suddenly the happy thought occurred to me that
+     you were in the town, and I came straight round to put the matter
+     into your hands. Do help me, Mr. Holmes! You see my dilemma. Either I
+     must find the man or else the examination must be postponed until
+     fresh papers are prepared, and since this cannot be done without
+     explanation there will ensue a hideous scandal, which will throw a
+     cloud not only on the college, but on the University. Above all
+     things I desire to settle the matter quietly and discreetly."
+
+     "I shall be happy to look into it and to give you such advice as I
+     can," said Holmes, rising and putting on his overcoat. "The case is
+     not entirely devoid of interest. Had anyone visited you in your room
+     after the papers came to you?"
+
+     "Yes; young Daulat Ras, an Indian student who lives on the same
+     stair, came in to ask me some particulars about the examination."
+
+     "For which he was entered?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "And the papers were on your table?"
+
+     "To the best of my belief they were rolled up."
+
+     "But might be recognised as proofs?"
+
+     "Possibly."
+
+     "No one else in your room?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "Did anyone know that these proofs would be there?"
+
+     "No one save the printer."
+
+     "Did this man Bannister know?"
+
+     "No, certainly not. No one knew."
+
+     "Where is Bannister now?"
+
+     "He was very ill, poor fellow. I left him collapsed in the chair. I
+     was in such a hurry to come to you."
+
+     "You left your door open?"
+
+     "I locked up the papers first."
+
+     "Then it amounts to this, Mr. Soames, that unless the Indian student
+     recognised the roll as being proofs, the man who tampered with them
+     came upon them accidentally without knowing that they were there."
+
+     "So it seems to me."
+
+     Holmes gave an enigmatic smile.
+
+     "Well," said he, "let us go round. Not one of your cases,
+     Watson--mental, not physical. All right; come if you want to. Now,
+     Mr. Soames--at your disposal!"
+
+      The sitting-room of our client opened by a long, low, latticed
+     window on to the ancient lichen-tinted court of the old college. A
+     Gothic arched door led to a worn stone staircase. On the ground floor
+     was the tutor's room. Above were three students, one on each story.
+     It was already twilight when we reached the scene of our problem.
+     Holmes halted and looked earnestly at the window. Then he approached
+     it, and, standing on tiptoe with his neck craned, he looked into the
+     room.
+
+     "He must have entered through the door. There is no opening except
+     the one pane," said our learned guide.
+
+     "Dear me!" said Holmes, and he smiled in a singular way as he glanced
+     at our companion. "Well, if there is nothing to be learned here we
+     had best go inside."
+
+     The lecturer unlocked the outer door and ushered us into his room. We
+     stood at the entrance while Holmes made an examination of the carpet.
+
+     "I am afraid there are no signs here," said he. "One could hardly
+     hope for any upon so dry a day. Your servant seems to have quite
+     recovered. You left him in a chair, you say; which chair?"
+
+     "By the window there."
+
+     "I see. Near this little table. You can come in now. I have finished
+     with the carpet. Let us take the little table first. Of course, what
+     has happened is very clear. The man entered and took the papers,
+     sheet by sheet, from the central table. He carried them over to the
+     window table, because from there he could see if you came across the
+     courtyard, and so could effect an escape."
+
+     "As a matter of fact he could not," said Soames, "for I entered by
+     the side door."
+
+     "Ah, that's good! Well, anyhow, that was in his mind. Let me see the
+     three strips. No finger impressions--no! Well, he carried over this
+     one first and he copied it. How long would it take him to do that,
+     using every possible contraction? A quarter of an hour, not less.
+     Then he tossed it down and seized the next. He was in the midst of
+     that when your return caused him to make a very hurried retreat--very
+     hurried, since he had not time to replace the papers which would tell
+     you that he had been there. You were not aware of any hurrying feet
+     on the stair as you entered the outer door?"
+
+     "No, I can't say I was."
+
+     "Well, he wrote so furiously that he broke his pencil, and had, as
+     you observe, to sharpen it again. This is of interest, Watson. The
+     pencil was not an ordinary one. It was above the usual size, with a
+     soft lead; the outer colour was dark blue, the maker's name was
+     printed in silver lettering, and the piece remaining is only about an
+     inch and a half long. Look for such a pencil, Mr. Soames, and you
+     have got your man. When I add that he possesses a large and very
+     blunt knife, you have an additional aid."
+
+     Mr. Soames was somewhat overwhelmed by this flood of information. "I
+     can follow the other points," said he, "but really, in this matter of
+     the length--"
+
+     Holmes held out a small chip with the letters NN and a space of clear
+     wood after them.
+
+     "You see?"
+
+     "No, I fear that even now--"
+
+     "Watson, I have always done you an injustice. There are others. What
+     could this NN be? It is at the end of a word. You are aware that
+     Johann Faber is the most common maker's name. Is it not clear that
+     there is just as much of the pencil left as usually follows the
+     Johann?" He held the small table sideways to the electric light. "I
+     was hoping that if the paper on which he wrote was thin some trace of
+     it might come through upon this polished surface. No, I see nothing.
+     I don't think there is anything more to be learned here. Now for the
+     central table. This small pellet is, I presume, the black, doughy
+     mass you spoke of. Roughly pyramidal in shape and hollowed out, I
+     perceive. As you say, there appear to be grains of sawdust in it.
+     Dear me, this is very interesting. And the cut--a positive tear, I
+     see. It began with a thin scratch and ended in a jagged hole. I am
+     much indebted to you for directing my attention to this case, Mr.
+     Soames. Where does that door lead to?"
+
+     "To my bedroom."
+
+     "Have you been in it since your adventure?"
+
+     "No; I came straight away for you."
+
+     "I should like to have a glance round. What a charming, old-fashioned
+     room! Perhaps you will kindly wait a minute until I have examined the
+     floor. No, I see nothing. What about this curtain? You hang your
+     clothes behind it. If anyone were forced to conceal himself in this
+     room he must do it there, since the bed is too low and the wardrobe
+     too shallow. No one there, I suppose?"
+
+     As Holmes drew the curtain I was aware, from some little rigidity and
+     alertness of his attitude, that he was prepared for an emergency. As
+     a matter of fact the drawn curtain disclosed nothing but three or
+     four suits of clothes hanging from a line of pegs. Holmes turned away
+     and stooped suddenly to the floor.
+
+     "Halloa! What's this?" said he.
+
+     It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like the
+     one upon the table of the study. Holmes held it out on his open palm
+     in the glare of the electric light.
+
+     "Your visitor seems to have left traces in your bedroom as well as in
+     your sitting-room, Mr. Soames."
+
+     "What could he have wanted there?"
+
+     "I think it is clear enough. You came back by an unexpected way, and
+     so he had no warning until you were at the very door. What could he
+     do? He caught up everything which would betray him and he rushed into
+     your bedroom to conceal himself."
+
+     "Good gracious, Mr. Holmes, do you mean to tell me that all the time
+     I was talking to Bannister in this room we had the man prisoner if we
+     had only known it?"
+
+     "So I read it."
+
+     "Surely there is another alternative, Mr. Holmes. I don't know
+     whether you observed my bedroom window?"
+
+     "Lattice-paned, lead framework, three separate windows, one swinging
+     on hinge and large enough to admit a man."
+
+     "Exactly. And it looks out on an angle of the courtyard so as to be
+     partly invisible. The man might have effected his entrance there,
+     left traces as he passed through the bedroom, and, finally, finding
+     the door open have escaped that way."
+
+     Holmes shook his head impatiently.
+
+     "Let us be practical," said he. "I understand you to say that there
+     are three students who use this stair and are in the habit of passing
+     your door?"
+
+     "Yes, there are."
+
+     "And they are all in for this examination?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "Have you any reason to suspect any one of them more than the
+     others?"
+
+     Soames hesitated.
+
+     "It is a very delicate question," said he. "One hardly likes to throw
+     suspicion where there are no proofs."
+
+     "Let us hear the suspicions. I will look after the proofs."
+
+     "I will tell you, then, in a few words the character of the three men
+     who inhabit these rooms. The lower of the three is Gilchrist, a fine
+     scholar and athlete; plays in the Rugby team and the cricket team for
+     the college, and got his Blue for the hurdles and the long jump. He
+     is a fine, manly fellow. His father was the notorious Sir Jabez
+     Gilchrist, who ruined himself on the turf. My scholar has been left
+     very poor, but he is hard-working and industrious. He will do well.
+
+     "The second floor is inhabited by Daulat Ras, the Indian. He is a
+     quiet, inscrutable fellow, as most of those Indians are. He is well
+     up in his work, though his Greek is his weak subject. He is steady
+     and methodical.
+
+     "The top floor belongs to Miles McLaren. He is a brilliant fellow
+     when he chooses to work--one of the brightest intellects of the
+     University, but he is wayward, dissipated, and unprincipled. He was
+     nearly expelled over a card scandal in his first year. He has been
+     idling all this term, and he must look forward with dread to the
+     examination."
+
+     "Then it is he whom you suspect?"
+
+     "I dare not go so far as that. But of the three he is perhaps the
+     least unlikely."
+
+     "Exactly. Now, Mr. Soames, let us have a look at your servant,
+     Bannister."
+
+     He was a little, white-faced, clean-shaven, grizzly-haired fellow of
+     fifty. He was still suffering from this sudden disturbance of the
+     quiet routine of his life. His plump face was twitching with his
+     nervousness, and his fingers could not keep still.
+
+     "We are investigating this unhappy business, Bannister," said his
+     master.
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "I understand," said Holmes, "that you left your key in the door?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "Was it not very extraordinary that you should do this on the very
+     day when there were these papers inside?"
+
+     "It was most unfortunate, sir. But I have occasionally done the same
+     thing at other times."
+
+     "When did you enter the room?"
+
+     "It was about half-past four. That is Mr. Soames's tea time."
+
+     "How long did you stay?"
+
+     "When I saw that he was absent I withdrew at once."
+
+     "Did you look at these papers on the table?"
+
+     "No, sir; certainly not."
+
+     "How came you to leave the key in the door?"
+
+     "I had the tea-tray in my hand. I thought I would come back for the
+     key. Then I forgot."
+
+     "Has the outer door a spring lock?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "Then it was open all the time?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "Anyone in the room could get out?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "When Mr. Soames returned and called for you, you were very much
+     disturbed?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. Such a thing has never happened during the many years that
+     I have been here. I nearly fainted, sir."
+
+     "So I understand. Where were you when you began to feel bad?"
+
+     "Where was I, sir? Why, here, near the door."
+
+     "That is singular, because you sat down in that chair over yonder
+     near the corner. Why did you pass these other chairs?"
+
+     "I don't know, sir. It didn't matter to me where I sat."
+
+     "I really don't think he knew much about it, Mr. Holmes. He was
+     looking very bad--quite ghastly."
+
+     "You stayed here when your master left?"
+
+     "Only for a minute or so. Then I locked the door and went to my
+     room."
+
+     "Whom do you suspect?"
+
+     "Oh, I would not venture to say, sir. I don't believe there is any
+     gentleman in this University who is capable of profiting by such an
+     action. No, sir, I'll not believe it."
+
+     "Thank you; that will do," said Holmes. "Oh, one more word. You have
+     not mentioned to any of the three gentlemen whom you attend that
+     anything is amiss?"
+
+     "No, sir; not a word."
+
+     "You haven't seen any of them?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "Very good. Now, Mr. Soames, we will take a walk in the quadrangle,
+     if you please."
+
+     Three yellow squares of light shone above us in the gathering gloom.
+
+     "Your three birds are all in their nests," said Holmes, looking up.
+     "Halloa! What's that? One of them seems restless enough."
+
+     It was the Indian, whose dark silhouette appeared suddenly upon his
+     blind. He was pacing swiftly up and down his room.
+
+     "I should like to have a peep at each of them," said Holmes. "Is it
+     possible?"
+
+     "No difficulty in the world," Soames answered. "This set of rooms is
+     quite the oldest in the college, and it is not unusual for visitors
+     to go over them. Come along, and I will personally conduct you."
+
+     "No names, please!" said Holmes, as we knocked at Gilchrist's door. A
+     tall, flaxen-haired, slim young fellow opened it, and made us welcome
+     when he understood our errand. There were some really curious pieces
+     of mediaeval domestic architecture within. Holmes was so charmed with
+     one of them that he insisted on drawing it on his note-book, broke
+     his pencil, had to borrow one from our host, and finally borrowed a
+     knife to sharpen his own. The same curious accident happened to him
+     in the rooms of the Indian--a silent, little, hook-nosed fellow, who
+     eyed us askance and was obviously glad when Holmes's architectural
+     studies had come to an end. I could not see that in either case
+     Holmes had come upon the clue for which he was searching. Only at the
+     third did our visit prove abortive. The outer door would not open to
+     our knock, and nothing more substantial than a torrent of bad
+     language came from behind it. "I don't care who you are. You can go
+     to blazes!" roared the angry voice. "To-morrow's the exam, and I
+     won't be drawn by anyone."
+
+     "A rude fellow," said our guide, flushing with anger as we withdrew
+     down the stair. "Of course, he did not realize that it was I who was
+     knocking, but none the less his conduct was very uncourteous, and,
+     indeed, under the circumstances rather suspicious."
+
+     Holmes's response was a curious one.
+
+     "Can you tell me his exact height?" he asked.
+
+     "Really, Mr. Holmes, I cannot undertake to say. He is taller than the
+     Indian, not so tall as Gilchrist. I suppose five foot six would be
+     about it."
+
+     "That is very important," said Holmes. "And now, Mr. Soames, I wish
+     you good-night."
+
+     Our guide cried aloud in his astonishment and dismay. "Good gracious,
+     Mr. Holmes, you are surely not going to leave me in this abrupt
+     fashion! You don't seem to realize the position. To-morrow is the
+     examination. I must take some definite action to-night. I cannot
+     allow the examination to be held if one of the papers has been
+     tampered with. The situation must be faced."
+
+     "You must leave it as it is. I shall drop round early to-morrow
+     morning and chat the matter over. It is possible that I may be in a
+     position then to indicate some course of action. Meanwhile you change
+     nothing--nothing at all."
+
+     "Very good, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "You can be perfectly easy in your mind. We shall certainly find some
+     way out of your difficulties. I will take the black clay with me,
+     also the pencil cuttings. Good-bye."
+
+     When we were out in the darkness of the quadrangle we again looked up
+     at the windows. The Indian still paced his room. The others were
+     invisible.
+
+     "Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" Holmes asked, as we came out
+     into the main street. "Quite a little parlour game--sort of
+     three-card trick, is it not? There are your three men. It must be one
+     of them. You take your choice. Which is yours?"
+
+     "The foul-mouthed fellow at the top. He is the one with the worst
+     record. And yet that Indian was a sly fellow also. Why should he be
+     pacing his room all the time?"
+
+     "There is nothing in that. Many men do it when they are trying to
+     learn anything by heart."
+
+     "He looked at us in a queer way."
+
+     "So would you if a flock of strangers came in on you when you were
+     preparing for an examination next day, and every moment was of value.
+     No, I see nothing in that. Pencils, too, and knives--all was
+     satisfactory. But that fellow does puzzle me."
+
+     "Who?"
+
+     "Why, Bannister, the servant. What's his game in the matter?"
+
+     "He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man."
+
+     "So he did me. That's the puzzling part. Why should a perfectly
+     honest man--well, well, here's a large stationer's. We shall begin
+     our researches here."
+
+     There were only four stationers of any consequence in the town, and
+     at each Holmes produced his pencil chips and bid high for a
+     duplicate. All were agreed that one could be ordered, but that it was
+     not a usual size of pencil and that it was seldom kept in stock. My
+     friend did not appear to be depressed by his failure, but shrugged
+     his shoulders in half-humorous resignation.
+
+     "No good, my dear Watson. This, the best and only final clue, has run
+     to nothing. But, indeed, I have little doubt that we can build up a
+     sufficient case without it. By Jove! my dear fellow, it is nearly
+     nine, and the landlady babbled of green peas at seven-thirty. What
+     with your eternal tobacco, Watson, and your irregularity at meals, I
+     expect that you will get notice to quit and that I shall share your
+     downfall--not, however, before we have solved the problem of the
+     nervous tutor, the careless servant, and the three enterprising
+     students."
+
+      Holmes made no further allusion to the matter that day, though he
+     sat lost in thought for a long time after our belated dinner. At
+     eight in the morning he came into my room just as I finished my
+     toilet.
+
+     "Well, Watson," said he, "it is time we went down to St. Luke's. Can
+     you do without breakfast?"
+
+     "Certainly."
+
+     "Soames will be in a dreadful fidget until we are able to tell him
+     something positive."
+
+     "Have you anything positive to tell him?"
+
+     "I think so."
+
+     "You have formed a conclusion?"
+
+     "Yes, my dear Watson; I have solved the mystery."
+
+     "But what fresh evidence could you have got?"
+
+     "Aha! It is not for nothing that I have turned myself out of bed at
+     the untimely hour of six. I have put in two hours' hard work and
+     covered at least five miles, with something to show for it. Look at
+     that!"
+
+     He held out his hand. On the palm were three little pyramids of
+     black, doughy clay.
+
+     "Why, Holmes, you had only two yesterday!"
+
+     "And one more this morning. It is a fair argument that wherever No. 3
+     came from is also the source of Nos. 1 and 2. Eh, Watson? Well, come
+     along and put friend Soames out of his pain."
+
+      The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable agitation
+     when we found him in his chambers. In a few hours the examination
+     would commence, and he was still in the dilemma between making the
+     facts public and allowing the culprit to compete for the valuable
+     scholarship. He could hardly stand still, so great was his mental
+     agitation, and he ran towards Holmes with two eager hands
+     outstretched.
+
+     "Thank Heaven that you have come! I feared that you had given it up
+     in despair. What am I to do? Shall the examination proceed?"
+
+     "Yes; let it proceed by all means."
+
+     "But this rascal--?"
+
+     "He shall not compete."
+
+     "You know him?"
+
+     "I think so. If this matter is not to become public we must give
+     ourselves certain powers, and resolve ourselves into a small private
+     court-martial. You there, if you please, Soames! Watson, you here!
+     I'll take the arm-chair in the middle. I think that we are now
+     sufficiently imposing to strike terror into a guilty breast. Kindly
+     ring the bell!"
+
+     Bannister entered, and shrunk back in evident surprise and fear at
+     our judicial appearance.
+
+     "You will kindly close the door," said Holmes. "Now, Bannister, will
+     you please tell us the truth about yesterday's incident?"
+
+     The man turned white to the roots of his hair.
+
+     "I have told you everything, sir."
+
+     "Nothing to add?"
+
+     "Nothing at all, sir."
+
+     "Well, then, I must make some suggestions to you. When you sat down
+     on that chair yesterday, did you do so in order to conceal some
+     object which would have shown who had been in the room?"
+
+     Bannister's face was ghastly.
+
+     "No, sir; certainly not."
+
+     "It is only a suggestion," said Holmes, suavely. "I frankly admit
+     that I am unable to prove it. But it seems probable enough, since the
+     moment that Mr. Soames's back was turned you released the man who was
+     hiding in that bedroom."
+
+     Bannister licked his dry lips.
+
+     "There was no man, sir."
+
+     "Ah, that's a pity, Bannister. Up to now you may have spoken the
+     truth, but now I know that you have lied."
+
+     The man's face set in sullen defiance.
+
+     "There was no man, sir."
+
+     "Come, come, Bannister!"
+
+     "No, sir; there was no one."
+
+     "In that case you can give us no further information. Would you
+     please remain in the room? Stand over there near the bedroom door.
+     Now, Soames, I am going to ask you to have the great kindness to go
+     up to the room of young Gilchrist, and to ask him to step down into
+     yours."
+
+     An instant later the tutor returned, bringing with him the student.
+     He was a fine figure of a man, tall, lithe, and agile, with a springy
+     step and a pleasant, open face. His troubled blue eyes glanced at
+     each of us, and finally rested with an expression of blank dismay
+     upon Bannister in the farther corner.
+
+     "Just close the door," said Holmes. "Now, Mr. Gilchrist, we are all
+     quite alone here, and no one need ever know one word of what passes
+     between us. We can be perfectly frank with each other. We want to
+     know, Mr. Gilchrist, how you, an honourable man, ever came to commit
+     such an action as that of yesterday?"
+
+     The unfortunate young man staggered back and cast a look full of
+     horror and reproach at Bannister.
+
+     "No, no, Mr. Gilchrist, sir; I never said a word--never one word!"
+     cried the servant.
+
+     "No, but you have now," said Holmes. "Now, sir, you must see that
+     after Bannister's words your position is hopeless, and that your only
+     chance lies in a frank confession."
+
+     For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control his
+     writhing features. The next he had thrown himself on his knees beside
+     the table and, burying his face in his hands, he had burst into a
+     storm of passionate sobbing.
+
+     "Come, come," said Holmes, kindly; "it is human to err, and at least
+     no one can accuse you of being a callous criminal. Perhaps it would
+     be easier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames what occurred, and you
+     can check me where I am wrong. Shall I do so? Well, well, don't
+     trouble to answer. Listen, and see that I do you no injustice.
+
+     "From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one, not
+     even Bannister, could have told that the papers were in your room,
+     the case began to take a definite shape in my mind. The printer one
+     could, of course, dismiss. He could examine the papers in his own
+     office. The Indian I also thought nothing of. If the proofs were in a
+     roll he could not possibly know what they were. On the other hand, it
+     seemed an unthinkable coincidence that a man should dare to enter the
+     room, and that by chance on that very day the papers were on the
+     table. I dismissed that. The man who entered knew that the papers
+     were there. How did he know?
+
+     "When I approached your room I examined the window. You amused me by
+     supposing that I was contemplating the possibility of someone having
+     in broad daylight, under the eyes of all these opposite rooms, forced
+     himself through it. Such an idea was absurd. I was measuring how tall
+     a man would need to be in order to see as he passed what papers were
+     on the central table. I am six feet high, and I could do it with an
+     effort. No one less than that would have a chance. Already you see I
+     had reason to think that if one of your three students was a man of
+     unusual height he was the most worth watching of the three.
+
+     "I entered and I took you into my confidence as to the suggestions of
+     the side table. Of the centre table I could make nothing, until in
+     your description of Gilchrist you mentioned that he was a
+     long-distance jumper. Then the whole thing came to me in an instant,
+     and I only needed certain corroborative proofs, which I speedily
+     obtained.
+
+     "What happened was this. This young fellow had employed his afternoon
+     at the athletic grounds, where he had been practising the jump. He
+     returned carrying his jumping shoes, which are provided, as you are
+     aware, with several sharp spikes. As he passed your window he saw, by
+     means of his great height, these proofs upon your table, and
+     conjectured what they were. No harm would have been done had it not
+     been that as he passed your door he perceived the key which had been
+     left by the carelessness of your servant. A sudden impulse came over
+     him to enter and see if they were indeed the proofs. It was not a
+     dangerous exploit, for he could always pretend that he had simply
+     looked in to ask a question.
+
+     "Well, when he saw that they were indeed the proofs, it was then that
+     he yielded to temptation. He put his shoes on the table. What was it
+     you put on that chair near the window?"
+
+     "Gloves," said the young man.
+
+     Holmes looked triumphantly at Bannister. "He put his gloves on the
+     chair, and he took the proofs, sheet by sheet, to copy them. He
+     thought the tutor must return by the main gate, and that he would see
+     him. As we know, he came back by the side gate. Suddenly he heard him
+     at the very door. There was no possible escape. He forgot his gloves,
+     but he caught up his shoes and darted into the bedroom. You observe
+     that the scratch on that table is slight at one side, but deepens in
+     the direction of the bedroom door. That in itself is enough to show
+     us that the shoe had been drawn in that direction and that the
+     culprit had taken refuge there. The earth round the spike had been
+     left on the table, and a second sample was loosened and fell in the
+     bedroom. I may add that I walked out to the athletic grounds this
+     morning, saw that tenacious black clay is used in the jumping-pit,
+     and carried away a specimen of it, together with some of the fine tan
+     or sawdust which is strewn over it to prevent the athlete from
+     slipping. Have I told the truth, Mr. Gilchrist?"
+
+     The student had drawn himself erect.
+
+     "Yes, sir, it is true," said he.
+
+     "Good heavens, have you nothing to add?" cried Soames.
+
+     "Yes, sir, I have, but the shock of this disgraceful exposure has
+     bewildered me. I have a letter here, Mr. Soames, which I wrote to you
+     early this morning in the middle of a restless night. It was before I
+     knew that my sin had found me out. Here it is, sir. You will see that
+     I have said, 'I have determined not to go in for the examination. I
+     have been offered a commission in the Rhodesian Police, and I am
+     going out to South Africa at once.'"
+
+     "I am indeed pleased to hear that you did not intend to profit by
+     your unfair advantage," said Soames. "But why did you change your
+     purpose?"
+
+     Gilchrist pointed to Bannister.
+
+     "There is the man who set me in the right path," said he.
+
+     "Come now, Bannister," said Holmes. "It will be clear to you from
+     what I have said that only you could have let this young man out,
+     since you were left in the room, and must have locked the door when
+     you went out. As to his escaping by that window, it was incredible.
+     Can you not clear up the last point in this mystery, and tell us the
+     reasons for your action?"
+
+     "It was simple enough, sir, if you only had known; but with all your
+     cleverness it was impossible that you could know. Time was, sir, when
+     I was butler to old Sir Jabez Gilchrist, this young gentleman's
+     father. When he was ruined I came to the college as servant, but I
+     never forgot my old employer because he was down in the world. I
+     watched his son all I could for the sake of the old days. Well, sir,
+     when I came into this room yesterday when the alarm was given, the
+     very first thing I saw was Mr. Gilchrist's tan gloves a-lying in that
+     chair. I knew those gloves well, and I understood their message. If
+     Mr. Soames saw them the game was up. I flopped down into that chair,
+     and nothing would budge me until Mr. Soames he went for you. Then out
+     came my poor young master, whom I had dandled on my knee, and
+     confessed it all to me. Wasn't it natural, sir, that I should save
+     him, and wasn't it natural also that I should try to speak to him as
+     his dead father would have done, and make him understand that he
+     could not profit by such a deed? Could you blame me, sir?"
+
+     "No, indeed," said Holmes, heartily, springing to his feet. "Well,
+     Soames, I think we have cleared your little problem up, and our
+     breakfast awaits us at home. Come, Watson! As to you, sir, I trust
+     that a bright future awaits you in Rhodesia. For once you have fallen
+     low. Let us see in the future how high you can rise."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE ADVENTURE OF THE GOLDEN PINCE-NEZ
+
+     When I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which contain our
+     work for the year 1894 I confess that it is very difficult for me,
+     out of such a wealth of material, to select the cases which are most
+     interesting in themselves and at the same time most conducive to a
+     display of those peculiar powers for which my friend was famous. As I
+     turn over the pages I see my notes upon the repulsive story of the
+     red leech and the terrible death of Crosby the banker. Here also I
+     find an account of the Addleton tragedy and the singular contents of
+     the ancient British barrow. The famous Smith-Mortimer succession case
+     comes also within this period, and so does the tracking and arrest of
+     Huret, the Boulevard assassin--an exploit which won for Holmes an
+     autograph letter of thanks from the French President and the Order of
+     the Legion of Honour. Each of these would furnish a narrative, but on
+     the whole I am of opinion that none of them unite so many singular
+     points of interest as the episode of Yoxley Old Place, which includes
+     not only the lamentable death of young Willoughby Smith, but also
+     those subsequent developments which threw so curious a light upon the
+     causes of the crime.
+
+     It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November.
+     Holmes and I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged with
+     a powerful lens deciphering the remains of the original inscription
+     upon a palimpsest, I deep in a recent treatise upon surgery. Outside
+     the wind howled down Baker Street, while the rain beat fiercely
+     against the windows. It was strange there in the very depths of the
+     town, with ten miles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel
+     the iron grip of Nature, and to be conscious that to the huge
+     elemental forces all London was no more than the molehills that dot
+     the fields. I walked to the window and looked out on the deserted
+     street. The occasional lamps gleamed on the expanse of muddy road and
+     shining pavement. A single cab was splashing its way from the Oxford
+     Street end.
+
+     "Well, Watson, it's as well we have not to turn out to-night," said
+     Holmes, laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest. "I've
+     done enough for one sitting. It is trying work for the eyes. So far
+     as I can make out it is nothing more exciting than an Abbey's
+     accounts dating from the second half of the fifteenth century.
+     Halloa! halloa! halloa! What's this?"
+
+     Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a horse's
+     hoofs and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against the kerb.
+     The cab which I had seen had pulled up at our door.
+
+     "What can he want?" I ejaculated, as a man stepped out of it.
+
+     "Want! He wants us. And we, my poor Watson, want overcoats and
+     cravats and galoshes, and every aid that man ever invented to fight
+     the weather. Wait a bit, though! There's the cab off again! There's
+     hope yet. He'd have kept it if he had wanted us to come. Run down, my
+     dear fellow, and open the door, for all virtuous folk have been long
+     in bed."
+
+     When the light of the hall lamp fell upon our midnight visitor I had
+     no difficulty in recognising him. It was young Stanley Hopkins, a
+     promising detective, in whose career Holmes had several times shown a
+     very practical interest.
+
+     "Is he in?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+     "Come up, my dear sir," said Holmes's voice from above. "I hope you
+     have no designs upon us on such a night as this."
+
+     The detective mounted the stairs, and our lamp gleamed upon his
+     shining waterproof. I helped him out of it while Holmes knocked a
+     blaze out of the logs in the grate.
+
+     "Now, my dear Hopkins, draw up and warm your toes," said he. "Here's
+     a cigar, and the doctor has a prescription containing hot water and a
+     lemon which is good medicine on a night like this. It must be
+     something important which has brought you out in such a gale."
+
+     "It is indeed, Mr. Holmes. I've had a bustling afternoon, I promise
+     you. Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in the latest editions?"
+
+     "I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day."
+
+     "Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you have
+     not missed anything. I haven't let the grass grow under my feet. It's
+     down in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three from the railway
+     line. I was wired for at three-fifteen, reached Yoxley Old Place at
+     five, conducted my investigation, was back at Charing Cross by the
+     last train, and straight to you by cab."
+
+     "Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your
+     case?"
+
+     "It means that I can make neither head nor tail of it. So far as I
+     can see it is just as tangled a business as ever I handled, and yet
+     at first it seemed so simple that one couldn't go wrong. There's no
+     motive, Mr. Holmes. That's what bothers me--I can't put my hand on a
+     motive. Here's a man dead--there's no denying that--but, so far as I
+     can see, no reason on earth why anyone should wish him harm."
+
+     Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
+
+     "Let us hear about it," said he.
+
+     "I've got my facts pretty clear," said Stanley Hopkins. "All I want
+     now is to know what they all mean. The story, so far as I can make it
+     out, is like this. Some years ago this country house, Yoxley Old
+     Place, was taken by an elderly man, who gave the name of Professor
+     Coram. He was an invalid, keeping his bed half the time, and the
+     other half hobbling round the house with a stick or being pushed
+     about the grounds by the gardener in a bath-chair. He was well liked
+     by the few neighbours who called upon him, and he has the reputation
+     down there of being a very learned man. His household used to consist
+     of an elderly housekeeper, Mrs. Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton.
+     These have both been with him since his arrival, and they seem to be
+     women of excellent character. The Professor is writing a learned
+     book, and he found it necessary about a year ago to engage a
+     secretary. The first two that he tried were not successes; but the
+     third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man straight from the
+     University, seems to have been just what his employer wanted. His
+     work consisted in writing all the morning to the Professor's
+     dictation, and he usually spent the evening in hunting up references
+     and passages which bore upon the next day's work. This Willoughby
+     Smith has nothing against him either as a boy at Uppingham or as a
+     young man at Cambridge. I have seen his testimonials, and from the
+     first he was a decent, quiet, hardworking fellow, with no weak spot
+     in him at all. And yet this is the lad who has met his death this
+     morning in the Professor's study under circumstances which can point
+     only to murder."
+
+     The wind howled and screamed at the windows. Holmes and I drew closer
+     to the fire while the young inspector slowly and point by point
+     developed his singular narrative.
+
+     "If you were to search all England," said he, "I don't suppose you
+     could find a household more self-contained or free from outside
+     influences. Whole weeks would pass and not one of them go past the
+     garden gate. The Professor was buried in his work and existed for
+     nothing else. Young Smith knew nobody in the neighbourhood, and lived
+     very much as his employer did. The two women had nothing to take them
+     from the house. Mortimer the gardener, who wheels the bath-chair, is
+     an Army pensioner--an old Crimean man of excellent character. He does
+     not live in the house, but in a three-roomed cottage at the other end
+     of the garden. Those are the only people that you would find within
+     the grounds of Yoxley Old Place. At the same time, the gate of the
+     garden is a hundred yards from the main London to Chatham road. It
+     opens with a latch, and there is nothing to prevent anyone from
+     walking in.
+
+     "Now I will give you the evidence of Susan Tarlton, who is the only
+     person who can say anything positive about the matter. It was in the
+     forenoon, between eleven and twelve. She was engaged at the moment in
+     hanging some curtains in the upstairs front bedroom. Professor Coram
+     was still in bed, for when the weather is bad he seldom rises before
+     midday. The housekeeper was busied with some work in the back of the
+     house. Willoughby Smith had been in his bedroom, which he uses as a
+     sitting-room; but the maid heard him at that moment pass along the
+     passage and descend to the study immediately below her. She did not
+     see him, but she says that she could not be mistaken in his quick,
+     firm tread. She did not hear the study door close, but a minute or so
+     later there was a dreadful cry in the room below. It was a wild,
+     hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it might have come
+     either from a man or a woman. At the same instant there was a heavy
+     thud, which shook the old house, and then all was silence. The maid
+     stood petrified for a moment, and then, recovering her courage, she
+     ran downstairs. The study door was shut, and she opened it. Inside
+     young Mr. Willoughby Smith was stretched upon the floor. At first she
+     could see no injury, but as she tried to raise him she saw that blood
+     was pouring from the underside of his neck. It was pierced by a very
+     small but very deep wound, which had divided the carotid artery. The
+     instrument with which the injury had been inflicted lay upon the
+     carpet beside him. It was one of those small sealing-wax knives to be
+     found on old-fashioned writing-tables, with an ivory handle and a
+     stiff blade. It was part of the fittings of the Professor's own desk.
+
+     "At first the maid thought that young Smith was already dead, but on
+     pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead he opened his
+     eyes for an instant. 'The Professor,' he murmured--'it was she.' The
+     maid is prepared to swear that those were the exact words. He tried
+     desperately to say something else, and he held his right hand up in
+     the air. Then he fell back dead.
+
+     "In the meantime the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene, but
+     she was just too late to catch the young man's dying words. Leaving
+     Susan with the body, she hurried to the Professor's room. He was
+     sitting up in bed horribly agitated, for he had heard enough to
+     convince him that something terrible had occurred. Mrs. Marker is
+     prepared to swear that the Professor was still in his night-clothes,
+     and, indeed, it was impossible for him to dress without the help of
+     Mortimer, whose orders were to come at twelve o'clock. The Professor
+     declares that he heard the distant cry, but that he knows nothing
+     more. He can give no explanation of the young man's last words, 'The
+     Professor--it was she,' but imagines that they were the outcome of
+     delirium. He believes that Willoughby Smith had not an enemy in the
+     world, and can give no reason for the crime. His first action was to
+     send Mortimer the gardener for the local police. A little later the
+     chief constable sent for me. Nothing was moved before I got there,
+     and strict orders were given that no one should walk upon the paths
+     leading to the house. It was a splendid chance of putting your
+     theories into practice, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. There was really nothing
+     wanting."
+
+     "Except Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said my companion, with a somewhat
+     bitter smile. "Well, let us hear about it. What sort of job did you
+     make of it?"
+
+     "I must ask you first, Mr. Holmes, to glance at this rough plan,
+     which will give you a general idea of the position of the Professor's
+     study and the various points of the case. It will help you in
+     following my investigation."
+
+     He unfolded the rough chart, which I here reproduce, and he laid it
+     across Holmes's knee. I rose, and, standing behind Holmes, I studied
+     it over his shoulder.
+
+     [ Picture: Sketch of the building's room and corridors ]
+
+     "It is very rough, of course, and it only deals with the points which
+     seem to me to be essential. All the rest you will see later for
+     yourself. Now, first of all, presuming that the assassin entered the
+     house, how did he or she come in? Undoubtedly by the garden path and
+     the back door, from which there is direct access to the study. Any
+     other way would have been exceedingly complicated. The escape must
+     have also been made along that line, for of the two other exits from
+     the room one was blocked by Susan as she ran downstairs and the other
+     leads straight to the Professor's bedroom. I therefore directed my
+     attention at once to the garden path, which was saturated with recent
+     rain and would certainly show any footmarks.
+
+     "My examination showed me that I was dealing with a cautious and
+     expert criminal. No footmarks were to be found on the path. There
+     could be no question, however, that someone had passed along the
+     grass border which lines the path, and that he had done so in order
+     to avoid leaving a track. I could not find anything in the nature of
+     a distinct impression, but the grass was trodden down and someone had
+     undoubtedly passed. It could only have been the murderer, since
+     neither the gardener nor anyone else had been there that morning and
+     the rain had only begun during the night."
+
+     "One moment," said Holmes. "Where does this path lead to?"
+
+     "To the road."
+
+     "How long is it?"
+
+     "A hundred yards or so."
+
+     "At the point where the path passes through the gate you could surely
+     pick up the tracks?"
+
+     "Unfortunately, the path was tiled at that point."
+
+     "Well, on the road itself?"
+
+     "No; it was all trodden into mire."
+
+     "Tut-tut! Well, then, these tracks upon the grass, were they coming
+     or going?"
+
+     "It was impossible to say. There was never any outline."
+
+     "A large foot or a small?"
+
+     "You could not distinguish."
+
+     Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
+
+     "It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since," said
+     he. "It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest. Well, well,
+     it can't be helped. What did you do, Hopkins, after you had made
+     certain that you had made certain of nothing?"
+
+     "I think I made certain of a good deal, Mr. Holmes. I knew that
+     someone had entered the house cautiously from without. I next
+     examined the corridor. It is lined with cocoanut matting and had
+     taken no impression of any kind. This brought me into the study
+     itself. It is a scantily-furnished room. The main article is a large
+     writing-table with a fixed bureau. This bureau consists of a double
+     column of drawers with a central small cupboard between them. The
+     drawers were open, the cupboard locked. The drawers, it seems, were
+     always open, and nothing of value was kept in them. There were some
+     papers of importance in the cupboard, but there were no signs that
+     this had been tampered with, and the Professor assures me that
+     nothing was missing. It is certain that no robbery has been
+     committed.
+
+     "I come now to the body of the young man. It was found near the
+     bureau, and just to the left of it, as marked upon that chart. The
+     stab was on the right side of the neck and from behind forwards, so
+     that it is almost impossible that it could have been self-inflicted."
+
+     "Unless he fell upon the knife," said Holmes.
+
+     "Exactly. The idea crossed my mind. But we found the knife some feet
+     away from the body, so that seems impossible. Then, of course, there
+     are the man's own dying words. And, finally, there was this very
+     important piece of evidence which was found clasped in the dead man's
+     right hand."
+
+     From his pocket Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet. He
+     unfolded it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken ends of
+     black silk cord dangling from the end of it. "Willoughby Smith had
+     excellent sight," he added. "There can be no question that this was
+     snatched from the face or the person of the assassin."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into his hand and examined them with
+     the utmost attention and interest. He held them on his nose,
+     endeavoured to read through them, went to the window and stared up
+     the street with them, looked at them most minutely in the full light
+     of the lamp, and finally, with a chuckle, seated himself at the table
+     and wrote a few lines upon a sheet of paper, which he tossed across
+     to Stanley Hopkins.
+
+     "That's the best I can do for you," said he. "It may prove to be of
+     some use."
+
+     The astonished detective read the note aloud. It ran as follows:
+
+     "Wanted, a woman of good address, attired like a lady. She has a
+     remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set close upon either side
+     of it. She has a puckered forehead, a peering expression, and
+     probably rounded shoulders. There are indications that she has had
+     recourse to an optician at least twice during the last few months. As
+     her glasses are of remarkable strength and as opticians are not very
+     numerous, there should be no difficulty in tracing her."
+
+     Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have been
+     reflected upon my features.
+
+     "Surely my deductions are simplicity itself," said he. "It would be
+     difficult to name any articles which afford a finer field for
+     inference than a pair of glasses, especially so remarkable a pair as
+     these. That they belong to a woman I infer from their delicacy, and
+     also, of course, from the last words of the dying man. As to her
+     being a person of refinement and well dressed, they are, as you
+     perceive, handsomely mounted in solid gold, and it is inconceivable
+     that anyone who wore such glasses could be slatternly in other
+     respects. You will find that the clips are too wide for your nose,
+     showing that the lady's nose was very broad at the base. This sort of
+     nose is usually a short and coarse one, but there are a sufficient
+     number of exceptions to prevent me from being dogmatic or from
+     insisting upon this point in my description. My own face is a narrow
+     one, and yet I find that I cannot get my eyes into the centre, or
+     near the centre, of these glasses. Therefore the lady's eyes are set
+     very near to the sides of the nose. You will perceive, Watson, that
+     the glasses are concave and of unusual strength. A lady whose vision
+     has been so extremely contracted all her life is sure to have the
+     physical characteristics of such vision, which are seen in the
+     forehead, the eyelids, and the shoulders."
+
+     "Yes," I said, "I can follow each of your arguments. I confess,
+     however, that I am unable to understand how you arrive at the double
+     visit to the optician."
+
+     Holmes took the glasses in his hand.
+
+     "You will perceive," he said, "that the clips are lined with tiny
+     bands of cork to soften the pressure upon the nose. One of these is
+     discoloured and worn to some slight extent, but the other is new.
+     Evidently one has fallen off and been replaced. I should judge that
+     the older of them has not been there more than a few months. They
+     exactly correspond, so I gather that the lady went back to the same
+     establishment for the second."
+
+     "By George, it's marvellous!" cried Hopkins, in an ecstasy of
+     admiration. "To think that I had all that evidence in my hand and
+     never knew it! I had intended, however, to go the round of the London
+     opticians."
+
+     "Of course you would. Meanwhile, have you anything more to tell us
+     about the case?"
+
+     "Nothing, Mr. Holmes. I think that you know as much as I do
+     now--probably more. We have had inquiries made as to any stranger
+     seen on the country roads or at the railway station. We have heard of
+     none. What beats me is the utter want of all object in the crime. Not
+     a ghost of a motive can anyone suggest."
+
+     "Ah! there I am not in a position to help you. But I suppose you want
+     us to come out to-morrow?"
+
+     "If it is not asking too much, Mr. Holmes. There's a train from
+     Charing Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and we should be at
+     Yoxley Old Place between eight and nine."
+
+     "Then we shall take it. Your case has certainly some features of
+     great interest, and I shall be delighted to look into it. Well, it's
+     nearly one, and we had best get a few hours' sleep. I dare say you
+     can manage all right on the sofa in front of the fire. I'll light my
+     spirit-lamp and give you a cup of coffee before we start."
+
+     The gale had blown itself out next day, but it was a bitter morning
+     when we started upon our journey. We saw the cold winter sun rise
+     over the dreary marshes of the Thames and the long, sullen reaches of
+     the river, which I shall ever associate with our pursuit of the
+     Andaman Islander in the earlier days of our career. After a long and
+     weary journey we alighted at a small station some miles from Chatham.
+     While a horse was being put into a trap at the local inn we snatched
+     a hurried breakfast, and so we were all ready for business when we at
+     last arrived at Yoxley Old Place. A constable met us at the garden
+     gate.
+
+     "Well, Wilson, any news?"
+
+     "No, sir, nothing."
+
+     "No reports of any stranger seen?"
+
+     "No, sir. Down at the station they are certain that no stranger
+     either came or went yesterday."
+
+     "Have you had inquiries made at inns and lodgings?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; there is no one that we cannot account for."
+
+     "Well, it's only a reasonable walk to Chatham. Anyone might stay
+     there, or take a train without being observed. This is the garden
+     path of which I spoke, Mr. Holmes. I'll pledge my word there was no
+     mark on it yesterday."
+
+     "On which side were the marks on the grass?"
+
+     "This side, sir. This narrow margin of grass between the path and the
+     flower-bed. I can't see the traces now, but they were clear to me
+     then."
+
+     "Yes, yes; someone has passed along," said Holmes, stooping over the
+     grass border. "Our lady must have picked her steps carefully, must
+     she not, since on the one side she would leave a track on the path,
+     and on the other an even clearer one on the soft bed?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, she must have been a cool hand."
+
+     I saw an intent look pass over Holmes's face.
+
+     "You say that she must have come back this way?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; there is no other."
+
+     "On this strip of grass?"
+
+     "Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Hum! It was a very remarkable performance--very remarkable. Well, I
+     think we have exhausted the path. Let us go farther. This garden door
+     is usually kept open, I suppose? Then this visitor had nothing to do
+     but to walk in. The idea of murder was not in her mind, or she would
+     have provided herself with some sort of weapon, instead of having to
+     pick this knife off the writing-table. She advanced along this
+     corridor, leaving no traces upon the cocoanut matting. Then she found
+     herself in this study. How long was she there? We have no means of
+     judging."
+
+     "Not more than a few minutes, sir. I forgot to tell you that Mrs.
+     Marker, the housekeeper, had been in there tidying not very long
+     before--about a quarter of an hour, she says."
+
+     "Well, that gives us a limit. Our lady enters this room and what does
+     she do? She goes over to the writing-table. What for? Not for
+     anything in the drawers. If there had been anything worth her taking
+     it would surely have been locked up. No; it was for something in that
+     wooden bureau. Halloa! what is that scratch upon the face of it? Just
+     hold a match, Watson. Why did you not tell me of this, Hopkins?"
+
+     The mark which he was examining began upon the brass work on the
+     right-hand side of the keyhole, and extended for about four inches,
+     where it had scratched the varnish from the surface.
+
+     "I noticed it, Mr. Holmes. But you'll always find scratches round a
+     keyhole."
+
+     "This is recent, quite recent. See how the brass shines where it is
+     cut. An old scratch would be the same colour as the surface. Look at
+     it through my lens. There's the varnish, too, like earth on each side
+     of a furrow. Is Mrs. Marker there?"
+
+     A sad-faced, elderly woman came into the room.
+
+     "Did you dust this bureau yesterday morning?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "Did you notice this scratch?"
+
+     "No, sir, I did not."
+
+     "I am sure you did not, for a duster would have swept away these
+     shreds of varnish. Who has the key of this bureau?"
+
+     "The Professor keeps it on his watch-chain."
+
+     "Is it a simple key?"
+
+     "No, sir; it is a Chubb's key."
+
+     "Very good. Mrs. Marker, you can go. Now we are making a little
+     progress. Our lady enters the room, advances to the bureau, and
+     either opens it or tries to do so. While she is thus engaged young
+     Willoughby Smith enters the room. In her hurry to withdraw the key
+     she makes this scratch upon the door. He seizes her, and she,
+     snatching up the nearest object, which happens to be this knife,
+     strikes at him in order to make him let go his hold. The blow is a
+     fatal one. He falls and she escapes, either with or without the
+     object for which she has come. Is Susan the maid there? Could anyone
+     have got away through that door after the time that you heard the
+     cry, Susan?"
+
+     "No sir; it is impossible. Before I got down the stair I'd have seen
+     anyone in the passage. Besides, the door never opened, for I would
+     have heard it."
+
+     "That settles this exit. Then no doubt the lady went out the way she
+     came. I understand that this other passage leads only to the
+     Professor's room. There is no exit that way?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "We shall go down it and make the acquaintance of the Professor.
+     Halloa, Hopkins! this is very important, very important indeed. The
+     Professor's corridor is also lined with cocoanut matting."
+
+     "Well, sir, what of that?"
+
+     "Don't you see any bearing upon the case? Well, well, I don't insist
+     upon it. No doubt I am wrong. And yet it seems to me to be
+     suggestive. Come with me and introduce me."
+
+     We passed down the passage, which was of the same length as that
+     which led to the garden. At the end was a short flight of steps
+     ending in a door. Our guide knocked, and then ushered us into the
+     Professor's bedroom.
+
+     It was a very large chamber, lined with innumerable volumes, which
+     had overflowed from the shelves and lay in piles in the corners, or
+     were stacked all round at the base of the cases. The bed was in the
+     centre of the room, and in it, propped up with pillows, was the owner
+     of the house. I have seldom seen a more remarkable-looking person. It
+     was a gaunt, aquiline face which was turned towards us, with piercing
+     dark eyes, which lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted
+     brows. His hair and beard were white, save that the latter was
+     curiously stained with yellow around his mouth. A cigarette glowed
+     amid the tangle of white hair, and the air of the room was fetid with
+     stale tobacco-smoke. As he held out his hand to Holmes I perceived
+     that it also was stained yellow with nicotine.
+
+     "A smoker, Mr. Holmes?" said he, speaking well-chosen English with a
+     curious little mincing accent. "Pray take a cigarette. And you, sir?
+     I can recommend them, for I have them especially prepared by Ionides
+     of Alexandria. He sends me a thousand at a time, and I grieve to say
+     that I have to arrange for a fresh supply every fortnight. Bad, sir,
+     very bad, but an old man has few pleasures. Tobacco and my work--that
+     is all that is left to me."
+
+     Holmes had lit a cigarette, and was shooting little darting glances
+     all over the room.
+
+     "Tobacco and my work, but now only tobacco," the old man exclaimed.
+     "Alas! what a fatal interruption! Who could have foreseen such a
+     terrible catastrophe? So estimable a young man! I assure you that
+     after a few months' training he was an admirable assistant. What do
+     you think of the matter, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "I have not yet made up my mind."
+
+     "I shall indeed be indebted to you if you can throw a light where all
+     is so dark to us. To a poor bookworm and invalid like myself such a
+     blow is paralyzing. I seem to have lost the faculty of thought. But
+     you are a man of action--you are a man of affairs. It is part of the
+     everyday routine of your life. You can preserve your balance in every
+     emergency. We are fortunate indeed in having you at our side."
+
+     Holmes was pacing up and down one side of the room whilst the old
+     Professor was talking. I observed that he was smoking with
+     extraordinary rapidity. It was evident that he shared our host's
+     liking for the fresh Alexandrian cigarettes.
+
+     "Yes, sir, it is a crushing blow," said the old man. "That is my
+     magnum opus--the pile of papers on the side table yonder. It is my
+     analysis of the documents found in the Coptic monasteries of Syria
+     and Egypt, a work which will cut deep at the very foundations of
+     revealed religion. With my enfeebled health I do not know whether I
+     shall ever be able to complete it now that my assistant has been
+     taken from me. Dear me, Mr. Holmes; why, you are even a quicker
+     smoker than I am myself."
+
+     Holmes smiled.
+
+     "I am a connoisseur," said he, taking another cigarette from the
+     box--his fourth--and lighting it from the stub of that which he had
+     finished. "I will not trouble you with any lengthy cross-examination,
+     Professor Coram, since I gather that you were in bed at the time of
+     the crime and could know nothing about it. I would only ask this.
+     What do you imagine that this poor fellow meant by his last words:
+     'The Professor--it was she'?"
+
+     The Professor shook his head.
+
+     "Susan is a country girl," said he, "and you know the incredible
+     stupidity of that class. I fancy that the poor fellow murmured some
+     incoherent delirious words, and that she twisted them into this
+     meaningless message."
+
+     "I see. You have no explanation yourself of the tragedy?"
+
+     "Possibly an accident; possibly--I only breathe it among ourselves--a
+     suicide. Young men have their hidden troubles--some affair of the
+     heart, perhaps, which we have never known. It is a more probable
+     supposition than murder."
+
+     "But the eye-glasses?"
+
+     "Ah! I am only a student--a man of dreams. I cannot explain the
+     practical things of life. But still, we are aware, my friend, that
+     love-gages may take strange shapes. By all means take another
+     cigarette. It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate them so. A fan,
+     a glove, glasses--who knows what article may be carried as a token or
+     treasured when a man puts an end to his life? This gentleman speaks
+     of footsteps in the grass; but, after all, it is easy to be mistaken
+     on such a point. As to the knife, it might well be thrown far from
+     the unfortunate man as he fell. It is possible that I speak as a
+     child, but to me it seems that Willoughby Smith has met his fate by
+     his own hand."
+
+     Holmes seemed struck by the theory thus put forward, and he continued
+     to walk up and down for some time, lost in thought and consuming
+     cigarette after cigarette.
+
+     "Tell me, Professor Coram," he said, at last, "what is in that
+     cupboard in the bureau?"
+
+     "Nothing that would help a thief. Family papers, letters from my poor
+     wife, diplomas of Universities which have done me honour. Here is the
+     key. You can look for yourself."
+
+     Holmes picked up the key and looked at it for an instant; then he
+     handed it back.
+
+     "No; I hardly think that it would help me," said he. "I should prefer
+     to go quietly down to your garden and turn the whole matter over in
+     my head. There is something to be said for the theory of suicide
+     which you have put forward. We must apologize for having intruded
+     upon you, Professor Coram, and I promise that we won't disturb you
+     until after lunch. At two o'clock we will come again and report to
+     you anything which may have happened in the interval."
+
+     Holmes was curiously distrait, and we walked up and down the garden
+     path for some time in silence.
+
+     "Have you a clue?" I asked, at last.
+
+     "It depends upon those cigarettes that I smoked," said he. "It is
+     possible that I am utterly mistaken. The cigarettes will show me."
+
+     "My dear Holmes," I exclaimed, "how on earth--"
+
+     "Well, well, you may see for yourself. If not, there's no harm done.
+     Of course, we always have the optician clue to fall back upon, but I
+     take a short cut when I can get it. Ah, here is the good Mrs. Marker!
+     Let us enjoy five minutes of instructive conversation with her."
+
+     I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked, a
+     peculiarly ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily
+     established terms of confidence with them. In half the time which he
+     had named he had captured the housekeeper's goodwill, and was
+     chatting with her as if he had known her for years.
+
+     "Yes, Mr. Holmes, it is as you say, sir. He does smoke something
+     terrible. All day and sometimes all night, sir. I've seen that room
+     of a morning--well, sir, you'd have thought it was a London fog. Poor
+     young Mr. Smith, he was a smoker also, but not as bad as the
+     Professor. His health--well, I don't know that it's better nor worse
+     for the smoking."
+
+     "Ah!" said Holmes, "but it kills the appetite."
+
+     "Well, I don't know about that, sir."
+
+     "I suppose the Professor eats hardly anything?"
+
+     "Well, he is variable. I'll say that for him."
+
+     "I'll wager he took no breakfast this morning, and won't face his
+     lunch after all the cigarettes I saw him consume."
+
+     "Well, you're out there, sir, as it happens, for he ate a remarkable
+     big breakfast this morning. I don't know when I've known him make a
+     better one, and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for his lunch.
+     I'm surprised myself, for since I came into that room yesterday and
+     saw young Mr. Smith lying there on the floor I couldn't bear to look
+     at food. Well, it takes all sorts to make a world, and the Professor
+     hasn't let it take his appetite away."
+
+     We loitered the morning away in the garden. Stanley Hopkins had gone
+     down to the village to look into some rumours of a strange woman who
+     had been seen by some children on the Chatham Road the previous
+     morning. As to my friend, all his usual energy seemed to have
+     deserted him. I had never known him handle a case in such a
+     half-hearted fashion. Even the news brought back by Hopkins that he
+     had found the children and that they had undoubtedly seen a woman
+     exactly corresponding with Holmes's description, and wearing either
+     spectacles or eye-glasses, failed to rouse any sign of keen interest.
+     He was more attentive when Susan, who waited upon us at lunch,
+     volunteered the information that she believed Mr. Smith had been out
+     for a walk yesterday morning, and that he had only returned half an
+     hour before the tragedy occurred. I could not myself see the bearing
+     of this incident, but I clearly perceived that Holmes was weaving it
+     into the general scheme which he had formed in his brain. Suddenly he
+     sprang from his chair and glanced at his watch. "Two o'clock,
+     gentlemen," said he. "We must go up and have it out with our friend
+     the Professor."
+
+     The old man had just finished his lunch, and certainly his empty dish
+     bore evidence to the good appetite with which his housekeeper had
+     credited him. He was, indeed, a weird figure as he turned his white
+     mane and his glowing eyes towards us. The eternal cigarette
+     smouldered in his mouth. He had been dressed and was seated in an
+     arm-chair by the fire.
+
+     "Well, Mr. Holmes, have you solved this mystery yet?" He shoved the
+     large tin of cigarettes which stood on a table beside him towards my
+     companion. Holmes stretched out his hand at the same moment, and
+     between them they tipped the box over the edge. For a minute or two
+     we were all on our knees retrieving stray cigarettes from impossible
+     places. When we rose again I observed that Holmes's eyes were shining
+     and his cheeks tinged with colour. Only at a crisis have I seen those
+     battle-signals flying.
+
+     "Yes," said he, "I have solved it."
+
+     Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement. Something like a sneer
+     quivered over the gaunt features of the old Professor.
+
+     "Indeed! In the garden?"
+
+     "No, here."
+
+     "Here! When?"
+
+     "This instant."
+
+     "You are surely joking, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You compel me to tell
+     you that this is too serious a matter to be treated in such a
+     fashion."
+
+     "I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram,
+     and I am sure that it is sound. What your motives are or what exact
+     part you play in this strange business I am not yet able to say. In a
+     few minutes I shall probably hear it from your own lips. Meanwhile I
+     will reconstruct what is past for your benefit, so that you may know
+     the information which I still require.
+
+     "A lady yesterday entered your study. She came with the intention of
+     possessing herself of certain documents which were in your bureau.
+     She had a key of her own. I have had an opportunity of examining
+     yours, and I do not find that slight discolouration which the scratch
+     made upon the varnish would have produced. You were not an accessory,
+     therefore, and she came, so far as I can read the evidence, without
+     your knowledge to rob you."
+
+     The Professor blew a cloud from his lips. "This is most interesting
+     and instructive," said he. "Have you no more to add? Surely, having
+     traced this lady so far, you can also say what has become of her."
+
+     "I will endeavour to do so. In the first place she was seized by your
+     secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape. This catastrophe I am
+     inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, for I am convinced that
+     the lady had no intention of inflicting so grievous an injury. An
+     assassin does not come unarmed. Horrified by what she had done she
+     rushed wildly away from the scene of the tragedy. Unfortunately for
+     her she had lost her glasses in the scuffle, and as she was extremely
+     short-sighted she was really helpless without them. She ran down a
+     corridor, which she imagined to be that by which she had come--both
+     were lined with cocoanut matting--and it was only when it was too
+     late that she understood that she had taken the wrong passage and
+     that her retreat was cut off behind her. What was she to do? She
+     could not go back. She could not remain where she was. She must go
+     on. She went on. She mounted a stair, pushed open a door, and found
+     herself in your room."
+
+     The old man sat with his mouth open staring wildly at Holmes.
+     Amazement and fear were stamped upon his expressive features. Now,
+     with an effort, he shrugged his shoulders and burst into insincere
+     laughter.
+
+     "All very fine, Mr. Holmes," said he. "But there is one little flaw
+     in your splendid theory. I was myself in my room, and I never left it
+     during the day."
+
+     "I am aware of that, Professor Coram."
+
+     "And you mean to say that I could lie upon that bed and not be aware
+     that a woman had entered my room?"
+
+     "I never said so. You were aware of it. You spoke with her. You
+     recognised her. You aided her to escape."
+
+     Again the Professor burst into high-keyed laughter. He had risen to
+     his feet and his eyes glowed like embers.
+
+     "You are mad!" he cried. "You are talking insanely. I helped her to
+     escape? Where is she now?"
+
+     "She is there," said Holmes, and he pointed to a high bookcase in the
+     corner of the room.
+
+     I saw the old man throw up his arms, a terrible convulsion passed
+     over his grim face, and he fell back in his chair. At the same
+     instant the bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung round upon a
+     hinge, and a woman rushed out into the room. "You are right!" she
+     cried, in a strange foreign voice. "You are right! I am here."
+
+     She was brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which had
+     come from the walls of her hiding-place. Her face, too, was streaked
+     with grime, and at the best she could never have been handsome, for
+     she had the exact physical characteristics which Holmes had divined,
+     with, in addition, a long and obstinate chin. What with her natural
+     blindness, and what with the change from dark to light, she stood as
+     one dazed, blinking about her to see where and who we were. And yet,
+     in spite of all these disadvantages, there was a certain nobility in
+     the woman's bearing, a gallantry in the defiant chin and in the
+     upraised head, which compelled something of respect and admiration.
+     Stanley Hopkins had laid his hand upon her arm and claimed her as his
+     prisoner, but she waved him aside gently, and yet with an
+     overmastering dignity which compelled obedience. The old man lay back
+     in his chair, with a twitching face, and stared at her with brooding
+     eyes.
+
+     "Yes, sir, I am your prisoner," she said. "From where I stood I could
+     hear everything, and I know that you have learned the truth. I
+     confess it all. It was I who killed the young man. But you are right,
+     you who say it was an accident. I did not even know that it was a
+     knife which I held in my hand, for in my despair I snatched anything
+     from the table and struck at him to make him let me go. It is the
+     truth that I tell."
+
+     "Madam," said Holmes, "I am sure that it is the truth. I fear that
+     you are far from well."
+
+     She had turned a dreadful colour, the more ghastly under the dark
+     dust-streaks upon her face. She seated herself on the side of the
+     bed; then she resumed.
+
+     "I have only a little time here," she said, "but I would have you to
+     know the whole truth. I am this man's wife. He is not an Englishman.
+     He is a Russian. His name I will not tell."
+
+     For the first time the old man stirred. "God bless you, Anna!" he
+     cried. "God bless you!"
+
+     She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction. "Why should
+     you cling so hard to that wretched life of yours, Sergius?" said she.
+     "It has done harm to many and good to none--not even to yourself.
+     However, it is not for me to cause the frail thread to be snapped
+     before God's time. I have enough already upon my soul since I crossed
+     the threshold of this cursed house. But I must speak or I shall be
+     too late.
+
+     "I have said, gentlemen, that I am this man's wife. He was fifty and
+     I a foolish girl of twenty when we married. It was in a city of
+     Russia, a University--I will not name the place."
+
+     "God bless you, Anna!" murmured the old man again.
+
+     "We were reformers--revolutionists--Nihilists, you understand. He and
+     I and many more. Then there came a time of trouble, a police officer
+     was killed, many were arrested, evidence was wanted, and in order to
+     save his own life and to earn a great reward my husband betrayed his
+     own wife and his companions. Yes, we were all arrested upon his
+     confession. Some of us found our way to the gallows and some to
+     Siberia. I was among these last, but my term was not for life. My
+     husband came to England with his ill-gotten gains, and has lived in
+     quiet ever since, knowing well that if the Brotherhood knew where he
+     was not a week would pass before justice would be done."
+
+     The old man reached out a trembling hand and helped himself to a
+     cigarette. "I am in your hands, Anna," said he. "You were always good
+     to me."
+
+     "I have not yet told you the height of his villainy," said she.
+     "Among our comrades of the Order there was one who was the friend of
+     my heart. He was noble, unselfish, loving--all that my husband was
+     not. He hated violence. We were all guilty--if that is guilt--but he
+     was not. He wrote for ever dissuading us from such a course. These
+     letters would have saved him. So would my diary, in which from day to
+     day I had entered both my feelings towards him and the view which
+     each of us had taken. My husband found and kept both diary and
+     letters. He hid them, and he tried hard to swear away the young man's
+     life. In this he failed, but Alexis was sent a convict to Siberia,
+     where now, at this moment, he works in a salt mine. Think of that,
+     you villain, you villain; now, now, at this very moment, Alexis, a
+     man whose name you are not worthy to speak, works and lives like a
+     slave, and yet I have your life in my hands and I let you go."
+
+     "You were always a noble woman, Anna," said the old man, puffing at
+     his cigarette.
+
+     She had risen, but she fell back again with a little cry of pain.
+
+     "I must finish," she said. "When my term was over I set myself to get
+     the diary and letters which, if sent to the Russian Government, would
+     procure my friend's release. I knew that my husband had come to
+     England. After months of searching I discovered where he was. I knew
+     that he still had the diary, for when I was in Siberia I had a letter
+     from him once reproaching me and quoting some passages from its
+     pages. Yet I was sure that with his revengeful nature he would never
+     give it to me of his own free will. I must get it for myself. With
+     this object I engaged an agent from a private detective firm, who
+     entered my husband's house as secretary--it was your second
+     secretary, Sergius, the one who left you so hurriedly. He found that
+     papers were kept in the cupboard, and he got an impression of the
+     key. He would not go farther. He furnished me with a plan of the
+     house, and he told me that in the forenoon the study was always
+     empty, as the secretary was employed up here. So at last I took my
+     courage in both hands and I came down to get the papers for myself. I
+     succeeded, but at what a cost!
+
+     "I had just taken the papers and was locking the cupboard when the
+     young man seized me. I had seen him already that morning. He had met
+     me in the road and I had asked him to tell me where Professor Coram
+     lived, not knowing that he was in his employ."
+
+     "Exactly! exactly!" said Holmes. "The secretary came back and told
+     his employer of the woman he had met. Then in his last breath he
+     tried to send a message that it was she--the she whom he had just
+     discussed with him."
+
+     "You must let me speak," said the woman, in an imperative voice, and
+     her face contracted as if in pain. "When he had fallen I rushed from
+     the room, chose the wrong door, and found myself in my husband's
+     room. He spoke of giving me up. I showed him that if he did so his
+     life was in my hands. If he gave me to the law I could give him to
+     the Brotherhood. It was not that I wished to live for my own sake,
+     but it was that I desired to accomplish my purpose. He knew that I
+     would do what I said--that his own fate was involved in mine. For
+     that reason and for no other he shielded me. He thrust me into that
+     dark hiding-place, a relic of old days, known only to himself. He
+     took his meals in his own room, and so was able to give me part of
+     his food. It was agreed that when the police left the house I should
+     slip away by night and come back no more. But in some way you have
+     read our plans." She tore from the bosom of her dress a small packet.
+     "These are my last words," said she; "here is the packet which will
+     save Alexis. I confide it to your honour and to your love of justice.
+     Take it! You will deliver it at the Russian Embassy. Now I have done
+     my duty, and--"
+
+     "Stop her!" cried Holmes. He had bounded across the room and had
+     wrenched a small phial from her hand.
+
+     "Too late!" she said, sinking back on the bed. "Too late! I took the
+     poison before I left my hiding-place. My head swims! I am going! I
+     charge you, sir, to remember the packet."
+
+     "A simple case, and yet in some ways an instructive one," Holmes
+     remarked, as we travelled back to town. "It hinged from the outset
+     upon the pince-nez. But for the fortunate chance of the dying man
+     having seized these I am not sure that we could ever have reached our
+     solution. It was clear to me from the strength of the glasses that
+     the wearer must have been very blind and helpless when deprived of
+     them. When you asked me to believe that she walked along a narrow
+     strip of grass without once making a false step I remarked, as you
+     may remember, that it was a noteworthy performance. In my mind I set
+     it down as an impossible performance, save in the unlikely case that
+     she had a second pair of glasses. I was forced, therefore, to
+     seriously consider the hypothesis that she had remained within the
+     house. On perceiving the similarity of the two corridors it became
+     clear that she might very easily have made such a mistake, and in
+     that case it was evident that she must have entered the Professor's
+     room. I was keenly on the alert, therefore, for whatever would bear
+     out this supposition, and I examined the room narrowly for anything
+     in the shape of a hiding-place. The carpet seemed continuous and
+     firmly nailed, so I dismissed the idea of a trap-door. There might
+     well be a recess behind the books. As you are aware, such devices are
+     common in old libraries. I observed that books were piled on the
+     floor at all other points, but that one bookcase was left clear.
+     This, then, might be the door. I could see no marks to guide me, but
+     the carpet was of a dun colour, which lends itself very well to
+     examination. I therefore smoked a great number of those excellent
+     cigarettes, and I dropped the ash all over the space in front of the
+     suspected bookcase. It was a simple trick, but exceedingly effective.
+     I then went downstairs and I ascertained, in your presence, Watson,
+     without your perceiving the drift of my remarks, that Professor
+     Coram's consumption of food had increased--as one would expect when
+     he is supplying a second person. We then ascended to the room again,
+     when, by upsetting the cigarette-box, I obtained a very excellent
+     view of the floor, and was able to see quite clearly, from the traces
+     upon the cigarette ash, that the prisoner had, in our absence, come
+     out from her retreat. Well, Hopkins, here we are at Charing Cross,
+     and I congratulate you on having brought your case to a successful
+     conclusion. You are going to head-quarters, no doubt. I think,
+     Watson, you and I will drive together to the Russian Embassy."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                   THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING THREE-QUARTER
+
+     We were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker Street,
+     but I have a particular recollection of one which reached us on a
+     gloomy February morning some seven or eight years ago and gave Mr.
+     Sherlock Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour. It was addressed to
+     him, and ran thus:
+
+     "Please await me. Terrible misfortune. Right wing three-quarter
+     missing; indispensable to-morrow.
+     Overton."
+
+     "Strand post-mark and dispatched ten-thirty-six," said Holmes,
+     reading it over and over. "Mr. Overton was evidently considerably
+     excited when he sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence.
+     Well, well, he will be here, I dare say, by the time I have looked
+     through the times, and then we shall know all about it. Even the most
+     insignificant problem would be welcome in these stagnant days."
+
+     Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned to dread
+     such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience that my
+     companion's brain was so abnormally active that it was dangerous to
+     leave it without material upon which to work. For years I had
+     gradually weaned him from that drug mania which had threatened once
+     to check his remarkable career. Now I knew that under ordinary
+     conditions he no longer craved for this artificial stimulus, but I
+     was well aware that the fiend was not dead, but sleeping; and I have
+     known that the sleep was a light one and the waking near when in
+     periods of idleness I have seen the drawn look upon Holmes's ascetic
+     face, and the brooding of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes.
+     Therefore I blessed this Mr. Overton, whoever he might be, since he
+     had come with his enigmatic message to break that dangerous calm
+     which brought more peril to my friend than all the storms of his
+     tempestuous life.
+
+     As we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by its sender, and
+     the card of Mr. Cyril Overton, of Trinity College, Cambridge,
+     announced the arrival of an enormous young man, sixteen stone of
+     solid bone and muscle, who spanned the doorway with his broad
+     shoulders and looked from one of us to the other with a comely face
+     which was haggard with anxiety.
+
+     "Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+     My companion bowed.
+
+     "I've been down to Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes. I saw Inspector Stanley
+     Hopkins. He advised me to come to you. He said the case, so far as he
+     could see, was more in your line than in that of the regular police."
+
+     "Pray sit down and tell me what is the matter."
+
+     "It's awful, Mr. Holmes, simply awful! I wonder my hair isn't grey.
+     Godfrey Staunton--you've heard of him, of course? He's simply the
+     hinge that the whole team turns on. I'd rather spare two from the
+     pack and have Godfrey for my three-quarter line. Whether it's
+     passing, or tackling, or dribbling, there's no one to touch him; and
+     then, he's got the head and can hold us all together. What am I to
+     do? That's what I ask you, Mr. Holmes. There's Moorhouse, first
+     reserve, but he is trained as a half, and he always edges right in on
+     to the scrum instead of keeping out on the touch-line. He's a fine
+     place-kick, it's true, but, then, he has no judgment, and he can't
+     sprint for nuts. Why, Morton or Johnson, the Oxford fliers, could
+     romp round him. Stevenson is fast enough, but he couldn't drop from
+     the twenty-five line, and a three-quarter who can't either punt or
+     drop isn't worth a place for pace alone. No, Mr. Holmes, we are done
+     unless you can help me to find Godfrey Staunton."
+
+     My friend had listened with amused surprise to this long speech,
+     which was poured forth with extraordinary vigour and earnestness,
+     every point being driven home by the slapping of a brawny hand upon
+     the speaker's knee. When our visitor was silent Holmes stretched out
+     his hand and took down letter "S" of his commonplace book. For once
+     he dug in vain into that mine of varied information.
+
+     "There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger," said he, "and
+     there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang, but Godfrey Staunton
+     is a new name to me."
+
+     It was our visitor's turn to look surprised.
+
+     "Why, Mr. Holmes, I thought you knew things," said he. "I suppose,
+     then, if you have never heard of Godfrey Staunton you don't know
+     Cyril Overton either?"
+
+     Holmes shook his head good-humouredly.
+
+     "Great Scot!" cried the athlete. "Why, I was first reserve for
+     England against Wales, and I've skippered the 'Varsity all this year.
+     But that's nothing! I didn't think there was a soul in England who
+     didn't know Godfrey Staunton, the crack three-quarter, Cambridge,
+     Blackheath, and five Internationals. Good Lord! Mr. Holmes, where
+     have you lived?"
+
+     Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment.
+
+     "You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton, a sweeter and
+     healthier one. My ramifications stretch out into many sections of
+     society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is
+     the best and soundest thing in England. However, your unexpected
+     visit this morning shows me that even in that world of fresh air and
+     fair play there may be work for me to do; so now, my good sir, I beg
+     you to sit down and to tell me slowly and quietly exactly what it is
+     that has occurred, and how you desire that I should help you."
+
+     Young Overton's face assumed the bothered look of the man who is more
+     accustomed to using his muscles than his wits; but by degrees, with
+     many repetitions and obscurities which I may omit from his narrative,
+     he laid his strange story before us.
+
+     "It's this way, Mr. Holmes. As I have said, I am the skipper of the
+     Rugger team of Cambridge 'Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton is my best
+     man. To-morrow we play Oxford. Yesterday we all came up and we
+     settled at Bentley's private hotel. At ten o'clock I went round and
+     saw that all the fellows had gone to roost, for I believe in strict
+     training and plenty of sleep to keep a team fit. I had a word or two
+     with Godfrey before he turned in. He seemed to me to be pale and
+     bothered. I asked him what was the matter. He said he was all
+     right--just a touch of headache. I bade him good-night and left him.
+     Half an hour later the porter tells me that a rough-looking man with
+     a beard called with a note for Godfrey. He had not gone to bed and
+     the note was taken to his room. Godfrey read it and fell back in a
+     chair as if he had been pole-axed. The porter was so scared that he
+     was going to fetch me, but Godfrey stopped him, had a drink of water,
+     and pulled himself together. Then he went downstairs, said a few
+     words to the man who was waiting in the hall, and the two of them
+     went off together. The last that the porter saw of them, they were
+     almost running down the street in the direction of the Strand. This
+     morning Godfrey's room was empty, his bed had never been slept in,
+     and his things were all just as I had seen them the night before. He
+     had gone off at a moment's notice with this stranger, and no word has
+     come from him since. I don't believe he will ever come back. He was a
+     sportsman, was Godfrey, down to his marrow, and he wouldn't have
+     stopped his training and let in his skipper if it were not for some
+     cause that was too strong for him. No; I feel as if he were gone for
+     good and we should never see him again."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes listened with the deepest attention to this singular
+     narrative.
+
+     "What did you do?" he asked.
+
+     "I wired to Cambridge to learn if anything had been heard of him
+     there. I have had an answer. No one has seen him."
+
+     "Could he have got back to Cambridge?"
+
+     "Yes, there is a late train--quarter-past eleven."
+
+     "But so far as you can ascertain he did not take it?"
+
+     "No, he has not been seen."
+
+     "What did you do next?"
+
+     "I wired to Lord Mount-James."
+
+     "Why to Lord Mount-James?"
+
+     "Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount-James is his nearest
+     relative--his uncle, I believe."
+
+     "Indeed. This throws new light upon the matter. Lord Mount-James is
+     one of the richest men in England."
+
+     "So I've heard Godfrey say."
+
+     "And your friend was closely related?"
+
+     "Yes, he was his heir, and the old boy is nearly eighty--cram full of
+     gout, too. They say he could chalk his billiard-cue with his
+     knuckles. He never allowed Godfrey a shilling in his life, for he is
+     an absolute miser, but it will all come to him right enough."
+
+     "Have you heard from Lord Mount-James?"
+
+     "No."
+
+     "What motive could your friend have in going to Lord Mount-James?"
+
+     "Well, something was worrying him the night before, and if it was to
+     do with money it is possible that he would make for his nearest
+     relative who had so much of it, though from all I have heard he would
+     not have much chance of getting it. Godfrey was not fond of the old
+     man. He would not go if he could help it."
+
+     "Well, we can soon determine that. If your friend was going to his
+     relative, Lord Mount-James, you have then to explain the visit of
+     this rough-looking fellow at so late an hour, and the agitation that
+     was caused by his coming."
+
+     Cyril Overton pressed his hands to his head. "I can make nothing of
+     it," said he.
+
+     "Well, well, I have a clear day, and I shall be happy to look into
+     the matter," said Holmes. "I should strongly recommend you to make
+     your preparations for your match without reference to this young
+     gentleman. It must, as you say, have been an overpowering necessity
+     which tore him away in such a fashion, and the same necessity is
+     likely to hold him away. Let us step round together to this hotel,
+     and see if the porter can throw any fresh light upon the matter."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes was a past-master in the art of putting a humble
+     witness at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of Godfrey
+     Staunton's abandoned room, he had extracted all that the porter had
+     to tell. The visitor of the night before was not a gentleman, neither
+     was he a working man. He was simply what the porter described as a
+     "medium-looking chap"; a man of fifty, beard grizzled, pale face,
+     quietly dressed. He seemed himself to be agitated. The porter had
+     observed his hand trembling when he had held out the note. Godfrey
+     Staunton had crammed the note into his pocket. Staunton had not
+     shaken hands with the man in the hall. They had exchanged a few
+     sentences, of which the porter had only distinguished the one word
+     "time." Then they had hurried off in the manner described. It was
+     just half-past ten by the hall clock.
+
+     "Let me see," said Holmes, seating himself on Staunton's bed. "You
+     are the day porter, are you not?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; I go off duty at eleven."
+
+     "The night porter saw nothing, I suppose?"
+
+     "No, sir; one theatre party came in late. No one else."
+
+     "Were you on duty all day yesterday?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "Did you take any messages to Mr. Staunton?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; one telegram."
+
+     "Ah! that's interesting. What o'clock was this?"
+
+     "About six."
+
+     "Where was Mr. Staunton when he received it?"
+
+     "Here in his room."
+
+     "Were you present when he opened it?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; I waited to see if there was an answer."
+
+     "Well, was there?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. He wrote an answer."
+
+     "Did you take it?"
+
+     "No; he took it himself."
+
+     "But he wrote it in your presence?"
+
+     "Yes, sir. I was standing by the door, and he with his back turned at
+     that table. When he had written it he said, 'All right, porter, I
+     will take this myself.'"
+
+     "What did he write it with?"
+
+     "A pen, sir."
+
+     "Was the telegraphic form one of these on the table?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; it was the top one."
+
+     Holmes rose. Taking the forms he carried them over to the window and
+     carefully examined that which was uppermost.
+
+     "It is a pity he did not write in pencil," said he, throwing them
+     down again with a shrug of disappointment. "As you have no doubt
+     frequently observed, Watson, the impression usually goes through--a
+     fact which has dissolved many a happy marriage. However, I can find
+     no trace here. I rejoice, however, to perceive that he wrote with a
+     broad-pointed quill pen, and I can hardly doubt that we will find
+     some impression upon this blotting-pad. Ah, yes, surely this is the
+     very thing!"
+
+     He tore off a strip of the blotting-paper and turned towards us the
+     following hieroglyphic:
+
+     [ Picture: Several unreadable scrawls on paper ]
+
+     Cyril Overton was much excited. "Hold it to the glass!" he cried.
+
+     "That is unnecessary," said Holmes. "The paper is thin, and the
+     reverse will give the message. Here it is." He turned it over and we
+     read:
+
+     [ Picture: Stand by us for God’s sake! ]
+
+     "So that is the tail end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton
+     dispatched within a few hours of his disappearance. There are at
+     least six words of the message which have escaped us; but what
+     remains--'Stand by us for God's sake!'--proves that this young man
+     saw a formidable danger which approached him, and from which someone
+     else could protect him. 'Us,' mark you! Another person was involved.
+     Who should it be but the pale-faced, bearded man, who seemed himself
+     in so nervous a state? What, then, is the connection between Godfrey
+     Staunton and the bearded man? And what is the third source from which
+     each of them sought for help against pressing danger? Our inquiry has
+     already narrowed down to that."
+
+     "We have only to find to whom that telegram is addressed," I
+     suggested.
+
+     "Exactly, my dear Watson. Your reflection, though profound, had
+     already crossed my mind. But I dare say it may have come to your
+     notice that if you walk into a post-office and demand to see the
+     counterfoil of another man's message there may be some disinclination
+     on the part of the officials to oblige you. There is so much red tape
+     in these matters! However, I have no doubt that with a little
+     delicacy and finesse the end may be attained. Meanwhile, I should
+     like in your presence, Mr. Overton, to go through these papers which
+     have been left upon the table."
+
+     There were a number of letters, bills, and note-books, which Holmes
+     turned over and examined with quick, nervous fingers and darting,
+     penetrating eyes. "Nothing here," he said, at last. "By the way, I
+     suppose your friend was a healthy young fellow--nothing amiss with
+     him?"
+
+     "Sound as a bell."
+
+     "Have you ever known him ill?"
+
+     "Not a day. He has been laid up with a hack, and once he slipped his
+     knee-cap, but that was nothing."
+
+     "Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose. I should think he may
+     have had some secret trouble. With your assent I will put one or two
+     of these papers in my pocket, in case they should bear upon our
+     future inquiry."
+
+     "One moment! one moment!" cried a querulous voice, and we looked up
+     to find a queer little old man, jerking and twitching in the doorway.
+     He was dressed in rusty black, with a very broad brimmed top-hat and
+     a loose white necktie--the whole effect being that of a very rustic
+     parson or of an undertaker's mute. Yet, in spite of his shabby and
+     even absurd appearance, his voice had a sharp crackle, and his manner
+     a quick intensity which commanded attention.
+
+     "Who are you, sir, and by what right do you touch this gentleman's
+     papers?" he asked.
+
+     "I am a private detective, and I am endeavouring to explain his
+     disappearance."
+
+     "Oh, you are, are you? And who instructed you, eh?"
+
+     "This gentleman, Mr. Staunton's friend, was referred to me by
+     Scotland Yard."
+
+     "Who are you, sir?"
+
+     "I am Cyril Overton."
+
+     "Then it is you who sent me a telegram. My name is Lord Mount-James.
+     I came round as quickly as the Bayswater 'bus would bring me. So you
+     have instructed a detective?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "And are you prepared to meet the cost?"
+
+     "I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, when we find him, will
+     be prepared to do that."
+
+     "But if he is never found, eh? Answer me that!"
+
+     "In that case no doubt his family--"
+
+     "Nothing of the sort, sir!" screamed the little man. "Don't look to
+     me for a penny--not a penny! You understand that, Mr. Detective! I am
+     all the family that this young man has got, and I tell you that I am
+     not responsible. If he has any expectations it is due to the fact
+     that I have never wasted money, and I do not propose to begin to do
+     so now. As to those papers with which you are making so free, I may
+     tell you that in case there should be anything of any value among
+     them you will be held strictly to account for what you do with them."
+
+     "Very good, sir," said Sherlock Holmes. "May I ask in the meanwhile
+     whether you have yourself any theory to account for this young man's
+     disappearance?"
+
+     "No, sir, I have not. He is big enough and old enough to look after
+     himself, and if he is so foolish as to lose himself I entirely refuse
+     to accept the responsibility of hunting for him."
+
+     "I quite understand your position," said Holmes, with a mischievous
+     twinkle in his eyes. "Perhaps you don't quite understand mine.
+     Godfrey Staunton appears to have been a poor man. If he has been
+     kidnapped it could not have been for anything which he himself
+     possesses. The fame of your wealth has gone abroad, Lord Mount-James,
+     and it is entirely possible that a gang of thieves have secured your
+     nephew in order to gain from him some information as to your house,
+     your habits, and your treasure."
+
+     The face of our unpleasant little visitor turned as white as his
+     neckcloth.
+
+     "Heavens, sir, what an idea! I never thought of such villainy! What
+     inhuman rogues there are in the world! But Godfrey is a fine lad--a
+     staunch lad. Nothing would induce him to give his old uncle away.
+     I'll have the plate moved over to the bank this evening. In the
+     meantime spare no pains, Mr. Detective! I beg you to leave no stone
+     unturned to bring him safely back. As to money, well, so far as a
+     fiver, or even a tenner, goes, you can always look to me."
+
+     Even in his chastened frame of mind the noble miser could give us no
+     information which could help us, for he knew little of the private
+     life of his nephew. Our only clue lay in the truncated telegram, and
+     with a copy of this in his hand Holmes set forth to find a second
+     link for his chain. We had shaken off Lord Mount-James, and Overton
+     had gone to consult with the other members of his team over the
+     misfortune which had befallen them.
+
+     There was a telegraph-office at a short distance from the hotel. We
+     halted outside it.
+
+     "It's worth trying, Watson," said Holmes. "Of course, with a warrant
+     we could demand to see the counterfoils, but we have not reached that
+     stage yet. I don't suppose they remember faces in so busy a place.
+     Let us venture it."
+
+     "I am sorry to trouble you," said he, in his blandest manner, to the
+     young woman behind the grating; "there is some small mistake about a
+     telegram I sent yesterday. I have had no answer, and I very much fear
+     that I must have omitted to put my name at the end. Could you tell me
+     if this was so?"
+
+     The young woman turned over a sheaf of counterfoils.
+
+     "What o'clock was it?" she asked.
+
+     "A little after six."
+
+     "Whom was it to?"
+
+     Holmes put his finger to his lips and glanced at me. "The last words
+     in it were 'for God's sake,'" he whispered, confidentially; "I am
+     very anxious at getting no answer."
+
+     The young woman separated one of the forms.
+
+     "This is it. There is no name," said she, smoothing it out upon the
+     counter.
+
+     "Then that, of course, accounts for my getting no answer," said
+     Holmes. "Dear me, how very stupid of me, to be sure! Good morning,
+     miss, and many thanks for having relieved my mind." He chuckled and
+     rubbed his hands when we found ourselves in the street once more.
+
+     "Well?" I asked.
+
+     "We progress, my dear Watson, we progress. I had seven different
+     schemes for getting a glimpse of that telegram, but I could hardly
+     hope to succeed the very first time."
+
+     "And what have you gained?"
+
+     "A starting-point for our investigation." He hailed a cab. "King's
+     Cross Station," said he.
+
+     "We have a journey, then?"
+
+     "Yes; I think we must run down to Cambridge together. All the
+     indications seem to me to point in that direction."
+
+     "Tell me," I asked, as we rattled up Gray's Inn Road, "have you any
+     suspicion yet as to the cause of the disappearance? I don't think
+     that among all our cases I have known one where the motives are more
+     obscure. Surely you don't really imagine that he may be kidnapped in
+     order to give information against his wealthy uncle?"
+
+     "I confess, my dear Watson, that that does not appeal to me as a very
+     probable explanation. It struck me, however, as being the one which
+     was most likely to interest that exceedingly unpleasant old person."
+
+     "It certainly did that. But what are your alternatives?"
+
+     "I could mention several. You must admit that it is curious and
+     suggestive that this incident should occur on the eve of this
+     important match, and should involve the only man whose presence seems
+     essential to the success of the side. It may, of course, be
+     coincidence, but it is interesting. Amateur sport is free from
+     betting, but a good deal of outside betting goes on among the public,
+     and it is possible that it might be worth someone's while to get at a
+     player as the ruffians of the turf get at a race-horse. There is one
+     explanation. A second very obvious one is that this young man really
+     is the heir of a great property, however modest his means may at
+     present be, and it is not impossible that a plot to hold him for
+     ransom might be concocted."
+
+     "These theories take no account of the telegram."
+
+     "Quite true, Watson. The telegram still remains the only solid thing
+     with which we have to deal, and we must not permit our attention to
+     wander away from it. It is to gain light upon the purpose of this
+     telegram that we are now upon our way to Cambridge. The path of our
+     investigation is at present obscure, but I shall be very much
+     surprised if before evening we have not cleared it up or made a
+     considerable advance along it."
+
+     It was already dark when we reached the old University city. Holmes
+     took a cab at the station, and ordered the man to drive to the house
+     of Dr. Leslie Armstrong. A few minutes later we had stopped at a
+     large mansion in the busiest thoroughfare. We were shown in, and
+     after a long wait were at last admitted into the consulting-room,
+     where we found the doctor seated behind his table.
+
+     It argues the degree in which I had lost touch with my profession
+     that the name of Leslie Armstrong was unknown to me. Now I am aware
+     that he is not only one of the heads of the medical school of the
+     University, but a thinker of European reputation in more than one
+     branch of science. Yet even without knowing his brilliant record one
+     could not fail to be impressed by a mere glance at the man, the
+     square, massive face, the brooding eyes under the thatched brows, and
+     the granite moulding of the inflexible jaw. A man of deep character,
+     a man with an alert mind, grim, ascetic, self-contained,
+     formidable--so I read Dr. Leslie Armstrong. He held my friend's card
+     in his hand, and he looked up with no very pleased expression upon
+     his dour features.
+
+     "I have heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and I am aware of your
+     profession, one of which I by no means approve."
+
+     "In that, doctor, you will find yourself in agreement with every
+     criminal in the country," said my friend, quietly.
+
+     "So far as your efforts are directed towards the suppression of
+     crime, sir, they must have the support of every reasonable member of
+     the community, though I cannot doubt that the official machinery is
+     amply sufficient for the purpose. Where your calling is more open to
+     criticism is when you pry into the secrets of private individuals,
+     when you rake up family matters which are better hidden, and when you
+     incidentally waste the time of men who are more busy than yourself.
+     At the present moment, for example, I should be writing a treatise
+     instead of conversing with you."
+
+     "No doubt, doctor; and yet the conversation may prove more important
+     than the treatise. Incidentally I may tell you that we are doing the
+     reverse of what you very justly blame, and that we are endeavouring
+     to prevent anything like public exposure of private matters which
+     must necessarily follow when once the case is fairly in the hands of
+     the official police. You may look upon me simply as an irregular
+     pioneer who goes in front of the regular forces of the country. I
+     have come to ask you about Mr. Godfrey Staunton."
+
+     "What about him?"
+
+     "You know him, do you not?"
+
+     "He is an intimate friend of mine."
+
+     "You are aware that he has disappeared?"
+
+     "Ah, indeed!" There was no change of expression in the rugged
+     features of the doctor.
+
+     "He left his hotel last night. He has not been heard of."
+
+     "No doubt he will return."
+
+     "To-morrow is the 'Varsity football match."
+
+     "I have no sympathy with these childish games. The young man's fate
+     interests me deeply, since I know him and like him. The football
+     match does not come within my horizon at all."
+
+     "I claim your sympathy, then, in my investigation of Mr. Staunton's
+     fate. Do you know where he is?"
+
+     "Certainly not."
+
+     "You have not seen him since yesterday?"
+
+     "No, I have not."
+
+     "Was Mr. Staunton a healthy man?"
+
+     "Absolutely."
+
+     "Did you ever know him ill?"
+
+     "Never."
+
+     Holmes popped a sheet of paper before the doctor's eyes. "Then
+     perhaps you will explain this receipted bill for thirteen guineas,
+     paid by Mr. Godfrey Staunton last month to Dr. Leslie Armstrong of
+     Cambridge. I picked it out from among the papers upon his desk."
+
+     The doctor flushed with anger.
+
+     "I do not feel that there is any reason why I should render an
+     explanation to you, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     Holmes replaced the bill in his note-book. "If you prefer a public
+     explanation it must come sooner or later," said he. "I have already
+     told you that I can hush up that which others will be bound to
+     publish, and you would really be wiser to take me into your complete
+     confidence."
+
+     "I know nothing about it."
+
+     "Did you hear from Mr. Staunton in London?"
+
+     "Certainly not."
+
+     "Dear me, dear me; the post-office again!" Holmes sighed, wearily. "A
+     most urgent telegram was dispatched to you from London by Godfrey
+     Staunton at six-fifteen yesterday evening--a telegram which is
+     undoubtedly associated with his disappearance--and yet you have not
+     had it. It is most culpable. I shall certainly go down to the office
+     here and register a complaint."
+
+     Dr. Leslie Armstrong sprang up from behind his desk, and his dark
+     face was crimson with fury.
+
+     "I'll trouble you to walk out of my house, sir," said he. "You can
+     tell your employer, Lord Mount-James, that I do not wish to have
+     anything to do either with him or with his agents. No, sir, not
+     another word!" He rang the bell furiously. "John, show these
+     gentlemen out!" A pompous butler ushered us severely to the door, and
+     we found ourselves in the street. Holmes burst out laughing.
+
+     "Dr. Leslie Armstrong is certainly a man of energy and character,"
+     said he. "I have not seen a man who, if he turned his talents that
+     way, was more calculated to fill the gap left by the illustrious
+     Moriarty. And now, my poor Watson, here we are, stranded and
+     friendless in this inhospitable town, which we cannot leave without
+     abandoning our case. This little inn just opposite Armstrong's house
+     is singularly adapted to our needs. If you would engage a front room
+     and purchase the necessaries for the night, I may have time to make a
+     few inquiries."
+
+     These few inquiries proved, however, to be a more lengthy proceeding
+     than Holmes had imagined, for he did not return to the inn until
+     nearly nine o'clock. He was pale and dejected, stained with dust, and
+     exhausted with hunger and fatigue. A cold supper was ready upon the
+     table, and when his needs were satisfied and his pipe alight he was
+     ready to take that half comic and wholly philosophic view which was
+     natural to him when his affairs were going awry. The sound of
+     carriage wheels caused him to rise and glance out of the window. A
+     brougham and pair of greys under the glare of a gas-lamp stood before
+     the doctor's door.
+
+     "It's been out three hours," said Holmes; "started at half-past six,
+     and here it is back again. That gives a radius of ten or twelve
+     miles, and he does it once, or sometimes twice, a day."
+
+     "No unusual thing for a doctor in practice."
+
+     "But Armstrong is not really a doctor in practice. He is a lecturer
+     and a consultant, but he does not care for general practice, which
+     distracts him from his literary work. Why, then, does he make these
+     long journeys, which must be exceedingly irksome to him, and who is
+     it that he visits?"
+
+     "His coachman--"
+
+     "My dear Watson, can you doubt that it was to him that I first
+     applied? I do not know whether it came from his own innate depravity
+     or from the promptings of his master, but he was rude enough to set a
+     dog at me. Neither dog nor man liked the look of my stick, however,
+     and the matter fell through. Relations were strained after that, and
+     further inquiries out of the question. All that I have learned I got
+     from a friendly native in the yard of our own inn. It was he who told
+     me of the doctor's habits and of his daily journey. At that instant,
+     to give point to his words, the carriage came round to the door."
+
+     "Could you not follow it?"
+
+     "Excellent, Watson! You are scintillating this evening. The idea did
+     cross my mind. There is, as you may have observed, a bicycle shop
+     next to our inn. Into this I rushed, engaged a bicycle, and was able
+     to get started before the carriage was quite out of sight. I rapidly
+     overtook it, and then, keeping at a discreet distance of a hundred
+     yards or so, I followed its lights until we were clear of the town.
+     We had got well out on the country road when a somewhat mortifying
+     incident occurred. The carriage stopped, the doctor alighted, walked
+     swiftly back to where I had also halted, and told me in an excellent
+     sardonic fashion that he feared the road was narrow, and that he
+     hoped his carriage did not impede the passage of my bicycle. Nothing
+     could have been more admirable than his way of putting it. I at once
+     rode past the carriage, and, keeping to the main road, I went on for
+     a few miles, and then halted in a convenient place to see if the
+     carriage passed. There was no sign of it, however, and so it became
+     evident that it had turned down one of several side roads which I had
+     observed. I rode back, but again saw nothing of the carriage, and
+     now, as you perceive, it has returned after me. Of course, I had at
+     the outset no particular reason to connect these journeys with the
+     disappearance of Godfrey Staunton, and was only inclined to
+     investigate them on the general grounds that everything which
+     concerns Dr. Armstrong is at present of interest to us; but, now that
+     I find he keeps so keen a look-out upon anyone who may follow him on
+     these excursions, the affair appears more important, and I shall not
+     be satisfied until I have made the matter clear."
+
+     "We can follow him to-morrow."
+
+     "Can we? It is not so easy as you seem to think. You are not familiar
+     with Cambridgeshire scenery, are you? It does not lend itself to
+     concealment. All this country that I passed over to-night is as flat
+     and clean as the palm of your hand, and the man we are following is
+     no fool, as he very clearly showed to-night. I have wired to Overton
+     to let us know any fresh London developments at this address, and in
+     the meantime we can only concentrate our attention upon Dr.
+     Armstrong, whose name the obliging young lady at the office allowed
+     me to read upon the counterfoil of Staunton's urgent message. He
+     knows where the young man is--to that I'll swear--and if he knows,
+     then it must be our own fault if we cannot manage to know also. At
+     present it must be admitted that the odd trick is in his possession,
+     and, as you are aware, Watson, it is not my habit to leave the game
+     in that condition."
+
+     And yet the next day brought us no nearer to the solution of the
+     mystery. A note was handed in after breakfast, which Holmes passed
+     across to me with a smile.
+
+     Sir [it ran]:
+     I can assure you that you are wasting your time in dogging my
+     movements. I have, as you discovered last night, a window at the back
+     of my brougham, and if you desire a twenty-mile ride which will lead
+     you to the spot from which you started, you have only to follow me.
+     Meanwhile, I can inform you that no spying upon me can in any way
+     help Mr. Godfrey Staunton, and I am convinced that the best service
+     you can do to that gentleman is to return at once to London and to
+     report to your employer that you are unable to trace him. Your time
+     in Cambridge will certainly be wasted.
+     Yours faithfully,
+     Leslie Armstrong.
+
+     "An outspoken, honest antagonist is the doctor," said Holmes. "Well,
+     well, he excites my curiosity, and I must really know more before I
+     leave him."
+
+     "His carriage is at his door now," said I. "There he is stepping into
+     it. I saw him glance up at our window as he did so. Suppose I try my
+     luck upon the bicycle?"
+
+     "No, no, my dear Watson! With all respect for your natural acumen I
+     do not think that you are quite a match for the worthy doctor. I
+     think that possibly I can attain our end by some independent
+     explorations of my own. I am afraid that I must leave you to your own
+     devices, as the appearance of two inquiring strangers upon a sleepy
+     countryside might excite more gossip than I care for. No doubt you
+     will find some sights to amuse you in this venerable city, and I hope
+     to bring back a more favourable report to you before evening."
+
+     Once more, however, my friend was destined to be disappointed. He
+     came back at night weary and unsuccessful.
+
+     "I have had a blank day, Watson. Having got the doctor's general
+     direction, I spent the day in visiting all the villages upon that
+     side of Cambridge, and comparing notes with publicans and other local
+     news agencies. I have covered some ground: Chesterton, Histon,
+     Waterbeach, and Oakington have each been explored and have each
+     proved disappointing. The daily appearance of a brougham and pair
+     could hardly have been overlooked in such Sleepy Hollows. The doctor
+     has scored once more. Is there a telegram for me?"
+
+     "Yes; I opened it. Here it is:
+
+     "'Ask for Pompey from Jeremy Dixon, Trinity College.'
+     "I don't understand it."
+
+     "Oh, it is clear enough. It is from our friend Overton, and is in
+     answer to a question from me. I'll just send round a note to Mr.
+     Jeremy Dixon, and then I have no doubt that our luck will turn. By
+     the way, is there any news of the match?"
+
+     "Yes, the local evening paper has an excellent account in its last
+     edition. Oxford won by a goal and two tries. The last sentences of
+     the description say:
+
+     "'The defeat of the Light Blues may be entirely attributed to the
+     unfortunate absence of the crack International, Godfrey Staunton,
+     whose want was felt at every instant of the game. The lack of
+     combination in the three-quarter line and their weakness both in
+     attack and defence more than neutralized the efforts of a heavy and
+     hard-working pack.'"
+
+     "Then our friend Overton's forebodings have been justified," said
+     Holmes. "Personally I am in agreement with Dr. Armstrong, and
+     football does not come within my horizon. Early to bed to-night,
+     Watson, for I foresee that to-morrow may be an eventful day."
+
+     I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning, for he
+     sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe. I associated
+     that instrument with the single weakness of his nature, and I feared
+     the worst when I saw it glittering in his hand. He laughed at my
+     expression of dismay, and laid it upon the table.
+
+     "No, no, my dear fellow, there is no cause for alarm. It is not upon
+     this occasion the instrument of evil, but it will rather prove to be
+     the key which will unlock our mystery. On this syringe I base all my
+     hopes. I have just returned from a small scouting expedition and
+     everything is favourable. Eat a good breakfast, Watson, for I propose
+     to get upon Dr. Armstrong's trail to-day, and once on it I will not
+     stop for rest or food until I run him to his burrow."
+
+     "In that case," said I, "we had best carry our breakfast with us, for
+     he is making an early start. His carriage is at the door."
+
+     "Never mind. Let him go. He will be clever if he can drive where I
+     cannot follow him. When you have finished come downstairs with me,
+     and I will introduce you to a detective who is a very eminent
+     specialist in the work that lies before us."
+
+     When we descended I followed Holmes into the stable yard, where he
+     opened the door of a loose-box and led out a squat, lop-eared,
+     white-and-tan dog, something between a beagle and a foxhound.
+
+     "Let me introduce you to Pompey," said he. "Pompey is the pride of
+     the local draghounds, no very great flier, as his build will show,
+     but a staunch hound on a scent. Well, Pompey, you may not be fast,
+     but I expect you will be too fast for a couple of middle-aged London
+     gentlemen, so I will take the liberty of fastening this leather leash
+     to your collar. Now, boy, come along, and show what you can do." He
+     led him across to the doctor's door. The dog sniffed round for an
+     instant, and then with a shrill whine of excitement started off down
+     the street, tugging at his leash in his efforts to go faster. In half
+     an hour, we were clear of the town and hastening down a country road.
+
+     "What have you done, Holmes?" I asked.
+
+     "A threadbare and venerable device, but useful upon occasion. I
+     walked into the doctor's yard this morning and shot my syringe full
+     of aniseed over the hind wheel. A draghound will follow aniseed from
+     here to John o' Groat's, and our friend Armstrong would have to drive
+     through the Cam before he would shake Pompey off his trail. Oh, the
+     cunning rascal! This is how he gave me the slip the other night."
+
+     The dog had suddenly turned out of the main road into a grass-grown
+     lane. Half a mile farther this opened into another broad road, and
+     the trail turned hard to the right in the direction of the town,
+     which we had just quitted. The road took a sweep to the south of the
+     town and continued in the opposite direction to that in which we
+     started.
+
+     "This détour has been entirely for our benefit, then?" said Holmes.
+     "No wonder that my inquiries among those villages led to nothing. The
+     doctor has certainly played the game for all it is worth, and one
+     would like to know the reason for such elaborate deception. This
+     should be the village of Trumpington to the right of us. And, by
+     Jove! here is the brougham coming round the corner. Quick, Watson,
+     quick, or we are done!"
+
+     He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the reluctant Pompey
+     after him. We had hardly got under the shelter of the hedge when the
+     carriage rattled past. I caught a glimpse of Dr. Armstrong within,
+     his shoulders bowed, his head sunk on his hands, the very image of
+     distress. I could tell by my companion's graver face that he also had
+     seen.
+
+     "I fear there is some dark ending to our quest," said he. "It cannot
+     be long before we know it. Come, Pompey! Ah, it is the cottage in the
+     field!"
+
+     There could be no doubt that we had reached the end of our journey.
+     Pompey ran about and whined eagerly outside the gate where the marks
+     of the brougham's wheels were still to be seen. A footpath led across
+     to the lonely cottage. Holmes tied the dog to the hedge, and we
+     hastened onwards. My friend knocked at the little rustic door, and
+     knocked again without response. And yet the cottage was not deserted,
+     for a low sound came to our ears--a kind of drone of misery and
+     despair, which was indescribably melancholy. Holmes paused
+     irresolute, and then he glanced back at the road which we had just
+     traversed. A brougham was coming down it, and there could be no
+     mistaking those grey horses.
+
+     "By Jove, the doctor is coming back!" cried Holmes. "That settles it.
+     We are bound to see what it means before he comes."
+
+     He opened the door and we stepped into the hall. The droning sound
+     swelled louder upon our ears until it became one long, deep wail of
+     distress. It came from upstairs. Holmes darted up and I followed him.
+     He pushed open a half-closed door and we both stood appalled at the
+     sight before us.
+
+     A woman, young and beautiful, was lying dead upon the bed. Her calm,
+     pale face, with dim, wide-opened blue eyes, looked upward from amid a
+     great tangle of golden hair. At the foot of the bed, half sitting,
+     half kneeling, his face buried in the clothes, was a young man, whose
+     frame was racked by his sobs. So absorbed was he by his bitter grief
+     that he never looked up until Holmes's hand was on his shoulder.
+
+     "Are you Mr. Godfrey Staunton?"
+
+     "Yes, yes; I am--but you are too late. She is dead."
+
+     The man was so dazed that he could not be made to understand that we
+     were anything but doctors who had been sent to his assistance. Holmes
+     was endeavouring to utter a few words of consolation, and to explain
+     the alarm which had been caused to his friends by his sudden
+     disappearance, when there was a step upon the stairs, and there was
+     the heavy, stern, questioning face of Dr. Armstrong at the door.
+
+     "So, gentlemen," said he, "you have attained your end, and have
+     certainly chosen a particularly delicate moment for your intrusion. I
+     would not brawl in the presence of death, but I can assure you that
+     if I were a younger man your monstrous conduct would not pass with
+     impunity."
+
+     "Excuse me, Dr. Armstrong, I think we are a little at
+     cross-purposes," said my friend, with dignity. "If you could step
+     downstairs with us we may each be able to give some light to the
+     other upon this miserable affair."
+
+     A minute later the grim doctor and ourselves were in the sitting-room
+     below.
+
+     "Well, sir?" said he.
+
+     "I wish you to understand, in the first place, that I am not employed
+     by Lord Mount-James, and that my sympathies in this matter are
+     entirely against that nobleman. When a man is lost it is my duty to
+     ascertain his fate, but having done so the matter ends so far as I am
+     concerned; and so long as there is nothing criminal, I am much more
+     anxious to hush up private scandals than to give them publicity. If,
+     as I imagine, there is no breach of the law in this matter, you can
+     absolutely depend upon my discretion and my co-operation in keeping
+     the facts out of the papers."
+
+     Dr. Armstrong took a quick step forward and wrung Holmes by the hand.
+
+     "You are a good fellow," said he. "I had misjudged you. I thank
+     Heaven that my compunction at leaving poor Staunton all alone in this
+     plight caused me to turn my carriage back, and so to make your
+     acquaintance. Knowing as much as you do, the situation is very easily
+     explained. A year ago Godfrey Staunton lodged in London for a time,
+     and became passionately attached to his landlady's daughter, whom he
+     married. She was as good as she was beautiful, and as intelligent as
+     she was good. No man need be ashamed of such a wife. But Godfrey was
+     the heir to this crabbed old nobleman, and it was quite certain that
+     the news of his marriage would have been the end of his inheritance.
+     I knew the lad well, and I loved him for his many excellent
+     qualities. I did all I could to help him to keep things straight. We
+     did our very best to keep the thing from everyone, for when once such
+     a whisper gets about it is not long before everyone has heard it.
+     Thanks to this lonely cottage and his own discretion, Godfrey has up
+     to now succeeded. Their secret was known to no one save to me and to
+     one excellent servant who has at present gone for assistance to
+     Trumpington. But at last there came a terrible blow in the shape of
+     dangerous illness to his wife. It was consumption of the most
+     virulent kind. The poor boy was half crazed with grief, and yet he
+     had to go to London to play this match, for he could not get out of
+     it without explanations which would expose his secret. I tried to
+     cheer him up by a wire, and he sent me one in reply imploring me to
+     do all I could. This was the telegram which you appear in some
+     inexplicable way to have seen. I did not tell him how urgent the
+     danger was, for I knew that he could do no good here, but I sent the
+     truth to the girl's father, and he very injudiciously communicated it
+     to Godfrey. The result was that he came straight away in a state
+     bordering on frenzy, and has remained in the same state, kneeling at
+     the end of her bed, until this morning death put an end to her
+     sufferings. That is all, Mr. Holmes, and I am sure that I can rely
+     upon your discretion and that of your friend."
+
+     Holmes grasped the doctor's hand.
+
+     "Come, Watson," said he, and we passed from that house of grief into
+     the pale sunlight of the winter day.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBEY GRANGE
+
+     It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning during the winter of '97
+     that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The
+     candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face and told me at
+     a glance that something was amiss.
+
+     "Come, Watson, come!" he cried. "The game is afoot. Not a word! Into
+     your clothes and come!"
+
+     Ten minutes later we were both in a cab and rattling through the
+     silent streets on our way to Charing Cross Station. The first faint
+     winter's dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the
+     occasional figure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and
+     indistinct in the opalescent London reek. Holmes nestled in silence
+     into his heavy coat, and I was glad to do the same, for the air was
+     most bitter and neither of us had broken our fast. It was not until
+     we had consumed some hot tea at the station, and taken our places in
+     the Kentish train, that we were sufficiently thawed, he to speak and
+     I to listen. Holmes drew a note from his pocket and read it aloud:
+
+     "Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent,
+     "3.30 a.m.
+     "My dear Mr. Holmes:
+     "I should be very glad of your immediate assistance in what promises
+     to be a most remarkable case. It is something quite in your line.
+     Except for releasing the lady I will see that everything is kept
+     exactly as I have found it, but I beg you not to lose an instant, as
+     it is difficult to leave Sir Eustace there.
+     "Yours faithfully,
+     "Stanley Hopkins."
+
+     "Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his
+     summons has been entirely justified," said Holmes. "I fancy that
+     every one of his cases has found its way into your collection, and I
+     must admit, Watson, that you have some power of selection which
+     atones for much which I deplore in your narratives. Your fatal habit
+     of looking at everything from the point of view of a story instead of
+     as a scientific exercise has ruined what might have been an
+     instructive and even classical series of demonstrations. You slur
+     over work of the utmost finesse and delicacy in order to dwell upon
+     sensational details which may excite, but cannot possibly instruct,
+     the reader."
+
+     "Why do you not write them yourself?" I said, with some bitterness.
+
+     "I will, my dear Watson, I will. At present I am, as you know, fairly
+     busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the composition
+     of a text-book which shall focus the whole art of detection into one
+     volume. Our present research appears to be a case of murder."
+
+     "You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
+
+     "I should say so. Hopkins's writing shows considerable agitation, and
+     he is not an emotional man. Yes, I gather there has been violence,
+     and that the body is left for our inspection. A mere suicide would
+     not have caused him to send for me. As to the release of the lady, it
+     would appear that she has been locked in her room during the tragedy.
+     We are moving in high life, Watson; crackling paper, 'E.B.' monogram,
+     coat-of-arms, picturesque address. I think that friend Hopkins will
+     live up to his reputation and that we shall have an interesting
+     morning. The crime was committed before twelve last night."
+
+     "How can you possibly tell?"
+
+     "By an inspection of the trains and by reckoning the time. The local
+     police had to be called in, they had to communicate with Scotland
+     Yard, Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had to send for me. All
+     that makes a fair night's work. Well, here we are at Chislehurst
+     Station, and we shall soon set our doubts at rest."
+
+     A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes brought us
+     to a park gate, which was opened for us by an old lodge-keeper, whose
+     haggard face bore the reflection of some great disaster. The avenue
+     ran through a noble park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in
+     a low, widespread house, pillared in front after the fashion of
+     Palladio. The central part was evidently of a great age and shrouded
+     in ivy, but the large windows showed that modern changes had been
+     carried out, and one wing of the house appeared to be entirely new.
+     The youthful figure and alert, eager face of Inspector Stanley
+     Hopkins confronted us in the open doorway.
+
+     "I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes. And you too, Dr. Watson!
+     But, indeed, if I had my time over again I should not have troubled
+     you, for since the lady has come to herself she has given so clear an
+     account of the affair that there is not much left for us to do. You
+     remember that Lewisham gang of burglars?"
+
+     "What, the three Randalls?"
+
+     "Exactly; the father and two sons. It's their work. I have not a
+     doubt of it. They did a job at Sydenham a fortnight ago, and were
+     seen and described. Rather cool to do another so soon and so near,
+     but it is they, beyond all doubt. It's a hanging matter this time."
+
+     "Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
+
+     "Yes; his head was knocked in with his own poker."
+
+     "Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me."
+
+     "Exactly--one of the richest men in Kent. Lady Brackenstall is in the
+     morning-room. Poor lady, she has had a most dreadful experience. She
+     seemed half dead when I saw her first. I think you had best see her
+     and hear her account of the facts. Then we will examine the
+     dining-room together."
+
+     Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person. Seldom have I seen so
+     graceful a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face.
+     She was a blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would, no doubt, have
+     had the perfect complexion which goes with such colouring had not her
+     recent experience left her drawn and haggard. Her sufferings were
+     physical as well as mental, for over one eye rose a hideous,
+     plum-coloured swelling, which her maid, a tall, austere woman, was
+     bathing assiduously with vinegar and water. The lady lay back
+     exhausted upon a couch, but her quick, observant gaze as we entered
+     the room, and the alert expression of her beautiful features, showed
+     that neither her wits nor her courage had been shaken by her terrible
+     experience. She was enveloped in a loose dressing-gown of blue and
+     silver, but a black sequin-covered dinner-dress was hung upon the
+     couch beside her.
+
+     "I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins," she said, wearily;
+     "could you not repeat it for me? Well, if you think it necessary, I
+     will tell these gentlemen what occurred. Have they been in the
+     dining-room yet?"
+
+     "I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first."
+
+     "I shall be glad when you can arrange matters. It is horrible to me
+     to think of him still lying there." She shuddered and buried her face
+     in her hands. As she did so the loose gown fell back from her
+     forearms. Holmes uttered an exclamation.
+
+     "You have other injuries, madam! What is this?" Two vivid red spots
+     stood out on one of the white, round limbs. She hastily covered it.
+
+     "It is nothing. It has no connection with the hideous business of
+     last night. If you and your friend will sit down I will tell you all
+     I can.
+
+     "I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall. I have been married about
+     a year. I suppose that it is no use my attempting to conceal that our
+     marriage has not been a happy one. I fear that all our neighbours
+     would tell you that, even if I were to attempt to deny it. Perhaps
+     the fault may be partly mine. I was brought up in the freer, less
+     conventional atmosphere of South Australia, and this English life,
+     with its proprieties and its primness, is not congenial to me. But
+     the main reason lies in the one fact which is notorious to everyone,
+     and that is that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard. To be with
+     such a man for an hour is unpleasant. Can you imagine what it means
+     for a sensitive and high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and
+     night? It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such a
+     marriage is binding. I say that these monstrous laws of yours will
+     bring a curse upon the land--Heaven will not let such wickedness
+     endure." For an instant she sat up, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes
+     blazing from under the terrible mark upon her brow. Then the strong,
+     soothing hand of the austere maid drew her head down on to the
+     cushion, and the wild anger died away into passionate sobbing. At
+     last she continued:--
+
+     "I will tell you about last night. You are aware, perhaps, that in
+     this house all servants sleep in the modern wing. This central block
+     is made up of the dwelling-rooms, with the kitchen behind and our
+     bedroom above. My maid Theresa sleeps above my room. There is no one
+     else, and no sound could alarm those who are in the farther wing.
+     This must have been well known to the robbers, or they would not have
+     acted as they did.
+
+     "Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten. The servants had already
+     gone to their quarters. Only my maid was up, and she had remained in
+     her room at the top of the house until I needed her services. I sat
+     until after eleven in this room, absorbed in a book. Then I walked
+     round to see that all was right before I went upstairs. It was my
+     custom to do this myself, for, as I have explained, Sir Eustace was
+     not always to be trusted. I went into the kitchen, the butler's
+     pantry, the gun-room, the billiard-room, the drawing-room, and
+     finally the dining-room. As I approached the window, which is covered
+     with thick curtains, I suddenly felt the wind blow upon my face and
+     realized that it was open. I flung the curtain aside and found myself
+     face to face with a broad-shouldered, elderly man who had just
+     stepped into the room. The window is a long French one, which really
+     forms a door leading to the lawn. I held my bedroom candle lit in my
+     hand, and, by its light, behind the first man I saw two others, who
+     were in the act of entering. I stepped back, but the fellow was on me
+     in an instant. He caught me first by the wrist and then by the
+     throat. I opened my mouth to scream, but he struck me a savage blow
+     with his fist over the eye, and felled me to the ground. I must have
+     been unconscious for a few minutes, for when I came to myself I found
+     that they had torn down the bell-rope and had secured me tightly to
+     the oaken chair which stands at the head of the dining-room table. I
+     was so firmly bound that I could not move, and a handkerchief round
+     my mouth prevented me from uttering any sound. It was at this instant
+     that my unfortunate husband entered the room. He had evidently heard
+     some suspicious sounds, and he came prepared for such a scene as he
+     found. He was dressed in his shirt and trousers, with his favourite
+     blackthorn cudgel in his hand. He rushed at one of the burglars, but
+     another--it was the elderly man--stooped, picked the poker out of the
+     grate, and struck him a horrible blow as he passed. He fell without a
+     groan, and never moved again. I fainted once more, but again it could
+     only have been a very few minutes during which I was insensible. When
+     I opened my eyes I found that they had collected the silver from the
+     sideboard, and they had drawn a bottle of wine which stood there.
+     Each of them had a glass in his hand. I have already told you, have I
+     not, that one was elderly, with a beard, and the others young,
+     hairless lads. They might have been a father with his two sons. They
+     talked together in whispers. Then they came over and made sure that I
+     was still securely bound. Finally they withdrew, closing the window
+     after them. It was quite a quarter of an hour before I got my mouth
+     free. When I did so my screams brought the maid to my assistance. The
+     other servants were soon alarmed, and we sent for the local police,
+     who instantly communicated with London. That is really all that I can
+     tell you, gentlemen, and I trust that it will not be necessary for me
+     to go over so painful a story again."
+
+     "Any questions, Mr. Holmes?" asked Hopkins.
+
+     "I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's patience
+     and time," said Holmes. "Before I go into the dining-room I should
+     like to hear your experience." He looked at the maid.
+
+     "I saw the men before ever they came into the house," said she. "As I
+     sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the
+     lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time. It was
+     more than an hour after that I heard my mistress scream, and down I
+     ran, to find her, poor lamb, just as she says, and him on the floor
+     with his blood and brains over the room. It was enough to drive a
+     woman out of her wits, tied there, and her very dress spotted with
+     him; but she never wanted courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide,
+     and Lady Brackenstall of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new ways. You've
+     questioned her long enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming to
+     her own room, just with her old Theresa, to get the rest that she
+     badly needs."
+
+     With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her
+     mistress and led her from the room.
+
+     "She has been with her all her life," said Hopkins. "Nursed her as a
+     baby, and came with her to England when they first left Australia
+     eighteen months ago. Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid
+     you don't pick up nowadays. This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!"
+
+     The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face, and I
+     knew that with the mystery all the charm of the case had departed.
+     There still remained an arrest to be effected, but what were these
+     commonplace rogues that he should soil his hands with them? An
+     abstruse and learned specialist who finds that he has been called in
+     for a case of measles would experience something of the annoyance
+     which I read in my friend's eyes. Yet the scene in the dining-room of
+     the Abbey Grange was sufficiently strange to arrest his attention and
+     to recall his waning interest.
+
+     It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling, oaken
+     panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient weapons
+     around the walls. At the farther end from the door was the high
+     French window of which we had heard. Three smaller windows on the
+     right-hand side filled the apartment with cold winter sunshine. On
+     the left was a large, deep fireplace, with a massive, over-hanging
+     oak mantelpiece. Beside the fireplace was a heavy oaken chair with
+     arms and cross-bars at the bottom. In and out through the open
+     woodwork was woven a crimson cord, which was secured at each side to
+     the crosspiece below. In releasing the lady the cord had been slipped
+     off her, but the knots with which it had been secured still remained.
+     These details only struck our attention afterwards, for our thoughts
+     were entirely absorbed by the terrible object which lay upon the
+     tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the fire.
+
+     It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of age.
+     He lay upon his back, his face upturned, with his white teeth
+     grinning through his short black beard. His two clenched hands were
+     raised above his head, and a heavy blackthorn stick lay across them.
+     His dark, handsome, aquiline features were convulsed into a spasm of
+     vindictive hatred, which had set his dead face in a terribly fiendish
+     expression. He had evidently been in his bed when the alarm had
+     broken out, for he wore a foppish embroidered night-shirt, and his
+     bare feet projected from his trousers. His head was horribly injured,
+     and the whole room bore witness to the savage ferocity of the blow
+     which had struck him down. Beside him lay the heavy poker, bent into
+     a curve by the concussion. Holmes examined both it and the
+     indescribable wreck which it had wrought.
+
+     "He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall," he remarked.
+
+     "Yes," said Hopkins. "I have some record of the fellow, and he is a
+     rough customer."
+
+     "You should have no difficulty in getting him."
+
+     "Not the slightest. We have been on the look-out for him, and there
+     was some idea that he had got away to America. Now that we know the
+     gang are here I don't see how they can escape. We have the news at
+     every seaport already, and a reward will be offered before evening.
+     What beats me is how they could have done so mad a thing, knowing
+     that the lady could describe them, and that we could not fail to
+     recognise the description."
+
+     "Exactly. One would have expected that they would have silenced Lady
+     Brackenstall as well."
+
+     "They may not have realized," I suggested, "that she had recovered
+     from her faint."
+
+     "That is likely enough. If she seemed to be senseless they would not
+     take her life. What about this poor fellow, Hopkins? I seem to have
+     heard some queer stories about him."
+
+     "He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect fiend
+     when he was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk, for he seldom
+     really went the whole way. The devil seemed to be in him at such
+     times, and he was capable of anything. From what I hear, in spite of
+     all his wealth and his title, he very nearly came our way once or
+     twice. There was a scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum
+     and setting it on fire--her ladyship's dog, to make the matter
+     worse--and that was only hushed up with difficulty. Then he threw a
+     decanter at that maid, Theresa Wright; there was trouble about that.
+     On the whole, and between ourselves, it will be a brighter house
+     without him. What are you looking at now?"
+
+     Holmes was down on his knees examining with great attention the knots
+     upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured. Then he
+     carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped
+     off when the burglar had dragged it down.
+
+     "When this was pulled down the bell in the kitchen must have rung
+     loudly," he remarked.
+
+     "No one could hear it. The kitchen stands right at the back of the
+     house."
+
+     "How did the burglar know no one would hear it? How dared he pull at
+     a bell-rope in that reckless fashion?"
+
+     "Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly. You put the very question which I have
+     asked myself again and again. There can be no doubt that this fellow
+     must have known the house and its habits. He must have perfectly
+     understood that the servants would all be in bed at that
+     comparatively early hour, and that no one could possibly hear a bell
+     ring in the kitchen. Therefore he must have been in close league with
+     one of the servants. Surely that is evident. But there are eight
+     servants, and all of good character."
+
+     "Other things being equal," said Holmes, "one would suspect the one
+     at whose head the master threw a decanter. And yet that would involve
+     treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman seems devoted.
+     Well, well, the point is a minor one, and when you have Randall you
+     will probably find no difficulty in securing his accomplice. The
+     lady's story certainly seems to be corroborated, if it needed
+     corroboration, by every detail which we see before us." He walked to
+     the French window and threw it open. "There are no signs here, but
+     the ground is iron hard, and one would not expect them. I see that
+     these candles on the mantelpiece have been lighted."
+
+     "Yes; it was by their light and that of the lady's bedroom candle
+     that the burglars saw their way about."
+
+     "And what did they take?"
+
+     "Well, they did not take much--only half-a-dozen articles of plate
+     off the sideboard. Lady Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves
+     so disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack
+     the house as they would otherwise have done."
+
+     "No doubt that is true. And yet they drank some wine, I understand."
+
+     "To steady their own nerves."
+
+     "Exactly. These three glasses upon the sideboard have been untouched,
+     I suppose?"
+
+     "Yes; and the bottle stands as they left it."
+
+     "Let us look at it. Halloa! halloa! what is this?"
+
+     The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with
+     wine, and one of them containing some dregs of bees-wing. The bottle
+     stood near them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long,
+     deeply-stained cork. Its appearance and the dust upon the bottle
+     showed that it was no common vintage which the murderers had enjoyed.
+
+     A change had come over Holmes's manner. He had lost his listless
+     expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen,
+     deep-set eyes. He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
+
+     "How did they draw it?" he asked.
+
+     Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer. In it lay some table linen
+     and a large cork-screw.
+
+     "Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?"
+
+     "No; you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the
+     bottle was opened."
+
+     "Quite so. As a matter of fact that screw was not used. This bottle
+     was opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained in a knife, and not
+     more than an inch and a half long. If you examine the top of the cork
+     you will observe that the screw was driven in three times before the
+     cork was extracted. It has never been transfixed. This long screw
+     would have transfixed it and drawn it with a single pull. When you
+     catch this fellow you will find that he has one of these multiplex
+     knives in his possession."
+
+     "Excellent!" said Hopkins.
+
+     "But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess. Lady Brackenstall
+     actually saw the three men drinking, did she not?"
+
+     "Yes; she was clear about that."
+
+     "Then there is an end of it. What more is to be said? And yet you
+     must admit that the three glasses are very remarkable, Hopkins. What,
+     you see nothing remarkable! Well, well, let it pass. Perhaps when a
+     man has special knowledge and special powers like my own it rather
+     encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at
+     hand. Of course, it must be a mere chance about the glasses. Well,
+     good morning, Hopkins. I don't see that I can be of any use to you,
+     and you appear to have your case very clear. You will let me know
+     when Randall is arrested, and any further developments which may
+     occur. I trust that I shall soon have to congratulate you upon a
+     successful conclusion. Come, Watson, I fancy that we may employ
+     ourselves more profitably at home."
+
+     During our return journey I could see by Holmes's face that he was
+     much puzzled by something which he had observed. Every now and then,
+     by an effort, he would throw off the impression and talk as if the
+     matter were clear, but then his doubts would settle down upon him
+     again, and his knitted brows and abstracted eyes would show that his
+     thoughts had gone back once more to the great dining-room of the
+     Abbey Grange in which this midnight tragedy had been enacted. At
+     last, by a sudden impulse, just as our train was crawling out of a
+     suburban station, he sprang on to the platform and pulled me out
+     after him.
+
+     "Excuse me, my dear fellow," said he, as we watched the rear
+     carriages of our train disappearing round a curve; "I am sorry to
+     make you the victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life,
+     Watson, I simply can't leave that case in this condition. Every
+     instinct that I possess cries out against it. It's wrong--it's all
+     wrong--I'll swear that it's wrong. And yet the lady's story was
+     complete, the maid's corroboration was sufficient, the detail was
+     fairly exact. What have I to put against that? Three wine-glasses,
+     that is all. But if I had not taken things for granted, if I had
+     examined everything with care which I would have shown had we
+     approached the case de novo and had no cut-and-dried story to warp my
+     mind, would I not then have found something more definite to go upon?
+     Of course I should. Sit down on this bench, Watson, until a train for
+     Chislehurst arrives, and allow me to lay the evidence before you,
+     imploring you in the first instance to dismiss from your mind the
+     idea that anything which the maid or her mistress may have said must
+     necessarily be true. The lady's charming personality must not be
+     permitted to warp our judgment.
+
+     "Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at it in
+     cold blood, would excite our suspicion. These burglars made a
+     considerable haul at Sydenham a fortnight ago. Some account of them
+     and of their appearance was in the papers, and would naturally occur
+     to anyone who wished to invent a story in which imaginary robbers
+     should play a part. As a matter of fact, burglars who have done a
+     good stroke of business are, as a rule, only too glad to enjoy the
+     proceeds in peace and quiet without embarking on another perilous
+     undertaking. Again, it is unusual for burglars to operate at so early
+     an hour; it is unusual for burglars to strike a lady to prevent her
+     screaming, since one would imagine that was the sure way to make her
+     scream; it is unusual for them to commit murder when their numbers
+     are sufficient to overpower one man; it is unusual for them to be
+     content with a limited plunder when there is much more within their
+     reach; and finally I should say that it was very unusual for such men
+     to leave a bottle half empty. How do all these unusuals strike you,
+     Watson?"
+
+     "Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each of
+     them is quite possible in itself. The most unusual thing of all, as
+     it seems to me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair."
+
+     "Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson; for it is evident that
+     they must either kill her or else secure her in such a way that she
+     could not give immediate notice of their escape. But at any rate I
+     have shown, have I not, that there is a certain element of
+     improbability about the lady's story? And now on the top of this
+     comes the incident of the wine-glasses."
+
+     "What about the wine-glasses?"
+
+     "Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
+
+     "I see them clearly."
+
+     "We are told that three men drank from them. Does that strike you as
+     likely?"
+
+     "Why not? There was wine in each glass."
+
+     "Exactly; but there was bees-wing only in one glass. You must have
+     noticed that fact. What does that suggest to your mind?"
+
+     "The last glass filled would be most likely to contain bees-wing."
+
+     "Not at all. The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable that
+     the first two glasses were clear and the third heavily charged with
+     it. There are two possible explanations, and only two. One is that
+     after the second glass was filled the bottle was violently agitated,
+     and so the third glass received the bees-wing. That does not appear
+     probable. No, no; I am sure that I am right."
+
+     "What, then, do you suppose?"
+
+     "That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of both were
+     poured into a third glass, so as to give the false impression that
+     three people had been here. In that way all the bees-wing would be in
+     the last glass, would it not? Yes, I am convinced that this is so.
+     But if I have hit upon the true explanation of this one small
+     phenomenon, then in an instant the case rises from the commonplace to
+     the exceedingly remarkable, for it can only mean that Lady
+     Brackenstall and her maid have deliberately lied to us, that not one
+     word of their story is to be believed, that they have some very
+     strong reason for covering the real criminal, and that we must
+     construct our case for ourselves without any help from them. That is
+     the mission which now lies before us, and here, Watson, is the
+     Chislehurst train."
+
+     The household of the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our return,
+     but Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had gone off to
+     report to head-quarters, took possession of the dining-room, locked
+     the door upon the inside, and devoted himself for two hours to one of
+     those minute and laborious investigations which formed the solid
+     basis on which his brilliant edifices of deduction were reared.
+     Seated in a corner like an interested student who observes the
+     demonstration of his professor, I followed every step of that
+     remarkable research. The window, the curtains, the carpet, the chair,
+     the rope--each in turn was minutely examined and duly pondered. The
+     body of the unfortunate baronet had been removed, but all else
+     remained as we had seen it in the morning. Then, to my astonishment,
+     Holmes climbed up on to the massive mantelpiece. Far above his head
+     hung the few inches of red cord which were still attached to the
+     wire. For a long time he gazed upward at it, and then in an attempt
+     to get nearer to it he rested his knee upon a wooden bracket on the
+     wall. This brought his hand within a few inches of the broken end of
+     the rope, but it was not this so much as the bracket itself which
+     seemed to engage his attention. Finally he sprang down with an
+     ejaculation of satisfaction.
+
+     "It's all right, Watson," said he. "We have got our case--one of the
+     most remarkable in our collection. But, dear me, how slow-witted I
+     have been, and how nearly I have committed the blunder of my
+     lifetime! Now, I think that with a few missing links my chain is
+     almost complete."
+
+     "You have got your men?"
+
+     "Man, Watson, man. Only one, but a very formidable person. Strong as
+     a lion--witness the blow that bent that poker. Six foot three in
+     height, active as a squirrel, dexterous with his fingers; finally,
+     remarkably quick-witted, for this whole ingenious story is of his
+     concoction. Yes, Watson, we have come upon the handiwork of a very
+     remarkable individual. And yet in that bell-rope he has given us a
+     clue which should not have left us a doubt."
+
+     "Where was the clue?"
+
+     "Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would you
+     expect it to break? Surely at the spot where it is attached to the
+     wire. Why should it break three inches from the top as this one has
+     done?"
+
+     "Because it is frayed there?"
+
+     "Exactly. This end, which we can examine, is frayed. He was cunning
+     enough to do that with his knife. But the other end is not frayed.
+     You could not observe that from here, but if you were on the
+     mantelpiece you would see that it is cut clean off without any mark
+     of fraying whatever. You can reconstruct what occurred. The man
+     needed the rope. He would not tear it down for fear of giving the
+     alarm by ringing the bell. What did he do? He sprang up on the
+     mantelpiece, could not quite reach it, put his knee on the
+     bracket--you will see the impression in the dust--and so got his
+     knife to bear upon the cord. I could not reach the place by at least
+     three inches, from which I infer that he is at least three inches a
+     bigger man than I. Look at that mark upon the seat of the oaken
+     chair! What is it?"
+
+     "Blood."
+
+     "Undoubtedly it is blood. This alone puts the lady's story out of
+     court. If she were seated on the chair when the crime was done, how
+     comes that mark? No, no; she was placed in the chair after the death
+     of her husband. I'll wager that the black dress shows a corresponding
+     mark to this. We have not yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is
+     our Marengo, for it begins in defeat and ends in victory. I should
+     like now to have a few words with the nurse Theresa. We must be wary
+     for awhile, if we are to get the information which we want."
+
+     She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse. Taciturn,
+     suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before Holmes's pleasant
+     manner and frank acceptance of all that she said thawed her into a
+     corresponding amiability. She did not attempt to conceal her hatred
+     for her late employer.
+
+     "Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me. I heard him
+     call my mistress a name, and I told him that he would not dare to
+     speak so if her brother had been there. Then it was that he threw it
+     at me. He might have thrown a dozen if he had but left my bonny bird
+     alone. He was for ever illtreating her, and she too proud to
+     complain. She will not even tell me all that he has done to her. She
+     never told me of those marks on her arm that you saw this morning,
+     but I know very well that they come from a stab with a hat-pin. The
+     sly fiend--Heaven forgive me that I should speak of him so, now that
+     he is dead, but a fiend he was if ever one walked the earth. He was
+     all honey when first we met him, only eighteen months ago, and we
+     both feel as if it were eighteen years. She had only just arrived in
+     London. Yes, it was her first voyage--she had never been from home
+     before. He won her with his title and his money and his false London
+     ways. If she made a mistake she has paid for it, if ever a woman did.
+     What month did we meet him? Well, I tell you it was just after we
+     arrived. We arrived in June, and it was July. They were married in
+     January of last year. Yes, she is down in the morning-room again, and
+     I have no doubt she will see you, but you must not ask too much of
+     her, for she has gone through all that flesh and blood will stand."
+
+     Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked
+     brighter than before. The maid had entered with us, and began once
+     more to foment the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
+
+     "I hope," said the lady, "that you have not come to cross-examine me
+     again?"
+
+     "No," Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice, "I will not cause you
+     any unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole desire is to
+     make things easy for you, for I am convinced that you are a
+     much-tried woman. If you will treat me as a friend and trust me you
+     may find that I will justify your trust."
+
+     "What do you want me to do?"
+
+     "To tell me the truth."
+
+     "Mr. Holmes!"
+
+     "No, no, Lady Brackenstall, it is no use. You may have heard of any
+     little reputation which I possess. I will stake it all on the fact
+     that your story is an absolute fabrication."
+
+     Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces and
+     frightened eyes.
+
+     "You are an impudent fellow!" cried Theresa. "Do you mean to say that
+     my mistress has told a lie?"
+
+     Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+     "Have you nothing to tell me?"
+
+     "I have told you everything."
+
+     "Think once more, Lady Brackenstall. Would it not be better to be
+     frank?"
+
+     For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face. Then some
+     new strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
+
+     "I have told you all I know."
+
+     Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders. "I am sorry," he
+     said, and without another word we left the room and the house. There
+     was a pond in the park, and to this my friend led the way. It was
+     frozen over, but a single hole was left for the convenience of a
+     solitary swan. Holmes gazed at it and then passed on to the lodge
+     gate. There he scribbled a short note for Stanley Hopkins and left it
+     with the lodge-keeper.
+
+     "It may be a hit or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do
+     something for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit,"
+     said he. "I will not quite take him into my confidence yet. I think
+     our next scene of operations must be the shipping office of the
+     Adelaide-Southampton line, which stands at the end of Pall Mall, if I
+     remember right. There is a second line of steamers which connect
+     South Australia with England, but we will draw the larger cover
+     first."
+
+     Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and
+     he was not long in acquiring all the information which he needed. In
+     June of '95 only one of their line had reached a home port. It was
+     the Rock of Gibraltar, their largest and best boat. A reference to
+     the passenger list showed that Miss Fraser of Adelaide, with her
+     maid, had made the voyage in her. The boat was now on her way to
+     Australia, somewhere to the south of the Suez Canal. Her officers
+     were the same as in '95, with one exception. The first officer, Mr.
+     Jack Croker, had been made a captain and was to take charge of their
+     new ship, the Bass Rock, sailing in two days' time from Southampton.
+     He lived at Sydenham, but he was likely to be in that morning for
+     instructions, if we cared to wait for him.
+
+     No; Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know
+     more about his record and character.
+
+     His record was magnificent. There was not an officer in the fleet to
+     touch him. As to his character, he was reliable on duty, but a wild,
+     desperate fellow off the deck of his ship, hot-headed, excitable, but
+     loyal, honest, and kind-hearted. That was the pith of the information
+     with which Holmes left the office of the Adelaide-Southampton
+     company. Thence he drove to Scotland Yard, but instead of entering he
+     sat in his cab with his brows drawn down, lost in profound thought.
+     Finally he drove round to the Charing Cross telegraph office, sent
+     off a message, and then, at last, we made for Baker Street once more.
+
+     "No, I couldn't do it, Watson," said he, as we re-entered our room.
+     "Once that warrant was made out nothing on earth would save him. Once
+     or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my
+     discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have
+     learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of
+     England than with my own conscience. Let us know a little more before
+     we act."
+
+     Before evening we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins. Things
+     were not going very well with him.
+
+     "I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes. I really do sometimes
+     think that you have powers that are not human. Now, how on earth
+     could you know that the stolen silver was at the bottom of that
+     pond?"
+
+     "I didn't know it."
+
+     "But you told me to examine it."
+
+     "You got it, then?"
+
+     "Yes, I got it."
+
+     "I am very glad if I have helped you."
+
+     "But you haven't helped me. You have made the affair far more
+     difficult. What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and then
+     throw it into the nearest pond?"
+
+     "It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour. I was merely going on
+     the idea that if the silver had been taken by persons who did not
+     want it, who merely took it for a blind as it were, then they would
+     naturally be anxious to get rid of it."
+
+     "But why should such an idea cross your mind?"
+
+     "Well, I thought it was possible. When they came out through the
+     French window there was the pond, with one tempting little hole in
+     the ice, right in front of their noses. Could there be a better
+     hiding-place?"
+
+     "Ah, a hiding-place--that is better!" cried Stanley Hopkins. "Yes,
+     yes, I see it all now! It was early, there were folk upon the roads,
+     they were afraid of being seen with the silver, so they sank it in
+     the pond, intending to return for it when the coast was clear.
+     Excellent, Mr. Holmes--that is better than your idea of a blind."
+
+     "Quite so; you have got an admirable theory. I have no doubt that my
+     own ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they have ended in
+     discovering the silver."
+
+     "Yes, sir, yes. It was all your doing. But I have had a bad
+     set-back."
+
+     "A set-back?"
+
+     "Yes, Mr. Holmes. The Randall gang were arrested in New York this
+     morning."
+
+     "Dear me, Hopkins! That is certainly rather against your theory that
+     they committed a murder in Kent last night."
+
+     "It is fatal, Mr. Holmes, absolutely fatal. Still, there are other
+     gangs of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some new gang of
+     which the police have never heard."
+
+     "Quite so; it is perfectly possible. What, are you off?"
+
+     "Yes, Mr. Holmes; there is no rest for me until I have got to the
+     bottom of the business. I suppose you have no hint to give me?"
+
+     "I have given you one."
+
+     "Which?"
+
+     "Well, I suggested a blind."
+
+     "But why, Mr. Holmes, why?"
+
+     "Ah, that's the question, of course. But I commend the idea to your
+     mind. You might possibly find that there was something in it. You
+     won't stop for dinner? Well, good-bye, and let us know how you get
+     on."
+
+     Dinner was over and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to the
+     matter again. He had lit his pipe and held his slippered feet to the
+     cheerful blaze of the fire. Suddenly he looked at his watch.
+
+     "I expect developments, Watson."
+
+     "When?"
+
+     "Now--within a few minutes. I dare say you thought I acted rather
+     badly to Stanley Hopkins just now?"
+
+     "I trust your judgment."
+
+     "A very sensible reply, Watson. You must look at it this way: what I
+     know is unofficial; what he knows is official. I have the right to
+     private judgment, but he has none. He must disclose all, or he is a
+     traitor to his service. In a doubtful case I would not put him in so
+     painful a position, and so I reserve my information until my own mind
+     is clear upon the matter."
+
+     "But when will that be?"
+
+     "The time has come. You will now be present at the last scene of a
+     remarkable little drama."
+
+     There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to admit
+     as fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it. He was a
+     very tall young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed, with a skin which
+     had been burned by tropical suns, and a springy step which showed
+     that the huge frame was as active as it was strong. He closed the
+     door behind him, and then he stood with clenched hands and heaving
+     breast, choking down some overmastering emotion.
+
+     "Sit down, Captain Croker. You got my telegram?"
+
+     Our visitor sank into an arm-chair and looked from one to the other
+     of us with questioning eyes.
+
+     "I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said. I heard that
+     you had been down to the office. There was no getting away from you.
+     Let's hear the worst. What are you going to do with me? Arrest me?
+     Speak out, man! You can't sit there and play with me like a cat with
+     a mouse."
+
+     "Give him a cigar," said Holmes. "Bite on that, Captain Croker, and
+     don't let your nerves run away with you. I should not sit here
+     smoking with you if I thought that you were a common criminal, you
+     may be sure of that. Be frank with me, and we may do some good. Play
+     tricks with me, and I'll crush you."
+
+     "What do you wish me to do?"
+
+     "To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey Grange
+     last night--a true account, mind you, with nothing added and nothing
+     taken off. I know so much already that if you go one inch off the
+     straight I'll blow this police whistle from my window and the affair
+     goes out of my hands for ever."
+
+     The sailor thought for a little. Then he struck his leg with his
+     great, sun-burned hand.
+
+     "I'll chance it," he cried. "I believe you are a man of your word,
+     and a white man, and I'll tell you the whole story. But one thing I
+     will say first. So far as I am concerned I regret nothing and I fear
+     nothing, and I would do it all again and be proud of the job. Curse
+     the beast, if he had as many lives as a cat he would owe them all to
+     me! But it's the lady, Mary--Mary Fraser--for never will I call her
+     by that accursed name. When I think of getting her into trouble, I
+     who would give my life just to bring one smile to her dear face, it's
+     that that turns my soul into water. And yet--and yet--what less could
+     I do? I'll tell you my story, gentlemen, and then I'll ask you as man
+     to man what less could I do.
+
+     "I must go back a bit. You seem to know everything, so I expect that
+     you know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was first
+     officer of the Rock of Gibraltar. From the first day I met her she
+     was the only woman to me. Every day of that voyage I loved her more,
+     and many a time since have I kneeled down in the darkness of the
+     night watch and kissed the deck of that ship because I knew her dear
+     feet had trod it. She was never engaged to me. She treated me as
+     fairly as ever a woman treated a man. I have no complaint to make. It
+     was all love on my side, and all good comradeship and friendship on
+     hers. When we parted she was a free woman, but I could never again be
+     a free man.
+
+     "Next time I came back from sea I heard of her marriage. Well, why
+     shouldn't she marry whom she liked? Title and money--who could carry
+     them better than she? She was born for all that is beautiful and
+     dainty. I didn't grieve over her marriage. I was not such a selfish
+     hound as that. I just rejoiced that good luck had come her way, and
+     that she had not thrown herself away on a penniless sailor. That's
+     how I loved Mary Fraser.
+
+     "Well, I never thought to see her again; but last voyage I was
+     promoted, and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to wait for
+     a couple of months with my people at Sydenham. One day out in a
+     country lane I met Theresa Wright, her old maid. She told me about
+     her, about him, about everything. I tell you, gentlemen, it nearly
+     drove me mad. This drunken hound, that he should dare to raise his
+     hand to her whose boots he was not worthy to lick! I met Theresa
+     again. Then I met Mary herself--and met her again. Then she would
+     meet me no more. But the other day I had a notice that I was to start
+     on my voyage within a week, and I determined that I would see her
+     once before I left. Theresa was always my friend, for she loved Mary
+     and hated this villain almost as much as I did. From her I learned
+     the ways of the house. Mary used to sit up reading in her own little
+     room downstairs. I crept round there last night and scratched at the
+     window. At first she would not open to me, but in her heart I know
+     that now she loves me, and she could not leave me in the frosty
+     night. She whispered to me to come round to the big front window, and
+     I found it open before me so as to let me into the dining-room. Again
+     I heard from her own lips things that made my blood boil, and again I
+     cursed this brute who mishandled the woman that I loved. Well,
+     gentlemen, I was standing with her just inside the window, in all
+     innocence, as Heaven is my judge, when he rushed like a madman into
+     the room, called her the vilest name that a man could use to a woman,
+     and welted her across the face with the stick he had in his hand. I
+     had sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight between us. See
+     here on my arm where his first blow fell. Then it was my turn, and I
+     went through him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin. Do you think I
+     was sorry? Not I! It was his life or mine, but far more than that it
+     was his life or hers, for how could I leave her in the power of this
+     madman? That was how I killed him. Was I wrong? Well, then, what
+     would either of you gentlemen have done if you had been in my
+     position?
+
+     "She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old Theresa
+     down from the room above. There was a bottle of wine on the
+     sideboard, and I opened it and poured a little between Mary's lips,
+     for she was half dead with the shock. Then I took a drop myself.
+     Theresa was as cool as ice, and it was her plot as much as mine. We
+     must make it appear that burglars had done the thing. Theresa kept on
+     repeating our story to her mistress, while I swarmed up and cut the
+     rope of the bell. Then I lashed her in her chair, and frayed out the
+     end of the rope to make it look natural, else they would wonder how
+     in the world a burglar could have got up there to cut it. Then I
+     gathered up a few plates and pots of silver, to carry out the idea of
+     a robbery, and there I left them with orders to give the alarm when I
+     had a quarter of an hour's start. I dropped the silver into the pond
+     and made off for Sydenham, feeling that for once in my life I had
+     done a real good night's work. And that's the truth and the whole
+     truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck."
+
+     Holmes smoked for some time in silence. Then he crossed the room and
+     shook our visitor by the hand.
+
+     "That's what I think," said he. "I know that every word is true, for
+     you have hardly said a word which I did not know. No one but an
+     acrobat or a sailor could have got up to that bell-rope from the
+     bracket, and no one but a sailor could have made the knots with which
+     the cord was fastened to the chair. Only once had this lady been
+     brought into contact with sailors, and that was on her voyage, and it
+     was someone of her own class of life, since she was trying hard to
+     shield him and so showing that she loved him. You see how easy it was
+     for me to lay my hands upon you when once I had started upon the
+     right trail."
+
+     "I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge."
+
+     "And the police haven't; nor will they, to the best of my belief.
+     Now, look here, Captain Croker, this is a very serious matter, though
+     I am willing to admit that you acted under the most extreme
+     provocation to which any man could be subjected. I am not sure that
+     in defence of your own life your action will not be pronounced
+     legitimate. However, that is for a British jury to decide. Meanwhile
+     I have so much sympathy for you that if you choose to disappear in
+     the next twenty-four hours I will promise you that no one will hinder
+     you."
+
+     "And then it will all come out?"
+
+     "Certainly it will come out."
+
+     The sailor flushed with anger.
+
+     "What sort of proposal is that to make a man? I know enough of law to
+     understand that Mary would be had as accomplice. Do you think I would
+     leave her alone to face the music while I slunk away? No, sir; let
+     them do their worst upon me, but for Heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find
+     some way of keeping my poor Mary out of the courts."
+
+     Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
+
+     "I was only testing you, and you ring true every time. Well, it is a
+     great responsibility that I take upon myself, but I have given
+     Hopkins an excellent hint, and if he can't avail himself of it I can
+     do no more. See here, Captain Croker, we'll do this in due form of
+     law. You are the prisoner. Watson, you are a British jury, and I
+     never met a man who was more eminently fitted to represent one. I am
+     the judge. Now, gentleman of the jury, you have heard the evidence.
+     Do you find the prisoner guilty or not guilty?"
+
+     "Not guilty, my lord," said I.
+
+     "Vox populi, vox Dei. You are acquitted, Captain Croker. So long as
+     the law does not find some other victim you are safe from me. Come
+     back to this lady in a year, and may her future and yours justify us
+     in the judgment which we have pronounced this night."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE ADVENTURE OF THE SECOND STAIN
+
+     I had intended "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" to be the last of
+     those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I should ever
+     communicate to the public. This resolution of mine was not due to any
+     lack of material, since I have notes of many hundreds of cases to
+     which I have never alluded, nor was it caused by any waning interest
+     on the part of my readers in the singular personality and unique
+     methods of this remarkable man. The real reason lay in the reluctance
+     which Mr. Holmes has shown to the continued publication of his
+     experiences. So long as he was in actual professional practice the
+     records of his successes were of some practical value to him; but
+     since he has definitely retired from London and betaken himself to
+     study and bee-farming on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become
+     hateful to him, and he has peremptorily requested that his wishes in
+     this matter should be strictly observed. It was only upon my
+     representing to him that I had given a promise that "The Adventure of
+     the Second Stain" should be published when the times were ripe, and
+     pointing out to him that it is only appropriate that this long series
+     of episodes should culminate in the most important international case
+     which he has ever been called upon to handle, that I at last
+     succeeded in obtaining his consent that a carefully-guarded account
+     of the incident should at last be laid before the public. If in
+     telling the story I seem to be somewhat vague in certain details the
+     public will readily understand that there is an excellent reason for
+     my reticence.
+
+     It was, then, in a year, and even in a decade, that shall be
+     nameless, that upon one Tuesday morning in autumn we found two
+     visitors of European fame within the walls of our humble room in
+     Baker Street. The one, austere, high-nosed, eagle-eyed, and dominant,
+     was none other than the illustrious Lord Bellinger, twice Premier of
+     Britain. The other, dark, clear-cut, and elegant, hardly yet of
+     middle age, and endowed with every beauty of body and of mind, was
+     the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope, Secretary for European Affairs,
+     and the most rising statesman in the country. They sat side by side
+     upon our paper-littered settee, and it was easy to see from their
+     worn and anxious faces that it was business of the most pressing
+     importance which had brought them. The Premier's thin, blue-veined
+     hands were clasped tightly over the ivory head of his umbrella, and
+     his gaunt, ascetic face looked gloomily from Holmes to me. The
+     European Secretary pulled nervously at his moustache and fidgeted
+     with the seals of his watch-chain.
+
+     "When I discovered my loss, Mr. Holmes, which was at eight o'clock
+     this morning, I at once informed the Prime Minister. It was at his
+     suggestion that we have both come to you."
+
+     "Have you informed the police?"
+
+     "No, sir," said the Prime Minister, with the quick, decisive manner
+     for which he was famous. "We have not done so, nor is it possible
+     that we should do so. To inform the police must, in the long run,
+     mean to inform the public. This is what we particularly desire to
+     avoid."
+
+     "And why, sir?"
+
+     "Because the document in question is of such immense importance that
+     its publication might very easily--I might almost say probably--lead
+     to European complications of the utmost moment. It is not too much to
+     say that peace or war may hang upon the issue. Unless its recovery
+     can be attended with the utmost secrecy, then it may as well not be
+     recovered at all, for all that is aimed at by those who have taken it
+     is that its contents should be generally known."
+
+     "I understand. Now, Mr. Trelawney Hope, I should be much obliged if
+     you would tell me exactly the circumstances under which this document
+     disappeared."
+
+     "That can be done in a very few words, Mr. Holmes. The letter--for it
+     was a letter from a foreign potentate--was received six days ago. It
+     was of such importance that I have never left it in my safe, but I
+     have taken it across each evening to my house in Whitehall Terrace,
+     and kept it in my bedroom in a locked despatch-box. It was there last
+     night. Of that I am certain. I actually opened the box while I was
+     dressing for dinner, and saw the document inside. This morning it was
+     gone. The despatch-box had stood beside the glass upon my
+     dressing-table all night. I am a light sleeper, and so is my wife. We
+     are both prepared to swear that no one could have entered the room
+     during the night. And yet I repeat that the paper is gone."
+
+     "What time did you dine?"
+
+     "Half-past seven."
+
+     "How long was it before you went to bed?"
+
+     "My wife had gone to the theatre. I waited up for her. It was
+     half-past eleven before we went to our room."
+
+     "Then for four hours the despatch-box had lain unguarded?"
+
+     "No one is ever permitted to enter that room save the housemaid in
+     the morning, and my valet, or my wife's maid, during the rest of the
+     day. They are both trusty servants who have been with us for some
+     time. Besides, neither of them could possibly have known that there
+     was anything more valuable than the ordinary departmental papers in
+     my despatch-box."
+
+     "Who did know of the existence of that letter?"
+
+     "No one in the house."
+
+     "Surely your wife knew?"
+
+     "No, sir; I had said nothing to my wife until I missed the paper this
+     morning."
+
+     The Premier nodded approvingly.
+
+     "I have long known, sir, how high is your sense of public duty," said
+     he. "I am convinced that in the case of a secret of this importance
+     it would rise superior to the most intimate domestic ties."
+
+     The European Secretary bowed.
+
+     "You do me no more than justice, sir. Until this morning I have never
+     breathed one word to my wife upon this matter."
+
+     "Could she have guessed?"
+
+     "No, Mr. Holmes, she could not have guessed--nor could anyone have
+     guessed."
+
+     "Have you lost any documents before?"
+
+     "No, sir."
+
+     "Who is there in England who did know of the existence of this
+     letter?"
+
+     "Each member of the Cabinet was informed of it yesterday; but the
+     pledge of secrecy which attends every Cabinet meeting was increased
+     by the solemn warning which was given by the Prime Minister. Good
+     heavens, to think that within a few hours I should myself have lost
+     it!" His handsome face was distorted with a spasm of despair, and his
+     hands tore at his hair. For a moment we caught a glimpse of the
+     natural man, impulsive, ardent, keenly sensitive. The next the
+     aristocratic mask was replaced, and the gentle voice had returned.
+     "Besides the members of the Cabinet there are two, or possibly three,
+     departmental officials who know of the letter. No one else in
+     England, Mr. Holmes, I assure you."
+
+     "But abroad?"
+
+     "I believe that no one abroad has seen it save the man who wrote it.
+     I am well convinced that his Ministers--that the usual official
+     channels have not been employed."
+
+     Holmes considered for some little time.
+
+     "Now, sir, I must ask you more particularly what this document is,
+     and why its disappearance should have such momentous consequences?"
+
+     The two statesmen exchanged a quick glance and the Premier's shaggy
+     eyebrows gathered in a frown.
+
+     "Mr. Holmes, the envelope is a long, thin one of pale blue colour.
+     There is a seal of red wax stamped with a crouching lion. It is
+     addressed in large, bold handwriting to--"
+
+     "I fear, sir," said Holmes, "that, interesting and indeed essential
+     as these details are, my inquiries must go more to the root of
+     things. What was the letter?"
+
+     "That is a State secret of the utmost importance, and I fear that I
+     cannot tell you, nor do I see that it is necessary. If by the aid of
+     the powers which you are said to possess you can find such an
+     envelope as I describe with its enclosure, you will have deserved
+     well of your country, and earned any reward which it lies in our
+     power to bestow."
+
+     Sherlock Holmes rose with a smile.
+
+     "You are two of the most busy men in the country," said he, "and in
+     my own small way I have also a good many calls upon me. I regret
+     exceedingly that I cannot help you in this matter, and any
+     continuation of this interview would be a waste of time."
+
+     The Premier sprang to his feet with that quick, fierce gleam of his
+     deep-set eyes before which a Cabinet has cowered. "I am not
+     accustomed, sir--" he began, but mastered his anger and resumed his
+     seat. For a minute or more we all sat in silence. Then the old
+     statesman shrugged his shoulders.
+
+     "We must accept your terms, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right, and
+     it is unreasonable for us to expect you to act unless we give you our
+     entire confidence."
+
+     "I agree with you, sir," said the younger statesman.
+
+     "Then I will tell you, relying entirely upon your honour and that of
+     your colleague, Dr. Watson. I may appeal to your patriotism also, for
+     I could not imagine a greater misfortune for the country than that
+     this affair should come out."
+
+     "You may safely trust us."
+
+     "The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate who has been
+     ruffled by some recent Colonial developments of this country. It has
+     been written hurriedly and upon his own responsibility entirely.
+     Inquiries have shown that his Ministers know nothing of the matter.
+     At the same time it is couched in so unfortunate a manner, and
+     certain phrases in it are of so provocative a character, that its
+     publication would undoubtedly lead to a most dangerous state of
+     feeling in this country. There would be such a ferment, sir, that I
+     do not hesitate to say that within a week of the publication of that
+     letter this country would be involved in a great war."
+
+     Holmes wrote a name upon a slip of paper and handed it to the
+     Premier.
+
+     "Exactly. It was he. And it is this letter--this letter which may
+     well mean the expenditure of a thousand millions and the lives of a
+     hundred thousand men--which has become lost in this unaccountable
+     fashion."
+
+     "Have you informed the sender?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, a cipher telegram has been despatched."
+
+     "Perhaps he desires the publication of the letter."
+
+     "No, sir, we have strong reason to believe that he already
+     understands that he has acted in an indiscreet and hot-headed manner.
+     It would be a greater blow to him and to his country than to us if
+     this letter were to come out."
+
+     "If this is so, whose interest is it that the letter should come out?
+     Why should anyone desire to steal it or to publish it?"
+
+     "There, Mr. Holmes, you take me into regions of high international
+     politics. But if you consider the European situation you will have no
+     difficulty in perceiving the motive. The whole of Europe is an armed
+     camp. There is a double league which makes a fair balance of military
+     power. Great Britain holds the scales. If Britain were driven into
+     war with one confederacy, it would assure the supremacy of the other
+     confederacy, whether they joined in the war or not. Do you follow?"
+
+     "Very clearly. It is then the interest of the enemies of this
+     potentate to secure and publish this letter, so as to make a breach
+     between his country and ours?"
+
+     "Yes, sir."
+
+     "And to whom would this document be sent if it fell into the hands of
+     an enemy?"
+
+     "To any of the great Chancelleries of Europe. It is probably speeding
+     on its way thither at the present instant as fast as steam can take
+     it."
+
+     Mr. Trelawney Hope dropped his head on his chest and groaned aloud.
+     The Premier placed his hand kindly upon his shoulder.
+
+     "It is your misfortune, my dear fellow. No one can blame you. There
+     is no precaution which you have neglected. Now, Mr. Holmes, you are
+     in full possession of the facts. What course do you recommend?"
+
+     Holmes shook his head mournfully.
+
+     "You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered there will be
+     war?"
+
+     "I think it is very probable."
+
+     "Then, sir, prepare for war."
+
+     "That is a hard saying, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Consider the facts, sir. It is inconceivable that it was taken after
+     eleven-thirty at night, since I understand that Mr. Hope and his wife
+     were both in the room from that hour until the loss was found out. It
+     was taken, then, yesterday evening between seven-thirty and
+     eleven-thirty, probably near the earlier hour, since whoever took it
+     evidently knew that it was there and would naturally secure it as
+     early as possible. Now, sir, if a document of this importance were
+     taken at that hour, where can it be now? No one has any reason to
+     retain it. It has been passed rapidly on to those who need it. What
+     chance have we now to overtake or even to trace it? It is beyond our
+     reach."
+
+     The Prime Minister rose from the settee.
+
+     "What you say is perfectly logical, Mr. Holmes. I feel that the
+     matter is indeed out of our hands."
+
+     "Let us presume, for argument's sake, that the document was taken by
+     the maid or by the valet--"
+
+     "They are both old and tried servants."
+
+     "I understand you to say that your room is on the second floor, that
+     there is no entrance from without, and that from within no one could
+     go up unobserved. It must, then, be somebody in the house who has
+     taken it. To whom would the thief take it? To one of several
+     international spies and secret agents, whose names are tolerably
+     familiar to me. There are three who may be said to be the heads of
+     their profession. I will begin my research by going round and finding
+     if each of them is at his post. If one is missing--especially if he
+     has disappeared since last night--we will have some indication as to
+     where the document has gone."
+
+     "Why should he be missing?" asked the European Secretary. "He would
+     take the letter to an Embassy in London, as likely as not."
+
+     "I fancy not. These agents work independently, and their relations
+     with the Embassies are often strained."
+
+     The Prime Minister nodded his acquiescence.
+
+     "I believe you are right, Mr. Holmes. He would take so valuable a
+     prize to head-quarters with his own hands. I think that your course
+     of action is an excellent one. Meanwhile, Hope, we cannot neglect all
+     our other duties on account of this one misfortune. Should there be
+     any fresh developments during the day we shall communicate with you,
+     and you will no doubt let us know the results of your own inquiries."
+
+     The two statesmen bowed and walked gravely from the room.
+
+     When our illustrious visitors had departed Holmes lit his pipe in
+     silence, and sat for some time lost in the deepest thought. I had
+     opened the morning paper and was immersed in a sensational crime
+     which had occurred in London the night before, when my friend gave an
+     exclamation, sprang to his feet, and laid his pipe down upon the
+     mantelpiece.
+
+     "Yes," said he, "there is no better way of approaching it. The
+     situation is desperate, but not hopeless. Even now, if we could be
+     sure which of them has taken it, it is just possible that it has not
+     yet passed out of his hands. After all, it is a question of money
+     with these fellows, and I have the British Treasury behind me. If
+     it's on the market I'll buy it--if it means another penny on the
+     income-tax. It is conceivable that the fellow might hold it back to
+     see what bids come from this side before he tries his luck on the
+     other. There are only those three capable of playing so bold a game;
+     there are Oberstein, La Rothiere, and Eduardo Lucas. I will see each
+     of them."
+
+     I glanced at my morning paper.
+
+     "Is that Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street?"
+
+     "Yes."
+
+     "You will not see him."
+
+     "Why not?"
+
+     "He was murdered in his house last night."
+
+     My friend has so often astonished me in the course of our adventures
+     that it was with a sense of exultation that I realized how completely
+     I had astonished him. He stared in amazement, and then snatched the
+     paper from my hands. This was the paragraph which I had been engaged
+     in reading when he rose from his chair:
+
+                              Murder in Westminster
+     A crime of mysterious character was committed last night at 16,
+     Godolphin Street, one of the old-fashioned and secluded rows of
+     eighteenth-century houses which lie between the river and the Abbey,
+     almost in the shadow of the great Tower of the Houses of Parliament.
+     This small but select mansion has been inhabited for some years by
+     Mr. Eduardo Lucas, well known in society circles both on account of
+     his charming personality and because he has the well-deserved
+     reputation of being one of the best amateur tenors in the country.
+     Mr. Lucas is an unmarried man, thirty-four years of age, and his
+     establishment consists of Mrs. Pringle, an elderly housekeeper, and
+     of Mitton, his valet. The former retires early and sleeps at the top
+     of the house. The valet was out for the evening, visiting a friend at
+     Hammersmith. From ten o'clock onwards Mr. Lucas had the house to
+     himself. What occurred during that time has not yet transpired, but
+     at a quarter to twelve Police-constable Barrett, passing along
+     Godolphin Street, observed that the door of No. 16 was ajar. He
+     knocked, but received no answer. Perceiving a light in the front room
+     he advanced into the passage and again knocked, but without reply. He
+     then pushed open the door and entered. The room was in a state of
+     wild disorder, the furniture being all swept to one side, and one
+     chair lying on its back in the centre. Beside this chair, and still
+     grasping one of its legs, lay the unfortunate tenant of the house. He
+     had been stabbed to the heart and must have died instantly. The knife
+     with which the crime had been committed was a curved Indian dagger,
+     plucked down from a trophy of Oriental arms which adorned one of the
+     walls. Robbery does not appear to have been the motive of the crime,
+     for there had been no attempt to remove the valuable contents of the
+     room. Mr. Eduardo Lucas was so well known and popular that his
+     violent and mysterious fate will arouse painful interest and intense
+     sympathy in a wide-spread circle of friends.
+
+     "Well, Watson, what do you make of this?" asked Holmes, after a long
+     pause.
+
+     "It is an amazing coincidence."
+
+     "A coincidence! Here is one of the three men whom we had named as
+     possible actors in this drama, and he meets a violent death during
+     the very hours when we know that that drama was being enacted. The
+     odds are enormous against its being coincidence. No figures could
+     express them. No, my dear Watson, the two events are connected--must
+     be connected. It is for us to find the connection."
+
+     "But now the official police must know all."
+
+     "Not at all. They know all they see at Godolphin Street. They
+     know--and shall know--nothing of Whitehall Terrace. Only we know of
+     both events, and can trace the relation between them. There is one
+     obvious point which would, in any case, have turned my suspicions
+     against Lucas. Godolphin Street, Westminster, is only a few minutes'
+     walk from Whitehall Terrace. The other secret agents whom I have
+     named live in the extreme West-end. It was easier, therefore, for
+     Lucas than for the others to establish a connection or receive a
+     message from the European Secretary's household--a small thing, and
+     yet where events are compressed into a few hours it may prove
+     essential. Halloa! what have we here?"
+
+     Mrs. Hudson had appeared with a lady's card upon her salver. Holmes
+     glanced at it, raised his eyebrows, and handed it over to me.
+
+     "Ask Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope if she will be kind enough to step
+     up," said he.
+
+     A moment later our modest apartment, already so distinguished that
+     morning, was further honoured by the entrance of the most lovely
+     woman in London. I had often heard of the beauty of the youngest
+     daughter of the Duke of Belminster, but no description of it, and no
+     contemplation of colourless photographs, had prepared me for the
+     subtle, delicate charm and the beautiful colouring of that exquisite
+     head. And yet as we saw it that autumn morning, it was not its beauty
+     which would be the first thing to impress the observer. The cheek was
+     lovely, but it was paled with emotion; the eyes were bright, but it
+     was the brightness of fever; the sensitive mouth was tight and drawn
+     in an effort after self-command. Terror--not beauty--was what sprang
+     first to the eye as our fair visitor stood framed for an instant in
+     the open door.
+
+     "Has my husband been here, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Yes, madam, he has been here."
+
+     "Mr. Holmes, I implore you not to tell him that I came here." Holmes
+     bowed coldly, and motioned the lady to a chair.
+
+     "Your ladyship places me in a very delicate position. I beg that you
+     will sit down and tell me what you desire; but I fear that I cannot
+     make any unconditional promise."
+
+     She swept across the room and seated herself with her back to the
+     window. It was a queenly presence--tall, graceful, and intensely
+     womanly.
+
+     "Mr. Holmes," she said, and her white-gloved hands clasped and
+     unclasped as she spoke--"I will speak frankly to you in the hope that
+     it may induce you to speak frankly in return. There is complete
+     confidence between my husband and me on all matters save one. That
+     one is politics. On this his lips are sealed. He tells me nothing.
+     Now, I am aware that there was a most deplorable occurrence in our
+     house last night. I know that a paper has disappeared. But because
+     the matter is political my husband refuses to take me into his
+     complete confidence. Now it is essential--essential, I say--that I
+     should thoroughly understand it. You are the only other person, save
+     only these politicians, who knows the true facts. I beg you, then,
+     Mr. Holmes, to tell me exactly what has happened and what it will
+     lead to. Tell me all, Mr. Holmes. Let no regard for your client's
+     interests keep you silent, for I assure you that his interests, if he
+     would only see it, would be best served by taking me into his
+     complete confidence. What was this paper which was stolen?"
+
+     "Madam, what you ask me is really impossible."
+
+     She groaned and sank her face in her hands.
+
+     "You must see that this is so, madam. If your husband thinks fit to
+     keep you in the dark over this matter, is it for me, who has only
+     learned the true facts under the pledge of professional secrecy, to
+     tell what he has withheld? It is not fair to ask it. It is him whom
+     you must ask."
+
+     "I have asked him. I come to you as a last resource. But without your
+     telling me anything definite, Mr. Holmes, you may do a great service
+     if you would enlighten me on one point."
+
+     "What is it, madam?"
+
+     "Is my husband's political career likely to suffer through this
+     incident?"
+
+     "Well, madam, unless it is set right it may certainly have a very
+     unfortunate effect."
+
+     "Ah!" She drew in her breath sharply as one whose doubts are
+     resolved.
+
+     "One more question, Mr. Holmes. From an expression which my husband
+     dropped in the first shock of this disaster I understood that
+     terrible public consequences might arise from the loss of this
+     document."
+
+     "If he said so, I certainly cannot deny it."
+
+     "Of what nature are they?"
+
+     "Nay, madam, there again you ask me more than I can possibly answer."
+
+     "Then I will take up no more of your time. I cannot blame you, Mr.
+     Holmes, for having refused to speak more freely, and you on your side
+     will not, I am sure, think the worse of me because I desire, even
+     against his will, to share my husband's anxieties. Once more I beg
+     that you will say nothing of my visit." She looked back at us from
+     the door, and I had a last impression of that beautiful haunted face,
+     the startled eyes, and the drawn mouth. Then she was gone.
+
+     "Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department," said Holmes, with a
+     smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended in the slam
+     of the front door. "What was the fair lady's game? What did she
+     really want?"
+
+     "Surely her own statement is clear and her anxiety very natural."
+
+     "Hum! Think of her appearance, Watson--her manner, her suppressed
+     excitement, her restlessness, her tenacity in asking questions.
+     Remember that she comes of a caste who do not lightly show emotion."
+
+     "She was certainly much moved."
+
+     "Remember also the curious earnestness with which she assured us that
+     it was best for her husband that she should know all. What did she
+     mean by that? And you must have observed, Watson, how she manoeuvred
+     to have the light at her back. She did not wish us to read her
+     expression."
+
+     "Yes; she chose the one chair in the room."
+
+     "And yet the motives of women are so inscrutable. You remember the
+     woman at Margate whom I suspected for the same reason. No powder on
+     her nose--that proved to be the correct solution. How can you build
+     on such a quicksand? Their most trivial action may mean volumes, or
+     their most extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin or a
+     curling-tongs. Good morning, Watson."
+
+     "You are off?"
+
+     "Yes; I will wile away the morning at Godolphin Street with our
+     friends of the regular establishment. With Eduardo Lucas lies the
+     solution of our problem, though I must admit that I have not an
+     inkling as to what form it may take. It is a capital mistake to
+     theorize in advance of the facts. Do you stay on guard, my good
+     Watson, and receive any fresh visitors. I'll join you at lunch if I
+     am able."
+
+     All that day and the next and the next Holmes was in a mood which his
+     friends would call taciturn, and others morose. He ran out and ran
+     in, smoked incessantly, played snatches on his violin, sank into
+     reveries, devoured sandwiches at irregular hours, and hardly answered
+     the casual questions which I put to him. It was evident to me that
+     things were not going well with him or his quest. He would say
+     nothing of the case, and it was from the papers that I learned the
+     particulars of the inquest, and the arrest with the subsequent
+     release of John Mitton, the valet of the deceased. The coroner's jury
+     brought in the obvious "Wilful Murder," but the parties remained as
+     unknown as ever. No motive was suggested. The room was full of
+     articles of value, but none had been taken. The dead man's papers had
+     not been tampered with. They were carefully examined, and showed that
+     he was a keen student of international politics, an indefatigable
+     gossip, a remarkable linguist, and an untiring letter-writer. He had
+     been on intimate terms with the leading politicians of several
+     countries. But nothing sensational was discovered among the documents
+     which filled his drawers. As to his relations with women, they
+     appeared to have been promiscuous but superficial. He had many
+     acquaintances among them, but few friends, and no one whom he loved.
+     His habits were regular, his conduct inoffensive. His death was an
+     absolute mystery, and likely to remain so.
+
+     As to the arrest of John Mitton, the valet, it was a counsel of
+     despair as an alternative to absolute inaction. But no case could be
+     sustained against him. He had visited friends in Hammersmith that
+     night. The alibi was complete. It is true that he started home at an
+     hour which should have brought him to Westminster before the time
+     when the crime was discovered, but his own explanation that he had
+     walked part of the way seemed probable enough in view of the fineness
+     of the night. He had actually arrived at twelve o'clock, and appeared
+     to be overwhelmed by the unexpected tragedy. He had always been on
+     good terms with his master. Several of the dead man's
+     possessions--notably a small case of razors--had been found in the
+     valet's boxes, but he explained that they had been presents from the
+     deceased, and the housekeeper was able to corroborate the story.
+     Mitton had been in Lucas's employment for three years. It was
+     noticeable that Lucas did not take Mitton on the Continent with him.
+     Sometimes he visited Paris for three months on end, but Mitton was
+     left in charge of the Godolphin Street house. As to the housekeeper,
+     she had heard nothing on the night of the crime. If her master had a
+     visitor he had himself admitted him.
+
+     So for three mornings the mystery remained, so far as I could follow
+     it in the papers. If Holmes knew more he kept his own counsel, but,
+     as he told me that Inspector Lestrade had taken him into his
+     confidence in the case, I knew that he was in close touch with every
+     development. Upon the fourth day there appeared a long telegram from
+     Paris which seemed to solve the whole question.
+
+     A discovery has just been made by the Parisian police [said the Daily
+     Telegraph] which raises the veil which hung round the tragic fate of
+     Mr. Eduardo Lucas, who met his death by violence last Monday night at
+     Godolphin Street, Westminster. Our readers will remember that the
+     deceased gentleman was found stabbed in his room, and that some
+     suspicion attached to his valet, but that the case broke down on an
+     alibi. Yesterday a lady, who has been known as Mme. Henri Fournaye,
+     occupying a small villa in the Rue Austerlitz, was reported to the
+     authorities by her servants as being insane. An examination showed
+     that she had indeed developed mania of a dangerous and permanent
+     form. On inquiry the police have discovered that Mme. Henri Fournaye
+     only returned from a journey to London on Tuesday last, and there is
+     evidence to connect her with the crime at Westminster. A comparison
+     of photographs has proved conclusively that M. Henri Fournaye and
+     Eduardo Lucas were really one and the same person, and that the
+     deceased had for some reason lived a double life in London and Paris.
+     Mme. Fournaye, who is of Creole origin, is of an extremely excitable
+     nature, and has suffered in the past from attacks of jealousy which
+     have amounted to frenzy. It is conjectured that it was in one of
+     these that she committed the terrible crime which has caused such a
+     sensation in London. Her movements upon the Monday night have not yet
+     been traced, but it is undoubted that a woman answering to her
+     description attracted much attention at Charing Cross Station on
+     Tuesday morning by the wildness of her appearance and the violence of
+     her gestures. It is probable, therefore, that the crime was either
+     committed when insane, or that its immediate effect was to drive the
+     unhappy woman out of her mind. At present she is unable to give any
+     coherent account of the past, and the doctors hold out no hopes of
+     the re-establishment of her reason. There is evidence that a woman,
+     who might have been Mme. Fournaye, was seen for some hours on Monday
+     night watching the house in Godolphin Street.
+
+     "What do you think of that, Holmes?" I had read the account aloud to
+     him, while he finished his breakfast.
+
+     "My dear Watson," said he, as he rose from the table and paced up and
+     down the room, "you are most long-suffering, but if I have told you
+     nothing in the last three days it is because there is nothing to
+     tell. Even now this report from Paris does not help us much."
+
+     "Surely it is final as regards the man's death."
+
+     "The man's death is a mere incident--a trivial episode--in comparison
+     with our real task, which is to trace this document and save a
+     European catastrophe. Only one important thing has happened in the
+     last three days, and that is that nothing has happened. I get reports
+     almost hourly from the Government, and it is certain that nowhere in
+     Europe is there any sign of trouble. Now, if this letter were
+     loose--no, it can't be loose--but if it isn't loose, where can it be?
+     Who has it? Why is it held back? That's the question that beats in my
+     brain like a hammer. Was it, indeed, a coincidence that Lucas should
+     meet his death on the night when the letter disappeared? Did the
+     letter ever reach him? If so, why is it not among his papers? Did
+     this mad wife of his carry it off with her? If so, is it in her house
+     in Paris? How could I search for it without the French police having
+     their suspicions aroused? It is a case, my dear Watson, where the law
+     is as dangerous to us as the criminals are. Every man's hand is
+     against us, and yet the interests at stake are colossal. Should I
+     bring it to a successful conclusion it will certainly represent the
+     crowning glory of my career. Ah, here is my latest from the front!"
+     He glanced hurriedly at the note which had been handed in. "Halloa!
+     Lestrade seems to have observed something of interest. Put on your
+     hat, Watson, and we will stroll down together to Westminster."
+
+     It was my first visit to the scene of the crime--a high, dingy,
+     narrow-chested house, prim, formal, and solid, like the century which
+     gave it birth. Lestrade's bulldog features gazed out at us from the
+     front window, and he greeted us warmly when a big constable had
+     opened the door and let us in. The room into which we were shown was
+     that in which the crime had been committed, but no trace of it now
+     remained, save an ugly, irregular stain upon the carpet. This carpet
+     was a small square drugget in the centre of the room, surrounded by a
+     broad expanse of beautiful, old-fashioned wood-flooring in square
+     blocks highly polished. Over the fireplace was a magnificent trophy
+     of weapons, one of which had been used on that tragic night. In the
+     window was a sumptuous writing-desk, and every detail of the
+     apartment, the pictures, the rugs, and the hangings, all pointed to a
+     taste which was luxurious to the verge of effeminacy.
+
+     "Seen the Paris news?" asked Lestrade.
+
+     Holmes nodded.
+
+     "Our French friends seem to have touched the spot this time. No doubt
+     it's just as they say. She knocked at the door--surprise visit, I
+     guess, for he kept his life in water-tight compartments. He let her
+     in--couldn't keep her in the street. She told him how she had traced
+     him, reproached him, one thing led to another, and then with that
+     dagger so handy the end soon came. It wasn't all done in an instant,
+     though, for these chairs were all swept over yonder, and he had one
+     in his hand as if he had tried to hold her off with it. We've got it
+     all clear as if we had seen it."
+
+     Holmes raised his eyebrows.
+
+     "And yet you have sent for me?"
+
+     "Ah, yes, that's another matter--a mere trifle, but the sort of thing
+     you take an interest in--queer, you know, and what you might call
+     freakish. It has nothing to do with the main fact--can't have, on the
+     face of it."
+
+     "What is it, then?"
+
+     "Well, you know, after a crime of this sort we are very careful to
+     keep things in their position. Nothing has been moved. Officer in
+     charge here day and night. This morning, as the man was buried and
+     the investigation over--so far as this room is concerned--we thought
+     we could tidy up a bit. This carpet. You see, it is not fastened
+     down; only just laid there. We had occasion to raise it. We found--"
+
+     "Yes? You found--"
+
+     Holmes's face grew tense with anxiety.
+
+     "Well, I'm sure you would never guess in a hundred years what we did
+     find. You see that stain on the carpet? Well, a great deal must have
+     soaked through, must it not?"
+
+     "Undoubtedly it must."
+
+     "Well, you will be surprised to hear that there is no stain on the
+     white woodwork to correspond."
+
+     "No stain! But there must--"
+
+     "Yes; so you would say. But the fact remains that there isn't."
+
+     He took the corner of the carpet in his hand and, turning it over, he
+     showed that it was indeed as he said.
+
+     "But the underside is as stained as the upper. It must have left a
+     mark."
+
+     Lestrade chuckled with delight at having puzzled the famous expert.
+
+     "Now I'll show you the explanation. There is a second stain, but it
+     does not correspond with the other. See for yourself." As he spoke he
+     turned over another portion of the carpet, and there, sure enough,
+     was a great crimson spill upon the square white facing of the
+     old-fashioned floor. "What do you make of that, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Why, it is simple enough. The two stains did correspond, but the
+     carpet has been turned round. As it was square and unfastened it was
+     easily done."
+
+     "The official police don't need you, Mr. Holmes, to tell them that
+     the carpet must have been turned round. That's clear enough, for the
+     stains lie above each other--if you lay it over this way. But what I
+     want to know is, who shifted the carpet, and why?"
+
+     I could see from Holmes's rigid face that he was vibrating with
+     inward excitement.
+
+     "Look here, Lestrade," said he, "has that constable in the passage
+     been in charge of the place all the time?"
+
+     "Yes, he has."
+
+     "Well, take my advice. Examine him carefully. Don't do it before us.
+     We'll wait here. You take him into the back room. You'll be more
+     likely to get a confession out of him alone. Ask him how he dared to
+     admit people and leave them alone in this room. Don't ask him if he
+     has done it. Take it for granted. Tell him you know someone has been
+     here. Press him. Tell him that a full confession is his only chance
+     of forgiveness. Do exactly what I tell you!"
+
+     "By George, if he knows I'll have it out of him!" cried Lestrade. He
+     darted into the hall, and a few moments later his bullying voice
+     sounded from the back room.
+
+     "Now, Watson, now!" cried Holmes, with frenzied eagerness. All the
+     demoniacal force of the man masked behind that listless manner burst
+     out in a paroxysm of energy. He tore the drugget from the floor, and
+     in an instant was down on his hands and knees clawing at each of the
+     squares of wood beneath it. One turned sideways as he dug his nails
+     into the edge of it. It hinged back like the lid of a box. A small
+     black cavity opened beneath it. Holmes plunged his eager hand into
+     it, and drew it out with a bitter snarl of anger and disappointment.
+     It was empty.
+
+     "Quick, Watson, quick! Get it back again!" The wooden lid was
+     replaced, and the drugget had only just been drawn straight when
+     Lestrade's voice was heard in the passage. He found Holmes leaning
+     languidly against the mantelpiece, resigned and patient, endeavouring
+     to conceal his irrepressible yawns.
+
+     "Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Holmes. I can see that you are bored
+     to death with the whole affair. Well, he has confessed, all right.
+     Come in here, MacPherson. Let these gentlemen hear of your most
+     inexcusable conduct."
+
+     The big constable, very hot and penitent, sidled into the room.
+
+     "I meant no harm, sir, I'm sure. The young woman came to the door
+     last evening--mistook the house, she did. And then we got talking.
+     It's lonesome, when you're on duty here all day."
+
+     "Well, what happened then?"
+
+     "She wanted to see where the crime was done--had read about it in the
+     papers, she said. She was a very respectable, well-spoken young
+     woman, sir, and I saw no harm in letting her have a peep. When she
+     saw that mark on the carpet, down she dropped on the floor, and lay
+     as if she were dead. I ran to the back and got some water, but I
+     could not bring her to. Then I went round the corner to the Ivy Plant
+     for some brandy, and by the time I had brought it back the young
+     woman had recovered and was off--ashamed of herself, I dare say, and
+     dared not face me."
+
+     "How about moving that drugget?"
+
+     "Well, sir, it was a bit rumpled, certainly, when I came back. You
+     see, she fell on it, and it lies on a polished floor with nothing to
+     keep it in place. I straightened it out afterwards."
+
+     "It's a lesson to you that you can't deceive me, Constable
+     MacPherson," said Lestrade, with dignity. "No doubt you thought that
+     your breach of duty could never be discovered, and yet a mere glance
+     at that drugget was enough to convince me that someone had been
+     admitted to the room. It's lucky for you, my man, that nothing is
+     missing, or you would find yourself in Queer Street. I'm sorry to
+     have called you down over such a petty business, Mr. Holmes, but I
+     thought the point of the second stain not corresponding with the
+     first would interest you."
+
+     "Certainly, it was most interesting. Has this woman only been here
+     once, constable?"
+
+     "Yes, sir, only once."
+
+     "Who was she?"
+
+     "Don't know the name, sir. Was answering an advertisement about
+     type-writing, and came to the wrong number--very pleasant, genteel
+     young woman, sir."
+
+     "Tall? Handsome?"
+
+     "Yes, sir; she was a well-grown young woman. I suppose you might say
+     she was handsome. Perhaps some would say she was very handsome. 'Oh,
+     officer, do let me have a peep!' says she. She had pretty, coaxing
+     ways, as you might say, and I thought there was no harm in letting
+     her just put her head through the door."
+
+     "How was she dressed?"
+
+     "Quiet, sir--a long mantle down to her feet."
+
+     "What time was it?"
+
+     "It was just growing dusk at the time. They were lighting the lamps
+     as I came back with the brandy."
+
+     "Very good," said Holmes. "Come, Watson, I think that we have more
+     important work elsewhere."
+
+     As we left the house Lestrade remained in the front room, while the
+     repentant constable opened the door to let us out. Holmes turned on
+     the step and held up something in his hand. The constable stared
+     intently.
+
+     "Good Lord, sir!" he cried, with amazement on his face. Holmes put
+     his finger on his lips, replaced his hand in his breast-pocket, and
+     burst out laughing as we turned down the street. "Excellent!" said
+     he. "Come, friend Watson, the curtain rings up for the last act. You
+     will be relieved to hear that there will be no war, that the Right
+     Honourable Trelawney Hope will suffer no set-back in his brilliant
+     career, that the indiscreet Sovereign will receive no punishment for
+     his indiscretion, that the Prime Minister will have no European
+     complication to deal with, and that with a little tact and management
+     upon our part nobody will be a penny the worse for what might have
+     been a very ugly incident."
+
+     My mind filled with admiration for this extraordinary man.
+
+     "You have solved it!" I cried.
+
+     "Hardly that, Watson. There are some points which are as dark as
+     ever. But we have so much that it will be our own fault if we cannot
+     get the rest. We will go straight to Whitehall Terrace and bring the
+     matter to a head."
+
+     When we arrived at the residence of the European Secretary it was for
+     Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope that Sherlock Holmes inquired. We were
+     shown into the morning-room.
+
+     "Mr. Holmes!" said the lady, and her face was pink with her
+     indignation, "this is surely most unfair and ungenerous upon your
+     part. I desired, as I have explained, to keep my visit to you a
+     secret, lest my husband should think that I was intruding into his
+     affairs. And yet you compromise me by coming here and so showing that
+     there are business relations between us."
+
+     "Unfortunately, madam, I had no possible alternative. I have been
+     commissioned to recover this immensely important paper. I must
+     therefore ask you, madam, to be kind enough to place it in my hands."
+
+     The lady sprang to her feet, with the colour all dashed in an instant
+     from her beautiful face. Her eyes glazed--she tottered--I thought
+     that she would faint. Then with a grand effort she rallied from the
+     shock, and a supreme astonishment and indignation chased every other
+     expression from her features.
+
+     "You--you insult me, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "Come, come, madam, it is useless. Give up the letter."
+
+     She darted to the bell.
+
+     "The butler shall show you out."
+
+     "Do not ring, Lady Hilda. If you do, then all my earnest efforts to
+     avoid a scandal will be frustrated. Give up the letter and all will
+     be set right. If you will work with me I can arrange everything. If
+     you work against me I must expose you."
+
+     She stood grandly defiant, a queenly figure, her eyes fixed upon his
+     as if she would read his very soul. Her hand was on the bell, but she
+     had forborne to ring it.
+
+     "You are trying to frighten me. It is not a very manly thing, Mr.
+     Holmes, to come here and browbeat a woman. You say that you know
+     something. What is it that you know?"
+
+     "Pray sit down, madam. You will hurt yourself there if you fall. I
+     will not speak until you sit down. Thank you."
+
+     "I give you five minutes, Mr. Holmes."
+
+     "One is enough, Lady Hilda. I know of your visit to Eduardo Lucas, of
+     your giving him this document, of your ingenious return to the room
+     last night, and of the manner in which you took the letter from the
+     hiding-place under the carpet."
+
+     She stared at him with an ashen face and gulped twice before she
+     could speak.
+
+     "You are mad, Mr. Holmes--you are mad!" she cried, at last.
+
+     He drew a small piece of cardboard from his pocket. It was the face
+     of a woman cut out of a portrait.
+
+     "I have carried this because I thought it might be useful," said he.
+     "The policeman has recognised it."
+
+     She gave a gasp and her head dropped back in the chair.
+
+     "Come, Lady Hilda. You have the letter. The matter may still be
+     adjusted. I have no desire to bring trouble to you. My duty ends when
+     I have returned the lost letter to your husband. Take my advice and
+     be frank with me; it is your only chance."
+
+     Her courage was admirable. Even now she would not own defeat.
+
+     "I tell you again, Mr. Holmes, that you are under some absurd
+     illusion."
+
+     Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+     "I am sorry for you, Lady Hilda. I have done my best for you; I can
+     see that it is all in vain."
+
+     He rang the bell. The butler entered.
+
+     "Is Mr. Trelawney Hope at home?"
+
+     "He will be home, sir, at a quarter to one."
+
+     Holmes glanced at his watch.
+
+     "Still a quarter of an hour," said he. "Very good, I shall wait."
+
+     The butler had hardly closed the door behind him when Lady Hilda was
+     down on her knees at Holmes's feet, her hands out-stretched, her
+     beautiful face upturned and wet with her tears.
+
+     "Oh, spare me, Mr. Holmes! Spare me!" she pleaded, in a frenzy of
+     supplication. "For Heaven's sake, don't tell him! I love him so! I
+     would not bring one shadow on his life, and this I know would break
+     his noble heart."
+
+     Holmes raised the lady. "I am thankful, madam, that you have come to
+     your senses even at this last moment! There is not an instant to
+     lose. Where is the letter?"
+
+     She darted across to a writing-desk, unlocked it, and drew out a long
+     blue envelope.
+
+     "Here it is, Mr. Holmes. Would to Heaven I had never seen it!"
+
+     "How can we return it?" Holmes muttered. "Quick, quick, we must think
+     of some way! Where is the despatch-box?"
+
+     "Still in his bedroom."
+
+     "What a stroke of luck! Quick, madam, bring it here!" 
+
+     A moment later she had appeared with a red flat box in her hand.
+
+     "How did you open it before? You have a duplicate key? Yes, of course
+     you have. Open it!"
+
+     From out of her bosom Lady Hilda had drawn a small key. The box flew
+     open. It was stuffed with papers. Holmes thrust the blue envelope
+     deep down into the heart of them, between the leaves of some other
+     document. The box was shut, locked, and returned to the bedroom.
+
+     "Now we are ready for him," said Holmes; "we have still ten minutes.
+     I am going far to screen you, Lady Hilda. In return you will spend
+     the time in telling me frankly the real meaning of this extraordinary
+     affair."
+
+     "Mr. Holmes, I will tell you everything," cried the lady. "Oh, Mr.
+     Holmes, I would cut off my right hand before I gave him a moment of
+     sorrow! There is no woman in all London who loves her husband as I
+     do, and yet if he knew how I have acted--how I have been compelled to
+     act--he would never forgive me. For his own honour stands so high
+     that he could not forget or pardon a lapse in another. Help me, Mr.
+     Holmes! My happiness, his happiness, our very lives are at stake!"
+
+     "Quick, madam, the time grows short!"
+
+     "It was a letter of mine, Mr. Holmes, an indiscreet letter written
+     before my marriage--a foolish letter, a letter of an impulsive,
+     loving girl. I meant no harm, and yet he would have thought it
+     criminal. Had he read that letter his confidence would have been for
+     ever destroyed. It is years since I wrote it. I had thought that the
+     whole matter was forgotten. Then at last I heard from this man,
+     Lucas, that it had passed into his hands, and that he would lay it
+     before my husband. I implored his mercy. He said that he would return
+     my letter if I would bring him a certain document which he described
+     in my husband's despatch-box. He had some spy in the office who had
+     told him of its existence. He assured me that no harm could come to
+     my husband. Put yourself in my position, Mr. Holmes! What was I to
+     do?"
+
+     "Take your husband into your confidence."
+
+     "I could not, Mr. Holmes, I could not! On the one side seemed certain
+     ruin; on the other, terrible as it seemed to take my husband's paper,
+     still in a matter of politics I could not understand the
+     consequences, while in a matter of love and trust they were only too
+     clear to me. I did it, Mr. Holmes! I took an impression of his key;
+     this man Lucas furnished a duplicate. I opened his despatch-box, took
+     the paper, and conveyed it to Godolphin Street."
+
+     "What happened there, madam?"
+
+     "I tapped at the door as agreed. Lucas opened it. I followed him into
+     his room, leaving the hall door ajar behind me, for I feared to be
+     alone with the man. I remember that there was a woman outside as I
+     entered. Our business was soon done. He had my letter on his desk; I
+     handed him the document. He gave me the letter. At this instant there
+     was a sound at the door. There were steps in the passage. Lucas
+     quickly turned back the drugget, thrust the document into some
+     hiding-place there, and covered it over.
+
+     "What happened after that is like some fearful dream. I have a vision
+     of a dark, frantic face, of a woman's voice, which screamed in
+     French, 'My waiting is not in vain. At last, at last I have found you
+     with her!' There was a savage struggle. I saw him with a chair in his
+     hand, a knife gleamed in hers. I rushed from the horrible scene, ran
+     from the house, and only next morning in the paper did I learn the
+     dreadful result. That night I was happy, for I had my letter, and I
+     had not seen yet what the future would bring.
+
+     "It was the next morning that I realized that I had only exchanged
+     one trouble for another. My husband's anguish at the loss of his
+     paper went to my heart. I could hardly prevent myself from there and
+     then kneeling down at his feet and telling him what I had done. But
+     that again would mean a confession of the past. I came to you that
+     morning in order to understand the full enormity of my offence. From
+     the instant that I grasped it my whole mind was turned to the one
+     thought of getting back my husband's paper. It must still be where
+     Lucas had placed it, for it was concealed before this dreadful woman
+     entered the room. If it had not been for her coming, I should not
+     have known where his hiding-place was. How was I to get into the
+     room? For two days I watched the place, but the door was never left
+     open. Last night I made a last attempt. What I did and how I
+     succeeded, you have already learned. I brought the paper back with
+     me, and thought of destroying it since I could see no way of
+     returning it, without confessing my guilt to my husband. Heavens, I
+     hear his step upon the stair!"
+
+     The European Secretary burst excitedly into the room.
+
+     "Any news, Mr. Holmes, any news?" he cried.
+
+     "I have some hopes."
+
+     "Ah, thank heaven!" His face became radiant. "The Prime Minister is
+     lunching with me. May he share your hopes? He has nerves of steel,
+     and yet I know that he has hardly slept since this terrible event.
+     Jacobs, will you ask the Prime Minister to come up? As to you, dear,
+     I fear that this is a matter of politics. We will join you in a few
+     minutes in the dining-room."
+
+     The Prime Minister's manner was subdued, but I could see by the gleam
+     of his eyes and the twitchings of his bony hands that he shared the
+     excitement of his young colleague.
+
+     "I understand that you have something to report, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+     "Purely negative as yet," my friend answered. "I have inquired at
+     every point where it might be, and I am sure that there is no danger
+     to be apprehended."
+
+     "But that is not enough, Mr. Holmes. We cannot live for ever on such
+     a volcano. We must have something definite."
+
+     "I am in hopes of getting it. That is why I am here. The more I think
+     of the matter the more convinced I am that the letter has never left
+     this house."
+
+     "Mr. Holmes!"
+
+     "If it had it would certainly have been public by now."
+
+     "But why should anyone take it in order to keep it in his house?"
+
+     "I am not convinced that anyone did take it."
+
+     "Then how could it leave the despatch-box?"
+
+     "I am not convinced that it ever did leave the despatch-box."
+
+     "Mr. Holmes, this joking is very ill-timed. You have my assurance
+     that it left the box."
+
+     "Have you examined the box since Tuesday morning?"
+
+     "No; it was not necessary."
+
+     "You may conceivably have overlooked it."
+
+     "Impossible, I say."
+
+     "But I am not convinced of it; I have known such things to happen. I
+     presume there are other papers there. Well, it may have got mixed
+     with them."
+
+     "It was on the top."
+
+     "Someone may have shaken the box and displaced it."
+
+     "No, no; I had everything out."
+
+     "Surely it is easily decided, Hope," said the Premier. "Let us have
+     the despatch-box brought in."
+
+     The Secretary rang the bell.
+
+     "Jacobs, bring down my despatch-box. This is a farcical waste of
+     time, but still, if nothing else will satisfy you, it shall be done.
+     Thank you, Jacobs; put it here. I have always had the key on my
+     watch-chain. Here are the papers, you see. Letter from Lord Merrow,
+     report from Sir Charles Hardy, memorandum from Belgrade, note on the
+     Russo-German grain taxes, letter from Madrid, note from Lord
+     Flowers--good heavens! what is this? Lord Bellinger! Lord Bellinger!"
+
+     The Premier snatched the blue envelope from his hand.
+
+     "Yes, it is it--and the letter is intact. Hope, I congratulate you."
+
+     "Thank you! Thank you! What a weight from my heart. But this is
+     inconceivable--impossible. Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard, a sorcerer!
+     How did you know it was there?"
+
+     "Because I knew it was nowhere else."
+
+     "I cannot believe my eyes!" He ran wildly to the door. "Where is my
+     wife? I must tell her that all is well. Hilda! Hilda!" we heard his
+     voice on the stairs.
+
+     The Premier looked at Holmes with twinkling eyes.
+
+     "Come, sir," said he. "There is more in this than meets the eye. How
+     came the letter back in the box?"
+
+     Holmes turned away smiling from the keen scrutiny of those wonderful
+     eyes.
+
+     "We also have our diplomatic secrets," said he, and picking up his
+     hat he turned to the door.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+     ----------
+     This text is provided to you "as-is" without any warranty. No
+     warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, are made to you as to
+     the text or any medium it may be on, including but not limited to
+     warranties of merchantablity or fitness for a particular purpose.
+
+     This text was formatted from various free ASCII and HTML variants.
+     See http://sherlock-holm.es for an electronic form of this text and
+     additional information about it.
+
+     Pictures for "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" were taken from a
+     1915 edition of "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" by Smith, Elder & Co.
+     of London.
+
+     This text comes from the collection's version 3.1.
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/InfiniteWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/InfiniteWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..114696c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/InfiniteWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+public class InfiniteWorker extends Worker {
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        while (true) {
+            try {
+                Thread.sleep(5000L);
+            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+                return WorkerResult.RETRY;
+            } finally {
+                Log.e("InfiniteWorker", "work work");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/MainActivity.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/MainActivity.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..109e1d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/MainActivity.java
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp;
+
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.os.Bundle;
+import android.provider.MediaStore;
+import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
+import android.util.Log;
+import android.view.View;
+import android.widget.EditText;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.NetworkType;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManager;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.imageprocessing.ImageProcessingActivity;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.sherlockholmes.AnalyzeSherlockHolmesActivity;
+
+/**
+ * Main Activity
+ */
+public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
+    private static final String TAG = "MainActivity";
+
+    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
+        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
+        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
+        Logger.LOG_LEVEL = Log.VERBOSE;
+
+        findViewById(R.id.enqueue_infinite_work_charging).setOnClickListener(
+                new View.OnClickListener() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onClick(View v) {
+                        WorkManager.getInstance(MainActivity.this).enqueue(
+                                new Work.Builder(InfiniteWorker.class)
+                                        .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                                                .setRequiresCharging(true)
+                                                .build())
+                                        .build());
+                    }
+                });
+
+        findViewById(R.id.enqueue_infinite_work_network).setOnClickListener(
+                new View.OnClickListener() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onClick(View v) {
+                        WorkManager.getInstance(MainActivity.this).enqueue(
+                                new Work.Builder(InfiniteWorker.class)
+                                        .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                                                .setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.CONNECTED)
+                                                .build())
+                                        .build());
+                    }
+                });
+
+        findViewById(R.id.sherlock_holmes).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onClick(View v) {
+                startActivity(new Intent(MainActivity.this, AnalyzeSherlockHolmesActivity.class));
+            }
+        });
+
+        findViewById(R.id.image_processing).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onClick(View v) {
+                startActivity(new Intent(MainActivity.this, ImageProcessingActivity.class));
+            }
+        });
+
+        findViewById(R.id.image_uri).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onClick(View v) {
+                if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 24) {
+                    return;
+                }
+
+                WorkManager.getInstance(MainActivity.this).enqueue(ToastWorker
+                        .create("Image URI Updated!")
+                        .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                                .addContentUriTrigger(
+                                        MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI, true)
+                                .build())
+                        .build()
+                );
+            }
+        });
+
+        final EditText delayInMs = findViewById(R.id.delay_in_ms);
+        findViewById(R.id.schedule_delay).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onClick(View v) {
+                String delayString = delayInMs.getText().toString();
+                long delay = Long.parseLong(delayString);
+                Log.d(TAG, "Enqueuing job with delay of " + delay + " ms");
+                WorkManager.getInstance(MainActivity.this).enqueue(ToastWorker
+                        .create("Delayed Job Ran!")
+                        .withInitialDelay(delay, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                        .build());
+            }
+        });
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/TestWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/TestWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04fc426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/TestWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * A Test Worker.
+ */
+public class TestWorker extends Worker {
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        int x = 0;
+        x++;
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/ToastWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/ToastWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bd9fde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/ToastWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp;
+
+import android.os.Handler;
+import android.os.Looper;
+import android.util.Log;
+import android.widget.Toast;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ *  A {@link Worker} that shows a given Toast.
+ */
+public class ToastWorker extends Worker {
+    private static final String ARG_MESSAGE = "message";
+
+    /**
+     * Create a {@link Work.Builder} with the given message.
+     *
+     * @param message The toast message to display
+     * @return A {@link Work.Builder}
+     */
+    public static Work.Builder create(String message) {
+        Arguments args = new Arguments.Builder().putString(ARG_MESSAGE, message).build();
+        return new Work.Builder(ToastWorker.class).withArguments(args);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Arguments args = getArguments();
+        final String message = args.getString(ARG_MESSAGE, "completed!");
+        new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()).post(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                Log.d("ToastWorker", message);
+                Toast.makeText(getAppContext(), message, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
+            }
+        });
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/Image.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/Image.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..07f456a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/Image.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.db;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Entity;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Ignore;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.PrimaryKey;
+import android.graphics.Bitmap;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+/**
+ * A POJO for a processed image
+ */
+@Entity
+public class Image {
+    @PrimaryKey
+    @NonNull
+    public String mOriginalAssetName;
+
+    public String mProcessedFilePath;
+
+    public boolean mIsProcessed;
+
+    @Ignore
+    public Bitmap mImage;
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/ImageDao.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/ImageDao.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7dd6284
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/ImageDao.java
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.db;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Dao;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Insert;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Query;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * The Data Access Object for {@link Image}.
+ */
+@Dao
+public interface ImageDao {
+
+    /**
+     * Inserts a {@link Image} into the database.
+     *
+     * @param image The {@link Image} to insert
+     */
+    @Insert
+    void insert(Image image);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets all {@link Image}s in the database.
+     *
+     * @return A list of all {@link Image}s in the database
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT * FROM image")
+    List<Image> getImages();
+
+    /**
+     * Marks an {@link Image} as processed and adds the processed image file path
+     *
+     * @return number of images processed (must be 0 or 1)
+     */
+    @Query("UPDATE image SET mProcessedFilePath=:processedFilePath, mIsProcessed=1 "
+            + "WHERE mOriginalAssetName=:originalAssetName")
+    int setProcessed(String originalAssetName, String processedFilePath);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets all {@link Image}s in the database as a {@link LiveData}.
+     *
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} list of all {@link Image}s in the database
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT * FROM image")
+    LiveData<List<Image>> getImagesLiveData();
+
+    /**
+     * Clears the database.
+     */
+    @Query("DELETE FROM image")
+    void clear();
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/TestDatabase.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/TestDatabase.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8eceed0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/TestDatabase.java
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.db;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Database;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Room;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.RoomDatabase;
+import android.content.Context;
+
+/**
+ * A test database.
+ */
+@Database(entities = {WordCount.class, Image.class}, version = 1, exportSchema = false)
+public abstract class TestDatabase extends RoomDatabase {
+
+    private static TestDatabase sInstance;
+
+    /**
+     * Gets a static instance of the test database.
+     *
+     * @param context A {@link Context} for initialization (we use the application context)
+     * @return The static instance of a {@link TestDatabase}
+     */
+    public static TestDatabase getInstance(Context context) {
+        if (sInstance == null) {
+            sInstance = Room.databaseBuilder(
+                    context.getApplicationContext(), TestDatabase.class, "testdb").build();
+        }
+        return sInstance;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the Data Access Object for the wordcount table.
+     *
+     * @return The Data Access Object for the wordcount table
+     */
+    public abstract WordCountDao getWordCountDao();
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the Data Access Object for the image table.
+     *
+     * @return The Data Access Object for the image table
+     */
+    public abstract ImageDao getImageDao();
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/WordCount.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/WordCount.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebbc12c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/WordCount.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.db;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Entity;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.PrimaryKey;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+/**
+ * A POJO for a word and its count.
+ */
+@Entity
+public class WordCount {
+
+    @PrimaryKey
+    @NonNull
+    public String mWord;
+    public int mCount;
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/WordCountDao.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/WordCountDao.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5c26c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/db/WordCountDao.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.db;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Dao;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Insert;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Query;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * The Data Access Object for {@link WordCount}.
+ */
+@Dao
+public interface WordCountDao {
+
+    /**
+     * Inserts a {@link WordCount} into the database.
+     *
+     * @param wordCount The {@link WordCount} to insert
+     */
+    @Insert
+    void insertWordCount(WordCount wordCount);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets all {@link WordCount}s in the database.
+     *
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} list of all {@link WordCount}s in the database
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT * FROM wordcount")
+    LiveData<List<WordCount>> getWordCounts();
+
+    /**
+     * Clears the database.
+     */
+    @Query("DELETE FROM wordcount")
+    void clear();
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageCleanupWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageCleanupWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44fdab8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageCleanupWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.imageprocessing;
+
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.Image;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.TestDatabase;
+
+/**
+ * Removes all existing {@link Image} entities and deletes associated compressed files
+ */
+public class ImageCleanupWorker extends Worker {
+    private static final String TAG = "ImageProcessingWorker";
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Log.d(TAG, "Started");
+        List<Image> images = TestDatabase.getInstance(getAppContext()).getImageDao().getImages();
+        for (Image image : images) {
+            if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(image.mProcessedFilePath)) {
+                if (new File(image.mProcessedFilePath).delete()) {
+                    Log.d(TAG, "Deleted : " + image.mProcessedFilePath);
+                } else {
+                    Log.e(TAG, "Failed to delete : " + image.mProcessedFilePath);
+                }
+            } else {
+                Log.d(TAG, image.mOriginalAssetName + "was not processed");
+            }
+        }
+        TestDatabase.getInstance(getAppContext()).getImageDao().clear();
+        Log.d(TAG, "Cleanup Complete!");
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageProcessingActivity.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageProcessingActivity.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..873e760
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageProcessingActivity.java
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.imageprocessing;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.Observer;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.os.Bundle;
+import android.provider.MediaStore;
+import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
+import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
+import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
+import android.util.Log;
+import android.view.View;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManager;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.R;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.Image;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.TestDatabase;
+
+/**
+ * Image Processing Activity
+ */
+public class ImageProcessingActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
+    private static final int IMAGE_REQUEST_CODE = 1;
+    private static final String TAG = "ImageProcessingActivity";
+    private ImageRecyclerViewAdapter mImageRecyclerViewAdapter;
+
+    @Override
+    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
+        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
+        setContentView(R.layout.activity_image_processing);
+
+        mImageRecyclerViewAdapter = new ImageRecyclerViewAdapter();
+
+        RecyclerView mRecyclerView = findViewById(R.id.image_recycler_view);
+        mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(this));
+        mRecyclerView.setAdapter(mImageRecyclerViewAdapter);
+
+        TestDatabase.getInstance(this)
+                .getImageDao()
+                .getImagesLiveData()
+                .observe(this, new Observer<List<Image>>() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onChanged(List<Image> images) {
+                        mImageRecyclerViewAdapter.updateList(images);
+                    }
+                });
+
+        findViewById(R.id.add_image).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onClick(View v) {
+                Intent chooseIntent = new Intent(
+                        Intent.ACTION_PICK,
+                        MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI);
+                if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 18) {
+                    chooseIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_ALLOW_MULTIPLE, true);
+                }
+                startActivityForResult(chooseIntent, IMAGE_REQUEST_CODE);
+            }
+        });
+
+        findViewById(R.id.clear_all).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onClick(View v) {
+                WorkManager.getInstance(ImageProcessingActivity.this)
+                        .enqueue(Work.from(ImageCleanupWorker.class));
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
+        if (requestCode == IMAGE_REQUEST_CODE && resultCode == RESULT_OK
+                && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 16 && data.getClipData() != null) {
+            Log.d(TAG, "Image Selection Complete");
+            int count = data.getClipData().getItemCount();
+            Work[] processingWork = new Work[count];
+            Work[] setupWork = new Work[count];
+            for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
+                String uriString = data.getClipData().getItemAt(i).getUri().toString();
+                setupWork[i] = ImageSetupWorker.createWork(uriString);
+                processingWork[i] = ImageProcessingWorker.createWork(uriString);
+            }
+            WorkManager.getInstance(this)
+                    .beginWith(setupWork)
+                    .then(processingWork)
+                    .enqueue();
+        } else if (requestCode == IMAGE_REQUEST_CODE && resultCode == RESULT_OK
+                && data.getData() != null) {
+            Log.d(TAG, "Image Selection Complete");
+            String uriString = data.getData().toString();
+            Work setupWork = ImageSetupWorker.createWork(uriString);
+            Work processingWork = ImageProcessingWorker.createWork(uriString);
+            WorkManager.getInstance(this)
+                    .beginWith(setupWork)
+                    .then(processingWork)
+                    .enqueue();
+        } else if (requestCode == IMAGE_REQUEST_CODE && resultCode == RESULT_CANCELED) {
+            Log.d(TAG, "Image Selection Cancelled");
+        } else {
+            throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageProcessingWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageProcessingWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac4550d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageProcessingWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.imageprocessing;
+
+import android.graphics.Bitmap;
+import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
+import android.net.Uri;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.Image;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.TestDatabase;
+
+/**
+ * Creates a compressed transformed image from a given {@link Uri} and writes
+ * the information as a {@link Image} entity
+ */
+public class ImageProcessingWorker extends Worker {
+    private static final String URI_KEY = "uri";
+    private static final String TAG = "ImageProcessingWorker";
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Log.d(TAG, "Started");
+
+        String uriString = getArguments().getString(URI_KEY, null);
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(uriString)) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "Invalid URI!");
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        }
+
+        Bitmap image = retrieveImage(uriString);
+
+        if (image == null) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "Could not retrieve image!");
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        }
+
+        invertColors(image);
+        String filePath = compressImage(image);
+
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(filePath)) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "Could not compress image!");
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        }
+
+        int processed = TestDatabase.getInstance(getAppContext())
+                .getImageDao()
+                .setProcessed(uriString, filePath);
+
+        if (processed != 1) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "Database was not updated!");
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        }
+
+        Log.d(TAG, "Image Processing Complete!");
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+
+    private Bitmap retrieveImage(String uriString) {
+        Uri uri = Uri.parse(uriString);
+        InputStream inputStream = null;
+        try {
+            inputStream = getAppContext().getContentResolver().openInputStream(uri);
+            BitmapFactory.Options options = new BitmapFactory.Options();
+            options.inSampleSize = 4; // Sample down to save memory
+            options.inMutable = true; // Allow editing of bitmap
+            return BitmapFactory.decodeStream(inputStream, null, options);
+        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            return null;
+        } finally {
+            if (inputStream != null) {
+                try {
+                    inputStream.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    private void invertColors(Bitmap bitmap) {
+        int w = bitmap.getWidth();
+        int h = bitmap.getHeight();
+        for (int x = 0; x < w; ++x) {
+            for (int y = 0; y < h; ++y) {
+                int color = bitmap.getPixel(x, y);
+                int reversedColor = (color & 0xff000000) | (0x00ffffff - (color & 0x00ffffff));
+                bitmap.setPixel(x, y, reversedColor);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private String compressImage(Bitmap bitmap) {
+        FileOutputStream os = null;
+        try {
+            File tempFile = File.createTempFile("compressed_", ".jpg",
+                    getAppContext().getCacheDir());
+            os = new FileOutputStream(tempFile);
+            if (!bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, 25, os)) {
+                return null;
+            }
+            return tempFile.getAbsolutePath();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            return null;
+        } finally {
+            if (os != null) {
+                try {
+                    os.flush();
+                    os.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    static Work createWork(String uriString) {
+        Arguments arguments = new Arguments.Builder().putString(URI_KEY, uriString).build();
+        return new Work.Builder(ImageProcessingWorker.class).withArguments(arguments).build();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageRecyclerViewAdapter.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageRecyclerViewAdapter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..652c596
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageRecyclerViewAdapter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.imageprocessing;
+
+import android.graphics.Bitmap;
+import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
+import android.os.AsyncTask;
+import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+import android.util.Log;
+import android.view.LayoutInflater;
+import android.view.View;
+import android.view.ViewGroup;
+import android.widget.ImageView;
+import android.widget.ProgressBar;
+import android.widget.TextView;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.R;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.Image;
+
+/**
+ * Manages a gallery of {@link Image} entities
+ */
+public class ImageRecyclerViewAdapter extends
+        RecyclerView.Adapter<ImageRecyclerViewAdapter.ViewHolder> {
+    private static final String TAG = "ImageAdapter";
+    private List<Image> mImages = new ArrayList<>();
+
+
+    void updateList(List<Image> images) {
+        mImages = images;
+        notifyDataSetChanged();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Defines a single gallery item
+     */
+    static class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
+        private ImageView mImageView;
+        private TextView mTextView;
+        private ProgressBar mProgressBar;
+        private AsyncTask<Image, Void, Bitmap> mBitmapLoadTask;
+        private boolean mShouldLoad;
+
+        ViewHolder(View itemView) {
+            super(itemView);
+            mImageView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.image);
+            mTextView = itemView.findViewById(R.id.label);
+            mProgressBar = itemView.findViewById(R.id.progressBar);
+        }
+
+        public void load(final Image image) {
+            if (TextUtils.isEmpty(image.mProcessedFilePath)) {
+                mTextView.setText(image.mOriginalAssetName);
+                mProgressBar.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
+                mImageView.setVisibility(View.GONE);
+            } else {
+                mBitmapLoadTask = new AsyncTask<Image, Void, Bitmap>() {
+                    @Override
+                    protected void onPostExecute(Bitmap bitmap) {
+                        if (mShouldLoad) {
+                            Log.d(TAG, "Setting image to holder");
+                            mImageView.setImageBitmap(bitmap);
+                            mTextView.setText(image.mOriginalAssetName);
+                            mProgressBar.setVisibility(View.GONE);
+                            mImageView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
+                        } else {
+                            Log.e(TAG, "Should not load!");
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    @Override
+                    protected Bitmap doInBackground(Image... images) {
+                        Image image = images[0];
+                        if (image == null) {
+                            throw new IllegalArgumentException();
+                        } else if (image.mImage == null) {
+                            Log.d(TAG, "Loading image into memory");
+                            image.mImage = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(image.mProcessedFilePath);
+                        }
+                        return image.mImage;
+                    }
+                };
+                mShouldLoad = true;
+                mBitmapLoadTask.execute(image);
+            }
+        }
+
+        public void stopLoad() {
+            if (mBitmapLoadTask != null) {
+                Log.d(TAG, "Cancelling load");
+                mShouldLoad = false;
+                mBitmapLoadTask.cancel(true);
+                mBitmapLoadTask = null;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
+        View itemView = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext())
+                .inflate(R.layout.item_processed_image, parent, false);
+        return new ViewHolder(itemView);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onBindViewHolder(ViewHolder holder, int position) {
+        holder.load(mImages.get(position));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onViewRecycled(ViewHolder holder) {
+        super.onViewRecycled(holder);
+        holder.stopLoad();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getItemCount() {
+        return mImages.size();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageSetupWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageSetupWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f8f151
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/imageprocessing/ImageSetupWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.imageprocessing;
+
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.Image;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.TestDatabase;
+
+/**
+ * Creates initial {@link Image} entity in db
+ */
+public class ImageSetupWorker extends Worker {
+    private static final String TAG = "ImageSetupWorker";
+    private static final String URI_KEY = "uri";
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Log.d(TAG, "Started");
+
+        String uriString = getArguments().getString(URI_KEY, null);
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(uriString)) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "Invalid URI!");
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        }
+
+        Image image = new Image();
+        image.mOriginalAssetName = uriString;
+        image.mIsProcessed = false;
+        TestDatabase.getInstance(getAppContext()).getImageDao().insert(image);
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+
+    static Work createWork(String uriString) {
+        Arguments arguments = new Arguments.Builder().putString(URI_KEY, uriString).build();
+        return new Work.Builder(ImageSetupWorker.class).withArguments(arguments).build();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/AnalyzeSherlockHolmesActivity.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/AnalyzeSherlockHolmesActivity.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85ef5c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/AnalyzeSherlockHolmesActivity.java
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.sherlockholmes;
+
+import static androidx.work.State.FAILED;
+import static androidx.work.State.SUCCEEDED;
+
+import android.os.Bundle;
+import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
+import android.view.View;
+import android.widget.Button;
+import android.widget.ProgressBar;
+import android.widget.TextView;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.ArrayCreatingInputMerger;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManager;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.R;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.TestDatabase;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.WordCount;
+
+/**
+ * Analyze Sherlock Holmes activity.
+ */
+public class AnalyzeSherlockHolmesActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
+    private Button mAnalyzeButton;
+    private ProgressBar mProgressBar;
+    private TextView mResultsView;
+
+    final StringBuilder mStringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
+
+    @Override
+    protected void onCreate(final Bundle savedInstanceState) {
+        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
+        setContentView(R.layout.activity_analyze_sherlock_holmes);
+
+        mAnalyzeButton = findViewById(R.id.analyze);
+        mAnalyzeButton.setOnClickListener(v -> enqueueWork());
+
+        mProgressBar = findViewById(R.id.progress);
+        mProgressBar.setVisibility(View.GONE);
+        mResultsView = findViewById(R.id.results);
+        mResultsView.setVisibility(View.GONE);
+
+        TestDatabase.getInstance(this).getWordCountDao().getWordCounts().observe(
+                this,
+                wordCounts -> {
+                    if (wordCounts == null) {
+                        return;
+                    }
+                    mResultsView.setText(getWordCountsString(wordCounts));
+                });
+    }
+
+    private void enqueueWork() {
+        WorkManager workManager = WorkManager.getInstance(this);
+
+        Work textReducingWork = new Work.Builder(TextReducingWorker.class)
+                .withInputMerger(ArrayCreatingInputMerger.class)
+                .build();
+
+        Work startupWork = new Work.Builder(TextStartupWorker.class).build();
+        workManager
+                .beginWith(startupWork)
+                .then(TextMappingWorker.create("advs.txt").build(),
+                        TextMappingWorker.create("case.txt").build(),
+                        TextMappingWorker.create("lstb.txt").build(),
+                        TextMappingWorker.create("mems.txt").build(),
+                        TextMappingWorker.create("retn.txt").build())
+                .then(textReducingWork)
+                .enqueue();
+
+        workManager.getStatusById(textReducingWork.getId()).observe(
+                this,
+                status -> {
+                    boolean loading = (status != null
+                            && status.getState() != SUCCEEDED
+                            && status.getState() != FAILED);
+                    mProgressBar.setVisibility(loading ? View.VISIBLE : View.GONE);
+                    mResultsView.setVisibility(loading ? View.GONE : View.VISIBLE);
+                    mAnalyzeButton.setEnabled(!loading);
+                }
+        );
+    }
+
+    private String getWordCountsString(List<WordCount> wordCounts) {
+        // TODO: not efficient, this should be part of its own LiveData thing.
+        mStringBuilder.setLength(0);
+        for (WordCount wc : wordCounts) {
+            mStringBuilder
+                    .append(wc.mWord)
+                    .append(" ")
+                    .append(wc.mCount)
+                    .append("\n");
+        }
+        return mStringBuilder.toString();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextMappingWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextMappingWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d88ff0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextMappingWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.sherlockholmes;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.res.AssetManager;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import java.io.DataOutputStream;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Scanner;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * A Worker that counts words of length > 3 and stores the results.
+ */
+public class TextMappingWorker extends Worker {
+
+    private static final String INPUT_FILE = "input_file";
+
+    private Map<String, Integer> mWordCount = new HashMap<>();
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a {@link Work.Builder} with the necessary arguments.
+     *
+     * @param inputFile The input file to process
+     * @return A {@link Work.Builder} with these arguments
+     */
+    public static Work.Builder create(String inputFile) {
+        Arguments args = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putString(INPUT_FILE, inputFile)
+                .build();
+        return new Work.Builder(TextMappingWorker.class).withArguments(args);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Arguments args = getArguments();
+        String inputFileName = args.getString(INPUT_FILE, null);
+        String outputFileName = "out_" + inputFileName;
+
+        AssetManager assetManager = getAppContext().getAssets();
+        InputStream inputStream = null;
+        Scanner scanner = null;
+        try {
+            inputStream = assetManager.open(inputFileName);
+            scanner = new Scanner(inputStream);
+            while (scanner.hasNext()) {
+                String word = scanner.next();
+                if (word.length() > 3) {
+                    int count = 1;
+                    if (mWordCount.containsKey(word)) {
+                        count = mWordCount.get(word) + 1;
+                    }
+                    mWordCount.put(word, count);
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        } finally {
+            if (scanner != null) {
+                scanner.close();
+            }
+            if (inputStream != null) {
+                try {
+                    inputStream.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    // Do nothing.
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        FileOutputStream fileOutputStream = null;
+        DataOutputStream dataOutputStream = null;
+        try {
+            fileOutputStream = getAppContext().openFileOutput(outputFileName, Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
+            dataOutputStream = new DataOutputStream(fileOutputStream);
+            for (Map.Entry<String, Integer> entry : mWordCount.entrySet()) {
+                dataOutputStream.writeUTF(entry.getKey());
+                dataOutputStream.writeInt(entry.getValue());
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        } finally {
+            if (dataOutputStream != null) {
+                try {
+                    dataOutputStream.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    // Do nothing.
+                }
+            }
+            if (fileOutputStream != null) {
+                try {
+                    fileOutputStream.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    // Do nothing.
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        setOutput(new Arguments.Builder().putString(INPUT_FILE, outputFileName).build());
+
+        Log.d("Map", "Mapping finished for " + inputFileName);
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextReducingWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextReducingWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7defd6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextReducingWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.sherlockholmes;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import java.io.DataInputStream;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.TestDatabase;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.WordCount;
+
+/**
+ * A Worker that combines the word counts of various works and outputs them.
+ */
+public class TextReducingWorker extends Worker {
+
+    private static final String INPUT_FILE = "input_file";
+
+    private Map<String, Integer> mWordCount = new HashMap<>();
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Arguments args = getArguments();
+        String[] inputFiles = args.getStringArray(INPUT_FILE);
+        if (inputFiles == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException();
+        }
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < inputFiles.length; ++i) {
+            FileInputStream fileInputStream = null;
+            DataInputStream dataInputStream = null;
+            try {
+                fileInputStream = getAppContext().openFileInput(inputFiles[i]);
+                dataInputStream = new DataInputStream(fileInputStream);
+                while (dataInputStream.available() > 0) {
+                    String word = dataInputStream.readUTF();
+                    int count = dataInputStream.readInt();
+                    if (mWordCount.containsKey(word)) {
+                        count += mWordCount.get(word);
+                    }
+                    mWordCount.put(word, count);
+                }
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+            } finally {
+                if (dataInputStream != null) {
+                    try {
+                        dataInputStream.close();
+                    } catch (IOException e) {
+                        // Do nothing.
+                    }
+                }
+                if (fileInputStream != null) {
+                    try {
+                        fileInputStream.close();
+                    } catch (IOException e) {
+                        // Do nothing.
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        List<Map.Entry<String, Integer>> sortedList = new ArrayList<>(mWordCount.size());
+        sortedList.addAll(mWordCount.entrySet());
+        Collections.sort(sortedList, (o1, o2) -> o2.getValue().compareTo(o1.getValue()));
+
+        TestDatabase db = TestDatabase.getInstance(getAppContext());
+        db.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            for (Map.Entry<String, Integer> entry : sortedList) {
+                WordCount wc = new WordCount();
+                wc.mWord = entry.getKey();
+                wc.mCount = entry.getValue();
+                db.getWordCountDao().insertWordCount(wc);
+            }
+            db.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            db.endTransaction();
+        }
+
+        Log.d("Reduce", "Reduction finished");
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextStartupWorker.java b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextStartupWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a5a7f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/java/androidx/work/integration/testapp/sherlockholmes/TextStartupWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.integration.testapp.sherlockholmes;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.integration.testapp.db.TestDatabase;
+
+/**
+ * A Worker that deletes the final results file.
+ */
+public class TextStartupWorker extends Worker {
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        TestDatabase db = TestDatabase.getInstance(getAppContext());
+        db.getWordCountDao().clear();
+        Log.d("Startup", "Database cleared");
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/drawable/ic_clear_white_24dp.xml b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/drawable/ic_clear_white_24dp.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..258f729
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/drawable/ic_clear_white_24dp.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+  -->
+
+<vector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+        android:width="24dp"
+        android:height="24dp"
+        android:viewportWidth="24.0"
+        android:viewportHeight="24.0">
+    <path
+        android:fillColor="#FFFFFFFF"
+        android:pathData="M19,6.41L17.59,5 12,10.59 6.41,5 5,6.41 10.59,12 5,17.59 6.41,19 12,13.41 17.59,19 19,17.59 13.41,12z"/>
+</vector>
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/drawable/ic_image_white_24dp.xml b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/drawable/ic_image_white_24dp.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ababf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/drawable/ic_image_white_24dp.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+  -->
+
+<vector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+        android:width="24dp"
+        android:height="24dp"
+        android:viewportWidth="24.0"
+        android:viewportHeight="24.0">
+    <path
+        android:fillColor="#FFFFFFFF"
+        android:pathData="M21,19V5c0,-1.1 -0.9,-2 -2,-2H5c-1.1,0 -2,0.9 -2,2v14c0,1.1 0.9,2 2,2h14c1.1,0 2,-0.9 2,-2zM8.5,13.5l2.5,3.01L14.5,12l4.5,6H5l3.5,-4.5z"/>
+</vector>
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_analyze_sherlock_holmes.xml b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_analyze_sherlock_holmes.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e2b6bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_analyze_sherlock_holmes.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+  -->
+<RelativeLayout
+    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+    android:layout_width="match_parent"
+    android:layout_height="match_parent">
+
+    <Button
+        android:id="@+id/analyze"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
+        android:text="@string/analyze_holmes"/>
+
+    <ScrollView
+        android:layout_width="match_parent"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_below="@id/analyze">
+
+        <FrameLayout
+            android:layout_width="match_parent"
+            android:layout_height="wrap_content">
+
+            <ProgressBar
+                android:id="@+id/progress"
+                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+                android:layout_gravity="center"/>
+
+            <TextView
+                android:id="@+id/results"
+                android:layout_width="match_parent"
+                android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
+
+        </FrameLayout>
+
+    </ScrollView>
+
+</RelativeLayout>
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_image_processing.xml b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_image_processing.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d166ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_image_processing.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+  -->
+
+<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
+    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
+    android:layout_width="match_parent"
+    android:layout_height="match_parent"
+    tools:context="androidx.work.integration.testapp.imageprocessing.ImageProcessingActivity">
+
+    <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
+        android:layout_width="match_parent"
+        android:layout_height="match_parent"
+        android:id="@+id/image_recycler_view"/>
+
+    <android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton
+        android:id="@+id/add_image"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_marginBottom="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginRight="16dp"
+        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
+        app:srcCompat="@drawable/ic_image_white_24dp" />
+
+    <android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton
+        android:id="@+id/clear_all"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_marginBottom="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginRight="16dp"
+        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/add_image"
+        app:srcCompat="@drawable/ic_clear_white_24dp" />
+
+</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_main.xml b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_main.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dfb13e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/activity_main.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+  -->
+
+<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
+    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
+    android:layout_width="match_parent"
+    android:layout_height="match_parent"
+    tools:context="androidx.work.integration.testapp.MainActivity">
+
+    <Button
+        android:id="@+id/enqueue_infinite_work_charging"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
+        android:text="Infinite Work + Charging Constraint"
+        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent" app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/clear_all"/>
+
+    <Button
+        android:id="@+id/sherlock_holmes"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginTop="12dp"
+        android:text="Sherlock Holmes"
+        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent" app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/enqueue_infinite_work_network"/>
+
+    <Button
+        android:id="@+id/image_processing"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginTop="12dp"
+        android:text="Image Processing"
+        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent" app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/sherlock_holmes"/>
+
+    <Button
+        android:id="@+id/image_uri"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginTop="12dp"
+        android:text="Observe Image URI"
+        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent" app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/image_processing"/>
+
+    <EditText
+        android:id="@+id/delay_in_ms"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginTop="12dp"
+        android:ems="10"
+        android:hint="Delay in ms"
+        android:inputType="number"
+        android:singleLine="true"
+        android:text="0"
+        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent" app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/image_uri"/>
+
+    <Button
+        android:id="@+id/schedule_delay"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_marginStart="8dp"
+        android:layout_marginTop="12dp"
+        android:text="Schedule"
+        app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/delay_in_ms"
+        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/image_uri"/>
+
+    <Button
+        android:id="@+id/enqueue_infinite_work_network"
+        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
+        android:layout_marginTop="12dp"
+        android:text="Infinite Work + Network Constraint"
+        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
+        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/enqueue_infinite_work_charging"/>
+
+</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>
diff --git a/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/item_processed_image.xml b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/item_processed_image.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f9086a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/layout/item_processed_image.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+  -->
+
+<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+    android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="match_parent"
+    android:layout_height="wrap_content">
+
+    <ProgressBar
+        android:id="@+id/progressBar"
+        style="?android:attr/progressBarStyle"
+        android:layout_width="match_parent"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:indeterminate="true" />
+
+    <ImageView
+        android:id="@+id/image"
+        android:layout_width="match_parent"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
+        android:adjustViewBounds="true" />
+    <TextView
+        android:id="@+id/label"
+        android:gravity="center"
+        android:textColor="@android:color/white"
+        android:layout_width="match_parent"
+        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
+
+</LinearLayout>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
similarity index 76%
copy from car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml
copy to work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
index 13d0a49..616b6e4 100644
--- a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml
+++ b/work/integration-tests/testapp/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <!--
-  ~ Copyright (C) 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
   ~
   ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
   ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   ~ limitations under the License.
   -->
-<ripple
-    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
-    android:color="@color/car_card_ripple_background" />
+<resources>
+    <string name="analyze_holmes">Analyze Sherlock Holmes!</string>
+
+</resources>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/build.gradle b/work/workmanager-firebase/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ef81ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+
+import android.support.LibraryGroups
+import android.support.LibraryVersions
+import android.support.SupportLibraryExtension
+
+import static android.support.dependencies.DependenciesKt.*
+
+plugins {
+    id("SupportAndroidLibraryPlugin")
+}
+
+android {
+    buildTypes {
+        release {
+            proguardFiles 'proguard-rules.pro'
+        }
+    }
+
+    packagingOptions {
+        // This is needed due to a compatibility issue with espresso_core and play_services_base
+        // Being resolved by GMSCore in b/64815250
+        pickFirst 'protobuf.meta'
+    }
+}
+
+dependencies {
+    api(project(":work:work-runtime"))
+    api(PLAY_SERVICES, libs.support_exclude_config)
+    api(FIREBASE_JOBDISPATCHER, libs.support_exclude_config)
+    // Tempory workaround to the fact that FIREBASE_JOBDISPATCHER imports v4 of 25.0.0, but we pull
+    // in 26.1.0 on some of the dependencies of v4, but not support-media-compat.
+    implementation(SUPPORT_V4, libs.support_exclude_config)
+
+    androidTestImplementation(project(":work:work-runtime"))
+    androidTestImplementation(TEST_RUNNER)
+    androidTestImplementation(ESPRESSO_CORE)
+    androidTestImplementation(MOCKITO_CORE, libs.exclude_bytebuddy) // DexMaker has it"s own MockMaker
+    androidTestImplementation(DEXMAKER_MOCKITO, libs.exclude_bytebuddy) // DexMaker has it"s own MockMaker
+}
+
+supportLibrary {
+    name = "Android WorkManager Firebase"
+    publish = true
+    mavenVersion = LibraryVersions.WORKMANAGER
+    mavenGroup = LibraryGroups.WORKMANAGER
+    inceptionYear = "2017"
+    description = "Android WorkManager Firebase"
+    url = SupportLibraryExtension.ARCHITECTURE_URL
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/lint-baseline.xml b/work/workmanager-firebase/lint-baseline.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10e3040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/lint-baseline.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<issues format="4" by="lint 3.0.0">
+
+</issues>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/proguard-rules.pro b/work/workmanager-firebase/proguard-rules.pro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e52d70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/proguard-rules.pro
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+-keepnames class androidx.work.impl.background.firebase.FirebaseJobScheduler
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkManagerTest.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkManagerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2736f4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkManagerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.InternalWorkImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+public abstract class WorkManagerTest {
+
+    protected WorkSpec getWorkSpec(BaseWork work) {
+        return ((InternalWorkImpl) work).getWorkSpec();
+    }
+
+    protected Set<String> getTags(BaseWork work) {
+        return ((InternalWorkImpl) work).getTags();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobConverterTest.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobConverterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5ba6ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobConverterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,239 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.firebase;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.contains;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
+import static org.hamcrest.core.Is.is;
+
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.CONNECTED;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.METERED;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.NOT_ROAMING;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.UNMETERED;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.net.Uri;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Constraint;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.FirebaseJobDispatcher;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.GooglePlayDriver;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Job;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.JobTrigger;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Lifetime;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.ObservedUri;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.RetryStrategy;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Trigger;
+
+import org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.PeriodicWork;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManagerTest;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.PackageManagerHelper;
+import androidx.work.worker.FirebaseTestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class FirebaseJobConverterTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+    private FirebaseJobConverter mConverter;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        Context context = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext().getApplicationContext();
+        PackageManagerHelper.setComponentEnabled(context, FirebaseJobService.class, true);
+        FirebaseJobDispatcher dispatcher = new FirebaseJobDispatcher(new GooglePlayDriver(context));
+        mConverter = new FirebaseJobConverter(dispatcher);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_basicWorkSpec() {
+        final String expectedWorkSpecId = "026e3422-9cd1-11e7-abc4-cec278b6b50a";
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec(expectedWorkSpecId);
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(job.getTag(), is(expectedWorkSpecId));
+        assertThat(job.getLifetime(), is(Lifetime.FOREVER));
+        assertThat(job.getService(), is(FirebaseJobService.class.getName()));
+
+        JobTrigger.ImmediateTrigger trigger = (JobTrigger.ImmediateTrigger) job.getTrigger();
+        assertThat(trigger, is(Trigger.NOW));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_backoffPolicy() {
+        long givenBackoffDelayDuration = 50000L;
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec("id");
+        workSpec.setBackoffDelayDuration(givenBackoffDelayDuration);
+        workSpec.setBackoffPolicy(BackoffPolicy.LINEAR);
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+
+        int expectedBackoffDelayDuration = (int) TimeUnit.SECONDS
+                .convert(givenBackoffDelayDuration, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+        assertThat(job.getRetryStrategy().getInitialBackoff(), is(expectedBackoffDelayDuration));
+        assertThat(job.getRetryStrategy().getPolicy(), is(RetryStrategy.RETRY_POLICY_LINEAR));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_initialDelay() {
+        long givenInitialDelayDuration = 50000L;
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec("id");
+        workSpec.setInitialDelay(givenInitialDelayDuration);
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+
+        // Initial delay is handled via an AlarmManager broadcast
+        assertThat(job.getTrigger(), is(instanceOf(JobTrigger.ImmediateTrigger.class)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 24)
+    public void testConvert_requireContentUriTrigger() {
+        final Uri expectedUri = Uri.parse("TEST_URI");
+        final ObservedUri expectedObservedUri =
+                new ObservedUri(expectedUri, ObservedUri.Flags.FLAG_NOTIFY_FOR_DESCENDANTS);
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(FirebaseTestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .addContentUriTrigger(expectedUri, true)
+                        .build())
+                .build());
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+
+        JobTrigger.ContentUriTrigger trigger = (JobTrigger.ContentUriTrigger) job.getTrigger();
+        List<ObservedUri> observedUriList = trigger.getUris();
+        MatcherAssert.assertThat(observedUriList, contains(expectedObservedUri));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_requiresCharging() {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(FirebaseTestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiresCharging(true)
+                        .build())
+                .build());
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertHasIntInArray(job.getConstraints(), Constraint.DEVICE_CHARGING);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_periodic() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS;
+        long testFlex = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS;
+
+        int expectedWindowEndSeconds =
+                FirebaseJobConverter.convertMillisecondsToSeconds(testInterval);
+        int flexSeconds = FirebaseJobConverter.convertMillisecondsToSeconds(testFlex);
+        int expectedWindowStartSeconds = expectedWindowEndSeconds - flexSeconds;
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec("id");
+        workSpec.setPeriodic(testInterval);
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+
+        JobTrigger.ExecutionWindowTrigger trigger =
+                (JobTrigger.ExecutionWindowTrigger) job.getTrigger();
+        assertThat(trigger.getWindowEnd(), is(expectedWindowEndSeconds));
+        assertThat(trigger.getWindowStart(), is(expectedWindowStartSeconds));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testConvert_requiresDeviceIdle() {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(FirebaseTestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiresDeviceIdle(true)
+                        .build())
+                .build());
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertHasIntInArray(job.getConstraints(), Constraint.DEVICE_IDLE);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_requiresNetworkAny() {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(FirebaseTestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiredNetworkType(CONNECTED)
+                        .build())
+                .build());
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertHasIntInArray(job.getConstraints(), Constraint.ON_ANY_NETWORK);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_requiresNetworkMetered_unsupported() {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(FirebaseTestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiredNetworkType(METERED)
+                        .build())
+                .build());
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertHasIntInArray(job.getConstraints(), Constraint.ON_ANY_NETWORK);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_requiresNetworkNotRoaming_unsupported() {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(FirebaseTestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiredNetworkType(NOT_ROAMING)
+                        .build())
+                .build());
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertHasIntInArray(job.getConstraints(), Constraint.ON_ANY_NETWORK);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_requiresNetworkUnmetered() {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(FirebaseTestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiredNetworkType(UNMETERED)
+                        .build())
+                .build());
+        Job job = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertHasIntInArray(job.getConstraints(), Constraint.ON_UNMETERED_NETWORK);
+    }
+
+    private void assertHasIntInArray(int[] array, int expectedItem) {
+        boolean found = false;
+        for (int item : array) {
+            if (item == expectedItem) {
+                found = true;
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        assertThat(found, is(true));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobServiceTest.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobServiceTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0109eea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobServiceTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.firebase;
+
+import static android.support.test.espresso.matcher.ViewMatchers.assertThat;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.JobParameters;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManagerTest;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor.InstantTaskExecutorRule;
+import androidx.work.worker.FirebaseInfiniteTestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class FirebaseJobServiceTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+
+    @Rule
+    public InstantTaskExecutorRule mRule = new InstantTaskExecutorRule();
+
+    private WorkDatabase mDatabase;
+    private FirebaseJobService mFirebaseJobService;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mDatabase = WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext())
+                .getWorkDatabase();
+        mFirebaseJobService = new FirebaseJobService(); // Bleh.
+        mFirebaseJobService.onCreate();
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        mFirebaseJobService.onDestroy();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnStopJob_ResetsWorkStatus() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(FirebaseInfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        JobParameters mockParams = createMockJobParameters(work.getId());
+        mFirebaseJobService.onStartJob(mockParams);
+
+        // TODO(sumir): Remove later.  Put here because WorkerWrapper sets state to RUNNING.
+        Thread.sleep(1000L);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(State.RUNNING));
+
+        mFirebaseJobService.onStopJob(mockParams);
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(State.ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnStopJob_ReschedulesWhenNotCancelled() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(FirebaseInfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        JobParameters mockParams = createMockJobParameters(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mFirebaseJobService.onStartJob(mockParams), is(true));
+        assertThat(mFirebaseJobService.onStopJob(mockParams), is(true));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnStopJob_DoesNotRescheduleWhenCancelled() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(FirebaseInfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        JobParameters mockParams = createMockJobParameters(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mFirebaseJobService.onStartJob(mockParams), is(true));
+        WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext())
+                .cancelWorkById(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mFirebaseJobService.onStopJob(mockParams), is(false));
+    }
+
+    private JobParameters createMockJobParameters(String id) {
+        JobParameters jobParameters = mock(JobParameters.class);
+        when(jobParameters.getTag()).thenReturn(id);
+        return jobParameters;
+    }
+
+    private void insertWork(BaseWork work) {
+        mDatabase.workSpecDao().insertWorkSpec(getWorkSpec(work));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/InstantTaskExecutorRule.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/InstantTaskExecutorRule.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e5c35e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/InstantTaskExecutorRule.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor;
+
+import org.junit.rules.TestWatcher;
+import org.junit.runner.Description;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link org.junit.Rule} that swaps the background executor used by WorkManager with a
+ * different one which executes each task synchronously.
+ * Adapted from android arch core's InstantTaskExecutorRule.
+ */
+
+public class InstantTaskExecutorRule extends TestWatcher {
+    @Override
+    protected void starting(Description description) {
+        super.starting(description);
+        WorkManagerTaskExecutor.getInstance().setTaskExecutor(new TaskExecutor() {
+            @Override
+            public void postToMainThread(Runnable r) {
+                r.run();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void executeOnBackgroundThread(Runnable r) {
+                r.run();
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void finished(Description description) {
+        super.finished(description);
+        WorkManagerTaskExecutor.getInstance().setTaskExecutor(null);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FirebaseInfiniteTestWorker.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FirebaseInfiniteTestWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca0fbfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FirebaseInfiniteTestWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Test Worker that loops until Thread is interrupted.
+ */
+
+public class FirebaseInfiniteTestWorker extends Worker {
+    private static final String TAG = "FBInfiniteTestWorker";
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        while (true) {
+            if (isInterrupted()) {
+                Log.e(TAG, "Interrupted");
+                return WorkerResult.RETRY;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FirebaseTestWorker.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FirebaseTestWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..785bebe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FirebaseTestWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Simple Test Worker
+ */
+
+public class FirebaseTestWorker extends Worker {
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Log.d("FirebaseTestWorker", "FirebaseTestWorker Ran!");
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cc38cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+  -->
+
+<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+          package="androidx.work.impl.background.firebase">
+    <application>
+        <service
+            android:exported="false"
+            android:name=".FirebaseJobService">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="com.firebase.jobdispatcher.ACTION_EXECUTE"/>
+            </intent-filter>
+        </service>
+        <receiver
+            android:name=".FirebaseDelayedJobAlarmReceiver"
+            android:exported="true"/>
+    </application>
+</manifest>
+
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseDelayedJobAlarmReceiver.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseDelayedJobAlarmReceiver.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4b1de5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseDelayedJobAlarmReceiver.java
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.background.firebase;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * Schedules a {@link WorkSpec} after an initial delay with {@link FirebaseJobScheduler}
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class FirebaseDelayedJobAlarmReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
+    private static final String TAG = "FirebaseAlarmReceiver";
+    static final String WORKSPEC_ID_KEY = "WORKSPEC_ID";
+
+    @Override
+    public void onReceive(final Context context, Intent intent) {
+        final PendingResult pendingResult = goAsync();
+        final String workSpecId = intent.getStringExtra(WORKSPEC_ID_KEY);
+        final WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl = WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(context);
+        final WorkDatabase database = workManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase();
+        new Thread(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                WorkSpec workSpec = database.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(workSpecId);
+                if (workSpec != null) {
+                    for (Scheduler scheduler : workManagerImpl.getSchedulers()) {
+                        scheduler.schedule(workSpec);
+                    }
+                } else {
+                    Logger.error(TAG, "WorkSpec not found! Cannot schedule!");
+                }
+                pendingResult.finish();
+            }
+        }).start();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobConverter.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobConverter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d55b26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobConverter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.firebase;
+
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.RequiresApi;
+
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Constraint;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.FirebaseJobDispatcher;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Job;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.JobTrigger;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Lifetime;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.ObservedUri;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.RetryStrategy;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Trigger;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.ContentUriTriggers;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * Converts a {@link WorkSpec} into a {@link Job}.
+ */
+
+class FirebaseJobConverter {
+    private static final String TAG = "FirebaseJobConverter";
+    private FirebaseJobDispatcher mDispatcher;
+
+    FirebaseJobConverter(FirebaseJobDispatcher dispatcher) {
+        mDispatcher = dispatcher;
+    }
+
+    Job convert(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        Job.Builder builder = mDispatcher.newJobBuilder()
+                .setService(FirebaseJobService.class)
+                .setTag(workSpec.getId())
+                .setLifetime(Lifetime.FOREVER)
+                .setReplaceCurrent(true)
+                .setRetryStrategy(createRetryStrategy(workSpec))
+                .setConstraints(getConstraints(workSpec));
+        setExecutionTrigger(builder, workSpec);
+        return builder.build();
+    }
+
+    private void setExecutionTrigger(Job.Builder builder, WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24 && workSpec.getConstraints().hasContentUriTriggers()) {
+            builder.setTrigger(createContentUriTriggers(workSpec));
+        } else if (workSpec.isPeriodic()) {
+            builder.setTrigger(createPeriodicTrigger(workSpec));
+            builder.setRecurring(true);
+        } else {
+            builder.setTrigger(Trigger.NOW);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @RequiresApi(24)
+    private static JobTrigger.ContentUriTrigger createContentUriTriggers(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        List<ObservedUri> observedUris = new ArrayList<>();
+        ContentUriTriggers triggers = workSpec.getConstraints().getContentUriTriggers();
+        for (ContentUriTriggers.Trigger trigger : triggers) {
+            observedUris.add(convertContentUriTrigger(trigger));
+        }
+        return Trigger.contentUriTrigger(observedUris);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Firebase accepts an execution window with a START and END.
+     * Internally, it sets the flex duration to be END-START and interval duration to be END.
+     * {@link com.firebase.jobdispatcher.GooglePlayJobWriter#writeExecutionWindowTriggerToBundle}
+     */
+    private static JobTrigger.ExecutionWindowTrigger createPeriodicTrigger(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        int windowEndSeconds = convertMillisecondsToSeconds(workSpec.getIntervalDuration());
+        int flexDurationSeconds = convertMillisecondsToSeconds(workSpec.getFlexDuration());
+        int windowStartSeconds = windowEndSeconds - flexDurationSeconds;
+
+        return Trigger.executionWindow(windowStartSeconds, windowEndSeconds);
+    }
+
+    static int convertMillisecondsToSeconds(long milliseconds) {
+        return (int) TimeUnit.SECONDS.convert(milliseconds, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+    }
+
+    private RetryStrategy createRetryStrategy(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        int policy = workSpec.getBackoffPolicy() == BackoffPolicy.LINEAR
+                ? RetryStrategy.RETRY_POLICY_LINEAR : RetryStrategy.RETRY_POLICY_EXPONENTIAL;
+        int initialBackoff = (int) TimeUnit.SECONDS
+                .convert(workSpec.getBackoffDelayDuration(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+        int maxBackoff = (int) TimeUnit.SECONDS
+                .convert(BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+        return mDispatcher.newRetryStrategy(policy, initialBackoff, maxBackoff);
+    }
+
+    private static ObservedUri convertContentUriTrigger(
+            ContentUriTriggers.Trigger trigger) {
+        int flag = trigger.shouldTriggerForDescendants()
+                ? ObservedUri.Flags.FLAG_NOTIFY_FOR_DESCENDANTS : 0;
+        return new ObservedUri(trigger.getUri(), flag);
+    }
+
+    private int[] getConstraints(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        Constraints constraints = workSpec.getConstraints();
+        List<Integer> mConstraints = new ArrayList<>();
+
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23 && constraints.requiresDeviceIdle()) {
+            mConstraints.add(Constraint.DEVICE_IDLE);
+        }
+
+        if (constraints.requiresCharging()) {
+            mConstraints.add(Constraint.DEVICE_CHARGING);
+        }
+
+        if (constraints.requiresBatteryNotLow()) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG,
+                    "Battery Not Low is not a supported constraint "
+                            + "with FirebaseJobDispatcher");
+        }
+
+        if (constraints.requiresStorageNotLow()) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Storage Not Low is not a supported constraint "
+                    + "with FirebaseJobDispatcher");
+        }
+
+        switch (constraints.getRequiredNetworkType()) {
+            case NOT_REQUIRED: {
+                // Don't add a constraint.
+                break;
+            }
+
+            case CONNECTED: {
+                mConstraints.add(Constraint.ON_ANY_NETWORK);
+                break;
+            }
+
+            case UNMETERED: {
+                mConstraints.add(Constraint.ON_UNMETERED_NETWORK);
+                break;
+            }
+
+            case NOT_ROAMING: {
+                Logger.warn(TAG, "Not Roaming Network is not a supported constraint with "
+                        + "FirebaseJobDispatcher. Falling back to Any Network constraint.");
+                mConstraints.add(Constraint.ON_ANY_NETWORK);
+                break;
+            }
+
+            case METERED: {
+                Logger.warn(TAG, "Metered Network is not a supported constraint with "
+                        + "FirebaseJobDispatcher. Falling back to Any Network constraint.");
+                mConstraints.add(Constraint.ON_ANY_NETWORK);
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+
+        return toIntArray(mConstraints);
+    }
+
+    private int[] toIntArray(List<Integer> integers) {
+        int size = integers.size();
+        int[] array = new int[size];
+        for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
+            array[i] = integers.get(i);
+        }
+        return array;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobScheduler.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobScheduler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c60a38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobScheduler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.firebase;
+
+import android.app.AlarmManager;
+import android.app.PendingIntent;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.FirebaseJobDispatcher;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.GooglePlayDriver;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.Job;
+import com.google.android.gms.common.ConnectionResult;
+import com.google.android.gms.common.GoogleApiAvailability;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.IdGenerator;
+
+/**
+ * A class that schedules work using {@link FirebaseJobDispatcher}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class FirebaseJobScheduler implements Scheduler {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "FirebaseJobScheduler";
+
+    private Context mAppContext;
+    private FirebaseJobDispatcher mDispatcher;
+    private FirebaseJobConverter mJobConverter;
+    private IdGenerator mIdGenerator;
+    private AlarmManager mAlarmManager;
+
+    public FirebaseJobScheduler(Context context) {
+        mAppContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+        boolean isPlayServicesAvailable = GoogleApiAvailability.getInstance()
+                .isGooglePlayServicesAvailable(mAppContext) == ConnectionResult.SUCCESS;
+        if (!isPlayServicesAvailable) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Google Play Services not available");
+        }
+        mDispatcher = new FirebaseJobDispatcher(new GooglePlayDriver(mAppContext));
+        mJobConverter = new FirebaseJobConverter(mDispatcher);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void schedule(WorkSpec... workSpecs) {
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : workSpecs) {
+            if (workSpec.calculateNextRunTime() > System.currentTimeMillis()) {
+                scheduleLater(workSpec);
+            } else {
+                scheduleNow(workSpec);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void cancel(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        mDispatcher.cancel(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    void scheduleNow(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        Job job = mJobConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Scheduling work now, ID: %s", workSpec.getId());
+        int result = mDispatcher.schedule(job);
+        if (result != FirebaseJobDispatcher.SCHEDULE_RESULT_SUCCESS) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "Schedule failed. Result = %s", result);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void scheduleLater(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        if (mAlarmManager == null) {
+            mAlarmManager = (AlarmManager) mAppContext.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
+        }
+        if (mIdGenerator == null) {
+            mIdGenerator = new IdGenerator(mAppContext);
+        }
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Scheduling work later, ID: %s", workSpec.getId());
+        PendingIntent pendingIntent = createScheduleLaterPendingIntent(workSpec);
+
+        // This wakes up the device at exactly the next run time.
+        // A wakeup is necessary because the device could be sleeping when this alarm is fired.
+        long triggerAtMillis = workSpec.calculateNextRunTime();
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 19) {
+            mAlarmManager.setExact(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, triggerAtMillis, pendingIntent);
+        } else {
+            mAlarmManager.set(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, triggerAtMillis, pendingIntent);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private PendingIntent createScheduleLaterPendingIntent(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        Intent intent = new Intent(mAppContext, FirebaseDelayedJobAlarmReceiver.class);
+        intent.putExtra(FirebaseDelayedJobAlarmReceiver.WORKSPEC_ID_KEY, workSpec.getId());
+        int requestCode = mIdGenerator.nextFirebaseAlarmId();
+        return PendingIntent.getBroadcast(mAppContext, requestCode, intent, 0);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobService.java b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29f6f3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager-firebase/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/firebase/FirebaseJobService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.firebase;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.JobParameters;
+import com.firebase.jobdispatcher.JobService;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.ExecutionListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Service invoked by {@link com.firebase.jobdispatcher.FirebaseJobDispatcher} to run work tasks.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class FirebaseJobService extends JobService implements ExecutionListener {
+    private static final String TAG = "FirebaseJobService";
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+    private final Map<String, JobParameters> mJobParameters = new HashMap<>();
+
+    @Override
+    public void onCreate() {
+        super.onCreate();
+        mWorkManagerImpl = WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(this);
+        mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().addExecutionListener(this);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onDestroy() {
+        super.onDestroy();
+        mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().removeExecutionListener(this);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean onStartJob(JobParameters params) {
+        String workSpecId = params.getTag();
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(workSpecId)) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "WorkSpec id not found!");
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "onStartJob for %", workSpecId);
+        synchronized (mJobParameters) {
+            mJobParameters.put(workSpecId, params);
+        }
+        mWorkManagerImpl.startWork(workSpecId);
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean onStopJob(JobParameters params) {
+        String workSpecId = params.getTag();
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(workSpecId)) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "WorkSpec id not found!");
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "onStopJob for %s", workSpecId);
+
+        synchronized (mJobParameters) {
+            mJobParameters.remove(workSpecId);
+        }
+        mWorkManagerImpl.stopWork(workSpecId);
+        return !mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().isCancelled(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onExecuted(
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            boolean isSuccessful,
+            boolean needsReschedule) {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "%s executed on FirebaseJobDispatcher", workSpecId);
+        JobParameters parameters;
+        synchronized (mJobParameters) {
+            parameters = mJobParameters.get(workSpecId);
+        }
+        if (parameters != null) {
+            jobFinished(parameters, needsReschedule);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/build.gradle b/work/workmanager/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53ebd01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+
+import android.support.LibraryGroups
+import android.support.LibraryVersions
+import android.support.SupportLibraryExtension
+
+import static android.support.dependencies.DependenciesKt.*
+
+plugins {
+    id("SupportAndroidLibraryPlugin")
+}
+
+android {
+    buildTypes.all {
+        consumerProguardFiles 'proguard-rules.pro'
+    }
+}
+
+dependencies {
+    api(project(":lifecycle:extensions"))
+    api(project(":room:runtime"))
+    annotationProcessor(project(":room:compiler"))
+
+    androidTestImplementation(project(":arch:core-testing"))
+    androidTestImplementation(TEST_RUNNER)
+    androidTestImplementation(ESPRESSO_CORE)
+    androidTestImplementation(MOCKITO_CORE, libs.exclude_bytebuddy) // DexMaker has it"s own MockMaker
+    androidTestImplementation(DEXMAKER_MOCKITO, libs.exclude_bytebuddy) // DexMaker has it"s own MockMaker
+
+    testImplementation(JUNIT)
+}
+
+supportLibrary {
+    name = "Android Support Library WorkManager"
+    publish = true
+    mavenVersion = LibraryVersions.WORKMANAGER
+    mavenGroup = LibraryGroups.WORKMANAGER
+    inceptionYear = "2017"
+    description = "The Support Library is a static library that you can add to your Android application in order to use APIs that are either not available for older platform versions or utility APIs that aren\'t a part of the framework APIs. Compatible on devices running API 14 or later."
+    url = SupportLibraryExtension.ARCHITECTURE_URL
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/lint-baseline.xml b/work/workmanager/lint-baseline.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10e3040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/lint-baseline.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<issues format="4" by="lint 3.0.0">
+
+</issues>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/work/workmanager/proguard-rules.pro b/work/workmanager/proguard-rules.pro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..202a02c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/proguard-rules.pro
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+-assumenosideeffects class androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger {
+ public void verbose(...);
+ public void debug(...);
+ public void info(...);
+}
+
+-keep class * extends androidx.work.Worker
+-keep class * extends androidx.work.InputMerger
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/DatabaseTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/DatabaseTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..747378b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/DatabaseTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+
+/**
+ * An abstract class for getting an in-memory instance of the {@link WorkDatabase}.
+ */
+public abstract class DatabaseTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+    protected WorkDatabase mDatabase;
+
+    @Before
+    public void initializeDb() {
+        mDatabase = WorkDatabase.create(InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext(), true);
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void closeDb() {
+        mDatabase.close();
+    }
+
+    protected void insertWork(Work work) {
+        mDatabase.workSpecDao().insertWorkSpec(getWorkSpec(work));
+    }
+
+    protected void insertWork(PeriodicWork periodicWork) {
+        mDatabase.workSpecDao().insertWorkSpec(getWorkSpec(periodicWork));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/PeriodicWorkTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/PeriodicWorkTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b697bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/PeriodicWorkTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,227 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.workers.ConstraintTrackingWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class PeriodicWorkTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+
+    @Rule
+    public ExpectedException mThrown = ExpectedException.none();
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testBuild_backoffAndIdleMode_throwsIllegalArgumentException() {
+        mThrown.expect(IllegalArgumentException.class);
+        new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL, 20000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiresDeviceIdle(true)
+                        .build())
+                .build();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBuild_setPeriodic_onlyIntervalDuration_inRange() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS + 123L;
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getIntervalDuration(), is(testInterval));
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getFlexDuration(), is(testInterval));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBuild_setPeriodic_onlyIntervalDuration_outOfRange() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS - 123L;
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getIntervalDuration(),
+                is(PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS));
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getFlexDuration(),
+                is(PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBuild_setPeriodic_intervalAndFlexDurations_inRange() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS + 123L;
+        long testFlex = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS + 123L;
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+                testFlex,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getIntervalDuration(), is(testInterval));
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getFlexDuration(), is(testFlex));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBuild_setPeriodic_intervalAndFlexDurations_outOfRange() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS - 123L;
+        long testFlex = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS - 123L;
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+                testFlex,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getIntervalDuration(),
+                is(PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS));
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getFlexDuration(),
+                is(PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBuild_setPeriodic_intervalInRange_flexOutOfRange() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS + 123L;
+        long testFlex = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS - 123L;
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+                testFlex,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getIntervalDuration(), is(testInterval));
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getFlexDuration(),
+                is(PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBuild_setPeriodic_intervalOutOfRange_flexInRange() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS - 123L;
+        long testFlex = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS + 123L;
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+                testFlex,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getIntervalDuration(),
+                is(PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS));
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getFlexDuration(), is(testFlex));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testBuild_withBatteryNotLowConstraint_expectsConstraintTrackingWorker() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS + 123L;
+        long testFlex = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS + 123L;
+        PeriodicWork.Builder builder = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+                testFlex,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        PeriodicWork work = builder.withConstraints(constraints).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(work);
+        String workerClassName = workSpec.getArguments().getString(
+                ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, null);
+
+        assertThat(workSpec.getWorkerClassName(), is(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName()));
+        assertThat(workerClassName, is(TestWorker.class.getName()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testBuild_withStorageNotLowConstraint_expectsConstraintTrackingWorker() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS + 123L;
+        long testFlex = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS + 123L;
+        PeriodicWork.Builder builder = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+                testFlex,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresStorageNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        PeriodicWork work = builder.withConstraints(constraints).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(work);
+        String workerClassName = workSpec.getArguments().getString(
+                ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, null);
+
+        assertThat(workSpec.getWorkerClassName(), is(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName()));
+        assertThat(workerClassName, is(TestWorker.class.getName()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 26)
+    public void testBuild_withBatteryNotLowConstraintApi26() {
+        long testInterval = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS + 123L;
+        long testFlex = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS + 123L;
+        PeriodicWork.Builder builder = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                testInterval,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+                testFlex,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        PeriodicWork work = builder.withConstraints(constraints).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(work);
+        assertThat(workSpec.getWorkerClassName(), is(TestWorker.class.getName()));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/TestLifecycleOwner.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/TestLifecycleOwner.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c70d6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/TestLifecycleOwner.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.Lifecycle;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LifecycleOwner;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LifecycleRegistry;
+
+/**
+ * Test Lifecycle Owner that begins in ON_START state.
+ */
+
+public class TestLifecycleOwner implements LifecycleOwner {
+    public LifecycleRegistry mLifecycleRegistry = new LifecycleRegistry(this);
+
+    public TestLifecycleOwner() {
+        mLifecycleRegistry.markState(Lifecycle.State.STARTED);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Lifecycle getLifecycle() {
+        return mLifecycleRegistry;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkManagerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkManagerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51ecd77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkManagerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.app.job.JobScheduler;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.InternalWorkImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+public abstract class WorkManagerTest {
+
+    // set log level to verbose for tests
+    static {
+        Logger.LOG_LEVEL = Log.VERBOSE;
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void clearJobs() {
+        // Note: @SdkSuppress doesn't seem to work here.
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL) {
+            JobScheduler jobScheduler = (JobScheduler) InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext()
+                    .getSystemService(Context.JOB_SCHEDULER_SERVICE);
+            jobScheduler.cancelAll();
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected WorkSpec getWorkSpec(BaseWork work) {
+        return ((InternalWorkImpl) work).getWorkSpec();
+    }
+
+    protected Set<String> getTags(BaseWork work) {
+        return ((InternalWorkImpl) work).getTags();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkSpecDaoTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkSpecDaoTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6b0952
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkSpecDaoTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import static android.support.test.espresso.matcher.ViewMatchers.assertThat;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
+
+import static androidx.work.State.SUCCEEDED;
+
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class WorkSpecDaoTest extends DatabaseTest {
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testSystemAlarmEligibleWorkSpecs() {
+        long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(
+                        startTime + TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(1),
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work succeeded = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(startTime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialState(SUCCEEDED)
+                .build();
+        Work enqueued = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(startTime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        insertWork(succeeded);
+        insertWork(enqueued);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        List<WorkSpec> eligibleWorkSpecs = workSpecDao.getEligibleWorkSpecs(startTime);
+        assertThat(eligibleWorkSpecs.size(), equalTo(1));
+        assertThat(eligibleWorkSpecs.get(0).getId(), equalTo(enqueued.getId()));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkSpecTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkSpecTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c7c728
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkSpecTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,174 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThan;
+
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+import android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.SmallTest;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.worker.InfiniteTestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class WorkSpecTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+    private static final long DEFAULT_INITIAL_DELAY_TIME_MS = 5000L;
+    private static final long DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_TIME_MS = 5000L;
+    private static final long DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME = 10000L;
+    private static final long DEFAULT_FLEX_TIME_MS = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS + 5000L;
+    private static final long DEFAULT_INTERVAL_TIME_MS =
+            PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS + 5000L;
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCalculateNextRunTime_firstRunAttempt_oneOff() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withInitialDelay(DEFAULT_INITIAL_DELAY_TIME_MS, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        long actualDelay = getWorkSpec(work).calculateNextRunTime();
+        assertThat(actualDelay, is(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME + DEFAULT_INITIAL_DELAY_TIME_MS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCalculateNextRunTime_firstRunAttempt_periodic() {
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                InfiniteTestWorker.class,
+                DEFAULT_INTERVAL_TIME_MS,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS,
+                DEFAULT_FLEX_TIME_MS,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).calculateNextRunTime(),
+                is(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME + DEFAULT_INTERVAL_TIME_MS - DEFAULT_FLEX_TIME_MS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCalculateNextRunTime_rerunAttempt_exponential() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL,
+                        DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_TIME_MS,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialRunAttemptCount(1)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL,
+                        DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_TIME_MS,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialRunAttemptCount(2)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work3 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL,
+                        DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_TIME_MS,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialRunAttemptCount(3)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        long nextRunTime1 = getWorkSpec(work1).calculateNextRunTime();
+        long nextRunTime2 = getWorkSpec(work2).calculateNextRunTime();
+        long nextRunTime3 = getWorkSpec(work3).calculateNextRunTime();
+
+        long nextRunTimeDeltaBetweenWork2AndWork1 = nextRunTime2 - nextRunTime1;
+        long nextRunTimeDeltaBetweenWork3AndWork2 = nextRunTime3 - nextRunTime2;
+
+        assertThat(nextRunTimeDeltaBetweenWork3AndWork2,
+                is(greaterThan(nextRunTimeDeltaBetweenWork2AndWork1)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCalculateNextRunTime_rerunAttempt_linear() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.LINEAR,
+                        DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_TIME_MS,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialRunAttemptCount(1)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.LINEAR,
+                        DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_TIME_MS,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialRunAttemptCount(2)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work3 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.LINEAR,
+                        DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_TIME_MS,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialRunAttemptCount(3)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        long nextRunTime1 = getWorkSpec(work1).calculateNextRunTime();
+        long nextRunTime2 = getWorkSpec(work2).calculateNextRunTime();
+        long nextRunTime3 = getWorkSpec(work3).calculateNextRunTime();
+
+        long nextRunTimeDeltaBetweenWork2AndWork1 = nextRunTime2 - nextRunTime1;
+        long nextRunTimeDeltaBetweenWork3AndWork2 = nextRunTime3 - nextRunTime2;
+
+        assertThat(nextRunTimeDeltaBetweenWork2AndWork1, is(nextRunTimeDeltaBetweenWork3AndWork2));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCalculateNextRunTime_rerunAttempt_linear_upperBound() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.LINEAR,
+                        BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS + 1,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialRunAttemptCount(1)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(work).calculateNextRunTime(),
+                is(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME + BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCalculateNextRunTime_rerunAttempt_exponential_upperBound() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL,
+                        BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS + 1,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialRunAttemptCount(1)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(work).calculateNextRunTime(),
+                is(DEFAULT_PERIOD_START_TIME + BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e83b59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/WorkTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.workers.ConstraintTrackingWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@SmallTest
+public class WorkTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+    @Rule
+    public ExpectedException mThrown = ExpectedException.none();
+
+    private Work.Builder mBuilder;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mBuilder = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testBuild_withInitialDelay() {
+        final long expectedInitialDelay = 123L;
+        Work work = mBuilder.withInitialDelay(expectedInitialDelay, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS).build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(work).getInitialDelay(), is(expectedInitialDelay));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testBuild_setBackoffCriteria_exceedMaxBackoffDuration() {
+        final long backoffDuration = BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS + 123L;
+        Work work = mBuilder
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL,
+                        backoffDuration,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(work).getBackoffDelayDuration(), is(BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testBuild_setBackoffCriteria_lessThanMinBackoffDuration() {
+        final long backoffDuration = BaseWork.MIN_BACKOFF_MILLIS - 123L;
+        Work work = mBuilder
+                .withBackoffCriteria(
+                        BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL,
+                        backoffDuration,
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(work).getBackoffDelayDuration(), is(BaseWork.MIN_BACKOFF_MILLIS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testBuild_backoffAndIdleMode_throwsIllegalArgumentException() {
+        mThrown.expect(IllegalArgumentException.class);
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresDeviceIdle(true)
+                .build();
+        mBuilder.withBackoffCriteria(BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL, 123L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withConstraints(constraints)
+                .build();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testBuild_withBatteryNotLowConstraint_expectsConstraintTrackingWorker() {
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        Work work = mBuilder.withConstraints(constraints).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(work);
+        String workerClassName = workSpec.getArguments().getString(
+                ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, null);
+
+        assertThat(workSpec.getWorkerClassName(), is(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName()));
+        assertThat(workerClassName, is(TestWorker.class.getName()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testBuild_withStorageNotLowConstraint_expectsConstraintTrackingWorker() {
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresStorageNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        Work work = mBuilder.withConstraints(constraints).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(work);
+        String workerClassName = workSpec.getArguments().getString(
+                ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, null);
+
+        assertThat(workSpec.getWorkerClassName(), is(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName()));
+        assertThat(workerClassName, is(TestWorker.class.getName()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 26)
+    public void testBuild_withBatteryNotLowConstraintApi26() {
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        Work work = mBuilder.withConstraints(constraints).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(work);
+        assertThat(workSpec.getWorkerClassName(), is(TestWorker.class.getName()));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/ProcessorTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/ProcessorTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7735e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/ProcessorTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+
+import androidx.work.DatabaseTest;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.worker.InfiniteTestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class ProcessorTest extends DatabaseTest {
+    private Processor mProcessor;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        Context appContext = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext().getApplicationContext();
+        mProcessor = new Processor(
+                appContext,
+                mDatabase,
+                Collections.singletonList(mock(Scheduler.class)),
+                Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor()) {
+        };
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testStopWork_invalidWorkId() {
+        String id = "INVALID_WORK_ID";
+        assertThat(mProcessor.stopWork(id, true), is(false));
+        assertThat(mProcessor.stopWork(id, false), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testStartWork_doesNotStartWorkTwice() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        String id = work.getId();
+        insertWork(work);
+        assertThat(mProcessor.startWork(id), is(true));
+        assertThat(mProcessor.startWork(id), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testHasWork() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        assertThat(mProcessor.hasWork(), is(false));
+        mProcessor.startWork(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mProcessor.hasWork(), is(true));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkContinuationImplTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkContinuationImplTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47ac4a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkContinuationImplTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,253 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.notNullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.nullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsInAnyOrder;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+import android.arch.core.executor.ArchTaskExecutor;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.Lifecycle;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+
+import androidx.work.TestLifecycleOwner;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkContinuation;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor.InstantTaskExecutorRule;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SmallTest
+public class WorkContinuationImplTest {
+
+    private WorkDatabase mDatabase;
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+
+    @Rule
+    public InstantTaskExecutorRule mRule = new InstantTaskExecutorRule();
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        ArchTaskExecutor.getInstance().setDelegate(new android.arch.core.executor.TaskExecutor() {
+            @Override
+            public void executeOnDiskIO(@NonNull Runnable runnable) {
+                runnable.run();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void postToMainThread(@NonNull Runnable runnable) {
+                runnable.run();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public boolean isMainThread() {
+                return true;
+            }
+        });
+
+        TestLifecycleOwner lifecycleOwner = new TestLifecycleOwner();
+        lifecycleOwner.mLifecycleRegistry.markState(Lifecycle.State.CREATED);
+
+        Context context = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext();
+        WorkManagerConfiguration configuration = new WorkManagerConfiguration(
+                context,
+                true,
+                Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor());
+        mWorkManagerImpl = new WorkManagerImpl(context, configuration);
+        mDatabase = mWorkManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase();
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        List<String> ids = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getAllWorkSpecIds();
+        for (String id : ids) {
+            mWorkManagerImpl.cancelWorkById(id);
+        }
+        mDatabase.close();
+        ArchTaskExecutor.getInstance().setDelegate(null);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testContinuation_noParent() {
+        Work testWork = createTestWorker();
+        WorkContinuationImpl continuation =
+                new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl, Collections.singletonList(testWork));
+
+        assertThat(continuation.getParents(), is(nullValue()));
+        assertThat(continuation.getIds().size(), is(1));
+        assertThat(continuation.getIds().get(0), is(testWork.getId()));
+        assertThat(continuation.getAllIds().size(), is(1));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testContinuation_singleChain() {
+        Work testWork = createTestWorker();
+        Work dependentWork = createTestWorker();
+        WorkContinuationImpl continuation =
+                new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl, Collections.singletonList(testWork));
+        WorkContinuationImpl dependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) (continuation.then(
+                dependentWork));
+
+        assertThat(dependent.getParents(), containsInAnyOrder(continuation));
+        assertThat(dependent.getIds().size(), is(1));
+        assertThat(dependent.getIds().get(0), is(dependentWork.getId()));
+        assertThat(dependent.getAllIds().size(), is(2));
+        assertThat(
+                dependent.getAllIds(),
+                containsInAnyOrder(dependentWork.getId(), testWork.getId()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testContinuation_enqueue() {
+        WorkContinuationImpl continuation = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+        assertThat(continuation.isEnqueued(), is(false));
+        continuation.enqueue();
+        verifyEnqueued(continuation);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testContinuation_chainEnqueue() {
+        WorkContinuationImpl continuation =
+                new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl, createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl chain = (WorkContinuationImpl) (
+                continuation.then(createTestWorker()).then(createTestWorker(), createTestWorker()));
+        chain.enqueue();
+        verifyEnqueued(continuation);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testContinuation_chainEnqueueNoOpOnRetry() {
+        WorkContinuationImpl continuation =
+                new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl, createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl chain = (WorkContinuationImpl) (
+                continuation.then(createTestWorker()).then(createTestWorker(), createTestWorker()));
+        chain.enqueue();
+        verifyEnqueued(continuation);
+        WorkContinuationImpl spy = spy(chain);
+        spy.enqueue();
+        // Verify no more calls to markEnqueued().
+        verify(spy, times(0)).markEnqueued();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testContinuation_join() {
+        WorkContinuationImpl first = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl second = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+
+        WorkContinuationImpl dependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) WorkContinuation.join(first,
+                second);
+        assertThat(dependent.getParents(), is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(dependent.getParents(), containsInAnyOrder(first, second));
+    }
+
+    public void testContinuation_withWorkJoin() {
+        WorkContinuationImpl first = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl second = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+
+        Work work = createTestWorker();
+
+        WorkContinuationImpl dependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) WorkContinuation.join(work, first,
+                second);
+
+        assertThat(dependent.getIds(), containsInAnyOrder(work.getId()));
+        assertThat(dependent.getParents(), is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(dependent.getParents(), containsInAnyOrder(first, second));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testContinuation_joinAndEnqueue() {
+        WorkContinuationImpl first = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl second = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+
+        WorkContinuationImpl third = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl fourth = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+
+        WorkContinuationImpl firstDependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) WorkContinuation.join(first,
+                second);
+        WorkContinuationImpl secondDependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) WorkContinuation.join(third,
+                fourth);
+        WorkContinuationImpl dependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) WorkContinuation.join(
+                firstDependent, secondDependent);
+        dependent.enqueue();
+        verifyEnqueued(dependent);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testContinuation_joinAndEnqueueWithOverlaps() {
+        WorkContinuationImpl first = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl second = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl third = new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                createTestWorkerList());
+        WorkContinuationImpl firstDependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) WorkContinuation.join(first,
+                second);
+        WorkContinuationImpl secondDependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) WorkContinuation.join(first,
+                third);
+        WorkContinuationImpl dependent = (WorkContinuationImpl) WorkContinuation.join(
+                firstDependent, secondDependent);
+        dependent.enqueue();
+        verifyEnqueued(dependent);
+    }
+
+    private void verifyEnqueued(WorkContinuationImpl continuation) {
+        assertThat(continuation.isEnqueued(), is(true));
+        List<WorkContinuationImpl> parents = continuation.getParents();
+        if (parents != null) {
+            for (WorkContinuationImpl parent : parents) {
+                verifyEnqueued(parent);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static Work createTestWorker() {
+        return new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+    }
+
+    private static List<Work> createTestWorkerList() {
+        return Collections.singletonList(createTestWorker());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerConfigurationTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerConfigurationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41cf565
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerConfigurationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.core.IsInstanceOf.instanceOf;
+
+import static androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerConfiguration.FIREBASE_JOB_SERVICE_CLASSNAME;
+import static androidx.work.impl.utils.PackageManagerHelper.isComponentExplicitlyEnabled;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.SystemAlarmScheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.SystemAlarmService;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob.SystemJobScheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob.SystemJobService;
+
+@SmallTest
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class WorkManagerConfigurationTest {
+
+    private Context mAppContext;
+    private WorkManagerConfiguration mConfiguration;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mAppContext = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext();
+        mConfiguration = new WorkManagerConfiguration(mAppContext);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+    public void testGetBackgroundScheduler_withJobSchedulerApiLevel() {
+        Scheduler scheduler = mConfiguration.getBackgroundScheduler();
+        assertThat(scheduler, is(instanceOf(SystemJobScheduler.class)));
+        assertServicesEnabled(true, false, false);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(maxSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MAX_PRE_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+    public void testGetBackgroundScheduler_beforeJobSchedulerApiLevel() {
+        Scheduler scheduler = mConfiguration.getBackgroundScheduler();
+        assertThat(scheduler, is(instanceOf(SystemAlarmScheduler.class)));
+        assertServicesEnabled(false, false, true);
+    }
+
+    // Only one service should really be enabled at one time.
+    private void assertServicesEnabled(
+            boolean systemJobEnabled, boolean firebaseJobEnabled, boolean systemAlarmEnabled) {
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL) {
+            assertThat(isComponentExplicitlyEnabled(mAppContext, SystemJobService.class),
+                    is(systemJobEnabled));
+        }
+        assertThat(isComponentExplicitlyEnabled(mAppContext, FIREBASE_JOB_SERVICE_CLASSNAME),
+                is(firebaseJobEnabled));
+        assertThat(isComponentExplicitlyEnabled(mAppContext, SystemAlarmService.class),
+                is(systemAlarmEnabled));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerImplTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerImplTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e458ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerImplTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,1154 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static androidx.work.ExistingWorkPolicy.APPEND;
+import static androidx.work.ExistingWorkPolicy.KEEP;
+import static androidx.work.ExistingWorkPolicy.REPLACE;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.METERED;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.NOT_REQUIRED;
+import static androidx.work.State.BLOCKED;
+import static androidx.work.State.CANCELLED;
+import static androidx.work.State.ENQUEUED;
+import static androidx.work.State.FAILED;
+import static androidx.work.State.RUNNING;
+import static androidx.work.State.SUCCEEDED;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.not;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.notNullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.nullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsInAnyOrder;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.emptyCollectionOf;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThanOrEqualTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.isIn;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.isOneOf;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.clearInvocations;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+import android.arch.core.executor.ArchTaskExecutor;
+import android.arch.core.executor.TaskExecutor;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.Observer;
+import android.arch.persistence.db.SupportSQLiteDatabase;
+import android.arch.persistence.db.SupportSQLiteOpenHelper;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.net.Uri;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.provider.MediaStore;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.ContentUriTriggers;
+import androidx.work.PeriodicWork;
+import androidx.work.TestLifecycleOwner;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkContinuation;
+import androidx.work.WorkManagerTest;
+import androidx.work.WorkStatus;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.Dependency;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.DependencyDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkName;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkTag;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkTagDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor.InstantTaskExecutorRule;
+import androidx.work.worker.InfiniteTestWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class WorkManagerImplTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+    private WorkDatabase mDatabase;
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+
+    @Rule
+    public InstantTaskExecutorRule mRule = new InstantTaskExecutorRule();
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        ArchTaskExecutor.getInstance().setDelegate(new TaskExecutor() {
+            @Override
+            public void executeOnDiskIO(@NonNull Runnable runnable) {
+                runnable.run();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void postToMainThread(@NonNull Runnable runnable) {
+                runnable.run();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public boolean isMainThread() {
+                return true;
+            }
+        });
+
+        Context context = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext();
+        WorkManagerConfiguration configuration = new WorkManagerConfiguration(
+                context,
+                true,
+                Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor());
+        mWorkManagerImpl = new WorkManagerImpl(context, configuration);
+        mDatabase = mWorkManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase();
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        List<String> ids = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getAllWorkSpecIds();
+        for (String id : ids) {
+            mWorkManagerImpl.cancelWorkById(id);
+        }
+        mDatabase.close();
+        ArchTaskExecutor.getInstance().setDelegate(null);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWork() throws InterruptedException {
+        final int workCount = 3;
+        final Work[] workArray = new Work[workCount];
+        for (int i = 0; i < workCount; ++i) {
+            workArray[i] = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        }
+        mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(workArray[0]).then(workArray[1]).then(workArray[2]).enqueue();
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < workCount; ++i) {
+            String id = workArray[i].getId();
+            assertThat(mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(id), is(notNullValue()));
+            assertThat(
+                    "index " + i + " does not have expected number of dependencies!",
+                    mDatabase.dependencyDao().getPrerequisites(id).size() > 0,
+                    is(i > 0));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertMultipleWork() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work3 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.enqueue(work1, work2, work3);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work1.getId()), is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work2.getId()), is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work3.getId()), is(notNullValue()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWithDependencies() {
+        Work work1a = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work1b = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work3a = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work3b = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(work1a, work1b).then(work2).then(work3a, work3b).enqueue();
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work1a.getId()), is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work1b.getId()), is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work2.getId()), is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work3a.getId()), is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work3b.getId()), is(notNullValue()));
+
+        DependencyDao dependencyDao = mDatabase.dependencyDao();
+        assertThat(dependencyDao.getPrerequisites(work1a.getId()),
+                is(emptyCollectionOf(String.class)));
+        assertThat(dependencyDao.getPrerequisites(work1b.getId()),
+                is(emptyCollectionOf(String.class)));
+
+        List<String> prerequisites = dependencyDao.getPrerequisites(work2.getId());
+        assertThat(prerequisites, containsInAnyOrder(work1a.getId(), work1b.getId()));
+
+        prerequisites = dependencyDao.getPrerequisites(work3a.getId());
+        assertThat(prerequisites, containsInAnyOrder(work2.getId()));
+
+        prerequisites = dependencyDao.getPrerequisites(work3b.getId());
+        assertThat(prerequisites, containsInAnyOrder(work2.getId()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWithCompletedDependencies_isNotStatusBlocked() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(SUCCEEDED).build();
+
+        WorkContinuation workContinuation = mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(work1);
+        workContinuation.enqueue();
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(SUCCEEDED));
+
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        workContinuation.then(work2).enqueue();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work2.getId()), isOneOf(ENQUEUED, RUNNING));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWithFailedDependencies_isStatusFailed() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(FAILED).build();
+
+        WorkContinuation workContinuation = mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(work1);
+        workContinuation.enqueue();
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(FAILED));
+
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        workContinuation.then(work2).enqueue();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work2.getId()), is(FAILED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWithCancelledDependencies_isStatusCancelled() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(CANCELLED).build();
+
+        WorkContinuation workContinuation = mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(work1);
+        workContinuation.enqueue();
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        workContinuation.then(work2).enqueue();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work2.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWorkConstraints() {
+        Uri testUri1 = MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
+        Uri testUri2 = MediaStore.Images.Media.INTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(
+                        new Constraints.Builder()
+                                .setRequiresCharging(true)
+                                .setRequiresDeviceIdle(true)
+                                .setRequiredNetworkType(METERED)
+                                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                                .setRequiresStorageNotLow(true)
+                                .addContentUriTrigger(testUri1, true)
+                                .addContentUriTrigger(testUri2, false)
+                                .build())
+                .build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(work0).then(work1).enqueue();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec0 = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(work0.getId());
+        WorkSpec workSpec1 = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(work1.getId());
+
+        ContentUriTriggers expectedTriggers = new ContentUriTriggers();
+        expectedTriggers.add(testUri1, true);
+        expectedTriggers.add(testUri2, false);
+
+        Constraints constraints = workSpec0.getConstraints();
+        assertThat(constraints, is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(constraints.requiresCharging(), is(true));
+        assertThat(constraints.requiresDeviceIdle(), is(true));
+        assertThat(constraints.requiresBatteryNotLow(), is(true));
+        assertThat(constraints.requiresStorageNotLow(), is(true));
+        assertThat(constraints.getRequiredNetworkType(), is(METERED));
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24) {
+            assertThat(constraints.getContentUriTriggers(), is(expectedTriggers));
+        } else {
+            assertThat(constraints.getContentUriTriggers(), is(new ContentUriTriggers()));
+        }
+
+        constraints = workSpec1.getConstraints();
+        assertThat(constraints, is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(constraints.requiresCharging(), is(false));
+        assertThat(constraints.requiresDeviceIdle(), is(false));
+        assertThat(constraints.requiresBatteryNotLow(), is(false));
+        assertThat(constraints.requiresStorageNotLow(), is(false));
+        assertThat(constraints.getRequiredNetworkType(), is(NOT_REQUIRED));
+        assertThat(constraints.getContentUriTriggers().size(), is(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWorkInitialDelay() {
+        final long expectedInitialDelay = 5000L;
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withInitialDelay(expectedInitialDelay, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(work0).then(work1).enqueue();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec0 = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(work0.getId());
+        WorkSpec workSpec1 = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(work1.getId());
+
+        assertThat(workSpec0.getInitialDelay(), is(expectedInitialDelay));
+        assertThat(workSpec1.getInitialDelay(), is(0L));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWorkBackoffPolicy() {
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withBackoffCriteria(BackoffPolicy.LINEAR, 50000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(work0).then(work1).enqueue();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec0 = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(work0.getId());
+        WorkSpec workSpec1 = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(work1.getId());
+
+        assertThat(workSpec0.getBackoffPolicy(), is(BackoffPolicy.LINEAR));
+        assertThat(workSpec0.getBackoffDelayDuration(), is(50000L));
+
+        assertThat(workSpec1.getBackoffPolicy(), is(BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL));
+        assertThat(workSpec1.getBackoffDelayDuration(), is(BaseWork.DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_MILLIS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertWorkTags() {
+        final String firstTag = "first_tag";
+        final String secondTag = "second_tag";
+        final String thirdTag = "third_tag";
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).addTag(firstTag).addTag(secondTag).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).addTag(firstTag).build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl.beginWith(work0).then(work1).then(work2).enqueue();
+
+        WorkTagDao workTagDao = mDatabase.workTagDao();
+        assertThat(workTagDao.getWorkSpecIdsWithTag(firstTag),
+                containsInAnyOrder(work0.getId(), work1.getId()));
+        assertThat(workTagDao.getWorkSpecIdsWithTag(secondTag), containsInAnyOrder(work0.getId()));
+        assertThat(workTagDao.getWorkSpecIdsWithTag(thirdTag), emptyCollectionOf(String.class));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueue_insertPeriodicWork() {
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl.enqueue(periodicWork);
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(periodicWork.getId());
+        assertThat(workSpec.isPeriodic(), is(true));
+        assertThat(workSpec.getIntervalDuration(), is(PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS));
+        assertThat(workSpec.getFlexDuration(), is(PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueued_work_setsPeriodStartTime() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(work).getPeriodStartTime(), is(0L));
+
+        long beforeEnqueueTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.enqueue(work);
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(work.getId());
+        assertThat(workSpec.getPeriodStartTime(), is(greaterThanOrEqualTo(beforeEnqueueTime)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testEnqueued_periodicWork_setsPeriodStartTime() {
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        assertThat(getWorkSpec(periodicWork).getPeriodStartTime(), is(0L));
+
+        long beforeEnqueueTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.enqueue(periodicWork);
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(periodicWork.getId());
+        assertThat(workSpec.getPeriodStartTime(), is(greaterThanOrEqualTo(beforeEnqueueTime)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBeginWithName_setsUniqueName() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl.beginWithName(testName, REPLACE)
+                .then(work)
+                .enqueue();
+
+        List<String> workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(work.getId(), isIn(workSpecIds));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBeginWithName_deletesOldWorkOnReplace() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work originalWork = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, originalWork);
+
+        List<String> workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds, containsInAnyOrder(originalWork.getId()));
+
+        Work replacementWork1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work replacementWork2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl
+                .beginWithName(testName, REPLACE, replacementWork1)
+                .then(replacementWork2)
+                .enqueue();
+
+        workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(
+                workSpecIds,
+                containsInAnyOrder(replacementWork1.getId(), replacementWork2.getId()));
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(originalWork.getId()), is(nullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(replacementWork1.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(replacementWork2.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBeginWithName_keepsExistingWorkOnKeep() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work originalWork = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, originalWork);
+
+        List<String> workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds, containsInAnyOrder(originalWork.getId()));
+
+        Work replacementWork1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work replacementWork2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl
+                .beginWithName(testName, KEEP, replacementWork1)
+                .then(replacementWork2)
+                .enqueue();
+
+        workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds, containsInAnyOrder(originalWork.getId()));
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(originalWork.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(replacementWork1.getId()), is(nullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(replacementWork2.getId()), is(nullValue()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBeginWithName_replacesExistingWorkOnKeepWhenExistingWorkIsFinished() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work originalWork = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(SUCCEEDED).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, originalWork);
+
+        List<String> workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds, containsInAnyOrder(originalWork.getId()));
+
+        Work replacementWork1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work replacementWork2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl
+                .beginWithName(testName, KEEP, replacementWork1)
+                .then(replacementWork2)
+                .enqueue();
+
+        workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds,
+                containsInAnyOrder(replacementWork1.getId(), replacementWork2.getId()));
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(originalWork.getId()), is(nullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(replacementWork1.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(replacementWork2.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBeginWithName_appendsExistingWorkOnAppend() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work originalWork = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, originalWork);
+
+        List<String> workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds, containsInAnyOrder(originalWork.getId()));
+
+        Work appendWork1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work appendWork2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl
+                .beginWithName(testName, APPEND, appendWork1)
+                .then(appendWork2)
+                .enqueue();
+
+        workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds,
+                containsInAnyOrder(originalWork.getId(), appendWork1.getId(), appendWork2.getId()));
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(originalWork.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(appendWork1.getId()), is(BLOCKED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(appendWork2.getId()), is(BLOCKED));
+
+        assertThat(mDatabase.dependencyDao().getDependentWorkIds(originalWork.getId()),
+                containsInAnyOrder(appendWork1.getId()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBeginWithName_appendsExistingWorkToOnlyLeavesOnAppend() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work originalWork1 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        Work originalWork2 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        Work originalWork3 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        Work originalWork4 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, originalWork1, originalWork2, originalWork3, originalWork4);
+        insertDependency(originalWork4, originalWork2);
+        insertDependency(originalWork3, originalWork2);
+        insertDependency(originalWork2, originalWork1);
+
+        List<String> workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds,
+                containsInAnyOrder(
+                        originalWork1.getId(),
+                        originalWork2.getId(),
+                        originalWork3.getId(),
+                        originalWork4.getId()));
+
+        Work appendWork1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work appendWork2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl
+                .beginWithName(testName, APPEND, appendWork1)
+                .then(appendWork2)
+                .enqueue();
+
+        workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds,
+                containsInAnyOrder(
+                        originalWork1.getId(),
+                        originalWork2.getId(),
+                        originalWork3.getId(),
+                        originalWork4.getId(),
+                        appendWork1.getId(),
+                        appendWork2.getId()));
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(originalWork1.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(originalWork2.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(originalWork3.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(originalWork4.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(appendWork1.getId()), is(BLOCKED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(appendWork2.getId()), is(BLOCKED));
+
+        DependencyDao dependencyDao = mDatabase.dependencyDao();
+        assertThat(dependencyDao.getPrerequisites(appendWork1.getId()),
+                containsInAnyOrder(originalWork3.getId(), originalWork4.getId()));
+        assertThat(dependencyDao.getPrerequisites(appendWork2.getId()),
+                containsInAnyOrder(appendWork1.getId()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testBeginWithName_insertsExistingWorkWhenNothingToAppendTo() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work appendWork1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work appendWork2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        mWorkManagerImpl
+                .beginWithName(testName, APPEND, appendWork1)
+                .then(appendWork2)
+                .enqueue();
+
+        List<String> workSpecIds = mDatabase.workNameDao().getWorkSpecIdsWithName(testName);
+        assertThat(workSpecIds,
+                containsInAnyOrder(appendWork1.getId(), appendWork2.getId()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetStatusByIdSync() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(SUCCEEDED).build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work);
+
+        WorkStatus workStatus = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusByIdBlocking(work.getId());
+        assertThat(workStatus.getId(), is(work.getId()));
+        assertThat(workStatus.getState(), is(SUCCEEDED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetStatusByIdSync_returnsNullIfNotInDatabase() {
+        WorkStatus workStatus = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusByIdBlocking("dummy");
+        assertThat(workStatus, is(nullValue()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    public void testGetStatusesById() {
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+
+        Observer<List<WorkStatus>> mockObserver = mock(Observer.class);
+
+        TestLifecycleOwner testLifecycleOwner = new TestLifecycleOwner();
+        LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> liveData =
+                mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesById(Arrays.asList(work0.getId(), work1.getId()));
+        liveData.observe(testLifecycleOwner, mockObserver);
+
+        ArgumentCaptor<List<WorkStatus>> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(List.class);
+        verify(mockObserver).onChanged(captor.capture());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue().size(), is(2));
+
+        WorkStatus workStatus0 = new WorkStatus(
+                work0.getId(),
+                ENQUEUED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        WorkStatus workStatus1 = new WorkStatus(
+                work1.getId(),
+                ENQUEUED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1));
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        workSpecDao.setState(RUNNING, work0.getId());
+
+        verify(mockObserver, times(2)).onChanged(captor.capture());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue().size(), is(2));
+
+        workStatus0 = new WorkStatus(
+                work0.getId(),
+                RUNNING,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1));
+
+        clearInvocations(mockObserver);
+        workSpecDao.setState(RUNNING, work1.getId());
+
+        verify(mockObserver).onChanged(captor.capture());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue().size(), is(2));
+
+        workStatus1 = new WorkStatus(
+                work1.getId(),
+                RUNNING,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1));
+
+        liveData.removeObservers(testLifecycleOwner);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetStatusesByTagSync() {
+        final String firstTag = "first_tag";
+        final String secondTag = "second_tag";
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .addTag(firstTag)
+                .addTag(secondTag)
+                .withInitialState(RUNNING)
+                .build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .addTag(firstTag)
+                .withInitialState(BLOCKED)
+                .build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .addTag(secondTag)
+                .withInitialState(SUCCEEDED)
+                .build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work2);
+
+        WorkStatus workStatus0 = new WorkStatus(
+                work0.getId(),
+                RUNNING,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Arrays.asList(firstTag, secondTag));
+        WorkStatus workStatus1 = new WorkStatus(
+                work1.getId(),
+                BLOCKED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.singletonList(firstTag));
+        WorkStatus workStatus2 = new WorkStatus(
+                work2.getId(),
+                SUCCEEDED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.singletonList(secondTag));
+
+        List<WorkStatus> workStatuses = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesByTagBlocking(firstTag);
+        assertThat(workStatuses, containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1));
+
+        workStatuses = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesByTagBlocking(secondTag);
+        assertThat(workStatuses, containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus2));
+
+        workStatuses = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesByTagBlocking("dummy");
+        assertThat(workStatuses.size(), is(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    public void testGetStatusesByTag() {
+        final String firstTag = "first_tag";
+        final String secondTag = "second_tag";
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .addTag(firstTag)
+                .addTag(secondTag)
+                .withInitialState(RUNNING)
+                .build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .addTag(firstTag)
+                .withInitialState(BLOCKED)
+                .build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .addTag(secondTag)
+                .withInitialState(SUCCEEDED)
+                .build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work2);
+
+        Observer<List<WorkStatus>> mockObserver = mock(Observer.class);
+
+        TestLifecycleOwner testLifecycleOwner = new TestLifecycleOwner();
+        LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> liveData = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesByTag(firstTag);
+        liveData.observe(testLifecycleOwner, mockObserver);
+
+        ArgumentCaptor<List<WorkStatus>> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(List.class);
+        verify(mockObserver).onChanged(captor.capture());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue().size(), is(2));
+
+        WorkStatus workStatus0 = new WorkStatus(
+                work0.getId(),
+                RUNNING,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Arrays.asList(firstTag, secondTag));
+        WorkStatus workStatus1 = new WorkStatus(
+                work1.getId(),
+                BLOCKED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.singletonList(firstTag));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1));
+
+        workSpecDao.setState(ENQUEUED, work0.getId());
+
+        verify(mockObserver, times(2)).onChanged(captor.capture());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue().size(), is(2));
+
+        workStatus0 = new WorkStatus(
+                work0.getId(),
+                ENQUEUED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Arrays.asList(firstTag, secondTag));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1));
+
+        liveData.removeObservers(testLifecycleOwner);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void getStatusByNameSync() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).withInitialState(RUNNING).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, work0, work1, work2);
+        insertDependency(work1, work0);
+        insertDependency(work2, work1);
+
+        WorkStatus workStatus0 = new WorkStatus(
+                work0.getId(),
+                RUNNING,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        WorkStatus workStatus1 = new WorkStatus(
+                work1.getId(),
+                BLOCKED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        WorkStatus workStatus2 = new WorkStatus(
+                work2.getId(),
+                BLOCKED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+
+        List<WorkStatus> workStatuses = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesByNameBlocking(testName);
+        assertThat(workStatuses, containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1, workStatus2));
+
+        workStatuses = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesByNameBlocking("dummy");
+        assertThat(workStatuses.size(), is(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    public void testGetStatusesByName() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).withInitialState(RUNNING).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, work0, work1, work2);
+        insertDependency(work1, work0);
+        insertDependency(work2, work1);
+
+        Observer<List<WorkStatus>> mockObserver = mock(Observer.class);
+
+        TestLifecycleOwner testLifecycleOwner = new TestLifecycleOwner();
+        LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> liveData = mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesByName(testName);
+        liveData.observe(testLifecycleOwner, mockObserver);
+
+        ArgumentCaptor<List<WorkStatus>> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(List.class);
+        verify(mockObserver).onChanged(captor.capture());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue().size(), is(3));
+
+        WorkStatus workStatus0 = new WorkStatus(
+                work0.getId(),
+                RUNNING,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        WorkStatus workStatus1 = new WorkStatus(
+                work1.getId(),
+                BLOCKED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        WorkStatus workStatus2 = new WorkStatus(
+                work2.getId(),
+                BLOCKED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1, workStatus2));
+
+        workSpecDao.setState(ENQUEUED, work0.getId());
+
+        verify(mockObserver, times(2)).onChanged(captor.capture());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(captor.getValue().size(), is(3));
+
+        workStatus0 = new WorkStatus(
+                work0.getId(),
+                ENQUEUED,
+                Arguments.EMPTY,
+                Collections.<String>emptyList());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue(), containsInAnyOrder(workStatus0, workStatus1, workStatus2));
+
+        liveData.removeObservers(testLifecycleOwner);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCancelWorkById() {
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.cancelWorkById(work0.getId());
+
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work0.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(not(CANCELLED)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCancelWorkById_cancelsDependentWork() {
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+        insertDependency(work1, work0);
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.cancelWorkById(work0.getId());
+
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work0.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCancelWorkById_cancelsUnfinishedWorkOnly() {
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(SUCCEEDED).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(ENQUEUED).build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+        insertDependency(work1, work0);
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.cancelWorkById(work0.getId());
+
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work0.getId()), is(SUCCEEDED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCancelAllWorkByTag() {
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+
+        final String tagToClear = "tag_to_clear";
+        final String tagNotToClear = "tag_not_to_clear";
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).addTag(tagToClear).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).addTag(tagToClear).build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).addTag(tagNotToClear).build();
+        Work work3 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).addTag(tagNotToClear).build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work2);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work3);
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.cancelAllWorkByTag(tagToClear);
+
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work0.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work2.getId()), is(not(CANCELLED)));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work3.getId()), is(not(CANCELLED)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCancelAllWorkByTag_cancelsDependentWork() {
+        String tag = "tag";
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).addTag(tag).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work3 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work4 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work2);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work3);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work4);
+
+        // Dependency graph:
+        //                             0
+        //                             |
+        //                       |------------|
+        //            3          1            4
+        //            |          |
+        //            ------------
+        //                 |
+        //                 2
+
+        insertDependency(work2, work1);
+        insertDependency(work2, work3);
+        insertDependency(work1, work0);
+        insertDependency(work4, work0);
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.cancelAllWorkByTag(tag);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work0.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work2.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work3.getId()), is(not(CANCELLED)));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work4.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCancelWorkByName() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, work0, work1);
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.cancelAllWorkByName(testName);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work0.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCancelWorkByName_ignoresFinishedWork() {
+        final String testName = "myname";
+
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).withInitialState(SUCCEEDED).build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertNamedWorks(testName, work0, work1);
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.cancelAllWorkByName(testName);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work0.getId()), is(SUCCEEDED));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work1.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testSynchronousCancelAndGetStatus() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(ENQUEUED));
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.cancelWorkByIdBlocking(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusByIdBlocking(work.getId()).getState(), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGenerateCleanupCallback_resetsRunningWorkStatuses() {
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(RUNNING).build();
+        workSpecDao.insertWorkSpec(getWorkSpec(work));
+
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(RUNNING));
+
+        SupportSQLiteOpenHelper openHelper = mDatabase.getOpenHelper();
+        SupportSQLiteDatabase db = openHelper.getWritableDatabase();
+        WorkDatabase.generateCleanupCallback().onOpen(db);
+
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGenerateCleanupCallback_deletesOldFinishedWork() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withInitialState(SUCCEEDED)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(WorkDatabase.getPruneDate() - 1L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(Long.MAX_VALUE, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work2);
+
+        SupportSQLiteOpenHelper openHelper = mDatabase.getOpenHelper();
+        SupportSQLiteDatabase db = openHelper.getWritableDatabase();
+        WorkDatabase.generateCleanupCallback().onOpen(db);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work1.getId()), is(nullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work2.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGenerateCleanupCallback_doesNotDeleteOldFinishedWorkWithActiveDependents() {
+        Work work0 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withInitialState(SUCCEEDED)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(WorkDatabase.getPruneDate() - 1L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withInitialState(SUCCEEDED)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(WorkDatabase.getPruneDate() - 1L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withInitialState(ENQUEUED)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(WorkDatabase.getPruneDate() - 1L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work0);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work1);
+        insertWorkSpecAndTags(work2);
+
+        // Dependency graph: 0 -> 1 -> 2
+        insertDependency(work1, work0);
+        insertDependency(work2, work1);
+
+        SupportSQLiteOpenHelper openHelper = mDatabase.getOpenHelper();
+        SupportSQLiteDatabase db = openHelper.getWritableDatabase();
+        WorkDatabase.generateCleanupCallback().onOpen(db);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work0.getId()), is(nullValue()));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work1.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work2.getId()), is(not(nullValue())));
+    }
+
+    private void insertWorkSpecAndTags(Work work) {
+        mDatabase.workSpecDao().insertWorkSpec(getWorkSpec(work));
+        for (String tag : getTags(work)) {
+            mDatabase.workTagDao().insert(new WorkTag(tag, work.getId()));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void insertNamedWorks(String name, Work... works) {
+        for (Work work : works) {
+            insertWorkSpecAndTags(work);
+            mDatabase.workNameDao().insert(new WorkName(name, work.getId()));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void insertDependency(Work work, Work prerequisiteWork) {
+        mDatabase.dependencyDao().insertDependency(
+                new Dependency(work.getId(), prerequisiteWork.getId()));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkerWrapperTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkerWrapperTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4743cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkerWrapperTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,543 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.notNullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.contains;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsInAnyOrder;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThan;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+import static androidx.work.State.BLOCKED;
+import static androidx.work.State.CANCELLED;
+import static androidx.work.State.ENQUEUED;
+import static androidx.work.State.FAILED;
+import static androidx.work.State.RUNNING;
+import static androidx.work.State.SUCCEEDED;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.LargeTest;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.ArrayCreatingInputMerger;
+import androidx.work.DatabaseTest;
+import androidx.work.PeriodicWork;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.Dependency;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.DependencyDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor.InstantTaskExecutorRule;
+import androidx.work.worker.ChainedArgumentWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.EchoingWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.FailureWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.RetryWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.SleepTestWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class WorkerWrapperTest extends DatabaseTest {
+    private WorkSpecDao mWorkSpecDao;
+    private DependencyDao mDependencyDao;
+    private Context mContext;
+    private ExecutionListener mMockListener;
+    private Scheduler mMockScheduler;
+
+    @Rule
+    public InstantTaskExecutorRule mRule = new InstantTaskExecutorRule();
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mContext = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext();
+        mWorkSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        mDependencyDao = mDatabase.dependencyDao();
+        mMockListener = mock(ExecutionListener.class);
+        mMockScheduler = mock(Scheduler.class);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testSuccess() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(work.getId(), true, false);
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(SUCCEEDED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testRunAttemptCountIncremented_successfulExecution() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        WorkSpec latestWorkSpec = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work.getId());
+        assertThat(latestWorkSpec.getRunAttemptCount(), is(1));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testRunAttemptCountIncremented_failedExecution() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(FailureWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        WorkSpec latestWorkSpec = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work.getId());
+        assertThat(latestWorkSpec.getRunAttemptCount(), is(1));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testPermanentErrorWithInvalidWorkSpecId() throws InterruptedException {
+        final String invalidWorkSpecId = "INVALID_ID";
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, invalidWorkSpecId)
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(invalidWorkSpecId, false, false);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testNotEnqueued() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(RUNNING).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(work.getId(), false, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testCancelled() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(CANCELLED).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(work.getId(), false, false);
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testPermanentErrorWithInvalidWorkerClass() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        getWorkSpec(work).setWorkerClassName("INVALID_CLASS_NAME");
+        insertWork(work);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(work.getId(), false, false);
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(FAILED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testPermanentErrorWithInvalidInputMergerClass() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        getWorkSpec(work).setInputMergerClassName("INVALID_CLASS_NAME");
+        insertWork(work);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(work.getId(), false, false);
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(FAILED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testFailed() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(FailureWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(work.getId(), false, false);
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(FAILED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @LargeTest
+    public void testRunning() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(SleepTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        WorkerWrapper wrapper = new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build();
+        Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor().submit(wrapper);
+        Thread.sleep(2000L); // Async wait duration.
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(RUNNING));
+        Thread.sleep(SleepTestWorker.SLEEP_DURATION);
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(work.getId(), true, false);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testDependencies() {
+        Work prerequisiteWork = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        Dependency dependency = new Dependency(work.getId(), prerequisiteWork.getId());
+
+        mDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            insertWork(prerequisiteWork);
+            insertWork(work);
+            mDependencyDao.insertDependency(dependency);
+            mDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mDatabase.endTransaction();
+        }
+
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(prerequisiteWork.getId()), is(ENQUEUED));
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(BLOCKED));
+        assertThat(mDependencyDao.hasCompletedAllPrerequisites(work.getId()), is(false));
+
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, prerequisiteWork.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .withSchedulers(Collections.singletonList(mMockScheduler))
+                .build()
+                .run();
+
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(prerequisiteWork.getId()), is(SUCCEEDED));
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(ENQUEUED));
+        assertThat(mDependencyDao.hasCompletedAllPrerequisites(work.getId()), is(true));
+
+        ArgumentCaptor<WorkSpec> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(WorkSpec.class);
+        verify(mMockScheduler).schedule(captor.capture());
+        assertThat(captor.getValue().getId(), is(work.getId()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testDependencies_passesOutputs() {
+        Work prerequisiteWork = new Work.Builder(ChainedArgumentWorker.class).build();
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        Dependency dependency = new Dependency(work.getId(), prerequisiteWork.getId());
+
+        mDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            insertWork(prerequisiteWork);
+            insertWork(work);
+            mDependencyDao.insertDependency(dependency);
+            mDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mDatabase.endTransaction();
+        }
+
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, prerequisiteWork.getId()).build().run();
+
+        List<Arguments> arguments = mWorkSpecDao.getInputsFromPrerequisites(work.getId());
+        assertThat(arguments.size(), is(1));
+        assertThat(arguments, contains(ChainedArgumentWorker.getChainedArguments()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testDependencies_passesMergedOutputs() {
+        String key = "key";
+        String value1 = "value1";
+        String value2 = "value2";
+
+        Work prerequisiteWork1 = new Work.Builder(EchoingWorker.class)
+                .withArguments(new Arguments.Builder().putString(key, value1).build())
+                .build();
+        Work prerequisiteWork2 = new Work.Builder(EchoingWorker.class)
+                .withArguments(new Arguments.Builder().putString(key, value2).build())
+                .build();
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withInputMerger(ArrayCreatingInputMerger.class)
+                .build();
+        Dependency dependency1 = new Dependency(work.getId(), prerequisiteWork1.getId());
+        Dependency dependency2 = new Dependency(work.getId(), prerequisiteWork2.getId());
+
+        mDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            insertWork(prerequisiteWork1);
+            insertWork(prerequisiteWork2);
+            insertWork(work);
+            mDependencyDao.insertDependency(dependency1);
+            mDependencyDao.insertDependency(dependency2);
+            mDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mDatabase.endTransaction();
+        }
+
+        // Run the prerequisites.
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, prerequisiteWork1.getId()).build().run();
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, prerequisiteWork2.getId()).build().run();
+
+        // Create and run the dependent work.
+        WorkerWrapper workerWrapper = new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .build();
+        workerWrapper.run();
+
+        Arguments arguments = workerWrapper.mWorker.getArguments();
+        assertThat(arguments.size(), is(1));
+        assertThat(Arrays.asList(arguments.getStringArray(key)),
+                containsInAnyOrder(value1, value2));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testDependencies_setsPeriodStartTimesForUnblockedWork() {
+        Work prerequisiteWork = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        Dependency dependency = new Dependency(work.getId(), prerequisiteWork.getId());
+
+        mDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            insertWork(prerequisiteWork);
+            insertWork(work);
+            mDependencyDao.insertDependency(dependency);
+            mDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mDatabase.endTransaction();
+        }
+
+        long beforeUnblockedTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, prerequisiteWork.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .withSchedulers(Collections.singletonList(mMockScheduler))
+                .build()
+                .run();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work.getId());
+        assertThat(workSpec.getPeriodStartTime(), is(greaterThan(beforeUnblockedTime)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testDependencies_failsUncancelledDependentsOnFailure() {
+        Work prerequisiteWork = new Work.Builder(FailureWorker.class).build();
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(BLOCKED).build();
+        Work cancelledWork = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withInitialState(CANCELLED).build();
+        Dependency dependency1 = new Dependency(work.getId(), prerequisiteWork.getId());
+        Dependency dependency2 = new Dependency(cancelledWork.getId(), prerequisiteWork.getId());
+
+        mDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            insertWork(prerequisiteWork);
+            insertWork(work);
+            insertWork(cancelledWork);
+            mDependencyDao.insertDependency(dependency1);
+            mDependencyDao.insertDependency(dependency2);
+            mDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mDatabase.endTransaction();
+        }
+
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, prerequisiteWork.getId()).build().run();
+
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(prerequisiteWork.getId()), is(FAILED));
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(FAILED));
+        assertThat(mWorkSpecDao.getState(cancelledWork.getId()), is(CANCELLED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testRun_periodicWork_success_updatesPeriodStartTime() {
+        long intervalDuration = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS;
+        long periodStartTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        long expectedNextPeriodStartTime = periodStartTime + intervalDuration;
+
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class, intervalDuration, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS).build();
+
+        getWorkSpec(periodicWork).setPeriodStartTime(periodStartTime);
+
+        insertWork(periodicWork);
+
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, periodicWork.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+
+        WorkSpec updatedWorkSpec = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(periodicWork.getId());
+        assertThat(updatedWorkSpec.getPeriodStartTime(), is(expectedNextPeriodStartTime));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testRun_periodicWork_failure_updatesPeriodStartTime() {
+        long intervalDuration = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS;
+        long periodStartTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        long expectedNextPeriodStartTime = periodStartTime + intervalDuration;
+
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                FailureWorker.class, intervalDuration, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS).build();
+
+        getWorkSpec(periodicWork).setPeriodStartTime(periodStartTime);
+
+        insertWork(periodicWork);
+
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, periodicWork.getId())
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+
+        WorkSpec updatedWorkSpec = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(periodicWork.getId());
+        assertThat(updatedWorkSpec.getPeriodStartTime(), is(expectedNextPeriodStartTime));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testPeriodicWork_success() throws InterruptedException {
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                TestWorker.class,
+                PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        final String periodicWorkId = periodicWork.getId();
+        insertWork(periodicWork);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, periodicWorkId)
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+
+        WorkSpec periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(periodicWorkId);
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(periodicWorkId, true, false);
+        assertThat(periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun.getRunAttemptCount(), is(0));
+        assertThat(periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun.getState(), is(ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testPeriodicWork_fail() throws InterruptedException {
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                FailureWorker.class,
+                PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        final String periodicWorkId = periodicWork.getId();
+        insertWork(periodicWork);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, periodicWorkId)
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+
+        WorkSpec periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(periodicWorkId);
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(periodicWorkId, false, false);
+        assertThat(periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun.getRunAttemptCount(), is(0));
+        assertThat(periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun.getState(), is(ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testPeriodicWork_retry() throws InterruptedException {
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork = new PeriodicWork.Builder(
+                RetryWorker.class,
+                PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS,
+                TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        final String periodicWorkId = periodicWork.getId();
+        insertWork(periodicWork);
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, periodicWorkId)
+                .withListener(mMockListener)
+                .build()
+                .run();
+
+        WorkSpec periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(periodicWorkId);
+        verify(mMockListener).onExecuted(periodicWorkId, false, true);
+        assertThat(periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun.getRunAttemptCount(), is(1));
+        assertThat(periodicWorkSpecAfterFirstRun.getState(), is(ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testScheduler() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        Scheduler mockScheduler = mock(Scheduler.class);
+
+        new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, work.getId())
+                .withSchedulers(Collections.singletonList(mockScheduler))
+                .build()
+                .run();
+
+        verify(mockScheduler).schedule();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testFromWorkSpec_hasAppContext() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        Worker worker =
+                WorkerWrapper.workerFromWorkSpec(mContext, getWorkSpec(work), Arguments.EMPTY);
+
+        assertThat(worker, is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(worker.getAppContext(), is(equalTo(mContext.getApplicationContext())));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testFromWorkSpec_hasCorrectArguments() throws InterruptedException {
+        String key = "KEY";
+        String expectedValue = "VALUE";
+        Arguments arguments = new Arguments.Builder().putString(key, expectedValue).build();
+
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withArguments(arguments).build();
+        Worker worker = WorkerWrapper.workerFromWorkSpec(mContext, getWorkSpec(work), arguments);
+
+        assertThat(worker, is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(worker.getArguments().getString(key, null), is(expectedValue));
+
+        work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        worker = WorkerWrapper.workerFromWorkSpec(mContext, getWorkSpec(work), Arguments.EMPTY);
+
+        assertThat(worker, is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(worker.getArguments().size(), is(0));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/greedy/GreedySchedulerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/greedy/GreedySchedulerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..184b501
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/greedy/GreedySchedulerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.greedy;
+
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.PeriodicWork;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManagerTest;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.WorkConstraintsTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class GreedySchedulerTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+
+    private static final String TEST_ID = "test";
+
+    private WorkManagerImpl mSpyWorkManagerImpl;
+    private WorkConstraintsTracker mMockWorkConstraintsTracker;
+    private GreedyScheduler mGreedyScheduler;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mSpyWorkManagerImpl =
+                spy(WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext()));
+        mMockWorkConstraintsTracker = mock(WorkConstraintsTracker.class);
+        mGreedyScheduler = new GreedyScheduler(mSpyWorkManagerImpl, mMockWorkConstraintsTracker);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGreedyScheduler_startsUnconstrainedWork() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getWorkSpec(work);
+        mGreedyScheduler.schedule(workSpec);
+        verify(mSpyWorkManagerImpl).startWork(workSpec.getId());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGreedyScheduler_ignoresPeriodicWork() {
+        PeriodicWork periodicWork =
+                new PeriodicWork.Builder(TestWorker.class, 0L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS).build();
+        mGreedyScheduler.schedule(getWorkSpec(periodicWork));
+        verify(mMockWorkConstraintsTracker, never()).replace(ArgumentMatchers.<WorkSpec>anyList());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGreedyScheduler_ignoresInitialDelayWork() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withInitialDelay(1000L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+        mGreedyScheduler.schedule(getWorkSpec(work));
+        verify(mMockWorkConstraintsTracker, never()).replace(ArgumentMatchers.<WorkSpec>anyList());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGreedyScheduler_startsWorkWhenConstraintsMet() {
+        mGreedyScheduler.onAllConstraintsMet(Collections.singletonList(TEST_ID));
+        verify(mSpyWorkManagerImpl).startWork(TEST_ID);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGreedyScheduler_stopsWorkWhenConstraintsNotMet() {
+        mGreedyScheduler.onAllConstraintsNotMet(Collections.singletonList(TEST_ID));
+        verify(mSpyWorkManagerImpl).stopWork(TEST_ID);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/AlarmsTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/AlarmsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..176f330
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/AlarmsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.notNullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.nullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import androidx.work.DatabaseTest;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.AlarmInfo;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SmallTest
+public class AlarmsTest extends DatabaseTest {
+
+    private Context mContext;
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManager;
+    private long mTriggerAt;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mContext = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext();
+        mWorkManager = mock(WorkManagerImpl.class);
+        // Set it to sometime in the future so as to avoid triggering real alarms.
+        mTriggerAt = System.currentTimeMillis() + TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(1);
+        when(mWorkManager.getWorkDatabase()).thenReturn(mDatabase);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSetAlarm_noPreExistingAlarms() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        Alarms.setAlarm(mContext, mWorkManager, workSpecId, mTriggerAt);
+        AlarmInfo alarmInfo = mDatabase.alarmInfoDao().getAlarmInfo(workSpecId);
+        assertThat(alarmInfo, is(notNullValue()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSetAlarm_withPreExistingAlarms() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        AlarmInfo alarmInfo = new AlarmInfo(workSpecId, 1);
+
+        mDatabase.alarmInfoDao().insertAlarmInfo(alarmInfo);
+
+        Alarms.setAlarm(mContext, mWorkManager, workSpecId, mTriggerAt);
+        AlarmInfo updatedAlarmInfo = mDatabase.alarmInfoDao().getAlarmInfo(workSpecId);
+        assertThat(updatedAlarmInfo, is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(updatedAlarmInfo.alarmId, is(alarmInfo.alarmId));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testCancelAlarm() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        AlarmInfo alarmInfo = new AlarmInfo(workSpecId, 1);
+
+        mDatabase.alarmInfoDao().insertAlarmInfo(alarmInfo);
+
+        Alarms.cancelAlarm(mContext, mWorkManager, workSpecId);
+        AlarmInfo updatedAlarmInfo = mDatabase.alarmInfoDao().getAlarmInfo(workSpecId);
+        assertThat(updatedAlarmInfo, is(nullValue()));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmDispatcherTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmDispatcherTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f514ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmDispatcherTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,456 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doCallRealMethod;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.MediumTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.hamcrest.collection.IsIterableContainingInOrder;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.DatabaseTest;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.impl.Processor;
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.BatteryChargingTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.BatteryNotLowTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.NetworkStateTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.StorageNotLowTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.worker.SleepTestWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@MediumTest
+public class SystemAlarmDispatcherTest extends DatabaseTest {
+
+    private static final int START_ID = 0;
+    // Test timeout in seconds - this needs to be longer than SleepTestWorker.SLEEP_DURATION
+    private static final int TEST_TIMEOUT = 6;
+
+    private Context mContext;
+    private Scheduler mScheduler;
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManager;
+    private Processor mProcessor;
+    private Processor mSpyProcessor;
+    private CommandInterceptingSystemDispatcher mDispatcher;
+    private CommandInterceptingSystemDispatcher mSpyDispatcher;
+    private SystemAlarmDispatcher.CommandsCompletedListener mCompletedListener;
+    private CountDownLatch mLatch;
+
+    private Trackers mTracker;
+    private BatteryChargingTracker mBatteryChargingTracker;
+    private BatteryNotLowTracker mBatteryNotLowTracker;
+    private NetworkStateTracker mNetworkStateTracker;
+    private StorageNotLowTracker mStorageNotLowTracker;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mContext = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext().getApplicationContext();
+        mScheduler = mock(Scheduler.class);
+        mWorkManager = mock(WorkManagerImpl.class);
+        mLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        mCompletedListener = new SystemAlarmDispatcher.CommandsCompletedListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onAllCommandsCompleted() {
+                mLatch.countDown();
+            }
+        };
+
+        when(mWorkManager.getWorkDatabase()).thenReturn(mDatabase);
+        mProcessor = new Processor(
+                mContext,
+                mDatabase,
+                Collections.singletonList(mScheduler),
+                // simulate real world use-case
+                Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor());
+        mSpyProcessor = spy(mProcessor);
+
+        mDispatcher =
+                new CommandInterceptingSystemDispatcher(mContext, mSpyProcessor, mWorkManager);
+        mDispatcher.setCompletedListener(mCompletedListener);
+        mSpyDispatcher = spy(mDispatcher);
+
+        mBatteryChargingTracker = spy(new BatteryChargingTracker(mContext));
+        mBatteryNotLowTracker = spy(new BatteryNotLowTracker(mContext));
+        // Requires API 24+ types.
+        mNetworkStateTracker = mock(NetworkStateTracker.class);
+        mStorageNotLowTracker = spy(new StorageNotLowTracker(mContext));
+        mTracker = mock(Trackers.class);
+
+        when(mTracker.getBatteryChargingTracker()).thenReturn(mBatteryChargingTracker);
+        when(mTracker.getBatteryNotLowTracker()).thenReturn(mBatteryNotLowTracker);
+        when(mTracker.getNetworkStateTracker()).thenReturn(mNetworkStateTracker);
+        when(mTracker.getStorageNotLowTracker()).thenReturn(mStorageNotLowTracker);
+
+        // Override Trackers being used by WorkConstraintsProxy
+        Trackers.setInstance(mTracker);
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        mSpyDispatcher.onDestroy();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSchedule() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialDelay(TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(1), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS).build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+        final Intent intent = CommandHandler.createScheduleWorkIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, intent, START_ID));
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDelayMet_success() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+        final Intent intent = CommandHandler.createDelayMetIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, intent, START_ID));
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        verify(mSpyProcessor, times(1)).startWork(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDelayMet_withStop() throws InterruptedException {
+        // SleepTestWorker sleeps for 5 seconds
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(SleepTestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialDelay(TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(1), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        final Intent delayMet = CommandHandler.createDelayMetIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+        final Intent stopWork = CommandHandler.createStopWorkIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, delayMet, START_ID));
+
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, stopWork, START_ID));
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        verify(mSpyProcessor, times(1)).startWork(workSpecId);
+        verify(mWorkManager, times(1)).stopWork(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSchedule_withStopWhenCancelled() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(SleepTestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        final Intent scheduleWork = CommandHandler.createScheduleWorkIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+        final Intent stopWork = CommandHandler.createStopWorkIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, scheduleWork, START_ID));
+
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, stopWork, START_ID));
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        verify(mSpyProcessor, times(1)).startWork(workSpecId);
+        verify(mWorkManager, times(1)).stopWork(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSchedule_withConstraints() throws InterruptedException {
+        when(mBatteryChargingTracker.getInitialState()).thenReturn(true);
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(
+                        System.currentTimeMillis() + TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(1),
+                        TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiresCharging(true)
+                        .build())
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        final Intent scheduleWork = CommandHandler.createScheduleWorkIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, scheduleWork, START_ID));
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        // Should not call startWork, but schedule an alarm.
+        verify(mSpyProcessor, times(0)).startWork(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testConstraintsChanged_withNoConstraints() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+        final Intent constraintChanged = CommandHandler.createConstraintsChangedIntent(mContext);
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, constraintChanged, START_ID));
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        verify(mSpyProcessor, times(1)).startWork(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testConstraintsChanged_withConstraint() throws InterruptedException {
+        when(mBatteryChargingTracker.getInitialState()).thenReturn(true);
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiresCharging(true)
+                        .build())
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        final Intent constraintChanged = CommandHandler.createConstraintsChangedIntent(mContext);
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, constraintChanged, START_ID));
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDelayMet_withUnMetConstraint() throws InterruptedException {
+        when(mBatteryChargingTracker.getInitialState()).thenReturn(false);
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiresCharging(true)
+                        .build())
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        Intent delayMet = CommandHandler.createDelayMetIntent(mContext, work.getId());
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, delayMet, START_ID));
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+        List<String> intentActions = intentActionsFor(mSpyDispatcher.getCommands());
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work.getId());
+
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        // Verify order of events
+        assertThat(intentActions,
+                IsIterableContainingInOrder.contains(
+                        CommandHandler.ACTION_DELAY_MET,
+                        CommandHandler.ACTION_STOP_WORK,
+                        CommandHandler.ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED));
+
+        assertThat(workSpec.getState(), is(State.ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDelayMet_withMetConstraint() throws InterruptedException {
+        when(mBatteryChargingTracker.getInitialState()).thenReturn(true);
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiresCharging(true)
+                        .build())
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        Intent delayMet = CommandHandler.createDelayMetIntent(mContext, work.getId());
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, delayMet, START_ID));
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+        List<String> intentActions = intentActionsFor(mSpyDispatcher.getCommands());
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        WorkSpec workSpec = workSpecDao.getWorkSpec(work.getId());
+
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        // Assert order of events
+        assertThat(intentActions,
+                IsIterableContainingInOrder.contains(
+                        CommandHandler.ACTION_DELAY_MET,
+                        CommandHandler.ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED));
+
+        assertThat(workSpec.getState(), is(State.SUCCEEDED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testReschedule() throws InterruptedException {
+        // Use a mocked scheduler in this test.
+        Scheduler scheduler = mock(Scheduler.class);
+        doCallRealMethod().when(mWorkManager).rescheduleEligibleWork();
+        when(mWorkManager.getSchedulers()).thenReturn(Collections.singletonList(scheduler));
+
+        Work failed = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialState(State.FAILED)
+                .build();
+
+        Work succeeded = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withInitialState(State.SUCCEEDED)
+                .build();
+
+        Work noConstraints = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .build();
+
+        Work workWithConstraints = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withPeriodStartTime(System.currentTimeMillis(), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+                .withConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                        .setRequiresCharging(true)
+                        .build())
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(failed);
+        insertWork(succeeded);
+        insertWork(noConstraints);
+        insertWork(workWithConstraints);
+
+        Intent reschedule = CommandHandler.createRescheduleIntent(mContext);
+        mSpyDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mSpyDispatcher, reschedule, START_ID));
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+
+        ArgumentCaptor<WorkSpec> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(WorkSpec.class);
+        verify(scheduler, times(1))
+                .schedule(captor.capture());
+
+        Set<String> capturedIds = new HashSet<>();
+        List<WorkSpec> workSpecs = captor.getAllValues();
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : workSpecs) {
+            capturedIds.add(workSpec.getId());
+        }
+
+        assertThat(capturedIds.size(), is(2));
+        assertThat(capturedIds.contains(noConstraints.getId()), is(true));
+        assertThat(capturedIds.contains(workWithConstraints.getId()), is(true));
+        assertThat(capturedIds.contains(failed.getId()), is(false));
+        assertThat(capturedIds.contains(succeeded.getId()), is(false));
+    }
+
+    private static List<String> intentActionsFor(@NonNull List<Intent> intents) {
+        List<String> intentActions = new ArrayList<>(intents.size());
+        for (Intent intent : intents) {
+            intentActions.add(intent.getAction());
+        }
+        return intentActions;
+    }
+
+    // Marking it public for mocking
+    public static class CommandInterceptingSystemDispatcher extends SystemAlarmDispatcher {
+        private final List<Intent> mCommands;
+        private final Map<String, Integer> mActionCount;
+
+        CommandInterceptingSystemDispatcher(@NonNull Context context,
+                @Nullable Processor processor,
+                @Nullable WorkManagerImpl workManager) {
+            super(context, processor, workManager);
+            mCommands = new ArrayList<>();
+            mActionCount = new HashMap<>();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean add(@NonNull Intent intent, int startId) {
+            boolean isAdded = super.add(intent, startId);
+            if (isAdded) {
+                update(intent);
+            }
+            return isAdded;
+        }
+
+        private void update(Intent intent) {
+            String action = intent.getAction();
+            Integer count = mActionCount.get(intent.getAction());
+            int incremented = count != null ? count + 1 : 1;
+            mActionCount.put(action, incremented);
+            mCommands.add(intent);
+        }
+
+        Map<String, Integer> getActionCount() {
+            return mActionCount;
+        }
+
+        List<Intent> getCommands() {
+            return mCommands;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/WorkTimerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/WorkTimerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce36b8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/WorkTimerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.test.filters.MediumTest;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class WorkTimerTest {
+
+    private static final String WORKSPEC_ID_1 = "1";
+
+    private WorkTimer mWorkTimer;
+    private TestTimeLimitExceededListener mListener;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mWorkTimer = new WorkTimer();
+        mListener = new TestTimeLimitExceededListener();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testTimer_withListenerAndCleanUp() throws InterruptedException {
+        TestTimeLimitExceededListener listenerSpy = spy(mListener);
+        mWorkTimer.startTimer(WORKSPEC_ID_1, 0, listenerSpy);
+        Thread.sleep(10); // introduce a small delay
+        verify(listenerSpy, times(1)).onTimeLimitExceeded(WORKSPEC_ID_1);
+        assertThat(mWorkTimer.getTimerMap().size(), is(0));
+        assertThat(mWorkTimer.getListeners().size(), is(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @MediumTest
+    public void testStopTimer_withCleanUp() throws InterruptedException {
+        TestTimeLimitExceededListener listenerSpy = spy(mListener);
+        mWorkTimer.startTimer(WORKSPEC_ID_1, 100, listenerSpy);
+        mWorkTimer.stopTimer(WORKSPEC_ID_1);
+        Thread.sleep(100);
+        verify(listenerSpy, times(0)).onTimeLimitExceeded(WORKSPEC_ID_1);
+        assertThat(mWorkTimer.getTimerMap().size(), is(0));
+        assertThat(mWorkTimer.getListeners().size(), is(0));
+    }
+
+    // Making this a defined class to its easy to proxy
+    public static class TestTimeLimitExceededListener implements
+            WorkTimer.TimeLimitExceededListener {
+        @Override
+        public void onTimeLimitExceeded(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+            // does nothing
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobInfoConverterTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobInfoConverterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..07c92f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobInfoConverterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,288 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.arrayContaining;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.CONNECTED;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.METERED;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.NOT_REQUIRED;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.NOT_ROAMING;
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.UNMETERED;
+
+import android.app.job.JobInfo;
+import android.net.Uri;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.NetworkType;
+import androidx.work.PeriodicWork;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManagerTest;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.IdGenerator;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+public class SystemJobInfoConverterTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+
+    private static final long TEST_INTERVAL_DURATION =
+            PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS + 1232L;
+    private static final long TEST_FLEX_DURATION = PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS + 112L;
+
+    private IdGenerator mMockIdGenerator;
+    private SystemJobInfoConverter mConverter;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mMockIdGenerator = mock(IdGenerator.class);
+        mConverter = new SystemJobInfoConverter(
+                InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext(),
+                mMockIdGenerator);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_ids() {
+        final String expectedWorkSpecId = "026e3422-9cd1-11e7-abc4-cec278b6b50a";
+        final int expectedJobId = 101;
+        when(mMockIdGenerator.nextJobSchedulerId()).thenReturn(expectedJobId);
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec(expectedWorkSpecId);
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        String actualWorkSpecId = jobInfo.getExtras().getString(
+                SystemJobInfoConverter.EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID);
+        assertThat(actualWorkSpecId, is(expectedWorkSpecId));
+        assertThat(jobInfo.getId(), is(expectedJobId));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_setPersistedByDefault() {
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(new WorkSpec("id"));
+        assertThat(jobInfo.isPersisted(), is(true));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Due to b/6771687, calling {@link JobInfo.Builder#build} with no constraints throws an
+     * {@link IllegalArgumentException}. This is testing that {@link SystemJobInfoConverter#convert}
+     * sets some dummy constraint to toggle some internal boolean flags in {@link JobInfo.Builder}
+     * to allow {@link Work} with no constraints to be converted without affecting its runtime,
+     * e.g. calling builder.setMinLatencyMillis(0L).
+     */
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_noConstraints_doesNotThrowException() {
+        mConverter.convert(new WorkSpec("id"));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_retryPolicy() {
+        long expectedBackoffDelayDuration = 50000;
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec("id");
+        workSpec.setBackoffDelayDuration(expectedBackoffDelayDuration);
+        workSpec.setBackoffPolicy(BackoffPolicy.LINEAR);
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(jobInfo.getInitialBackoffMillis(), is(expectedBackoffDelayDuration));
+        assertThat(jobInfo.getBackoffPolicy(), is(JobInfo.BACKOFF_POLICY_LINEAR));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_initialDelay() {
+        final long expectedInitialDelay = 12123L;
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec("id");
+        workSpec.setInitialDelay(expectedInitialDelay);
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(jobInfo.getMinLatencyMillis(), is(expectedInitialDelay));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_periodicWithNoFlex() {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec("id");
+        workSpec.setPeriodic(TEST_INTERVAL_DURATION);
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(jobInfo.getIntervalMillis(), is(TEST_INTERVAL_DURATION));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 24)
+    public void testConvert_periodicWithFlex() {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = new WorkSpec("id");
+        workSpec.setPeriodic(TEST_INTERVAL_DURATION, TEST_FLEX_DURATION);
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(jobInfo.getIntervalMillis(), is(TEST_INTERVAL_DURATION));
+        assertThat(jobInfo.getFlexMillis(), is(TEST_FLEX_DURATION));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_requireCharging() {
+        final boolean expectedRequireCharging = true;
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getTestWorkSpecWithConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresCharging(expectedRequireCharging).build());
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(jobInfo.isRequireCharging(), is(expectedRequireCharging));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 24)
+    public void testConvert_requireContentUriTrigger() {
+        final Uri expectedUri = Uri.parse("TEST_URI");
+        final JobInfo.TriggerContentUri expectedTriggerContentUri =
+                new JobInfo.TriggerContentUri(
+                        expectedUri, JobInfo.TriggerContentUri.FLAG_NOTIFY_FOR_DESCENDANTS);
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getTestWorkSpecWithConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                .addContentUriTrigger(expectedUri, true).build());
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+
+        JobInfo.TriggerContentUri[] triggerContentUris = jobInfo.getTriggerContentUris();
+        assertThat(triggerContentUris, is(arrayContaining(expectedTriggerContentUri)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_requireDeviceIdle() {
+        final boolean expectedRequireDeviceIdle = true;
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getTestWorkSpecWithConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresDeviceIdle(expectedRequireDeviceIdle).build());
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(jobInfo.isRequireDeviceIdle(), is(expectedRequireDeviceIdle));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 26)
+    public void testConvert_requireBatteryNotLow() {
+        final boolean expectedRequireBatteryNotLow = true;
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getTestWorkSpecWithConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(expectedRequireBatteryNotLow).build());
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(jobInfo.isRequireBatteryNotLow(), is(expectedRequireBatteryNotLow));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 26)
+    public void testConvert_requireStorageNotLow() {
+        final boolean expectedRequireStorageNotLow = true;
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getTestWorkSpecWithConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresStorageNotLow(expectedRequireStorageNotLow).build());
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        assertThat(jobInfo.isRequireStorageNotLow(), is(expectedRequireStorageNotLow));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_networkTypeNotRoamingRequiresApi24() {
+        convertWithRequiredNetworkType(NOT_ROAMING, JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_NOT_ROAMING, 24);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvert_networkTypeMeteredRequiresApi26() {
+        convertWithRequiredNetworkType(METERED, JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_METERED, 26);
+    }
+
+    private void convertWithRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType networkType,
+                                                int jobInfoNetworkType,
+                                                int minSdkVersion) {
+        WorkSpec workSpec = getTestWorkSpecWithConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiredNetworkType(networkType).build());
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= minSdkVersion) {
+            assertThat(jobInfo.getNetworkType(), is(jobInfoNetworkType));
+        } else {
+            assertThat(jobInfo.getNetworkType(), is(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_ANY));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvertNetworkType_none() {
+        assertThat(SystemJobInfoConverter.convertNetworkType(NOT_REQUIRED),
+                is(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_NONE));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvertNetworkType_any() {
+        assertThat(SystemJobInfoConverter.convertNetworkType(CONNECTED),
+                is(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_ANY));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testConvertNetworkType_unmetered() {
+        assertThat(SystemJobInfoConverter.convertNetworkType(UNMETERED),
+                is(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_UNMETERED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testConvertNetworkType_notRoaming_returnAnyBeforeApi24() {
+        assertThat(SystemJobInfoConverter.convertNetworkType(NOT_ROAMING),
+                is(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_ANY));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 24)
+    public void testConvertNetworkType_notRoaming_returnsNotRoamingAtOrAfterApi24() {
+        assertThat(SystemJobInfoConverter.convertNetworkType(NOT_ROAMING),
+                is(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_NOT_ROAMING));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testConvertNetworkType_metered_returnsAnyBeforeApi26() {
+        assertThat(SystemJobInfoConverter.convertNetworkType(METERED),
+                is(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_ANY));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 26)
+    public void testConvertNetworkType_metered_returnsMeteredAtOrAfterApi26() {
+        assertThat(SystemJobInfoConverter.convertNetworkType(METERED),
+                is(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_METERED));
+    }
+
+    private WorkSpec getTestWorkSpecWithConstraints(Constraints constraints) {
+        return getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).withConstraints(constraints).build());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobSchedulerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobSchedulerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf3e435
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobSchedulerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob;
+
+
+import static android.app.job.JobScheduler.RESULT_SUCCESS;
+
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyInt;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doNothing;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doReturn;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+import static androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob.SystemJobInfoConverter.EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID;
+
+import android.app.job.JobInfo;
+import android.app.job.JobScheduler;
+import android.os.PersistableBundle;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManagerTest;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+public class SystemJobSchedulerTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+
+    private static final String TEST_ID = "test";
+
+    private JobScheduler mJobScheduler;
+    private SystemJobScheduler mSystemJobScheduler;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mJobScheduler = mock(JobScheduler.class);
+        doReturn(RESULT_SUCCESS).when(mJobScheduler).schedule(any(JobInfo.class));
+
+        List<JobInfo> allJobInfos = new ArrayList<>(2);
+        PersistableBundle extras = new PersistableBundle();
+        extras.putString(EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID, TEST_ID);
+        JobInfo mockJobInfo1 = mock(JobInfo.class);
+        doReturn(extras).when(mockJobInfo1).getExtras();
+        JobInfo mockJobInfo2 = mock(JobInfo.class);
+        doReturn(extras).when(mockJobInfo2).getExtras();
+
+        allJobInfos.add(mockJobInfo1);
+        allJobInfos.add(mockJobInfo2);
+        doReturn(allJobInfos).when(mJobScheduler).getAllPendingJobs();
+
+        mSystemJobScheduler =
+                spy(new SystemJobScheduler(mJobScheduler,
+                        new SystemJobInfoConverter(InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext())));
+        doNothing().when(mSystemJobScheduler).scheduleInternal(any(WorkSpec.class));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testSystemJobScheduler_schedulesTwiceOnApi23() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec1 = getWorkSpec(work1);
+
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec2 = getWorkSpec(work2);
+
+        mSystemJobScheduler.schedule(workSpec1, workSpec2);
+
+        verify(mSystemJobScheduler, times(2)).scheduleInternal(workSpec1);
+        verify(mSystemJobScheduler, times(2)).scheduleInternal(workSpec2);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 24)
+    public void testSystemJobScheduler_schedulesOnceAtOrAboveApi24() {
+        Work work1 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec1 = getWorkSpec(work1);
+
+        Work work2 = new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class).build();
+        WorkSpec workSpec2 = getWorkSpec(work2);
+
+        mSystemJobScheduler.schedule(workSpec1, workSpec2);
+
+        verify(mSystemJobScheduler, times(1)).scheduleInternal(workSpec1);
+        verify(mSystemJobScheduler, times(1)).scheduleInternal(workSpec2);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testSystemJobScheduler_cancelsAllOnApi23() {
+        mSystemJobScheduler.cancel(TEST_ID);
+        verify(mJobScheduler, times(2)).cancel(anyInt());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 24)
+    public void testSystemJobScheduler_cancelsOnceAtOrAboveApi24() {
+        mSystemJobScheduler.cancel(TEST_ID);
+        verify(mJobScheduler, times(1)).cancel(anyInt());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobServiceTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobServiceTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fdd1b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobServiceTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob;
+
+import static android.support.test.espresso.matcher.ViewMatchers.assertThat;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.app.job.JobParameters;
+import android.arch.core.executor.ArchTaskExecutor;
+import android.arch.core.executor.TaskExecutor;
+import android.os.PersistableBundle;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManagerTest;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor.InstantTaskExecutorRule;
+import androidx.work.worker.InfiniteTestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+public class SystemJobServiceTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+
+    @Rule
+    public InstantTaskExecutorRule mRule = new InstantTaskExecutorRule();
+
+    private WorkDatabase mDatabase;
+    private SystemJobService mSystemJobService;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        ArchTaskExecutor.getInstance().setDelegate(new TaskExecutor() {
+            @Override
+            public void executeOnDiskIO(@NonNull Runnable runnable) {
+                runnable.run();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void postToMainThread(@NonNull Runnable runnable) {
+                runnable.run();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public boolean isMainThread() {
+                return true;
+            }
+        });
+
+        mDatabase = WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext())
+                .getWorkDatabase();
+        mSystemJobService = new SystemJobService(); // Bleh.
+        mSystemJobService.onCreate();
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        mSystemJobService.onDestroy();
+        ArchTaskExecutor.getInstance().setDelegate(null);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnStopJob_ResetsWorkStatus() throws InterruptedException {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        JobParameters mockParams = createMockJobParameters(work.getId());
+        mSystemJobService.onStartJob(mockParams);
+
+        // TODO(sumir): Remove later.  Put here because WorkerWrapper sets state to RUNNING.
+        Thread.sleep(1000L);
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(State.RUNNING));
+
+        mSystemJobService.onStopJob(mockParams);
+        assertThat(workSpecDao.getState(work.getId()), is(State.ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnStopJob_ReschedulesWhenNotCancelled() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        JobParameters mockParams = createMockJobParameters(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mSystemJobService.onStartJob(mockParams), is(true));
+        assertThat(mSystemJobService.onStopJob(mockParams), is(true));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnStopJob_DoesNotRescheduleWhenCancelled() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        JobParameters mockParams = createMockJobParameters(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mSystemJobService.onStartJob(mockParams), is(true));
+        WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext())
+                .cancelWorkById(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mSystemJobService.onStopJob(mockParams), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testStartJob_ReturnsFalseWithDuplicateJob() {
+        Work work = new Work.Builder(InfiniteTestWorker.class).build();
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        JobParameters mockParams = createMockJobParameters(work.getId());
+        assertThat(mSystemJobService.onStartJob(mockParams), is(true));
+        assertThat(mSystemJobService.onStartJob(mockParams), is(false));
+    }
+
+    private JobParameters createMockJobParameters(String id) {
+        JobParameters jobParameters = mock(JobParameters.class);
+
+        PersistableBundle persistableBundle = new PersistableBundle();
+        persistableBundle.putString(SystemJobInfoConverter.EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID, id);
+        when(jobParameters.getExtras()).thenReturn(persistableBundle);
+
+        return jobParameters;
+    }
+
+    private void insertWork(BaseWork work) {
+        mDatabase.workSpecDao().insertWorkSpec(getWorkSpec(work));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsTrackerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsTrackerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd99c77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsTrackerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsInAnyOrder;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.empty;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.ConstraintController;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+@SmallTest
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class WorkConstraintsTrackerTest {
+    private static final List<String> TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS = new ArrayList<>();
+    static {
+        TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS.add("A");
+        TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS.add("B");
+        TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS.add("C");
+    }
+
+    private WorkConstraintsCallback mCallback = new WorkConstraintsCallback() {
+        @Override
+        public void onAllConstraintsMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+            mUnconstrainedWorkSpecIds = workSpecIds;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void onAllConstraintsNotMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+            mConstrainedWorkSpecIds = workSpecIds;
+        }
+    };
+
+    private ConstraintController mMockController = mock(ConstraintController.class);
+    private List<String> mUnconstrainedWorkSpecIds;
+    private List<String> mConstrainedWorkSpecIds;
+    private WorkConstraintsTracker mWorkConstraintsTracker;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        ConstraintController[] controllers = new ConstraintController[] {mMockController};
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker = new WorkConstraintsTracker(mCallback, controllers);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testReplace() {
+        List<WorkSpec> emptyList = Collections.emptyList();
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.replace(emptyList);
+        verify(mMockController).replace(emptyList);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testReset() {
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.reset();
+        verify(mMockController).reset();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testOnConstraintMet_controllerInvoked() {
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.onConstraintMet(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS);
+        for (String id : TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS) {
+            verify(mMockController).isWorkSpecConstrained(id);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testOnConstraintMet_allConstraintsMet() {
+        when(mMockController.isWorkSpecConstrained(any(String.class))).thenReturn(false);
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.onConstraintMet(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS);
+        assertThat(mUnconstrainedWorkSpecIds, is(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testOnConstraintMet_allConstraintsMet_subList() {
+        when(mMockController.isWorkSpecConstrained(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS.get(0))).thenReturn(true);
+        when(mMockController.isWorkSpecConstrained(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS.get(1))).thenReturn(false);
+        when(mMockController.isWorkSpecConstrained(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS.get(2))).thenReturn(false);
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.onConstraintMet(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS);
+        assertThat(mUnconstrainedWorkSpecIds,
+                containsInAnyOrder(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS.get(1), TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS.get(2)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testOnConstraintMet_allConstraintsNotMet() {
+        when(mMockController.isWorkSpecConstrained(any(String.class))).thenReturn(true);
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.onConstraintMet(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS);
+        assertThat(mUnconstrainedWorkSpecIds, is(empty()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testOnConstraintNotMet() {
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.onConstraintNotMet(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS);
+        assertThat(mConstrainedWorkSpecIds, is(TEST_WORKSPEC_IDS));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/ConstraintControllerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/ConstraintControllerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4933622
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/ConstraintControllerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,270 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.eq;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyZeroInteractions;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkManagerTest;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.ConstraintTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23)
+public class ConstraintControllerTest extends WorkManagerTest {
+    private TestDeviceIdleConstraintController mTestIdleController;
+    private ConstraintTracker<Boolean> mMockTracker = mock(ConstraintTracker.class);
+    private ConstraintController.OnConstraintUpdatedCallback mCallback =
+            mock(ConstraintController.OnConstraintUpdatedCallback.class);
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mTestIdleController = new TestDeviceIdleConstraintController(mMockTracker, mCallback);
+    }
+
+    private WorkSpec createTestWorkSpec(Constraints constraints) {
+        return getWorkSpec(new Work.Builder(TestWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(constraints)
+                .build());
+    }
+
+    private WorkSpec createTestConstraintWorkSpec() {
+        Constraints mConstraintsWithTestConstraint = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresDeviceIdle(true)
+                .build();
+
+        return createTestWorkSpec(mConstraintsWithTestConstraint);
+    }
+
+    private WorkSpec createNoConstraintWorkSpec() {
+        return createTestWorkSpec(Constraints.NONE);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testReplace_empty() {
+        mTestIdleController.replace(Collections.<WorkSpec>emptyList());
+        verify(mMockTracker).removeListener(mTestIdleController);
+        verifyZeroInteractions(mCallback);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testReplace_workSpecNoConstraints() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecNoConstraints = createNoConstraintWorkSpec();
+        List<WorkSpec> workSpecs = Collections.singletonList(workSpecNoConstraints);
+        mTestIdleController.replace(workSpecs);
+        verify(mMockTracker).removeListener(mTestIdleController);
+        verifyZeroInteractions(mCallback);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testReplace_workSpecWithConstraint_constrained() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        List<String> expectedWorkIds = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint.getId());
+        List<WorkSpec> workSpecs = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint);
+
+        mTestIdleController.setDeviceActive();
+        mTestIdleController.replace(workSpecs);
+        verify(mMockTracker).addListener(mTestIdleController);
+        verify(mCallback).onConstraintNotMet(eq(expectedWorkIds));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testReplace_workSpecWithConstraint_unconstrained() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        List<String> expectedWorkIds = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint.getId());
+        List<WorkSpec> workSpecs = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint);
+
+        mTestIdleController.setDeviceIdle();
+        mTestIdleController.replace(workSpecs);
+        verify(mMockTracker).addListener(mTestIdleController);
+        verify(mCallback).onConstraintMet(eq(expectedWorkIds));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testReplace_workSpecWithConstraint_constraintNotSet() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        List<String> expectedWorkIds = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint.getId());
+        List<WorkSpec> workSpecs = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint);
+
+        mTestIdleController.replace(workSpecs);
+        verify(mCallback).onConstraintNotMet(expectedWorkIds);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testReset_alreadyNoMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        mTestIdleController.reset();
+        verifyZeroInteractions(mMockTracker);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testReset_withMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        List<WorkSpec> workSpecs = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint);
+        mTestIdleController.replace(workSpecs);
+
+        mTestIdleController.reset();
+        verify(mMockTracker).removeListener(mTestIdleController);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnConstraintChanged_noMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        mTestIdleController.onConstraintChanged(true);
+        verifyZeroInteractions(mCallback);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnConstraintChanged_toConstrained_withMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        List<String> expectedWorkIds = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint.getId());
+        List<WorkSpec> workSpecs = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint);
+        mTestIdleController.replace(workSpecs);
+        verify(mCallback).onConstraintNotMet(expectedWorkIds);
+
+        final boolean deviceIdle = false;
+        mTestIdleController.onConstraintChanged(deviceIdle);
+        verify(mCallback, times(2)).onConstraintNotMet(expectedWorkIds);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnConstraintChanged_toUnconstrained_withMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        List<String> expectedWorkIds = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint.getId());
+        List<WorkSpec> workSpecs = Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint);
+        mTestIdleController.replace(workSpecs);
+
+        final boolean deviceIdle = true;
+        mTestIdleController.onConstraintChanged(deviceIdle);
+        verify(mCallback).onConstraintMet(expectedWorkIds);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testIsWorkSpecConstrained_noMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecNoConstraints = createNoConstraintWorkSpec();
+        mTestIdleController.replace(Collections.singletonList(workSpecNoConstraints));
+        assertThat(mTestIdleController.isWorkSpecConstrained(workSpecNoConstraints.getId()),
+                is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testIsWorkSpecConstrained_constraintNotSet() {
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        mTestIdleController.replace(Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint));
+        assertThat(mTestIdleController.isWorkSpecConstrained(workSpecWithConstraint.getId()),
+                is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testIsWorkSpecConstrained_constrained_withMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        mTestIdleController.setDeviceActive();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        mTestIdleController.replace(Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint));
+        assertThat(mTestIdleController.isWorkSpecConstrained(workSpecWithConstraint.getId()),
+                is(true));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testIsWorkSpecConstrained_constrained_noMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        mTestIdleController.setDeviceActive();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpecNoConstraints = createNoConstraintWorkSpec();
+        mTestIdleController.replace(Collections.singletonList(workSpecNoConstraints));
+        assertThat(mTestIdleController.isWorkSpecConstrained(workSpecNoConstraints.getId()),
+                is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testIsWorkSpecConstrained_unconstrained_withMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        mTestIdleController.setDeviceIdle();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpecWithConstraint = createTestConstraintWorkSpec();
+        mTestIdleController.replace(Collections.singletonList(workSpecWithConstraint));
+        assertThat(mTestIdleController.isWorkSpecConstrained(workSpecWithConstraint.getId()),
+                is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testIsWorkSpecConstrained_unconstrained_noMatchingWorkSpecs() {
+        mTestIdleController.setDeviceIdle();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpecNoConstraints = createNoConstraintWorkSpec();
+        mTestIdleController.replace(Collections.singletonList(workSpecNoConstraints));
+        assertThat(mTestIdleController.isWorkSpecConstrained(workSpecNoConstraints.getId()),
+                is(false));
+    }
+
+    private static class TestDeviceIdleConstraintController extends ConstraintController<Boolean> {
+        TestDeviceIdleConstraintController(ConstraintTracker<Boolean> tracker,
+                OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+            super(tracker, callback);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+            return workSpec.getConstraints().requiresDeviceIdle();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        boolean isConstrained(@NonNull Boolean isDeviceIdle) {
+            return !isDeviceIdle;
+        }
+
+        void setDeviceActive() {
+            onConstraintChanged(false);
+        }
+
+        void setDeviceIdle() {
+            onConstraintChanged(true);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryChargingTrackerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryChargingTrackerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2159a58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryChargingTrackerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.core.IsNull.nullValue;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyBoolean;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.isNull;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.annotation.TargetApi;
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.os.BatteryManager;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.ConstraintListener;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class BatteryChargingTrackerTest {
+
+    private BatteryChargingTracker mTracker;
+    private ConstraintListener<Boolean> mListener;
+    private Context mMockContext;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mMockContext = mock(Context.class);
+        when(mMockContext.getApplicationContext()).thenReturn(mMockContext);
+
+        mTracker = new BatteryChargingTracker(mMockContext);
+        mListener = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+    }
+
+    private void mockContextReturns(Intent expectedIntent) {
+        when(mMockContext.registerReceiver((BroadcastReceiver) isNull(),
+                any(IntentFilter.class))).thenReturn(expectedIntent);
+    }
+
+    private Intent createBatteryChangedIntent(boolean charging) {
+        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED);
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23) {
+            int status = charging ? BatteryManager.BATTERY_STATUS_CHARGING
+                    : BatteryManager.BATTERY_STATUS_DISCHARGING;
+            intent.putExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_STATUS, status);
+        } else {
+            int plugged = charging ? 1 : 0;
+            intent.putExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_PLUGGED, plugged);
+        }
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    private Intent createChargingIntent(boolean charging) {
+        return new Intent(
+                charging ? Intent.ACTION_POWER_CONNECTED : Intent.ACTION_POWER_DISCONNECTED);
+    }
+
+    @TargetApi(23)
+    private Intent createChargingIntent_afterApi23(boolean charging) {
+        return new Intent(
+                charging ? BatteryManager.ACTION_CHARGING : BatteryManager.ACTION_DISCHARGING);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_nullIntent() {
+        mockContextReturns(null);
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(nullValue()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_chargingIntent() {
+        mockContextReturns(createBatteryChangedIntent(true));
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(true));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_dischargingIntent() {
+        mockContextReturns(createBatteryChangedIntent(false));
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(maxSdkVersion = 22)
+    public void testGetIntentFilter_beforeApi23() {
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = mTracker.getIntentFilter();
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(Intent.ACTION_POWER_CONNECTED), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(Intent.ACTION_POWER_DISCONNECTED), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.countActions(), is(2));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testGetIntentFilter_afterApi23() {
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = mTracker.getIntentFilter();
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(BatteryManager.ACTION_CHARGING), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(BatteryManager.ACTION_DISCHARGING), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.countActions(), is(2));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnBroadcastReceive_invalidIntentAction_doesNotNotifyListeners() {
+        mockContextReturns(createBatteryChangedIntent(true));
+        mTracker.addListener(mListener);
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(true);
+
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(
+                InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext(),
+                new Intent("INVALID"));
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(mListener);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(maxSdkVersion = 22)
+    public void testOnBroadcastReceive_notifiesListeners_beforeApi23() {
+        mockContextReturns(createBatteryChangedIntent(false));
+        mTracker.addListener(mListener);
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(false);
+
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, createChargingIntent(true));
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(true);
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, createChargingIntent(false));
+        verify(mListener, times(2)).onConstraintChanged(false);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testOnBroadcastReceive_notifiesListeners_afterApi23() {
+        mockContextReturns(null);
+        mTracker.addListener(mListener);
+        verify(mListener, never()).onConstraintChanged(anyBoolean());
+
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, createChargingIntent_afterApi23(true));
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(true);
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, createChargingIntent_afterApi23(false));
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(false);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryNotLowTrackerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryNotLowTrackerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0fb626
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryNotLowTrackerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.nullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.isNull;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.os.BatteryManager;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.ConstraintListener;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class BatteryNotLowTrackerTest {
+
+    private static final int PLUGGED_IN = BatteryManager.BATTERY_PLUGGED_AC;
+    private static final int NOT_PLUGGED_IN = BatteryNotLowTracker.BATTERY_PLUGGED_NONE;
+    private static final int KNOWN_STATUS = BatteryManager.BATTERY_STATUS_CHARGING;
+    private static final int UNKNOWN_STATUS = BatteryManager.BATTERY_STATUS_UNKNOWN;
+    private static final float AT_LOW_PERCENTAGE = BatteryNotLowTracker.BATTERY_LOW_PERCENTAGE;
+    private static final float ABOVE_LOW_PERCENTAGE =
+            BatteryNotLowTracker.BATTERY_LOW_PERCENTAGE + 0.01f;
+
+    private Context mMockContext;
+    private BatteryNotLowTracker mTracker;
+    private ConstraintListener<Boolean> mListener;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mMockContext = mock(Context.class);
+        when(mMockContext.getApplicationContext()).thenReturn(mMockContext);
+
+        mTracker = new BatteryNotLowTracker(mMockContext);
+        mListener = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+    }
+
+    private void mockContextReturns(Intent expectedIntent) {
+        when(mMockContext.registerReceiver((BroadcastReceiver) isNull(),
+                any(IntentFilter.class))).thenReturn(expectedIntent);
+    }
+
+    private Intent createBatteryChangedIntent(int plugged, int status, float percent) {
+        int scale = 100;
+        int level = (int) (scale * percent);
+
+        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED);
+        intent.putExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_PLUGGED, plugged);
+        intent.putExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_STATUS, status);
+        intent.putExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_LEVEL, level);
+        intent.putExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_SCALE, scale);
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    private void testGetInitialStateHelper(
+            int plugged, int status, float percentage, boolean expectedBatteryNotLow) {
+        mockContextReturns(createBatteryChangedIntent(plugged, status, percentage));
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(expectedBatteryNotLow));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_nullIntent() {
+        mockContextReturns(null);
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(nullValue()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_notPlugged_knownStatus_atBatteryLowPercentage() {
+        testGetInitialStateHelper(NOT_PLUGGED_IN, KNOWN_STATUS, AT_LOW_PERCENTAGE, false);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_plugged_knownStatus_aboveBatteryLowPercentage() {
+        testGetInitialStateHelper(PLUGGED_IN, KNOWN_STATUS, ABOVE_LOW_PERCENTAGE, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_plugged_knownStatus_atBatteryLowPercentage() {
+        testGetInitialStateHelper(PLUGGED_IN, KNOWN_STATUS, AT_LOW_PERCENTAGE, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_plugged_unknownStatus_aboveBatteryLowPercentage() {
+        testGetInitialStateHelper(PLUGGED_IN, UNKNOWN_STATUS, ABOVE_LOW_PERCENTAGE, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_plugged_unknownStatus_atBatteryLowPercentage() {
+        testGetInitialStateHelper(PLUGGED_IN, UNKNOWN_STATUS, AT_LOW_PERCENTAGE, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_notPlugged_knownStatus_aboveBatteryLowPercentage() {
+        testGetInitialStateHelper(NOT_PLUGGED_IN, KNOWN_STATUS, ABOVE_LOW_PERCENTAGE, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_notPlugged_unknownStatus_aboveBatteryLowPercentage() {
+        testGetInitialStateHelper(NOT_PLUGGED_IN, UNKNOWN_STATUS, ABOVE_LOW_PERCENTAGE, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_notPlugged_unknownStatus_atBatteryLowPercentage() {
+        testGetInitialStateHelper(NOT_PLUGGED_IN, UNKNOWN_STATUS, AT_LOW_PERCENTAGE, true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetIntentFilter() {
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = mTracker.getIntentFilter();
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_OKAY), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_LOW), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.countActions(), is(2));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnBroadcastReceive_invalidIntentAction_doesNotNotifyListeners() {
+        mockContextReturns(
+                createBatteryChangedIntent(PLUGGED_IN, KNOWN_STATUS, ABOVE_LOW_PERCENTAGE));
+        mTracker.addListener(mListener);
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(true);
+
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, new Intent("INVALID"));
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(mListener);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnBroadcastReceive_notifiesListeners() {
+        mockContextReturns(
+                createBatteryChangedIntent(NOT_PLUGGED_IN, KNOWN_STATUS, AT_LOW_PERCENTAGE));
+        mTracker.addListener(mListener);
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(false);
+
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, new Intent(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_OKAY));
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(true);
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, new Intent(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_LOW));
+        verify(mListener, times(2)).onConstraintChanged(false);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/ConstraintTrackerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/ConstraintTrackerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a425994
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/ConstraintTrackerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,203 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.ConstraintListener;
+
+@SmallTest
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class ConstraintTrackerTest {
+
+    private TestConstraintTracker mTracker;
+    private Context mMockContext;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mMockContext = mock(Context.class);
+        when(mMockContext.getApplicationContext()).thenReturn(mMockContext);
+        mTracker = new TestConstraintTracker(mMockContext);
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        try {
+            mTracker.stopTracking();
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            // Ignore any exceptions if the receiver isn't registered.
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testAddListener_manyListeners_doesNotCallGetInitialStateAndStartTrackingTwice() {
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener1 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener2 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+
+        assertThat(mTracker.mIsTracking, is(false));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mStartTrackingCount, is(0));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mGetInitialStateCount, is(0));
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener1);
+        assertThat(mTracker.mIsTracking, is(true));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mStartTrackingCount, is(1));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mGetInitialStateCount, is(1));
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener2);
+        assertThat(mTracker.mIsTracking, is(true));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mStartTrackingCount, is(1));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mGetInitialStateCount, is(1));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testAddListener_sameListener_doesNotCallGetInitialStateAndStartTrackingTwice() {
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+
+        assertThat(mTracker.mIsTracking, is(false));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mStartTrackingCount, is(0));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mGetInitialStateCount, is(0));
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener);
+        assertThat(mTracker.mIsTracking, is(true));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mStartTrackingCount, is(1));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mGetInitialStateCount, is(1));
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener);
+        assertThat(mTracker.mIsTracking, is(true));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mStartTrackingCount, is(1));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mGetInitialStateCount, is(1));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testAddListener_notifiesAddedListener() {
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener1 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener2 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+
+        mTracker.mInitialState = true;
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener1);
+        verify(constraintListener1).onConstraintChanged(true);
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener2);
+        verify(constraintListener2).onConstraintChanged(true);
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(constraintListener1);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testAddListener_constraintNotSet() {
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener1 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener2 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener1);
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener2);
+        verify(constraintListener1).onConstraintChanged(null);
+        verify(constraintListener2).onConstraintChanged(null);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSetState_newState_notifiesAllListeners() {
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener1 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener2 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener1);
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener2);
+        verify(constraintListener1).onConstraintChanged(null);
+        verify(constraintListener2).onConstraintChanged(null);
+
+        mTracker.setState(true);
+        verify(constraintListener1).onConstraintChanged(true);
+        verify(constraintListener2).onConstraintChanged(true);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSetState_sameState_doesNotNotify() {
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener1 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener2 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener1);
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener2);
+        verify(constraintListener1).onConstraintChanged(null);
+        verify(constraintListener2).onConstraintChanged(null);
+
+        mTracker.setState(false);
+        verify(constraintListener1).onConstraintChanged(false);
+        verify(constraintListener2).onConstraintChanged(false);
+
+        mTracker.setState(false);
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(constraintListener1);
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(constraintListener2);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testRemoveListener() {
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener1 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+        ConstraintListener<Boolean> constraintListener2 = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener1);
+        mTracker.addListener(constraintListener2);
+
+        mTracker.removeListener(constraintListener1);
+        assertThat(mTracker.mIsTracking, is(true));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mStopTrackingCount, is(0));
+
+        mTracker.removeListener(constraintListener2);
+        assertThat(mTracker.mIsTracking, is(false));
+        assertThat(mTracker.mStopTrackingCount, is(1));
+    }
+
+    private static class TestConstraintTracker extends ConstraintTracker<Boolean> {
+        boolean mIsTracking;
+        int mGetInitialStateCount;
+        int mStartTrackingCount;
+        int mStopTrackingCount;
+        Boolean mInitialState = null;
+
+        TestConstraintTracker(Context context) {
+            super(context);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Boolean getInitialState() {
+            mGetInitialStateCount++;
+            return mInitialState;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void startTracking() {
+            mIsTracking = true;
+            mStartTrackingCount++;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void stopTracking() {
+            mIsTracking = false;
+            mStopTrackingCount++;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/NetworkStateTrackerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/NetworkStateTrackerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92ca62a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/NetworkStateTrackerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.eq;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.net.ConnectivityManager;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.NetworkState;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class NetworkStateTrackerTest {
+
+    private NetworkStateTracker mTracker;
+
+    private Context mMockContext;
+    private ConnectivityManager mMockConnectivityManager;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mMockContext = mock(Context.class);
+        mMockConnectivityManager = mock(ConnectivityManager.class);
+        when(mMockContext.getApplicationContext()).thenReturn(mMockContext);
+        when(mMockContext.getSystemService(eq(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE)))
+                .thenReturn(mMockConnectivityManager);
+
+        mTracker = new NetworkStateTracker(mMockContext);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_nullNetworkInfo() {
+        NetworkState expectedState = new NetworkState(false, false, false, false);
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(expectedState));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 24)
+    public void testStartTracking_afterApi24() {
+        mTracker.startTracking();
+        verify(mMockConnectivityManager)
+                .registerDefaultNetworkCallback(any(ConnectivityManager.NetworkCallback.class));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(maxSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testStartTracking_beforeApi24() {
+        mTracker.startTracking();
+        ArgumentCaptor<IntentFilter> argCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(IntentFilter.class);
+        verify(mMockContext).registerReceiver(any(BroadcastReceiver.class), argCaptor.capture());
+
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = argCaptor.getValue();
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(ConnectivityManager.CONNECTIVITY_ACTION), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.countActions(), is(1));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 24)
+    public void testStopTracking_afterApi24() {
+        mTracker.stopTracking();
+        verify(mMockConnectivityManager)
+                .unregisterNetworkCallback(any(ConnectivityManager.NetworkCallback.class));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    @SdkSuppress(maxSdkVersion = 23)
+    public void testStopTracking_beforeApi24() {
+        mTracker.stopTracking();
+        verify(mMockContext).unregisterReceiver(any(BroadcastReceiver.class));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/StorageNotLowTrackerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/StorageNotLowTrackerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52630aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/StorageNotLowTrackerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyBoolean;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.isNull;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.ConstraintListener;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class StorageNotLowTrackerTest {
+
+    private StorageNotLowTracker mTracker;
+    private ConstraintListener<Boolean> mListener;
+    private Context mMockContext;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mMockContext = mock(Context.class);
+        when(mMockContext.getApplicationContext()).thenReturn(mMockContext);
+
+        mTracker = new StorageNotLowTracker(mMockContext);
+        mListener = mock(ConstraintListener.class);
+    }
+
+    private void mockContextReturns(Intent expectedIntent) {
+        when(mMockContext.registerReceiver((BroadcastReceiver) isNull(),
+                any(IntentFilter.class))).thenReturn(expectedIntent);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_nullIntent() {
+        mockContextReturns(null);
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(true));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_storageOkIntent() {
+        mockContextReturns(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_OK));
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(true));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetInitialState_storageLowIntent() {
+        mockContextReturns(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW));
+        assertThat(mTracker.getInitialState(), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testGetIntentFilter() {
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = mTracker.getIntentFilter();
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_OK), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.hasAction(Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW), is(true));
+        assertThat(intentFilter.countActions(), is(2));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnBroadcastReceive_invalidIntentAction_doesNotNotifyListeners() {
+        mockContextReturns(null);
+        mTracker.addListener(mListener);
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(true);
+
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, new Intent("INVALID"));
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(mListener);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SmallTest
+    public void testOnBroadcastReceive_notifiesListeners() {
+        mockContextReturns(new Intent("INVALID"));
+        mTracker.addListener(mListener);
+        verify(mListener, never()).onConstraintChanged(anyBoolean());
+
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_OK));
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(true);
+        mTracker.onBroadcastReceive(mMockContext, new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW));
+        verify(mListener).onConstraintChanged(false);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/logger/LoggerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/logger/LoggerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59577ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/logger/LoggerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.logger;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SmallTest
+public class LoggerTest {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "LoggerTest";
+
+    @Rule
+    public ExpectedException mThrown = ExpectedException.none();
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        Logger.LOG_LEVEL = Log.VERBOSE;
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testLog_verbose() {
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.VERBOSE), is(true));
+        Logger.LOG_LEVEL = Log.DEBUG;
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.VERBOSE), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testLog_debug() {
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.DEBUG), is(true));
+        Logger.LOG_LEVEL = Log.INFO;
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.DEBUG), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testLog_info() {
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.INFO), is(true));
+        Logger.LOG_LEVEL = Log.WARN;
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.INFO), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testLog_warn() {
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.WARN), is(true));
+        Logger.LOG_LEVEL = Log.ERROR;
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.WARN), is(false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testLog_error() {
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.ERROR), is(true));
+        Logger.LOG_LEVEL = Log.ASSERT;
+        assertThat(Logger.isLoggable(Log.ERROR), is(false));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/EnqueueRunnableTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/EnqueueRunnableTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc48671
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/EnqueueRunnableTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doNothing;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkContinuationImpl;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SmallTest
+public class EnqueueRunnableTest {
+
+    private WorkContinuationImpl mWorkContinuation;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setup() {
+        mWorkContinuation = mock(WorkContinuationImpl.class);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testScheduleWorkInBackground_isCalled() {
+        EnqueueRunnable runnable = spy(new EnqueueRunnable(mWorkContinuation));
+        doNothing().when(runnable).addToDatabase();
+        doNothing().when(runnable).scheduleWorkInBackground();
+        runnable.run();
+        verify(runnable, times(1)).scheduleWorkInBackground();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/ForceStopRunnableTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/ForceStopRunnableTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39fd5b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/ForceStopRunnableTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.ComponentName;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.SystemAlarmService;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob.SystemJobService;
+
+@SmallTest
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class ForceStopRunnableTest {
+
+    private Context mContext;
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManager;
+    private ForceStopRunnable mRunnable;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mContext = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext().getApplicationContext();
+        mWorkManager = mock(WorkManagerImpl.class);
+        mRunnable = new ForceStopRunnable(mContext, mWorkManager);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(maxSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MAX_PRE_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+    public void testIntent_expectsSystemAlarmService() {
+        Intent intent = mRunnable.getIntent();
+        ComponentName componentName = intent.getComponent();
+        assertThat(componentName.getClassName(), is(SystemAlarmService.class.getName()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+    public void testIntent_expectsSystemJobService() {
+        Intent intent = mRunnable.getIntent();
+        ComponentName componentName = intent.getComponent();
+        assertThat(componentName.getClassName(), is(SystemJobService.class.getName()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testReschedulesOnForceStop() {
+        ForceStopRunnable runnable = spy(mRunnable);
+        when(runnable.isForceStopped()).thenReturn(true);
+        runnable.run();
+        verify(mWorkManager, times(1)).rescheduleEligibleWork();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_doNothingWhenNotForceStopped() {
+        ForceStopRunnable runnable = spy(mRunnable);
+        when(runnable.isForceStopped()).thenReturn(false);
+        runnable.run();
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(mWorkManager);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/IdGeneratorTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/IdGeneratorTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a667e9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/IdGeneratorTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyInt;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.eq;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.SharedPreferences;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.invocation.InvocationOnMock;
+import org.mockito.stubbing.Answer;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+
+@SmallTest
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+public class IdGeneratorTest {
+    private Integer mMockSharedPrefsNextId;
+    private IdGenerator mIdGenerator;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        Context mMockContext = mock(Context.class);
+        SharedPreferences.Editor mockEditor = createMockSharedPreferencesEditor();
+        SharedPreferences mockSharedPrefs = createMockSharedPreferences(mockEditor);
+        when(mMockContext.getSharedPreferences(
+                eq(IdGenerator.PREFERENCE_FILE_KEY), anyInt()))
+                .thenReturn(mockSharedPrefs);
+        mIdGenerator = new IdGenerator(mMockContext);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testNextId_returnsInitialIdWhenNoStoredNextId() {
+        assertThat(mIdGenerator.nextJobSchedulerId(), is(IdGenerator.INITIAL_ID));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testNextId_returnsStoredNextId() {
+        int expectedId = 100;
+        storeNextIdInSharedPrefs(expectedId);
+        assertThat(mIdGenerator.nextJobSchedulerId(), is(expectedId));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testNextId_returnsInitialIdAfterReturningMaxInteger() {
+        int expectedId = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
+        storeNextIdInSharedPrefs(expectedId);
+        assertThat(mIdGenerator.nextJobSchedulerId(), is(expectedId));
+        assertThat(mIdGenerator.nextJobSchedulerId(), is(IdGenerator.INITIAL_ID));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Mocks setting a stored value in {@link SharedPreferences} for the next ID.
+     *
+     * @param nextId The next ID to store in {@link SharedPreferences}.
+     */
+    private void storeNextIdInSharedPrefs(int nextId) {
+        mMockSharedPrefsNextId = nextId;
+    }
+
+    private SharedPreferences createMockSharedPreferences(SharedPreferences.Editor mockEditor) {
+        final SharedPreferences mockSharedPreferences = mock(SharedPreferences.class);
+        when(mockSharedPreferences.edit()).thenReturn(mockEditor);
+        when(mockSharedPreferences.getInt(eq(IdGenerator.NEXT_JOB_SCHEDULER_ID_KEY), anyInt()))
+                .thenAnswer(new Answer<Integer>() {
+                    @Override
+                    public Integer answer(InvocationOnMock invocation) throws Throwable {
+                        int defValue = invocation.getArgument(1);
+                        return (mMockSharedPrefsNextId == null) ? defValue : mMockSharedPrefsNextId;
+                    }
+                });
+        return mockSharedPreferences;
+    }
+
+    private SharedPreferences.Editor createMockSharedPreferencesEditor() {
+        final SharedPreferences.Editor mockEditor = mock(SharedPreferences.Editor.class);
+        when(mockEditor.putInt(eq(IdGenerator.NEXT_JOB_SCHEDULER_ID_KEY), anyInt())).thenAnswer(
+                new Answer<SharedPreferences.Editor>() {
+                    @Override
+                    public SharedPreferences.Editor answer(InvocationOnMock invocation)
+                            throws Throwable {
+                        mMockSharedPrefsNextId = invocation.getArgument(1);
+                        return mockEditor;
+                    }
+                });
+        return mockEditor;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/LiveDataUtilsTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/LiveDataUtilsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f9f252
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/LiveDataUtilsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.nullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+
+import android.arch.core.executor.testing.InstantTaskExecutorRule;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.MutableLiveData;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.Observer;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import androidx.work.TestLifecycleOwner;
+
+@SmallTest
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+public class LiveDataUtilsTest {
+
+    @Rule
+    public InstantTaskExecutorRule instantTaskExecutorRule = new InstantTaskExecutorRule();
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDedupedLiveData() {
+        MutableLiveData<String> originalLiveData = new MutableLiveData<>();
+        LiveData<String> dedupedLiveData = LiveDataUtils.dedupedLiveDataFor(originalLiveData);
+        assertThat(dedupedLiveData.getValue(), is(nullValue()));
+
+        TestLifecycleOwner testLifecycleOwner = new TestLifecycleOwner();
+        CountingObserver<String> observer = new CountingObserver<>();
+        dedupedLiveData.observe(testLifecycleOwner, observer);
+        assertThat(observer.mTimesUpdated, is(0));
+
+        String value = "new value";
+        originalLiveData.setValue(value);
+        assertThat(dedupedLiveData.getValue(), is(value));
+        assertThat(observer.mTimesUpdated, is(1));
+
+        originalLiveData.setValue(value);
+        assertThat(dedupedLiveData.getValue(), is(value));
+        assertThat(observer.mTimesUpdated, is(1));
+
+        String newerValue = "newer value";
+        originalLiveData.setValue(newerValue);
+        assertThat(dedupedLiveData.getValue(), is(newerValue));
+        assertThat(observer.mTimesUpdated, is(2));
+    }
+
+    private static class CountingObserver<T> implements Observer<T> {
+
+        int mTimesUpdated;
+
+        @Override
+        public void onChanged(@Nullable T t) {
+            ++mTimesUpdated;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/InstantTaskExecutorRule.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/InstantTaskExecutorRule.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0dc4138
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/InstantTaskExecutorRule.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor;
+
+import org.junit.rules.TestWatcher;
+import org.junit.runner.Description;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link org.junit.Rule} that swaps the background executor used by WorkManager with a
+ * different one which executes each task synchronously.
+ * Adapted from {@link android.arch.core.executor.testing.InstantTaskExecutorRule}
+ */
+
+public class InstantTaskExecutorRule extends TestWatcher {
+    @Override
+    protected void starting(Description description) {
+        super.starting(description);
+        WorkManagerTaskExecutor.getInstance().setTaskExecutor(new TaskExecutor() {
+            @Override
+            public void postToMainThread(Runnable r) {
+                r.run();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void executeOnBackgroundThread(Runnable r) {
+                r.run();
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void finished(Description description) {
+        super.finished(description);
+        WorkManagerTaskExecutor.getInstance().setTaskExecutor(null);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/ConstraintTrackingWorkerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/ConstraintTrackingWorkerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94c8a94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/ConstraintTrackingWorkerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,319 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.workers;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Handler;
+import android.os.Looper;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.test.InstrumentationRegistry;
+import android.support.test.filters.SdkSuppress;
+import android.support.test.filters.SmallTest;
+import android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnit4;
+
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.DatabaseTest;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.impl.ExecutionListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkerWrapper;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.BatteryChargingTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.BatteryNotLowTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.NetworkStateTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.StorageNotLowTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.worker.EchoingWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.SleepTestWorker;
+import androidx.work.worker.TestWorker;
+
+@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
+@SmallTest
+public class ConstraintTrackingWorkerTest extends DatabaseTest implements ExecutionListener {
+
+    private static final long DELAY_IN_MILLIS = 100;
+    private static final long TEST_TIMEOUT_IN_SECONDS = 6;
+    private static final String TEST_ARGUMENT_NAME = "test";
+
+    private Context mContext;
+    private Handler mHandler;
+    private CountDownLatch mLatch;
+    private ExecutorService mExecutorService;
+
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+    private Scheduler mScheduler;
+    private Trackers mTracker;
+    private BatteryChargingTracker mBatteryChargingTracker;
+    private BatteryNotLowTracker mBatteryNotLowTracker;
+    private NetworkStateTracker mNetworkStateTracker;
+    private StorageNotLowTracker mStorageNotLowTracker;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mContext = InstrumentationRegistry.getTargetContext().getApplicationContext();
+        mHandler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
+        mExecutorService = Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor();
+        mLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl = mock(WorkManagerImpl.class);
+        mScheduler = mock(Scheduler.class);
+        when(mWorkManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase()).thenReturn(mDatabase);
+
+        mBatteryChargingTracker = spy(new BatteryChargingTracker(mContext));
+        mBatteryNotLowTracker = spy(new BatteryNotLowTracker(mContext));
+        // Requires API 24+ types.
+        mNetworkStateTracker = mock(NetworkStateTracker.class);
+        mStorageNotLowTracker = spy(new StorageNotLowTracker(mContext));
+        mTracker = mock(Trackers.class);
+
+        when(mTracker.getBatteryChargingTracker()).thenReturn(mBatteryChargingTracker);
+        when(mTracker.getBatteryNotLowTracker()).thenReturn(mBatteryNotLowTracker);
+        when(mTracker.getNetworkStateTracker()).thenReturn(mNetworkStateTracker);
+        when(mTracker.getStorageNotLowTracker()).thenReturn(mStorageNotLowTracker);
+
+        // Override Trackers being used by WorkConstraintsProxy
+        Trackers.setInstance(mTracker);
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        mExecutorService.shutdownNow();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testConstraintTrackingWorker_onConstraintsMet() throws InterruptedException {
+        when(mBatteryNotLowTracker.getInitialState()).thenReturn(true);
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        String delegateName = EchoingWorker.class.getName();
+
+        Arguments arguments = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putString(ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, delegateName)
+                .putBoolean(TEST_ARGUMENT_NAME, true)
+                .build();
+
+        final Work work = new Work.Builder(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class)
+                .withArguments(arguments)
+                .withConstraints(constraints)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        ConstraintTrackingWorker worker =
+                (ConstraintTrackingWorker) WorkerWrapper.workerFromClassName(
+                        mContext, ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName(), workSpecId, arguments);
+
+        ConstraintTrackingWorker spyWorker = spy(worker);
+        when(spyWorker.getWorkDatabase()).thenReturn(mDatabase);
+
+        WorkerWrapper.Builder builder = new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, workSpecId);
+        builder.withWorker(spyWorker)
+                .withListener(this)
+                .withSchedulers(Collections.singletonList(mScheduler));
+
+        mExecutorService.submit(builder.build());
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT_IN_SECONDS, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(workSpecId);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        assertThat(workSpec.getState(), is(State.SUCCEEDED));
+        Arguments output = workSpec.getOutput();
+        assertThat(output.getBoolean(TEST_ARGUMENT_NAME, false), is(true));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testConstraintTrackingWorker_onConstraintsNotMet() throws InterruptedException {
+        when(mBatteryNotLowTracker.getInitialState()).thenReturn(false);
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        String delegateName = TestWorker.class.getName();
+        Arguments arguments = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putString(ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, delegateName)
+                .build();
+
+        final Work work = new Work.Builder(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(constraints)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        ConstraintTrackingWorker worker =
+                (ConstraintTrackingWorker) WorkerWrapper.workerFromClassName(
+                        mContext,
+                        ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName(),
+                        workSpecId,
+                        arguments);
+
+        ConstraintTrackingWorker spyWorker = spy(worker);
+        when(spyWorker.getWorkDatabase()).thenReturn(mDatabase);
+
+        WorkerWrapper.Builder builder = new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, workSpecId);
+        builder.withWorker(spyWorker)
+                .withListener(this)
+                .withSchedulers(Collections.singletonList(mScheduler));
+
+        mExecutorService.submit(builder.build());
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT_IN_SECONDS, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(workSpecId);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        assertThat(workSpec.getState(), is(State.ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testConstraintTrackingWorker_onConstraintsChanged() throws InterruptedException {
+        when(mBatteryNotLowTracker.getInitialState()).thenReturn(true);
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        String delegateName = SleepTestWorker.class.getName();
+        Arguments arguments = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putString(ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, delegateName)
+                .build();
+
+        final Work work = new Work.Builder(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(constraints)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        ConstraintTrackingWorker worker =
+                (ConstraintTrackingWorker) WorkerWrapper.workerFromClassName(
+                        mContext,
+                        ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName(),
+                        workSpecId,
+                        arguments);
+
+        ConstraintTrackingWorker spyWorker = spy(worker);
+        when(spyWorker.getWorkDatabase()).thenReturn(mDatabase);
+
+        WorkerWrapper.Builder builder = new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, workSpecId);
+        builder.withWorker(spyWorker)
+                .withListener(this)
+                .withSchedulers(Collections.singletonList(mScheduler));
+
+        mExecutorService.submit(builder.build());
+        mHandler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                mBatteryNotLowTracker.setState(false);
+            }
+        }, DELAY_IN_MILLIS);
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT_IN_SECONDS, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(workSpecId);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        assertThat(workSpec.getState(), is(State.ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @SdkSuppress(minSdkVersion = 23, maxSdkVersion = 25)
+    public void testConstraintTrackingWorker_onConstraintsChangedTwice()
+            throws InterruptedException {
+        when(mBatteryNotLowTracker.getInitialState()).thenReturn(true);
+        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
+                .setRequiresBatteryNotLow(true)
+                .build();
+
+        String delegateName = SleepTestWorker.class.getName();
+        Arguments arguments = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putString(ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, delegateName)
+                .build();
+
+        final Work work = new Work.Builder(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class)
+                .withConstraints(constraints)
+                .build();
+
+        insertWork(work);
+
+        String workSpecId = work.getId();
+
+        ConstraintTrackingWorker worker =
+                (ConstraintTrackingWorker) WorkerWrapper.workerFromClassName(
+                        mContext,
+                        ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName(),
+                        workSpecId,
+                        arguments);
+
+        ConstraintTrackingWorker spyWorker = spy(worker);
+        when(spyWorker.getWorkDatabase()).thenReturn(mDatabase);
+
+        WorkerWrapper.Builder builder = new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mContext, mDatabase, workSpecId);
+        builder.withWorker(spyWorker)
+                .withListener(this)
+                .withSchedulers(Collections.singletonList(mScheduler));
+
+        mExecutorService.submit(builder.build());
+
+        mHandler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                mBatteryNotLowTracker.setState(false);
+            }
+        }, DELAY_IN_MILLIS);
+
+        mHandler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                mBatteryNotLowTracker.setState(true);
+            }
+        }, DELAY_IN_MILLIS);
+
+        mLatch.await(TEST_TIMEOUT_IN_SECONDS, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(workSpecId);
+        assertThat(mLatch.getCount(), is(0L));
+        assertThat(workSpec.getState(), is(State.ENQUEUED));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onExecuted(
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            boolean isSuccessful,
+            boolean needsReschedule) {
+        mLatch.countDown();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/ChainedArgumentWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/ChainedArgumentWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0facacc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/ChainedArgumentWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Created by sumir on 11/22/17.
+ */
+
+public class ChainedArgumentWorker extends Worker {
+
+    public static final String ARGUMENT_KEY = "key";
+    public static final String ARGUMENT_VALUE = "value";
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        setOutput(getChainedArguments());
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+
+    public static Arguments getChainedArguments() {
+        return new Arguments.Builder().putString(ARGUMENT_KEY, ARGUMENT_VALUE).build();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/EchoingWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/EchoingWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f2be55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/EchoingWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+public class EchoingWorker extends Worker {
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        setOutput(getArguments());
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FailureWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FailureWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..937d01b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/FailureWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Worker that fails.
+ */
+
+public class FailureWorker extends Worker {
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Log.d("FailureWorker", "Returning FAILURE");
+        return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/InfiniteTestWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/InfiniteTestWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e345384
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/InfiniteTestWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Test Worker that loops until Thread is interrupted.
+ */
+
+public class InfiniteTestWorker extends Worker {
+    private static final String TAG = "InfiniteTestWorker";
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        while (true) {
+            if (isInterrupted()) {
+                Log.e(TAG, "Interrupted");
+                return WorkerResult.RETRY;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/RetryWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/RetryWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7846035
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/RetryWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Worker that fails.
+ */
+
+public class RetryWorker extends Worker {
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Log.d("RetryWorker", "Returning RETRY");
+        return WorkerResult.RETRY;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/SleepTestWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/SleepTestWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40d92a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/SleepTestWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Worker that sleeps for 5 seconds before returning.
+ */
+
+public class SleepTestWorker extends Worker {
+    public static final long SLEEP_DURATION = 5000;
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        try {
+            Log.d("SleepTestWorker", "Sleeping : " + SLEEP_DURATION);
+            Thread.sleep(SLEEP_DURATION);
+        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/TestWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/TestWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7cd90fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/java/androidx/work/worker/TestWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.worker;
+
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Simple Test Worker
+ */
+
+public class TestWorker extends Worker {
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        Log.d("TestWorker", "TestWorker Ran!");
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/res/values/values.xml
similarity index 76%
rename from car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml
rename to work/workmanager/src/androidTest/res/values/values.xml
index 13d0a49..b9c51dc 100644
--- a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/androidTest/res/values/values.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <!--
-  ~ Copyright (C) 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~ Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
   ~
   ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
   ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   ~ limitations under the License.
   -->
-<ripple
-    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
-    android:color="@color/car_card_ripple_background" />
+
+<resources>
+    <bool name="workmanager_test_configuration">true</bool>
+</resources>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml b/work/workmanager/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..122a5a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright (C) 2016 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~
+  ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  ~ You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  ~ distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  ~ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  ~ limitations under the License.
+  -->
+
+<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
+          package="androidx.work">
+
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" />
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED" />
+
+    <application>
+        <service
+            android:name="androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.SystemAlarmService"
+            android:exported="false"
+            android:enabled="@bool/enable_system_alarm_service_default" />
+        <service
+            android:name="androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob.SystemJobService"
+            android:permission="android.permission.BIND_JOB_SERVICE"
+            android:exported="true"
+            android:enabled="@bool/enable_system_job_service_default" />
+        <receiver
+            android:name="androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxy$BatteryChargingProxy"
+            android:enabled="false">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.ACTION_POWER_CONNECTED"/>
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.ACTION_POWER_DISCONNECTED"/>
+            </intent-filter>
+        </receiver>
+        <receiver
+            android:name="androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxy$BatteryNotLowProxy"
+            android:enabled="false">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.BATTERY_OKAY"/>
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.BATTERY_LOW"/>
+            </intent-filter>
+        </receiver>
+        <receiver
+            android:name="androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxy$StorageNotLowProxy"
+            android:enabled="false">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW"/>
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.DEVICE_STORAGE_OK"/>
+            </intent-filter>
+        </receiver>
+        <receiver
+            android:name="androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxy$NetworkStateProxy"
+            android:enabled="false">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="android.net.conn.CONNECTIVITY_CHANGE"/>
+            </intent-filter>
+        </receiver>
+        <receiver
+            android:name="androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.RescheduleReceiver"
+            android:enabled="@bool/enable_system_alarm_service_default">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.TIME_SET" />
+                <action android:name="android.intent.action.TIMEZONE_CHANGED" />
+            </intent-filter>
+        </receiver>
+        <receiver android:name=".impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxyUpdateReceiver"
+                  android:enabled="@bool/enable_system_alarm_service_default"
+                  android:exported="false">
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.UpdateProxies" />
+            </intent-filter>
+        </receiver>
+    </application>
+</manifest>
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Arguments.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Arguments.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4baf972
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Arguments.java
@@ -0,0 +1,473 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.TypeConverter;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Persistable set of key/value pairs which are passed to {@link Worker}s.
+ */
+
+public final class Arguments {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "Arguments";
+
+    private Map<String, Object> mValues;
+
+    public static final Arguments EMPTY = new Arguments.Builder().build();
+
+    Arguments() {    // stub required for room
+    }
+
+    Arguments(Map<String, ?> values) {
+        mValues = new HashMap<>(values);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the boolean value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @param defaultValue The default value to return if the key is not found
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; the default value otherwise
+     */
+    public Boolean getBoolean(String key, Boolean defaultValue) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof Boolean) {
+            return (Boolean) value;
+        } else {
+            return defaultValue;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the integer value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @param defaultValue The default value to return if the key is not found
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; the default value otherwise
+     */
+    public Integer getInt(String key, Integer defaultValue) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof Integer) {
+            return (Integer) value;
+        } else {
+            return defaultValue;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the integer array value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; {@code null} otherwise
+     */
+    public Integer[] getIntArray(String key) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof Integer[]) {
+            return (Integer[]) value;
+        } else {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the long value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @param defaultValue The default value to return if the key is not found
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; the default value otherwise
+     */
+    public Long getLong(String key, Long defaultValue) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof Long) {
+            return (Long) value;
+        } else {
+            return defaultValue;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the long array value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; {@code null} otherwise
+     */
+    public Long[] getLongArray(String key) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof Long[]) {
+            return (Long[]) value;
+        } else {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the double value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @param defaultValue The default value to return if the key is not found
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; the default value otherwise
+     */
+    public Double getDouble(String key, Double defaultValue) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof Double) {
+            return (Double) value;
+        } else {
+            return defaultValue;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the double array value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; {@code null} otherwise
+     */
+    public Double[] getDoubleArray(String key) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof Double[]) {
+            return (Double[]) value;
+        } else {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the String value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @param defaultValue The default value to return if the key is not found
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; the default value otherwise
+     */
+    public String getString(String key, String defaultValue) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof String) {
+            return (String) value;
+        } else {
+            return defaultValue;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the String array value for the given key.
+     *
+     * @param key The key for the argument
+     * @return The value specified by the key if it exists; {@code null} otherwise
+     */
+    public String[] getStringArray(String key) {
+        Object value = mValues.get(key);
+        if (value instanceof String[]) {
+            return (String[]) value;
+        } else {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Gets all the values in this Arguments object.
+     *
+     * @return A {@link Map} of key-value pairs for this object; this Map is unmodifiable and should
+     * be used for reads only.
+     */
+    public Map<String, Object> getKeyValueMap() {
+        return Collections.unmodifiableMap(mValues);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return The number of arguments
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public int size() {
+        return mValues.size();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts {@link Arguments} to a byte array for persistent storage.
+     *
+     * @param arguments The {@link Arguments} object to convert
+     * @return The byte array representation of the input
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static byte[] toByteArray(Arguments arguments) {
+        ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        ObjectOutputStream objectOutputStream = null;
+        try {
+            objectOutputStream = new ObjectOutputStream(outputStream);
+            objectOutputStream.writeInt(arguments.size());
+            for (Map.Entry<String, Object> entry : arguments.mValues.entrySet()) {
+                objectOutputStream.writeUTF(entry.getKey());
+                objectOutputStream.writeObject(entry.getValue());
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } finally {
+            if (objectOutputStream != null) {
+                try {
+                    objectOutputStream.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+            try {
+                outputStream.close();
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                e.printStackTrace();
+            }
+        }
+        return outputStream.toByteArray();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts a byte array to {@link Arguments}.
+     *
+     * @param bytes The byte array representation to convert
+     * @return An {@link Arguments} object built from the input
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static Arguments fromByteArray(byte[] bytes) {
+        Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<>();
+        ByteArrayInputStream inputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes);
+        ObjectInputStream objectInputStream = null;
+        try {
+            objectInputStream = new ObjectInputStream(inputStream);
+            for (int i = objectInputStream.readInt(); i > 0; i--) {
+                map.put(objectInputStream.readUTF(), objectInputStream.readObject());
+            }
+        } catch (IOException | ClassNotFoundException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } finally {
+            if (objectInputStream != null) {
+                try {
+                    objectInputStream.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+            try {
+                inputStream.close();
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                e.printStackTrace();
+            }
+        }
+        return new Arguments(map);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        Arguments other = (Arguments) o;
+        return mValues.equals(other.mValues);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        return 31 * mValues.hashCode();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A builder for {@link Arguments}.
+     */
+    public static class Builder {
+
+        private Map<String, Object> mValues = new HashMap<>();
+
+        /**
+         * Puts a boolean into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putBoolean(String key, Boolean value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Puts an integer into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putInt(String key, Integer value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+
+        /**
+         * Puts an integer array into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putIntArray(String key, Integer[] value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+
+        /**
+         * Puts a long into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putLong(String key, Long value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Puts a long array into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putLongArray(String key, Long[] value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Puts a double into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putDouble(String key, Double value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Puts a double array into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putDoubleArray(String key, Double[] value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Puts a String into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putString(String key, String value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Puts a String array into the arguments.
+         *
+         * @param key The key for this argument
+         * @param value The value for this argument
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putStringArray(String key, String[] value) {
+            mValues.put(key, value);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Puts all input key-value pairs from the {@link Arguments} into the Builder.
+         * Any non-valid types will be logged and ignored.  Valid types are: Boolean, Integer,
+         * Long, Double, String, and array versions of each of those types.
+         * Any {@code null} values will also be ignored.
+         *
+         * @param values {@link Arguments} containing key-value pairs to add
+         * @return The {@link Builder}
+         */
+        public Builder putAll(@NonNull Arguments values) {
+            putAll(values.mValues);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Puts all input key-value pairs into the Builder.  Any non-valid types will be logged and
+         * ignored.  Valid types are: Boolean, Integer, Long, Double, String, and array versions of
+         * each of those types.  Any {@code null} values will also be ignored.
+         *
+         * @param values A {@link Map} of key-value pairs to add
+         */
+        public void putAll(Map<String, Object> values) {
+            for (Map.Entry<String, Object> entry : values.entrySet()) {
+                String key = entry.getKey();
+                Object value = entry.getValue();
+                if (value == null) {
+                    Logger.warn(TAG, "Ignoring null value for key %s", key);
+                    continue;
+                }
+                Class valueType = value.getClass();
+                if (valueType == Boolean.class
+                        || valueType == Integer.class
+                        || valueType == Long.class
+                        || valueType == Double.class
+                        || valueType == String.class
+                        || valueType == Boolean[].class
+                        || valueType == Integer[].class
+                        || valueType == Long[].class
+                        || valueType == Double[].class
+                        || valueType == String[].class) {
+                    mValues.put(key, value);
+                } else {
+                    Logger.warn(TAG, "Ignoring key %s because of invalid type %s", key, valueType);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Builds an {@link Arguments} object.
+         *
+         * @return The {@link Arguments} object containing all key-value pairs specified by this
+         *         {@link Builder}.
+         */
+        public Arguments build() {
+            return new Arguments(mValues);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ArrayCreatingInputMerger.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ArrayCreatingInputMerger.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3bf429
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ArrayCreatingInputMerger.java
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Array;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+/**
+ * An {@link InputMerger} that attempts to merge the various inputs.  For each input, we look at
+ * each key:
+ *
+ * - If this is the first time we encountered the key
+ *   - If it's an array, put it in the output
+ *   - If it's a primitive, turn it into a size 1 array and put it in the output
+ * - Else
+ *   - If the value type matches the old value type
+ *     - If they are arrays, concatenate them
+ *     - If they are primitives, turn them into a size 2 array
+ *   - Else if one is an array and the other is a primitive
+ *     - Make a longer array and concatenate them
+ *   - Else throw an {@link IllegalStateException}
+ */
+
+public class ArrayCreatingInputMerger extends InputMerger {
+
+    @Override
+    public Arguments merge(List<Arguments> inputs) {
+        Arguments.Builder output = new Arguments.Builder();
+        Map<String, Object> mergedValues = new HashMap<>();
+
+        for (Arguments input : inputs) {
+            for (Map.Entry<String, Object> entry : input.getKeyValueMap().entrySet()) {
+                String key = entry.getKey();
+                Object value = entry.getValue();
+                Class valueClass = value.getClass();
+                Object mergedValue = null;
+
+                if (!mergedValues.containsKey(key)) {
+                    // First time encountering this key.
+                    if (valueClass.isArray()) {
+                        // Arrays carry over as-is.
+                        mergedValue = value;
+                    } else {
+                        // Primitives get turned into size 1 arrays.
+                        mergedValue = createArrayFor(value);
+                    }
+                } else {
+                    // We've encountered this key before.
+                    Object existingValue = mergedValues.get(key);
+                    Class existingValueClass = existingValue.getClass();
+
+                    if (existingValueClass.equals(valueClass)) {
+                        // The classes match; we can merge.
+                        if (existingValueClass.isArray()) {
+                            mergedValue = concatenateArrays(existingValue, value);
+                        } else {
+                            mergedValue = concatenateNonArrays(existingValue, value);
+                        }
+                    } else if (existingValueClass.isArray()
+                            && existingValueClass.getComponentType().equals(valueClass)) {
+                        // We have an existing array of the same type.
+                        mergedValue = concatenateArrayAndNonArray(existingValue, value);
+                    } else if (valueClass.isArray()
+                            && valueClass.getComponentType().equals(existingValueClass)) {
+                        // We have an existing array of the same type.
+                        mergedValue = concatenateArrayAndNonArray(value, existingValue);
+                    } else {
+                        throw new IllegalStateException();
+                    }
+                }
+
+                mergedValues.put(key, mergedValue);
+            }
+        }
+
+        output.putAll(mergedValues);
+        return output.build();
+    }
+
+    private Object concatenateArrays(Object array1, Object array2) {
+        int length1 = Array.getLength(array1);
+        int length2 = Array.getLength(array2);
+        Object newArray = Array.newInstance(array1.getClass().getComponentType(),
+                length1 + length2);
+        System.arraycopy(array1, 0, newArray, 0, length1);
+        System.arraycopy(array2, 0, newArray, length1, length2);
+        return newArray;
+    }
+
+    private Object concatenateNonArrays(Object obj1, Object obj2) {
+        Object newArray = Array.newInstance(obj1.getClass(), 2);
+        Array.set(newArray, 0, obj1);
+        Array.set(newArray, 1, obj2);
+        return newArray;
+    }
+
+    private Object concatenateArrayAndNonArray(Object array, Object obj) {
+        int arrayLength = Array.getLength(array);
+        Object newArray = Array.newInstance(obj.getClass(), arrayLength + 1);
+        System.arraycopy(array, 0, newArray, 0, arrayLength);
+        Array.set(newArray, arrayLength, obj);
+        return newArray;
+    }
+
+    private Object createArrayFor(Object obj) {
+        Object newArray = Array.newInstance(obj.getClass(), 1);
+        Array.set(newArray, 0, obj);
+        return newArray;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BackoffPolicy.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BackoffPolicy.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69e6192
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BackoffPolicy.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+/**
+ * The backoff policy to use when rescheduling work.
+ */
+public enum BackoffPolicy {
+
+    /**
+     * An exponentially-increasing backoff policy
+     */
+    EXPONENTIAL,
+
+    /**
+     * A linearly-increasing backoff policy
+     */
+    LINEAR
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BaseWork.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BaseWork.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8459088
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BaseWork.java
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+/**
+ * The base interface for units of work.
+ */
+
+public interface BaseWork {
+
+    /**
+     * {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/oreo-release/core/java/android/app/job/JobInfo.java#77}
+     */
+    long DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_MILLIS = 30000L;
+
+    /**
+     * {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/oreo-release/core/java/android/app/job/JobInfo.java#82}
+     */
+    long MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS = 5 * 60 * 60 * 1000; // 5 hours.
+
+    /**
+     * {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/oreo-release/core/java/android/app/job/JobInfo.java#119}
+     */
+    long MIN_BACKOFF_MILLIS = 10 * 1000; // 10 seconds.
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the unique identifier associated with this unit of work.
+     *
+     * @return The identifier for this unit of work
+     */
+    String getId();
+
+    /**
+     * A builder for {@link BaseWork}.
+     *
+     * @param <W> The {@link BaseWork} class being created by this builder
+     * @param <B> The concrete implementation of this builder
+     */
+    interface Builder<W, B extends Builder<W, B>> {
+
+        /**
+         * Change backoff policy and delay for the work.  The default is
+         * {@link BackoffPolicy#EXPONENTIAL} and {@value BaseWork#DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_MILLIS}.
+         * The maximum backoff delay duration is {@value BaseWork#MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS}.
+         *
+         * @param backoffPolicy The {@link BackoffPolicy} to use for work
+         * @param backoffDelay Time to wait before restarting {@link Worker} in {@code timeUnit}
+         *                     units
+         * @param timeUnit The {@link TimeUnit} for {@code backoffDelay}
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}.
+         */
+        B withBackoffCriteria(
+                @NonNull BackoffPolicy backoffPolicy,
+                long backoffDelay,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit);
+
+        /**
+         * Add constraints to the {@link Work}.
+         *
+         * @param constraints The constraints for the work
+         * @return The current {@link Work.Builder}.
+         */
+        B withConstraints(@NonNull Constraints constraints);
+
+        /**
+         * Add arguments to the work.
+         *
+         * @param arguments key/value pairs that will be provided to the {@link Worker} class
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}.
+         */
+        B withArguments(@NonNull Arguments arguments);
+
+        /**
+         * Add an optional tag for the work.  This is particularly useful for modules or
+         * libraries who want to query for or cancel all of their own work.
+         *
+         * @param tag A tag for identifying the work in queries.
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}.
+         */
+        B addTag(@NonNull String tag);
+
+        /**
+         * Specifies that the results of this work should be kept for at least the specified amount
+         * of time.  After this time has elapsed, the results may be pruned at the discretion of
+         * WorkManager when there are no pending dependent jobs.
+         *
+         * When the results of a work are pruned, it becomes impossible to query for its
+         * {@link WorkStatus}.
+         *
+         * Specifying a long duration here may adversely affect performance in terms of app storage
+         * and database query time.
+         *
+         * @param duration The minimum duration of time (in {@code timeUnit} units) to keep the
+         *                 results of this work
+         * @param timeUnit The unit of time for {@code duration}
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}
+         */
+        B keepResultsForAtLeast(long duration, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit);
+
+        /**
+         * Builds this work object.
+         *
+         * @return The concrete implementation of the work associated with this builder
+         */
+        W build();
+
+        /**
+         * Set the initial state for this work.  Used in testing only.
+         *
+         * @param state The {@link State} to set
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}
+         */
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        B withInitialState(@NonNull State state);
+
+        /**
+         * Set the initial run attempt count for this work.  Used in testing only.
+         *
+         * @param runAttemptCount The initial run attempt count
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}
+         */
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        B withInitialRunAttemptCount(int runAttemptCount);
+
+        /**
+         * Set the period start time for this work. Used in testing only.
+         *
+         * @param periodStartTime the period start time in {@code timeUnit} units
+         * @param timeUnit The {@link TimeUnit} for {@code periodStartTime}
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}
+         */
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        B withPeriodStartTime(long periodStartTime, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A builder for {@link Work}.
+     *
+     * @param <W> The {@link Work} class being created by this builder
+     * @param <B> The concrete implementation of this builder
+     */
+    interface WorkBuilder<W, B extends Builder<W, B>> extends Builder<W, B> {
+
+        /**
+         * Specify whether {@link Work} should run with an initial delay. The default is 0 ms.
+         *
+         * @param duration The initial delay before running WorkSpec in {@code timeUnit} units
+         * @param timeUnit The {@link TimeUnit} for {@code duration}
+         * @return The current {@link WorkBuilder}
+         */
+        B withInitialDelay(long duration, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit);
+
+        /**
+         * Specify an {@link InputMerger}.  The default is {@link OverwritingInputMerger}.
+         *
+         * @param inputMerger The class name of the {@link InputMerger} to use for this {@link Work}
+         * @return The current {@link WorkBuilder}
+         */
+        B withInputMerger(@NonNull Class<? extends InputMerger> inputMerger);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BlockingWorkContinuation.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BlockingWorkContinuation.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d65a2fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BlockingWorkContinuation.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+
+/**
+ * Blocking methods for {@link WorkContinuation} operations.  These methods are expected to be
+ * called from a background thread.
+ */
+public interface BlockingWorkContinuation {
+
+    /**
+     * Enqueues the instance of {@link WorkContinuation} in a blocking fashion.  This method is
+     * expected to be called from a background thread and, upon successful execution, you can rely
+     * on that the work has been enqueued.
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    void enqueueBlocking();
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BlockingWorkManager.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BlockingWorkManager.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14146a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/BlockingWorkManager.java
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * Blocking methods for {@link WorkManager} operations.  These methods are expected to be called
+ * from a background thread.
+ */
+public interface BlockingWorkManager {
+
+    /**
+     * Cancels work with the given id in a blocking fashion if it isn't finished.  Note that
+     * cancellation is dependent on timing (for example, the work could have completed in a
+     * different thread just as you issue this call).  Use {@link #getStatusByIdBlocking(String)} to
+     * find out the actual state of the work after this call.  This method is expected to be called
+     * from a background thread.
+     *
+     * @param id The id of the work
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    void cancelWorkByIdBlocking(@NonNull String id);
+
+
+    /**
+     * Cancels all unfinished work with the given tag in a blocking fashion.  Note that cancellation
+     * is dependent on timing (for example, the work could have completed in a different thread just
+     * as you issue this call).  Use {@link #getStatusByIdBlocking(String)} to find out the actual
+     * state of the work after this call.  This method is expected to be called from a background
+     * thread.
+     *
+     * @param tag The tag used to identify the work
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    void cancelAllWorkByTagBlocking(@NonNull String tag);
+
+    /**
+     * Cancels all unfinished work in the work chain with the given name in a blocking fashion.
+     * Note that cancellation is dependent on timing (for example, the work could have completed in
+     * a different thread just as you issue this call).  Use {@link #getStatusByIdBlocking(String)}
+     * to find out the actual state of the work after this call.  This method is expected to be
+     * called from a background thread.
+     *
+     * @param name The name used to identify the chain of work
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    void cancelAllWorkByNameBlocking(@NonNull String name);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the {@link WorkStatus} of a given work id in a blocking fashion.  This method is
+     * expected to be called from a background thread.
+     *
+     * @param id The id of the work
+     * @return A {@link WorkStatus} associated with {@code id}
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    WorkStatus getStatusByIdBlocking(@NonNull String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the {@link WorkStatus} for all work with a given tag in a blocking fashion.  This method
+     * is expected to be called from a background thread.
+     *
+     * @param tag The tag of the work
+     * @return A list of {@link WorkStatus} for work tagged with {@code tag}
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    List<WorkStatus> getStatusesByTagBlocking(@NonNull String tag);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the {@link WorkStatus} for all work for the chain of work with a given name in a
+     * blocking fashion.  This method is expected to be called from a background thread.
+     *
+     * @param name The name used to identify the chain of work
+     * @return A list of {@link WorkStatus} for work in the chain named {@code name}
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    List<WorkStatus> getStatusesByNameBlocking(@NonNull String name);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Constraints.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Constraints.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02641d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Constraints.java
@@ -0,0 +1,262 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ColumnInfo;
+import android.net.Uri;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RequiresApi;
+
+/**
+ * The constraints that can be applied to one {@link BaseWork}.
+ */
+public class Constraints {
+
+    public static final Constraints NONE = new Constraints.Builder().build();
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "required_network_type")
+    NetworkType mRequiredNetworkType;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "requires_charging")
+    boolean mRequiresCharging;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "requires_device_idle")
+    boolean mRequiresDeviceIdle;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "requires_battery_not_low")
+    boolean mRequiresBatteryNotLow;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "requires_storage_not_low")
+    boolean mRequiresStorageNotLow;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "content_uri_triggers")
+    ContentUriTriggers mContentUriTriggers;
+
+    public Constraints() { // stub required for room
+    }
+
+    private Constraints(Builder builder) {
+        mRequiresCharging = builder.mRequiresCharging;
+        mRequiresDeviceIdle = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23 && builder.mRequiresDeviceIdle;
+        mRequiredNetworkType = builder.mRequiredNetworkType;
+        mRequiresBatteryNotLow = builder.mRequiresBatteryNotLow;
+        mRequiresStorageNotLow = builder.mRequiresStorageNotLow;
+        mContentUriTriggers = (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24)
+                ? builder.mContentUriTriggers
+                : new ContentUriTriggers();
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull NetworkType getRequiredNetworkType() {
+        return mRequiredNetworkType;
+    }
+
+    public void setRequiredNetworkType(@NonNull NetworkType requiredNetworkType) {
+        mRequiredNetworkType = requiredNetworkType;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return If the constraints require charging.
+     */
+    public boolean requiresCharging() {
+        return mRequiresCharging;
+    }
+
+    public void setRequiresCharging(boolean requiresCharging) {
+        mRequiresCharging = requiresCharging;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return If the constraints require device idle.
+     */
+    @RequiresApi(23)
+    public boolean requiresDeviceIdle() {
+        return mRequiresDeviceIdle;
+    }
+
+    @RequiresApi(23)
+    public void setRequiresDeviceIdle(boolean requiresDeviceIdle) {
+        mRequiresDeviceIdle = requiresDeviceIdle;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return If the constraints require battery not low status.
+     */
+    public boolean requiresBatteryNotLow() {
+        return mRequiresBatteryNotLow;
+    }
+
+    public void setRequiresBatteryNotLow(boolean requiresBatteryNotLow) {
+        mRequiresBatteryNotLow = requiresBatteryNotLow;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return If the constraints require storage not low status.
+     */
+    public boolean requiresStorageNotLow() {
+        return mRequiresStorageNotLow;
+    }
+
+    public void setRequiresStorageNotLow(boolean requiresStorageNotLow) {
+        mRequiresStorageNotLow = requiresStorageNotLow;
+    }
+
+    @RequiresApi(24)
+    public void setContentUriTriggers(ContentUriTriggers mContentUriTriggers) {
+        this.mContentUriTriggers = mContentUriTriggers;
+    }
+
+    @RequiresApi(24)
+    public ContentUriTriggers getContentUriTriggers() {
+        return mContentUriTriggers;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return {@code true} if {@link ContentUriTriggers} is not empty
+     */
+    @RequiresApi(24)
+    public boolean hasContentUriTriggers() {
+        return mContentUriTriggers.size() > 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        Constraints other = (Constraints) o;
+        return mRequiredNetworkType == other.mRequiredNetworkType
+                && mRequiresCharging == other.mRequiresCharging
+                && mRequiresDeviceIdle == other.mRequiresDeviceIdle
+                && mRequiresBatteryNotLow == other.mRequiresBatteryNotLow
+                && mRequiresStorageNotLow == other.mRequiresStorageNotLow
+                && (mContentUriTriggers != null ? mContentUriTriggers.equals(
+                        other.mContentUriTriggers) : other.mContentUriTriggers == null);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        int result = mRequiredNetworkType.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + (mRequiresCharging ? 1 : 0);
+        result = 31 * result + (mRequiresDeviceIdle ? 1 : 0);
+        result = 31 * result + (mRequiresBatteryNotLow ? 1 : 0);
+        result = 31 * result + (mRequiresStorageNotLow ? 1 : 0);
+        result = 31 * result + (mContentUriTriggers != null ? mContentUriTriggers.hashCode() : 0);
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Builder for {@link Constraints} class.
+     */
+    public static class Builder {
+        private boolean mRequiresCharging = false;
+        private boolean mRequiresDeviceIdle = false;
+        private NetworkType mRequiredNetworkType = NetworkType.NOT_REQUIRED;
+        private boolean mRequiresBatteryNotLow = false;
+        private boolean mRequiresStorageNotLow = false;
+        private ContentUriTriggers mContentUriTriggers = new ContentUriTriggers();
+
+        /**
+         * Specify whether device should be plugged in for {@link BaseWork} to run.
+         * Default is false.
+         *
+         * @param requiresCharging true if device must be plugged in, false otherwise
+         * @return current builder
+         */
+        public Builder setRequiresCharging(boolean requiresCharging) {
+            this.mRequiresCharging = requiresCharging;
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Specify whether device should be idle for {@link BaseWork} to run. Default is false.
+         *
+         * @param requiresDeviceIdle true if device must be idle, false otherwise
+         * @return current builder
+         */
+        @RequiresApi(23)
+        public Builder setRequiresDeviceIdle(boolean requiresDeviceIdle) {
+            this.mRequiresDeviceIdle = requiresDeviceIdle;
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Specify whether device should have a particular {@link NetworkType} for {@link BaseWork}
+         * to run. Default is {@link NetworkType#NOT_REQUIRED}
+         *
+         * @param networkType type of network required
+         * @return current builder
+         */
+        public Builder setRequiredNetworkType(@NonNull NetworkType networkType) {
+            this.mRequiredNetworkType = networkType;
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Specify whether device battery should not be below critical threshold for
+         * {@link BaseWork} to run. Default is false.
+         *
+         * @param requiresBatteryNotLow true if battery should not be below critical threshold,
+         *                              false otherwise
+         * @return current builder
+         */
+        public Builder setRequiresBatteryNotLow(boolean requiresBatteryNotLow) {
+            this.mRequiresBatteryNotLow = requiresBatteryNotLow;
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Specify whether device available storage should not be below critical threshold for
+         * {@link BaseWork} to run. Default is {@code false}.
+         *
+         * @param requiresStorageNotLow true if available storage should not be below critical
+         *                              threshold, false otherwise
+         * @return current builder
+         */
+        public Builder setRequiresStorageNotLow(boolean requiresStorageNotLow) {
+            this.mRequiresStorageNotLow = requiresStorageNotLow;
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Specify whether {@link BaseWork} should run when a content {@link android.net.Uri} is
+         * updated.  This method requires API 24 or higher.
+         *
+         * @param uri {@link android.net.Uri} to observe
+         * @param triggerForDescendants {@code true} if any changes in descendants cause this
+         *                              {@link BaseWork} to run
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}
+         */
+        @RequiresApi(24)
+        public Builder addContentUriTrigger(Uri uri, boolean triggerForDescendants) {
+            mContentUriTriggers.add(uri, triggerForDescendants);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Generates the {@link Constraints} from this Builder.
+         *
+         * @return new {@link Constraints} which can be attached to a {@link BaseWork}
+         */
+        public Constraints build() {
+            return new Constraints(this);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ContentUriTriggers.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ContentUriTriggers.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4b3881
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ContentUriTriggers.java
@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.TypeConverter;
+import android.net.Uri;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+/**
+ * Stores a set of {@link Trigger}s
+ */
+public class ContentUriTriggers implements Iterable<ContentUriTriggers.Trigger> {
+    private final Set<Trigger> mTriggers = new HashSet<>();
+
+    /**
+     * Add a Content {@link Uri} to observe
+     * @param uri {@link Uri} to observe
+     * @param triggerForDescendants {@code true} if any changes in descendants cause this
+     *                              {@link BaseWork} to run
+     */
+    public void add(Uri uri, boolean triggerForDescendants) {
+        Trigger trigger = new Trigger(uri, triggerForDescendants);
+        mTriggers.add(trigger);
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    @Override
+    public Iterator<Trigger> iterator() {
+        return mTriggers.iterator();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return number of {@link Trigger} objects
+     */
+    public int size() {
+        return mTriggers.size();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts a list of {@link Trigger}s to byte array representation
+     * @param triggers the list of {@link Trigger}s to convert
+     * @return corresponding byte array representation
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static byte[] toByteArray(ContentUriTriggers triggers) {
+        if (triggers.size() == 0) {
+            // Return null for no triggers. Needed for SQL query check in ForegroundProcessor
+            return null;
+        }
+        ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        ObjectOutputStream objectOutputStream = null;
+        try {
+            objectOutputStream = new ObjectOutputStream(outputStream);
+            objectOutputStream.writeInt(triggers.size());
+            for (Trigger trigger : triggers) {
+                objectOutputStream.writeUTF(trigger.getUri().toString());
+                objectOutputStream.writeBoolean(trigger.shouldTriggerForDescendants());
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } finally {
+            if (objectOutputStream != null) {
+                try {
+                    objectOutputStream.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+            try {
+                outputStream.close();
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                e.printStackTrace();
+            }
+        }
+        return outputStream.toByteArray();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts a byte array to list of {@link Trigger}s
+     * @param bytes byte array representation to convert
+     * @return list of {@link Trigger}s
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static ContentUriTriggers fromByteArray(byte[] bytes) {
+        ContentUriTriggers triggers = new ContentUriTriggers();
+        if (bytes == null) {
+            // bytes will be null if there are no Content Uri Triggers
+            return triggers;
+        }
+        ByteArrayInputStream inputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes);
+        ObjectInputStream objectInputStream = null;
+        try {
+            objectInputStream = new ObjectInputStream(inputStream);
+            for (int i = objectInputStream.readInt(); i > 0; i--) {
+                Uri uri = Uri.parse(objectInputStream.readUTF());
+                boolean triggersForDescendants = objectInputStream.readBoolean();
+                triggers.add(uri, triggersForDescendants);
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } finally {
+            if (objectInputStream != null) {
+                try {
+                    objectInputStream.close();
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+            try {
+                inputStream.close();
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                e.printStackTrace();
+            }
+        }
+        return triggers;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) return true;
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
+
+        ContentUriTriggers that = (ContentUriTriggers) o;
+
+        return mTriggers.equals(that.mTriggers);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        return mTriggers.hashCode();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Defines a content {@link Uri} trigger for a {@link BaseWork}
+     */
+
+    public static class Trigger {
+        @NonNull
+        private final Uri mUri;
+        private final boolean mTriggerForDescendants;
+
+        public Trigger(@NonNull Uri uri,
+                       boolean triggerForDescendants) {
+            mUri = uri;
+            mTriggerForDescendants = triggerForDescendants;
+        }
+
+        @NonNull
+        public Uri getUri() {
+            return mUri;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * @return {@code true} if trigger applies to descendants of {@link Uri} also
+         */
+        public boolean shouldTriggerForDescendants() {
+            return mTriggerForDescendants;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean equals(Object o) {
+            if (this == o) return true;
+            if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
+
+            Trigger trigger = (Trigger) o;
+
+            return mTriggerForDescendants == trigger.mTriggerForDescendants
+                    && mUri.equals(trigger.mUri);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public int hashCode() {
+            int result = mUri.hashCode();
+            result = 31 * result + (mTriggerForDescendants ? 1 : 0);
+            return result;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ExistingWorkPolicy.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ExistingWorkPolicy.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a7823b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/ExistingWorkPolicy.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+/**
+ * An enum that determines what to do with existing work with the same unique tag in case of a
+ * collision.
+ */
+public enum ExistingWorkPolicy {
+
+    /**
+     * If there is existing pending work with the same unique tag, cancel and delete it.  Then,
+     * insert the newly-specified work.
+     */
+    REPLACE,
+
+    /**
+     * If there is existing pending work with the same unique tag, do nothing.  Otherwise, insert
+     * the newly-specified work.
+     */
+    KEEP,
+
+    /**
+     * If there is existing pending work with the same unique tag, append the newly-specified work
+     * as a child of all the leaves of that work sequence.  Otherwise, insert the newly-specified
+     * work as the start of a new sequence.
+     */
+    APPEND
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/InputMerger.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/InputMerger.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a43aab3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/InputMerger.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * An abstract class that allows the user to define how to merge a list of inputs to a Worker.
+ */
+
+public abstract class InputMerger {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "InputMerger";
+
+    /**
+     * Merges a list of {@link Arguments} and outputs a single Arguments object.
+     *
+     * @param inputs A list of {@link Arguments} from previous Workers or the Work.Builder
+     * @return The merged output
+     */
+    public abstract Arguments merge(List<Arguments> inputs);
+
+    /**
+     * Instantiates an {@link InputMerger} from its class name.
+     *
+     * @param className The name of the {@link InputMerger} class
+     * @return The instantiated {@link InputMerger}, or {@code null} if it could not be instantiated
+     *
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    @SuppressWarnings("ClassNewInstance")
+    public static InputMerger fromClassName(String className) {
+        try {
+            Class<?> clazz = Class.forName(className);
+            return (InputMerger) clazz.newInstance();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "Trouble instantiating + " + className, e);
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/NetworkType.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/NetworkType.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb4cda5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/NetworkType.java
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+/**
+ * The type of network required by a unit of work.
+ */
+public enum NetworkType {
+
+    /**
+     * A network is not required for this work.
+     */
+    NOT_REQUIRED,
+
+    /**
+     * Any working network connection is required for this work.
+     */
+    CONNECTED,
+
+    /**
+     * An unmetered network connection is required for this work.
+     */
+    UNMETERED,
+
+    /**
+     * A non-roaming network connection is required for this work.
+     */
+    NOT_ROAMING,
+
+    /**
+     * A metered network connection is required for this work.
+     */
+    METERED
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/OverwritingInputMerger.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/OverwritingInputMerger.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a080ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/OverwritingInputMerger.java
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+/**
+ * An {@link InputMerger} that attempts to add all keys from all inputs to the output.  In case of a
+ * conflict, this class will overwrite the previously-set key.  Because there is no defined order
+ * for inputs, this implementation is best suited for cases where conflicts will not happen, or
+ * where overwriting is a valid strategy to deal with them.
+ */
+
+public class OverwritingInputMerger extends InputMerger {
+
+    @Override
+    public Arguments merge(List<Arguments> inputs) {
+        Arguments.Builder output = new Arguments.Builder();
+        Map<String, Object> mergedValues = new HashMap<>();
+
+        for (Arguments input : inputs) {
+            mergedValues.putAll(input.getKeyValueMap());
+        }
+
+        output.putAll(mergedValues);
+        return output.build();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/PeriodicWork.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/PeriodicWork.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fb05a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/PeriodicWork.java
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.PeriodicWorkImpl;
+
+/**
+ * A class to execute a logical unit of repeating work.
+ */
+
+public abstract class PeriodicWork implements BaseWork {
+
+    /**
+     * The minimum interval duration for {@link PeriodicWork}, in milliseconds.
+     * Based on {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/core/java/android/app/job/JobInfo.java#110}.
+     */
+    public static final long MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS = 15 * 60 * 1000L; // 15 minutes.
+    /**
+     * The minimum flex duration for {@link PeriodicWork}, in milliseconds.
+     * Based on {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/core/java/android/app/job/JobInfo.java#113}.
+     */
+    public static final long MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS = 5 * 60 * 1000L; // 5 minutes.
+
+    /**
+     * Builder for {@link PeriodicWork} class.
+     */
+    public static class Builder implements BaseWork.Builder<PeriodicWork, Builder> {
+
+        private PeriodicWorkImpl.Builder mInternalBuilder;
+
+        /**
+         * Creates a {@link PeriodicWork} to run periodically once every interval period. The
+         * {@link PeriodicWork} is guaranteed to run exactly one time during this interval. The
+         * {@code intervalMillis} must be greater than or equal to
+         * {@link PeriodicWork#MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS}. It may run immediately, at the end of
+         * the period, or any time in between so long as the other conditions are satisfied at the
+         * time. The run time of the {@link PeriodicWork} can be restricted to a flex period within
+         * an interval.
+         *
+         * @param workerClass The {@link Worker} class to run with this job
+         * @param repeatInterval The repeat interval in {@code repeatIntervalTimeUnit} units
+         * @param repeatIntervalTimeUnit The {@link TimeUnit} for {@code repeatInterval}
+         */
+        public Builder(
+                @NonNull Class<? extends Worker> workerClass,
+                long repeatInterval,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit repeatIntervalTimeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder = new PeriodicWorkImpl.Builder(
+                    workerClass,
+                    repeatInterval,
+                    repeatIntervalTimeUnit);
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Creates a {@link PeriodicWork} to run periodically once within the
+         * <strong>flex period</strong> of every interval period. See diagram below. The flex period
+         * begins at {@code intervalMillis - flexMillis} to the end of the interval.
+         * {@code intervalMillis} must be greater than or equal to
+         * {@link PeriodicWork#MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS} and {@code flexMillis} must
+         * be greater than or equal to {@link PeriodicWork#MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS}.
+         *
+         * <p><pre>
+         * [     before flex     |     flex     ][     before flex     |     flex     ]...
+         * [   cannot run work   | can run work ][   cannot run work   | can run work ]...
+         * \____________________________________/\____________________________________/...
+         *                interval 1                            interval 2             ...(repeat)
+         * </pre></p>
+         *
+         * @param workerClass The {@link Worker} class to run with this job
+         * @param repeatInterval The repeat interval in {@code repeatIntervalTimeUnit} units
+         * @param repeatIntervalTimeUnit The {@link TimeUnit} for {@code repeatInterval}
+         * @param flexInterval The duration in {@code flexIntervalTimeUnit} units for which this
+         *                     work repeats from the end of the {@code repeatInterval}
+         * @param flexIntervalTimeUnit The {@link TimeUnit} for {@code flexInterval}
+         */
+        public Builder(
+                @NonNull Class<? extends Worker> workerClass,
+                long repeatInterval,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit repeatIntervalTimeUnit,
+                long flexInterval,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit flexIntervalTimeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder =
+                    new PeriodicWorkImpl.Builder(
+                            workerClass,
+                            repeatInterval,
+                            repeatIntervalTimeUnit,
+                            flexInterval,
+                            flexIntervalTimeUnit);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withBackoffCriteria(
+                @NonNull BackoffPolicy backoffPolicy,
+                long backoffDelayMillis,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withBackoffCriteria(backoffPolicy, backoffDelayMillis, timeUnit);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withConstraints(@NonNull Constraints constraints) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withConstraints(constraints);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withArguments(@NonNull Arguments arguments) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withArguments(arguments);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder addTag(@NonNull String tag) {
+            mInternalBuilder.addTag(tag);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder keepResultsForAtLeast(long duration, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder.keepResultsForAtLeast(duration, timeUnit);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public PeriodicWork build() {
+            return mInternalBuilder.build();
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialState(@NonNull State state) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withInitialState(state);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialRunAttemptCount(int runAttemptCount) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withInitialRunAttemptCount(runAttemptCount);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withPeriodStartTime(long periodStartTime, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withPeriodStartTime(periodStartTime, timeUnit);
+            return this;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/State.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/State.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a654456
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/State.java
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+/**
+ * The current status of a unit of work.
+ */
+public enum State {
+
+    /**
+     * The status for work that is enqueued (hasn't completed and isn't running)
+     */
+    ENQUEUED,
+
+    /**
+     * The status for work that is currently being executed
+     */
+    RUNNING,
+
+    /**
+     * The status for work that has completed successfully
+     */
+    SUCCEEDED,
+
+    /**
+     * The status for work that has completed in a failure state
+     */
+    FAILED,
+
+    /**
+     * The status for work that is currently blocked because its prerequisites haven't finished
+     * successfully
+     */
+    BLOCKED,
+
+    /**
+     * The status for work that has been cancelled and will not execute
+     */
+    CANCELLED;
+
+    /**
+     * Returns {@code true} if this State is considered finished.
+     *
+     * @return {@code true} for {@link #SUCCEEDED}, {@link #FAILED}, and {@link #CANCELLED} States
+     */
+    public boolean isFinished() {
+        return (this == SUCCEEDED || this == FAILED || this == CANCELLED);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Work.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Work.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35ce129
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Work.java
@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkImpl;
+
+/**
+ * A class to execute a logical unit of non-repeating work.
+ */
+
+public abstract class Work implements BaseWork {
+
+    /**
+     * Creates an array of {@link Work} with defaults from an array of {@link Worker} class names.
+     *
+     * @param workerClasses An array of {@link Worker} class names
+     * @return A list of {@link Work} constructed by using defaults in the {@link Builder}
+     */
+    @SafeVarargs public static @NonNull List<Work> from(
+            @NonNull Class<? extends Worker>... workerClasses) {
+        return from(Arrays.asList(workerClasses));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a list of {@link Work} with defaults from an array of {@link Worker} class names.
+     *
+     * @param workerClasses A list of {@link Worker} class names
+     * @return A list of {@link Work} constructed by using defaults in the {@link Builder}
+     */
+    public static @NonNull List<Work> from(
+            @NonNull List<Class<? extends Worker>> workerClasses) {
+        List<Work> workList = new ArrayList<>(workerClasses.size());
+        for (Class<? extends Worker> workerClass : workerClasses) {
+            workList.add(new Work.Builder(workerClass).build());
+        }
+        return workList;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Builder for {@link Work} class.
+     */
+    public static class Builder implements WorkBuilder<Work, Builder> {
+
+        private WorkImpl.Builder mInternalBuilder;
+
+        /**
+         * Creates a {@link Work} that runs once.
+         *
+         * @param workerClass The {@link Worker} class to run with this job
+         */
+        public Builder(@NonNull Class<? extends Worker> workerClass) {
+            mInternalBuilder = new WorkImpl.Builder(workerClass);
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Specify whether {@link Work} should run with an initial delay. Default is 0ms.
+         *
+         * @param duration initial delay before running WorkSpec in {@code timeUnit} units
+         * @param timeUnit The {@link TimeUnit} for {@code duration}
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}
+         */
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialDelay(long duration, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withInitialDelay(duration, timeUnit);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * Specify an {@link InputMerger}.  The default is {@link OverwritingInputMerger}.
+         *
+         * @param inputMerger The class name of the {@link InputMerger} to use for this {@link Work}
+         * @return The current {@link Builder}
+         */
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInputMerger(@NonNull Class<? extends InputMerger> inputMerger) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withInputMerger(inputMerger);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withBackoffCriteria(
+                @NonNull BackoffPolicy backoffPolicy,
+                long backoffDelay,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withBackoffCriteria(backoffPolicy, backoffDelay, timeUnit);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withConstraints(@NonNull Constraints constraints) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withConstraints(constraints);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withArguments(@NonNull Arguments arguments) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withArguments(arguments);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder addTag(@NonNull String tag) {
+            mInternalBuilder.addTag(tag);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder keepResultsForAtLeast(long duration, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder.keepResultsForAtLeast(duration, timeUnit);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Work build() {
+            return mInternalBuilder.build();
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialState(@NonNull State state) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withInitialState(state);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialRunAttemptCount(int runAttemptCount) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withInitialRunAttemptCount(runAttemptCount);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withPeriodStartTime(long periodStartTime, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mInternalBuilder.withPeriodStartTime(periodStartTime, timeUnit);
+            return this;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkContinuation.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkContinuation.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58777fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkContinuation.java
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * An opaque class that allows you to chain together {@link Work}.
+ */
+public abstract class WorkContinuation {
+
+    /**
+     * Adds new {@link Work} items that depend on the successful completion of all previously added
+     * {@link Work}.
+     *
+     * @param work One or more {@link Work} to add to the {@link WorkContinuation}
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows for further chaining of dependent {@link Work}
+     */
+    public final WorkContinuation then(@NonNull Work... work) {
+        return then(Arrays.asList(work));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds new {@link Work} items that depend on the successful completion of all previously added
+     * {@link Work}.
+     *
+     * @param work One or more {@link Work} to add to the {@link WorkContinuation}
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows for further chaining of dependent {@link Work}
+     */
+    public abstract WorkContinuation then(@NonNull List<Work> work);
+
+    /**
+     * Returns a {@link LiveData} list of {@link WorkStatus} that provides information about work,
+     * their progress, and any resulting output.  If state or outputs of any of the jobs in this
+     * chain changes, any attached {@link android.arch.lifecycle.Observer}s will trigger.
+     *
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} containing a list of {@link WorkStatus}es
+     */
+    public abstract LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> getStatuses();
+
+    /**
+     * Enqueues the instance of {@link WorkContinuation} on the background thread.
+     */
+    public abstract void enqueue();
+
+    /**
+     * Gets an object that gives access to blocking (synchronous) methods.
+     *
+     * @return A {@link BlockingWorkContinuation} object, which gives access to blocking
+     *         (synchronous) methods
+     */
+    public abstract BlockingWorkContinuation blocking();
+
+    /**
+     * Joins multiple {@link WorkContinuation}s to allow for complex chaining.
+     *
+     * @param continuations Two or more {@link WorkContinuation}s that are prerequisites for the
+     *                      return value
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows further chaining
+     */
+    public static WorkContinuation join(@NonNull WorkContinuation... continuations) {
+        return join(Arrays.asList(continuations));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Joins multiple {@link WorkContinuation}s to allow for complex chaining.
+     *
+     * @param continuations Two or more {@link WorkContinuation}s that are prerequisites for the
+     *                      return value
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows further chaining
+     */
+    public static WorkContinuation join(@NonNull List<WorkContinuation> continuations) {
+        if (continuations.size() < 2) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "WorkContinuation.join() needs at least 2 continuations.");
+        }
+
+        return continuations.get(0).joinInternal(null, continuations);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Joins multiple {@link WorkContinuation}s to allow for complex chaining using the
+     * {@link Work} provided.
+     *
+     * @param work The {@link Work} which depends on the successful completion of the
+     *             provided {@link WorkContinuation}s
+     * @param continuations Two or more {@link WorkContinuation}s that are prerequisites for the
+     *                      {@link Work} provided.
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows further chaining
+     */
+    public static WorkContinuation join(
+            @NonNull Work work,
+            @NonNull WorkContinuation... continuations) {
+        return join(work, Arrays.asList(continuations));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Joins multiple {@link WorkContinuation}s to allow for complex chaining using the
+     * {@link Work} provided.
+     *
+     * @param work The {@link Work} which depends on the successful completion of the
+     *             provided {@link WorkContinuation}s
+     * @param continuations Two or more {@link WorkContinuation}s that are prerequisites for the
+     *                      {@link Work} provided.
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows further chaining
+     */
+    public static WorkContinuation join(
+            @NonNull Work work,
+            @NonNull List<WorkContinuation> continuations) {
+        return continuations.get(0).joinInternal(work, continuations);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    protected abstract WorkContinuation joinInternal(
+            @Nullable Work work,
+            @NonNull List<WorkContinuation> continuations);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkManager.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkManager.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3f46f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkManager.java
@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * WorkManager is a class used to enqueue persisted work that is guaranteed to run after its
+ * constraints are met.
+ */
+public abstract class WorkManager {
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves the singleton instance of {@link WorkManager}.
+     *
+     * @param context A {@link Context} object for configuration purposes.  Internally, this class
+     *                will call {@link Context#getApplicationContext()}, so you may safely pass in
+     *                any Context without risking a memory leak.
+     * @return The singleton instance of {@link WorkManager}
+     */
+    public static synchronized WorkManager getInstance(Context context) {
+        return WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(context);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Enqueues one or more items for background processing.
+     *
+     * @param baseWork One or more {@link BaseWork} to enqueue
+     */
+    public final void enqueue(@NonNull BaseWork... baseWork) {
+        enqueue(Arrays.asList(baseWork));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Enqueues one or more items for background processing.
+     *
+     * @param baseWork One or more {@link BaseWork} to enqueue
+     */
+    public abstract void enqueue(@NonNull List<? extends BaseWork> baseWork);
+
+    /**
+     * Begins a chain of {@link Work}, which can be enqueued together in the future using
+     * {@link WorkContinuation#enqueue()}.
+     *
+     * @param work One or more {@link Work} to start a chain of work
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows for further chaining of dependent {@link Work}
+     */
+    public final WorkContinuation beginWith(@NonNull Work...work) {
+        return beginWith(Arrays.asList(work));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Begins a chain of {@link Work}, which can be enqueued together in the future using
+     * {@link WorkContinuation#enqueue()}.
+     *
+     * @param work One or more {@link Work} to start a chain of work
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows for further chaining of dependent {@link Work}
+     */
+    public abstract WorkContinuation beginWith(@NonNull List<Work> work);
+
+    /**
+     * This method allows you to begin unique chains of work for situations where you only want one
+     * chain to be active at a given time.  For example, you may only want one sync operation to be
+     * active.  If there is one pending, you can choose to let it run or replace it with your new
+     * work.
+     *
+     * The {@code name} uniquely identifies this set of work.
+     *
+     * If this method determines that new work should be enqueued and run, all records of previous
+     * work with {@code name} will be pruned.  If this method determines that new work should NOT be
+     * run, then the entire chain will be considered a no-op.
+     *
+     * @param name A name which should uniquely label all the work in this chain
+     * @param existingWorkPolicy An {@link ExistingWorkPolicy}.
+     * @param work One or more {@link Work} to enqueue. {@code REPLACE} ensures that
+     *             if there is pending work labelled with {@code name}, it will be cancelled and the
+     *             new work will run. {@code KEEP} will run the new sequence of work
+     *             only if there is no pending work labelled with {@code name}.
+     *             {@code APPEND} will create a new sequence of work if there is no
+     *             existing work with {@code name}; otherwise, {@code work} will be added as a child
+     *             of all leaf nodes labelled with {@code name}.
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows further chaining
+     */
+    public final WorkContinuation beginWithName(
+            @NonNull String name,
+            @NonNull ExistingWorkPolicy existingWorkPolicy,
+            @NonNull Work... work) {
+        return beginWithName(name, existingWorkPolicy, Arrays.asList(work));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * This method allows you to begin unique chains of work for situations where you only want one
+     * chain to be active at a given time.  For example, you may only want one sync operation to be
+     * active.  If there is one pending, you can choose to let it run or replace it with your new
+     * work.
+     *
+     * The {@code name} uniquely identifies this set of work.
+     *
+     * If this method determines that new work should be enqueued and run, all records of previous
+     * work with {@code name} will be pruned.  If this method determines that new work should NOT be
+     * run, then the entire chain will be considered a no-op.
+     *
+     * @param name A name which should uniquely label all the work in this chain
+     * @param existingWorkPolicy An {@link ExistingWorkPolicy}.
+     * @param work One or more {@link Work} to enqueue. {@code REPLACE} ensures that if there is
+     *             pending work labelled with {@code name}, it will be cancelled and the new work
+     *             will run. {@code KEEP} will run the new sequence of work only if there is no
+     *             pending work labelled with {@code name}.  {@code APPEND} will create a new
+     *             sequence of work if there is no existing work with {@code name}; otherwise,
+     *             {@code work} will be added as a child of all leaf nodes labelled with
+     *             {@code name}.
+     * @return A {@link WorkContinuation} that allows further chaining
+     */
+    public abstract WorkContinuation beginWithName(
+            @NonNull String name,
+            @NonNull ExistingWorkPolicy existingWorkPolicy,
+            @NonNull List<Work> work);
+
+    /**
+     * Cancels work with the given id if it isn't finished.  Note that cancellation is a best-effort
+     * policy and work that is already executing may continue to run.
+     *
+     * @param id The id of the work
+     */
+    public abstract void cancelWorkById(@NonNull String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Cancels all unfinished work with the given tag.  Note that cancellation is a best-effort
+     * policy and work that is already executing may continue to run.
+     *
+     * @param tag The tag used to identify the work
+     */
+    public abstract void cancelAllWorkByTag(@NonNull String tag);
+
+    /**
+     * Cancels all unfinished work in the work chain with the given name.  Note that cancellation is
+     * a best-effort policy and work that is already executing may continue to run.
+     *
+     * @param name The name used to identify the chain of work
+     */
+    public abstract void cancelAllWorkByName(@NonNull String name);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets a {@link LiveData} of the {@link WorkStatus} for a given work id.
+     *
+     * @param id The id of the work
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} of the {@link WorkStatus} associated with {@code id}
+     */
+    public abstract LiveData<WorkStatus> getStatusById(@NonNull String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets a {@link LiveData} of the {@link WorkStatus} for all work for a given tag.
+     *
+     * @param tag The tag of the work
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} list of {@link WorkStatus} for work tagged with {@code tag}
+     */
+    public abstract LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> getStatusesByTag(@NonNull String tag);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets a {@link LiveData} of the {@link WorkStatus} for all work in a work chain with a given
+     * name.
+     *
+     * @param name The name used to identify the chain of work
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} of the {@link WorkStatus} for work in the chain named {@code name}
+     */
+    public abstract LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> getStatusesByName(@NonNull String name);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets an object that gives access to blocking (synchronous) methods.
+     *
+     * @return A {@link BlockingWorkManager} object, which gives access to blocking
+     *         (synchronous) methods
+     */
+    public abstract BlockingWorkManager blocking();
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkStatus.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkStatus.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f19ed0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/WorkStatus.java
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+/**
+ * A simple class with the id of a {@link BaseWork}, its current {@link State}, output, and tags.
+ * Note that output is only available for terminal states ({@link State#SUCCEEDED} and
+ * {@link State#FAILED}).
+ */
+
+public class WorkStatus {
+
+    private String mId;
+    private State mState;
+    private Arguments mOutput;
+    private Set<String> mTags;
+
+    public WorkStatus(
+            @NonNull String id,
+            @NonNull State state,
+            @NonNull Arguments output,
+            @NonNull List<String> tags) {
+        mId = id;
+        mState = state;
+        mOutput = output;
+        mTags = new HashSet<>(tags);
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull String getId() {
+        return mId;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull State getState() {
+        return mState;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull Arguments getOutputArguments() {
+        return mOutput;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull Set<String> getTags() {
+        return mTags;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) return true;
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
+
+        WorkStatus that = (WorkStatus) o;
+
+        if (mId != null ? !mId.equals(that.mId) : that.mId != null) return false;
+        if (mState != that.mState) return false;
+        if (mOutput != null ? !mOutput.equals(that.mOutput) : that.mOutput != null) return false;
+        return mTags != null ? mTags.equals(that.mTags) : that.mTags == null;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        int result = mId != null ? mId.hashCode() : 0;
+        result = 31 * result + (mState != null ? mState.hashCode() : 0);
+        result = 31 * result + (mOutput != null ? mOutput.hashCode() : 0);
+        result = 31 * result + (mTags != null ? mTags.hashCode() : 0);
+        return result;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Worker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Worker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..187deeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/Worker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.Keep;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+
+/**
+ * The basic unit of work.
+ */
+public abstract class Worker {
+
+    public enum WorkerResult {
+        SUCCESS,
+        FAILURE,
+        RETRY
+    }
+
+    private Context mAppContext;
+    private @NonNull String mId;
+    private @NonNull Arguments mArguments;
+    private Arguments mOutput;
+
+    public final Context getAppContext() {
+        return mAppContext;
+    }
+
+    public final @NonNull String getId() {
+        return mId;
+    }
+
+    public final @NonNull Arguments getArguments() {
+        return mArguments;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Override this method to do your actual background processing.
+     *
+     * @return The result of the work, corresponding to a {@link WorkerResult} value.  If a
+     * different value is returned, the result shall be defaulted to
+     * {@link Worker.WorkerResult#FAILURE}.
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    public abstract WorkerResult doWork();
+
+    /**
+     * Call this method to pass an {@link Arguments} object to {@link Work} that is dependent on
+     * this one.  Note that if there are multiple {@link Worker}s that contribute to the target, the
+     * Arguments will be merged together, so it is up to the developer to make sure that keys are
+     * unique.  New values and types will clobber old values and types, and if there are multiple
+     * parent Workers of a child Worker, the order of clobbering may not be deterministic.
+     *
+     * This method is invoked after {@link #doWork()} returns {@link Worker.WorkerResult#SUCCESS}
+     * and there are chained jobs available.
+     *
+     * For example, if you had this structure:
+     *
+     * {@code WorkManager.getInstance(context)
+     *            .enqueueWithDefaults(WorkerA.class, WorkerB.class)
+     *            .then(WorkerC.class)
+     *            .enqueue()}
+     *
+     * This method would be called for both WorkerA and WorkerB after their successful completion,
+     * modifying the input Arguments for WorkerC.
+     *
+     * @param output An {@link Arguments} object that will be merged into the input Arguments of any
+     *               Work that is dependent on this one, or {@code null} if there is nothing to
+     *               contribute
+     */
+    public final void setOutput(Arguments output) {
+        mOutput = output;
+    }
+
+    public final Arguments getOutput() {
+        return mOutput;
+    }
+
+    @Keep
+    private void internalInit(
+            Context appContext,
+            @NonNull String id,
+            @NonNull Arguments arguments) {
+        mAppContext = appContext;
+        mId = id;
+        mArguments = arguments;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if the {@link Worker} was interrupted and should stop executing.
+     * The {@link Worker} can be interrupted for the following reasons:
+     * 1. The {@link Work} or {@link PeriodicWork} was explicitly cancelled.
+     *    {@link WorkManager#cancelAllWorkByTag(String)}
+     * 2. Constraints set in {@link Work} or {@link PeriodicWork} are no longer valid.
+     * @return {@code true} if {@link Worker} is instructed to stop executing.
+     */
+    protected final boolean isInterrupted() {
+        return Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/ExecutionListener.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/ExecutionListener.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14287ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/ExecutionListener.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Listener that reports the result of a {@link Worker}'s execution.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public interface ExecutionListener {
+
+    /**
+     * Called when a {@link Worker} has executed.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecId      work id corresponding to the {@link Worker}
+     * @param isSuccessful    {@code true} if work execution is successful.
+     * @param needsReschedule {@code true} if work should be rescheduled
+     *                        according to backoff policy.
+     */
+    void onExecuted(@NonNull String workSpecId, boolean isSuccessful, boolean needsReschedule);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/InternalWorkImpl.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/InternalWorkImpl.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..002cb6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/InternalWorkImpl.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * Defines an internal implementation of work.
+ */
+
+public interface InternalWorkImpl {
+
+    /**
+     * @return The unique identifier associated with this unit of work
+     */
+    String getId();
+
+    /**
+     * @return The database {@link WorkSpec} associated with this unit of work
+     */
+    WorkSpec getWorkSpec();
+
+    /**
+     * @return The set of tags associated with this unit of work
+     */
+    Set<String> getTags();
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/PeriodicWorkImpl.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/PeriodicWorkImpl.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ecc3fb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/PeriodicWorkImpl.java
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static androidx.work.impl.workers.ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME;
+
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.PeriodicWork;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.workers.ConstraintTrackingWorker;
+
+/**
+ * A concrete implementation of {@link PeriodicWork}.
+ */
+
+public class PeriodicWorkImpl extends PeriodicWork implements InternalWorkImpl {
+
+    private WorkSpec mWorkSpec;
+    private Set<String> mTags;
+
+    PeriodicWorkImpl(Builder builder) {
+        mWorkSpec = builder.mWorkSpec;
+        mTags = builder.mTags;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getId() {
+        return mWorkSpec.getId();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkSpec getWorkSpec() {
+        return mWorkSpec;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Set<String> getTags() {
+        return mTags;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Builder for {@link PeriodicWorkImpl} class.
+     */
+    public static class Builder implements BaseWork.Builder<PeriodicWorkImpl, Builder> {
+
+        private boolean mBackoffCriteriaSet = false;
+        WorkSpec mWorkSpec = new WorkSpec(UUID.randomUUID().toString());
+        Set<String> mTags = new HashSet<>();
+
+        public Builder(
+                @NonNull Class<? extends Worker> workerClass,
+                long repeatInterval,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit repeatIntervalTimeUnit) {
+            mWorkSpec.setWorkerClassName(workerClass.getName());
+            mWorkSpec.setPeriodic(repeatIntervalTimeUnit.toMillis(repeatInterval));
+        }
+
+        public Builder(
+                @NonNull Class<? extends Worker> workerClass,
+                long repeatInterval,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit repeatIntervalTimeUnit,
+                long flexInterval,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit flexIntervalTimeUnit) {
+            mWorkSpec.setWorkerClassName(workerClass.getName());
+            mWorkSpec.setPeriodic(
+                    repeatIntervalTimeUnit.toMillis(repeatInterval),
+                    flexIntervalTimeUnit.toMillis(flexInterval));
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialState(@NonNull State state) {
+            mWorkSpec.setState(state);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialRunAttemptCount(int runAttemptCount) {
+            mWorkSpec.setRunAttemptCount(runAttemptCount);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withPeriodStartTime(long periodStartTime, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mWorkSpec.setPeriodStartTime(timeUnit.toMillis(periodStartTime));
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withBackoffCriteria(
+                @NonNull BackoffPolicy backoffPolicy,
+                long backoffDelay,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mBackoffCriteriaSet = true;
+            mWorkSpec.setBackoffPolicy(backoffPolicy);
+            mWorkSpec.setBackoffDelayDuration(timeUnit.toMillis(backoffDelay));
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withConstraints(@NonNull Constraints constraints) {
+            mWorkSpec.setConstraints(constraints);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withArguments(@NonNull Arguments arguments) {
+            mWorkSpec.setArguments(arguments);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder addTag(@NonNull String tag) {
+            mTags.add(tag);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder keepResultsForAtLeast(long duration, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mWorkSpec.setMinimumRetentionDuration(timeUnit.toMillis(duration));
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public PeriodicWorkImpl build() {
+            if (mBackoffCriteriaSet
+                    && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23
+                    && mWorkSpec.getConstraints().requiresDeviceIdle()) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                        "Cannot set backoff criteria on an idle mode job");
+            }
+
+            // requiresBatteryNotLow and requiresStorageNotLow require API 26 for JobScheduler.
+            // Delegate to ConstraintTrackingWorker between API 23-26.
+
+            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23 && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 26) {
+                Constraints constraints = mWorkSpec.getConstraints();
+                if (constraints != null
+                        && (constraints.requiresBatteryNotLow()
+                        || constraints.requiresStorageNotLow())) {
+
+                    String workerClassName = mWorkSpec.getWorkerClassName();
+                    Arguments.Builder builder = new Arguments.Builder();
+                    // Copy all arguments
+                    builder.putAll(mWorkSpec.getArguments())
+                            .putString(ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, workerClassName);
+                    mWorkSpec.setWorkerClassName(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName());
+                    mWorkSpec.setArguments(builder.build());
+                }
+            }
+
+            return new PeriodicWorkImpl(this);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/Processor.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/Processor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d2215d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/Processor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Future;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * A Processor can intelligently schedule and execute work on demand.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class Processor implements ExecutionListener {
+    private static final String TAG = "Processor";
+
+    private Context mAppContext;
+    private WorkDatabase mWorkDatabase;
+
+    private Map<String, Future<?>> mEnqueuedWorkMap;
+    private List<Scheduler> mSchedulers;
+    private ExecutorService mExecutorService;
+
+    private Set<String> mCancelledIds;
+
+    private final List<ExecutionListener> mOuterListeners;
+
+    public Processor(
+            Context appContext,
+            WorkDatabase workDatabase,
+            List<Scheduler> schedulers,
+            ExecutorService executorService) {
+        mAppContext = appContext;
+        mWorkDatabase = workDatabase;
+        mEnqueuedWorkMap = new HashMap<>();
+        mSchedulers = schedulers;
+        mExecutorService = executorService;
+        mCancelledIds = new HashSet<>();
+        mOuterListeners = new ArrayList<>();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Starts a given unit of work in the background.
+     *
+     * @param id The work id to execute.
+     * @return {@code true} if the work was successfully enqueued for processing
+     */
+    public synchronized boolean startWork(String id) {
+        // Work may get triggered multiple times if they have passing constraints and new work with
+        // those constraints are added.
+        if (mEnqueuedWorkMap.containsKey(id)) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Work %s is already enqueued for processing", id);
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        WorkerWrapper workWrapper = new WorkerWrapper.Builder(mAppContext, mWorkDatabase, id)
+                .withListener(this)
+                .withSchedulers(mSchedulers)
+                .build();
+        mEnqueuedWorkMap.put(id, mExecutorService.submit(workWrapper));
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "%s: processing %s", getClass().getSimpleName(), id);
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Tries to stop a unit of work.
+     *
+     * @param id The work id to stop
+     * @param mayInterruptIfRunning If {@code true}, we try to interrupt the {@link Future} if it's
+     *                              running
+     * @return {@code true} if the work was stopped successfully
+     */
+    public synchronized boolean stopWork(String id, boolean mayInterruptIfRunning) {
+        Logger.debug(TAG,
+                "%s canceling %s; mayInterruptIfRunning = %s",
+                getClass().getSimpleName(),
+                id,
+                mayInterruptIfRunning);
+        Future<?> future = mEnqueuedWorkMap.get(id);
+        if (future != null) {
+            boolean cancelled = future.cancel(mayInterruptIfRunning);
+            if (cancelled) {
+                mEnqueuedWorkMap.remove(id);
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Future successfully canceled for %s", id);
+            } else {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Future could not be canceled for %s", id);
+            }
+            return cancelled;
+        } else {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "%s future could not be found for %s",
+                    getClass().getSimpleName(), id);
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets the given {@code id} as cancelled.  This does not actually stop any processing; call
+     * {@link #stopWork(String, boolean)} to do that.
+     *
+     * @param id  The work id to mark as cancelled
+     */
+    public synchronized void setCancelled(String id) {
+        mCancelledIds.add(id);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if the given {@code id} is marked as cancelled.
+     *
+     * @param id The work id to query
+     * @return {@code true} if the id has already been marked as cancelled
+     */
+    public synchronized boolean isCancelled(String id) {
+        return mCancelledIds.contains(id);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return {@code true} if the processor has work to process.
+     */
+    public synchronized boolean hasWork() {
+        return !mEnqueuedWorkMap.isEmpty();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param workSpecId The {@link androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec} id
+     * @return {@code true} if the id was enqueued in the processor.
+     */
+    public synchronized boolean isEnqueued(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        return mEnqueuedWorkMap.containsKey(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds an {@link ExecutionListener} to track when work finishes.
+     *
+     * @param executionListener The {@link ExecutionListener} to add
+     */
+    public synchronized void addExecutionListener(ExecutionListener executionListener) {
+        // TODO(sumir): Let's get some synchronization guarantees here.
+        mOuterListeners.add(executionListener);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Removes a tracked {@link ExecutionListener}.
+     *
+     * @param executionListener The {@link ExecutionListener} to remove
+     */
+    public synchronized void removeExecutionListener(ExecutionListener executionListener) {
+        // TODO(sumir): Let's get some synchronization guarantees here.
+        mOuterListeners.remove(executionListener);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized void onExecuted(
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            boolean isSuccessful,
+            boolean needsReschedule) {
+
+        mEnqueuedWorkMap.remove(workSpecId);
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "%s %s executed; isSuccessful = %s, reschedule = %s",
+                getClass().getSimpleName(), workSpecId, isSuccessful, needsReschedule);
+
+        // TODO(sumir): Let's get some synchronization guarantees here.
+        for (ExecutionListener executionListener : mOuterListeners) {
+            executionListener.onExecuted(workSpecId, isSuccessful, needsReschedule);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/Scheduler.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/Scheduler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b107787
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/Scheduler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * An interface for classes responsible for scheduling background work.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public interface Scheduler {
+
+    /**
+     * Schedule the given {@link WorkSpec}s for background execution.  The Scheduler does NOT need
+     * to check if there are any dependencies.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecs The array of {@link WorkSpec}s to schedule
+     */
+    void schedule(WorkSpec... workSpecs);
+
+    /**
+     * Cancel the work identified by the given {@link WorkSpec} id.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecId The id of the work to stopWork
+     */
+    void cancel(@NonNull String workSpecId);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkContinuationImpl.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkContinuationImpl.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4675a86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkContinuationImpl.java
@@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.os.Looper;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.BlockingWorkContinuation;
+import androidx.work.ExistingWorkPolicy;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkContinuation;
+import androidx.work.WorkStatus;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.EnqueueRunnable;
+import androidx.work.impl.workers.JoinWorker;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * A concrete implementation of {@link WorkContinuation}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class WorkContinuationImpl extends WorkContinuation
+        implements BlockingWorkContinuation {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "WorkContinuationImpl";
+
+    private final WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+    private final String mName;
+    private final ExistingWorkPolicy mExistingWorkPolicy;
+    private final List<? extends BaseWork> mWork;
+    private final List<String> mIds;
+    private final List<String> mAllIds;
+    private final List<WorkContinuationImpl> mParents;
+    private boolean mEnqueued;
+
+    @NonNull
+    public WorkManagerImpl getWorkManagerImpl() {
+        return mWorkManagerImpl;
+    }
+
+    @Nullable
+    public String getName() {
+        return mName;
+    }
+
+    public ExistingWorkPolicy getExistingWorkPolicy() {
+        return mExistingWorkPolicy;
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    public List<? extends BaseWork> getWork() {
+        return mWork;
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    public List<String> getIds() {
+        return mIds;
+    }
+
+    public List<String> getAllIds() {
+        return mAllIds;
+    }
+
+    public boolean isEnqueued() {
+        return mEnqueued;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Marks the {@link WorkContinuationImpl} as enqueued.
+     */
+    public void markEnqueued() {
+        mEnqueued = true;
+    }
+
+    public List<WorkContinuationImpl> getParents() {
+        return mParents;
+    }
+
+    WorkContinuationImpl(
+            @NonNull WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl,
+            @NonNull List<? extends BaseWork> work) {
+        this(
+                workManagerImpl,
+                null,
+                ExistingWorkPolicy.KEEP,
+                work,
+                null);
+    }
+
+    WorkContinuationImpl(@NonNull WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl,
+            String name,
+            ExistingWorkPolicy existingWorkPolicy,
+            @NonNull List<? extends BaseWork> work) {
+        this(workManagerImpl, name, existingWorkPolicy, work, null);
+    }
+
+    WorkContinuationImpl(@NonNull WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl,
+            String name,
+            ExistingWorkPolicy existingWorkPolicy,
+            @NonNull List<? extends BaseWork> work,
+            @Nullable List<WorkContinuationImpl> parents) {
+        mWorkManagerImpl = workManagerImpl;
+        mName = name;
+        mExistingWorkPolicy = existingWorkPolicy;
+        mWork = work;
+        mParents = parents;
+        mIds = new ArrayList<>(mWork.size());
+        mAllIds = new ArrayList<>();
+        if (parents != null) {
+            for (WorkContinuationImpl parent : parents) {
+                mAllIds.addAll(parent.mAllIds);
+            }
+        }
+        for (int i = 0; i < work.size(); i++) {
+            String id = work.get(i).getId();
+            mIds.add(id);
+            mAllIds.add(id);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkContinuation then(List<Work> work) {
+        // TODO (rahulrav@) We need to decide if we want to allow chaining of continuations after
+        // an initial call to enqueue()
+        return new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                mName,
+                ExistingWorkPolicy.KEEP,
+                work,
+                Collections.singletonList(this));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> getStatuses() {
+        return mWorkManagerImpl.getStatusesById(mAllIds);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void enqueue() {
+        // Only enqueue if not already enqueued.
+        if (!mEnqueued) {
+            // The runnable walks the hierarchy of the continuations
+            // and marks them enqueued using the markEnqueued() method, parent first.
+            mWorkManagerImpl.getTaskExecutor()
+                    .executeOnBackgroundThread(new EnqueueRunnable(this));
+        } else {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Already enqueued work ids (%s)", TextUtils.join(", ", mIds));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    @WorkerThread
+    public void enqueueBlocking() {
+        if (Looper.getMainLooper().getThread() == Thread.currentThread()) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot enqueueBlocking on main thread!");
+        }
+
+        if (!mEnqueued) {
+            // The runnable walks the hierarchy of the continuations
+            // and marks them enqueued using the markEnqueued() method, parent first.
+            new EnqueueRunnable(this).run();
+        } else {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Already enqueued work ids (%s)", TextUtils.join(", ", mIds));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public BlockingWorkContinuation blocking() {
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected WorkContinuation joinInternal(
+            @Nullable Work work,
+            @NonNull List<WorkContinuation> continuations) {
+
+        if (work == null) {
+            work = new Work.Builder(JoinWorker.class).build();
+        }
+
+        List<WorkContinuationImpl> parents = new ArrayList<>(continuations.size());
+        for (WorkContinuation continuation : continuations) {
+            parents.add((WorkContinuationImpl) continuation);
+        }
+
+        return new WorkContinuationImpl(mWorkManagerImpl,
+                null,
+                ExistingWorkPolicy.KEEP,
+                Collections.singletonList(work),
+                parents);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkDatabase.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkDatabase.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3156218
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkDatabase.java
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static androidx.work.impl.model.EnumTypeConverters.StateIds.COMPLETED_STATES;
+import static androidx.work.impl.model.EnumTypeConverters.StateIds.ENQUEUED;
+import static androidx.work.impl.model.EnumTypeConverters.StateIds.RUNNING;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.db.SupportSQLiteDatabase;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Database;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Room;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.RoomDatabase;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.TypeConverters;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import java.util.Locale;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.ContentUriTriggers;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.AlarmInfo;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.AlarmInfoDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.Dependency;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.DependencyDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.EnumTypeConverters;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkName;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkNameDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkTag;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkTagDao;
+
+/**
+ * A Room database for keeping track of work states.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+// TODO (rahulrav@) Figure out if / how we export the Room Schema
+@Database(entities = {
+        Dependency.class,
+        WorkSpec.class,
+        WorkTag.class,
+        AlarmInfo.class,
+        WorkName.class},
+        version = 1,
+        exportSchema = false)
+@TypeConverters(value = {Arguments.class, ContentUriTriggers.class, EnumTypeConverters.class})
+public abstract class WorkDatabase extends RoomDatabase {
+
+    private static final String DB_NAME = "androidx.work.workdb";
+    private static final String CLEANUP_SQL = "UPDATE workspec SET state=" + ENQUEUED
+            + " WHERE state=" + RUNNING;
+
+    // Delete rows in the workspec table that...
+    private static final String PRUNE_SQL_FORMAT = "DELETE FROM workspec WHERE "
+            // are completed...
+            + "state IN " + COMPLETED_STATES + " AND "
+            // and the minimum retention time has expired...
+            + "(period_start_time + minimum_retention_duration) < %d AND"
+            // and all dependents are completed.
+            + "(SELECT COUNT(*)=0 FROM dependency WHERE "
+            + "    prerequisite_id=id AND "
+            + "    work_spec_id NOT IN "
+            + "        (SELECT id FROM workspec WHERE state IN " + COMPLETED_STATES + "))";
+
+    private static final long PRUNE_THRESHOLD_MILLIS = TimeUnit.DAYS.toMillis(7);
+
+    /**
+     * Creates an instance of the WorkDatabase.
+     *
+     * @param context A context (this method will use the application context from it)
+     * @param useTestDatabase {@code true} to generate an in-memory database that allows main thread
+     *                        access
+     * @return The created WorkDatabase
+     */
+    public static WorkDatabase create(Context context, boolean useTestDatabase) {
+        RoomDatabase.Builder<WorkDatabase> builder;
+        if (useTestDatabase) {
+            builder = Room.inMemoryDatabaseBuilder(context, WorkDatabase.class)
+                    .allowMainThreadQueries();
+        } else {
+            builder = Room.databaseBuilder(context, WorkDatabase.class, DB_NAME);
+        }
+        return builder.addCallback(generateCleanupCallback()).build();
+    }
+
+    static Callback generateCleanupCallback() {
+        return new Callback() {
+            @Override
+            public void onOpen(@NonNull SupportSQLiteDatabase db) {
+                super.onOpen(db);
+                db.beginTransaction();
+                try {
+                    db.execSQL(CLEANUP_SQL);
+
+                    // Prune everything that is completed, has an expired retention time, and has no
+                    // active dependents:
+                    db.execSQL(getPruneSQL());
+
+                    db.setTransactionSuccessful();
+                } finally {
+                    db.endTransaction();
+                }
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+    private static String getPruneSQL() {
+        return String.format(Locale.getDefault(), PRUNE_SQL_FORMAT, getPruneDate());
+    }
+
+    static long getPruneDate() {
+        return System.currentTimeMillis() - PRUNE_THRESHOLD_MILLIS;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return The Data Access Object for {@link WorkSpec}s.
+     */
+    public abstract WorkSpecDao workSpecDao();
+
+    /**
+     * @return The Data Access Object for {@link Dependency}s.
+     */
+    public abstract DependencyDao dependencyDao();
+
+    /**
+     * @return The Data Access Object for {@link WorkTag}s.
+     */
+    public abstract WorkTagDao workTagDao();
+
+    /**
+     * @return The Data Access Object for {@link AlarmInfo}s.
+     */
+    public abstract AlarmInfoDao alarmInfoDao();
+
+    /**
+     * @return The Data Access Object for {@link WorkName}s.
+     */
+    public abstract WorkNameDao workNameDao();
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkImpl.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkImpl.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7b2277
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkImpl.java
@@ -0,0 +1,183 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static androidx.work.impl.workers.ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME;
+
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.InputMerger;
+import androidx.work.OverwritingInputMerger;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.workers.ConstraintTrackingWorker;
+
+/**
+ * A concrete implementation of {@link Work}.
+ */
+
+public class WorkImpl extends Work implements InternalWorkImpl {
+
+    private WorkSpec mWorkSpec;
+    private Set<String> mTags;
+
+    WorkImpl(Builder builder) {
+        mWorkSpec = builder.mWorkSpec;
+        mTags = builder.mTags;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getId() {
+        return mWorkSpec.getId();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkSpec getWorkSpec() {
+        return mWorkSpec;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Set<String> getTags() {
+        return mTags;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The Builder for {@link WorkImpl} class.
+     */
+    public static class Builder implements WorkBuilder<WorkImpl, Builder> {
+
+        private boolean mBackoffCriteriaSet = false;
+        WorkSpec mWorkSpec = new WorkSpec(UUID.randomUUID().toString());
+        Set<String> mTags = new HashSet<>();
+
+        public Builder(@NonNull Class<? extends Worker> workerClass) {
+            mWorkSpec.setWorkerClassName(workerClass.getName());
+            mWorkSpec.setInputMergerClassName(OverwritingInputMerger.class.getName());
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialState(@NonNull State state) {
+            mWorkSpec.setState(state);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialRunAttemptCount(int runAttemptCount) {
+            mWorkSpec.setRunAttemptCount(runAttemptCount);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        @Override
+        public Builder withPeriodStartTime(long periodStartTime, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mWorkSpec.setPeriodStartTime(timeUnit.toMillis(periodStartTime));
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withBackoffCriteria(
+                @NonNull BackoffPolicy backoffPolicy,
+                long backoffDelay,
+                @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mBackoffCriteriaSet = true;
+            mWorkSpec.setBackoffPolicy(backoffPolicy);
+            mWorkSpec.setBackoffDelayDuration(timeUnit.toMillis(backoffDelay));
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withConstraints(@NonNull Constraints constraints) {
+            mWorkSpec.setConstraints(constraints);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withArguments(@NonNull Arguments arguments) {
+            mWorkSpec.setArguments(arguments);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder addTag(@NonNull String tag) {
+            mTags.add(tag);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInitialDelay(long duration, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mWorkSpec.setInitialDelay(timeUnit.toMillis(duration));
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder withInputMerger(@NonNull Class<? extends InputMerger> inputMerger) {
+            mWorkSpec.setInputMergerClassName(inputMerger.getName());
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Builder keepResultsForAtLeast(long duration, @NonNull TimeUnit timeUnit) {
+            mWorkSpec.setMinimumRetentionDuration(timeUnit.toMillis(duration));
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public WorkImpl build() {
+            if (mBackoffCriteriaSet
+                    && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23
+                    && mWorkSpec.getConstraints().requiresDeviceIdle()) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                        "Cannot set backoff criteria on an idle mode job");
+            }
+
+            // requiresBatteryNotLow and requiresStorageNotLow require API 26 for JobScheduler.
+            // Delegate to ConstraintTrackingWorker between API 23-26.
+
+            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23 && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 26) {
+                Constraints constraints = mWorkSpec.getConstraints();
+                if (constraints != null
+                        && (constraints.requiresBatteryNotLow()
+                        || constraints.requiresStorageNotLow())) {
+
+                    String workerClassName = mWorkSpec.getWorkerClassName();
+                    Arguments.Builder builder = new Arguments.Builder();
+                    // Copy all arguments
+                    builder.putAll(mWorkSpec.getArguments())
+                            .putString(ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, workerClassName);
+                    mWorkSpec.setWorkerClassName(ConstraintTrackingWorker.class.getName());
+                    mWorkSpec.setArguments(builder.build());
+                }
+            }
+
+            return new WorkImpl(this);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerConfiguration.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerConfiguration.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65d3a78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerConfiguration.java
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static androidx.work.impl.utils.PackageManagerHelper.setComponentEnabled;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+
+import androidx.work.R;
+import androidx.work.WorkManager;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.SystemAlarmScheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.SystemAlarmService;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob.SystemJobScheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob.SystemJobService;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Configuration for {@link WorkManager}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+class WorkManagerConfiguration {
+    private static final String TAG = "WorkManagerConfig";
+    private static final String FIREBASE_JOB_SCHEDULER_CLASSNAME =
+            "androidx.work.impl.background.firebase.FirebaseJobScheduler";
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    static final String FIREBASE_JOB_SERVICE_CLASSNAME =
+            "androidx.work.impl.background.firebase.FirebaseJobService";
+
+    private final WorkDatabase mWorkDatabase;
+    private final Scheduler mBackgroundScheduler;
+    private final ExecutorService mExecutorService;
+
+    WorkManagerConfiguration(@NonNull Context context) {
+        this(context,
+                context.getResources().getBoolean(R.bool.workmanager_test_configuration),
+                createExecutorService());
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    WorkManagerConfiguration(@NonNull Context context,
+            boolean useTestDatabase,
+            @NonNull ExecutorService executorService) {
+        mWorkDatabase = WorkDatabase.create(context, useTestDatabase);
+        mBackgroundScheduler = createBestAvailableBackgroundScheduler(context);
+        mExecutorService = executorService;
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    WorkDatabase getWorkDatabase() {
+        return mWorkDatabase;
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    Scheduler getBackgroundScheduler() {
+        return mBackgroundScheduler;
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    ExecutorService getExecutorService() {
+        return mExecutorService;
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    private static Scheduler createBestAvailableBackgroundScheduler(@NonNull Context context) {
+        Scheduler scheduler;
+        boolean enableFirebaseJobService = false;
+        boolean enableSystemAlarmService = false;
+
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL) {
+            scheduler = new SystemJobScheduler(context);
+            setComponentEnabled(context, SystemJobService.class, true);
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Created SystemJobScheduler and enabled SystemJobService");
+        } else {
+            try {
+                scheduler = tryCreateFirebaseJobScheduler(context);
+                enableFirebaseJobService = true;
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Created FirebaseJobScheduler");
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                // Also catches the exception thrown if Play Services was not found on the device.
+                scheduler = new SystemAlarmScheduler(context);
+                enableSystemAlarmService = true;
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Created SystemAlarmScheduler");
+            }
+        }
+
+        setComponentEnabled(context, FIREBASE_JOB_SERVICE_CLASSNAME, enableFirebaseJobService);
+        setComponentEnabled(context, SystemAlarmService.class, enableSystemAlarmService);
+
+        return scheduler;
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    private static Scheduler tryCreateFirebaseJobScheduler(@NonNull Context context)
+            throws ClassNotFoundException, IllegalAccessException, InstantiationException,
+            InvocationTargetException, NoSuchMethodException {
+        Class<?> firebaseJobSchedulerClass = Class.forName(FIREBASE_JOB_SCHEDULER_CLASSNAME);
+        return (Scheduler) firebaseJobSchedulerClass
+                .getConstructor(Context.class)
+                .newInstance(context);
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    static ExecutorService createExecutorService() {
+        return Executors.newFixedThreadPool(
+                // This value is the same as the core pool size for AsyncTask#THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR.
+                Math.max(2, Math.min(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() - 1, 4)));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerImpl.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerImpl.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a0a8b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkManagerImpl.java
@@ -0,0 +1,379 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.MediatorLiveData;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.Observer;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Looper;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.BlockingWorkManager;
+import androidx.work.ExistingWorkPolicy;
+import androidx.work.Work;
+import androidx.work.WorkContinuation;
+import androidx.work.WorkManager;
+import androidx.work.WorkStatus;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.greedy.GreedyScheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.CancelWorkRunnable;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.ForceStopRunnable;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.LiveDataUtils;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.StartWorkRunnable;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.StopWorkRunnable;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor.TaskExecutor;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor.WorkManagerTaskExecutor;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * A concrete implementation of {@link WorkManager}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class WorkManagerImpl extends WorkManager implements BlockingWorkManager {
+
+    public static final int MAX_PRE_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL = 22;
+    public static final int MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL = 23;
+
+    private WorkDatabase mWorkDatabase;
+    private TaskExecutor mTaskExecutor;
+    private List<Scheduler> mSchedulers;
+    private Processor mProcessor;
+
+    private static WorkManagerImpl sInstance = null;
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves the singleton instance of {@link WorkManagerImpl}.
+     *
+     * @param context A {@link Context} object for configuration purposes.  Internally, this class
+     *                will call {@link Context#getApplicationContext()}, so you may safely pass in
+     *                any Context without risking a memory leak.
+     * @return The singleton instance of {@link WorkManagerImpl}
+     */
+    public static synchronized WorkManagerImpl getInstance(Context context) {
+        if (sInstance == null) {
+            context = context.getApplicationContext();
+            sInstance = new WorkManagerImpl(context, new WorkManagerConfiguration(context));
+        }
+        return sInstance;
+    }
+
+    WorkManagerImpl(Context context, WorkManagerConfiguration configuration) {
+        mWorkDatabase = configuration.getWorkDatabase();
+
+        mSchedulers = new ArrayList<>();
+        mSchedulers.add(configuration.getBackgroundScheduler());
+        mSchedulers.add(new GreedyScheduler(context, this));
+
+        mTaskExecutor = WorkManagerTaskExecutor.getInstance();
+        mProcessor = new Processor(
+                context,
+                mWorkDatabase,
+                mSchedulers,
+                configuration.getExecutorService());
+
+        // Checks for app force stops.
+        mTaskExecutor.executeOnBackgroundThread(new ForceStopRunnable(context, this));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return The {@link WorkDatabase} instance associated with this WorkManager.
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    public WorkDatabase getWorkDatabase() {
+        return mWorkDatabase;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return The {@link Scheduler}s associated with this WorkManager based on the device's
+     * capabilities, SDK version, etc.
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    public @NonNull List<Scheduler> getSchedulers() {
+        return mSchedulers;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return The {@link Processor} used to process background work.
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    public @NonNull Processor getProcessor() {
+        return mProcessor;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return the {@link TaskExecutor} used by the instance of {@link WorkManager}.
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    public @NonNull TaskExecutor getTaskExecutor() {
+        return mTaskExecutor;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void enqueue(@NonNull List<? extends BaseWork> baseWork) {
+        new WorkContinuationImpl(this, baseWork).enqueue();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkContinuation beginWith(@NonNull List<Work> work) {
+        return new WorkContinuationImpl(this, work);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkContinuation beginWithName(
+            @NonNull String name,
+            @NonNull ExistingWorkPolicy existingWorkPolicy,
+            @NonNull List<Work> work) {
+        return new WorkContinuationImpl(this, name, existingWorkPolicy, work);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void cancelWorkById(@NonNull String id) {
+        mTaskExecutor.executeOnBackgroundThread(CancelWorkRunnable.forId(id, this));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    @WorkerThread
+    public void cancelWorkByIdBlocking(@NonNull String id) {
+        assertBackgroundThread("Cannot cancelWorkByIdBlocking on main thread!");
+        CancelWorkRunnable.forId(id, this).run();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void cancelAllWorkByTag(@NonNull final String tag) {
+        mTaskExecutor.executeOnBackgroundThread(
+                CancelWorkRunnable.forTag(tag, this));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    @WorkerThread
+    public void cancelAllWorkByTagBlocking(@NonNull String tag) {
+        assertBackgroundThread("Cannot cancelAllWorkByTagBlocking on main thread!");
+        CancelWorkRunnable.forTag(tag, this).run();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void cancelAllWorkByName(@NonNull String name) {
+        mTaskExecutor.executeOnBackgroundThread(
+                CancelWorkRunnable.forName(name, this));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void cancelAllWorkByNameBlocking(@NonNull String name) {
+        assertBackgroundThread("Cannot cancelAllWorkByNameBlocking on main thread!");
+        CancelWorkRunnable.forName(name, this).run();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public LiveData<WorkStatus> getStatusById(@NonNull String id) {
+        WorkSpecDao dao = mWorkDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        final MediatorLiveData<WorkStatus> mediatorLiveData = new MediatorLiveData<>();
+        mediatorLiveData.addSource(
+                LiveDataUtils.dedupedLiveDataFor(
+                        dao.getWorkStatusPojoLiveDataForIds(Collections.singletonList(id))),
+                new Observer<List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo>>() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onChanged(
+                            @Nullable List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo> workStatusPojos) {
+                        WorkStatus workStatus = null;
+                        if (workStatusPojos != null && workStatusPojos.size() > 0) {
+                            workStatus = workStatusPojos.get(0).toWorkStatus();
+                        }
+                        mediatorLiveData.setValue(workStatus);
+                    }
+                });
+        return mediatorLiveData;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    @WorkerThread
+    public @Nullable WorkStatus getStatusByIdBlocking(@NonNull String id) {
+        assertBackgroundThread("Cannot call getStatusByIdBlocking on main thread!");
+        WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo workStatusPojo =
+                mWorkDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkStatusPojoForId(id);
+        if (workStatusPojo != null) {
+            return workStatusPojo.toWorkStatus();
+        } else {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> getStatusesByTag(@NonNull String tag) {
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mWorkDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        final MediatorLiveData<List<WorkStatus>> mediatorLiveData = new MediatorLiveData<>();
+        mediatorLiveData.addSource(
+                LiveDataUtils.dedupedLiveDataFor(
+                        workSpecDao.getWorkStatusPojoLiveDataForTag(tag)),
+                new Observer<List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo>>() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onChanged(
+                            @Nullable List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo> workStatusPojos) {
+                        List<WorkStatus> workStatuses = null;
+                        if (workStatusPojos != null) {
+                            workStatuses = new ArrayList<>(workStatusPojos.size());
+                            for (WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo workStatusPojo : workStatusPojos) {
+                                workStatuses.add(workStatusPojo.toWorkStatus());
+                            }
+                        }
+                        mediatorLiveData.setValue(workStatuses);
+                    }
+                });
+        return mediatorLiveData;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public List<WorkStatus> getStatusesByTagBlocking(@NonNull String tag) {
+        assertBackgroundThread("Cannot call getStatusesByTagBlocking on main thread!");
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mWorkDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        List<WorkStatus> workStatuses = null;
+        List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo> workStatusPojos = workSpecDao.getWorkStatusPojoForTag(tag);
+        if (workStatusPojos != null) {
+            workStatuses = new ArrayList<>(workStatusPojos.size());
+            for (WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo workStatusPojo : workStatusPojos) {
+                workStatuses.add(workStatusPojo.toWorkStatus());
+            }
+        }
+        return workStatuses;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> getStatusesByName(@NonNull String name) {
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mWorkDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        final MediatorLiveData<List<WorkStatus>> mediatorLiveData = new MediatorLiveData<>();
+        mediatorLiveData.addSource(
+                LiveDataUtils.dedupedLiveDataFor(
+                        workSpecDao.getWorkStatusPojoLiveDataForName(name)),
+                new Observer<List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo>>() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onChanged(@Nullable List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo> workStatusPojos) {
+                        List<WorkStatus> workStatuses = null;
+                        if (workStatusPojos != null) {
+                            workStatuses = new ArrayList<>(workStatusPojos.size());
+                            for (WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo workStatusPojo : workStatusPojos) {
+                                workStatuses.add(workStatusPojo.toWorkStatus());
+                            }
+                        }
+                        mediatorLiveData.setValue(workStatuses);
+                    }
+                }
+        );
+        return mediatorLiveData;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public List<WorkStatus> getStatusesByNameBlocking(@NonNull String name) {
+        assertBackgroundThread("Cannot call getStatusesByNameBlocking on main thread!");
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = mWorkDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        List<WorkStatus> workStatuses = null;
+        List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo> workStatusPojos = workSpecDao.getWorkStatusPojoForName(name);
+        if (workStatusPojos != null) {
+            workStatuses = new ArrayList<>(workStatusPojos.size());
+            for (WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo workStatusPojo : workStatusPojos) {
+                workStatuses.add(workStatusPojo.toWorkStatus());
+            }
+        }
+        return workStatuses;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public BlockingWorkManager blocking() {
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    LiveData<List<WorkStatus>> getStatusesById(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+        WorkSpecDao dao = mWorkDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        final MediatorLiveData<List<WorkStatus>> mediatorLiveData = new MediatorLiveData<>();
+        mediatorLiveData.addSource(
+                LiveDataUtils.dedupedLiveDataFor(
+                        dao.getWorkStatusPojoLiveDataForIds(workSpecIds)),
+                new Observer<List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo>>() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onChanged(
+                            @Nullable List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo> workStatusPojos) {
+                        List<WorkStatus> workStatuses = null;
+                        if (workStatusPojos != null) {
+                            workStatuses = new ArrayList<>(workStatusPojos.size());
+                            for (WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo workStatusPojo : workStatusPojos) {
+                                workStatuses.add(workStatusPojo.toWorkStatus());
+                            }
+                        }
+                        mediatorLiveData.setValue(workStatuses);
+                    }
+                });
+        return mediatorLiveData;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param workSpecId The {@link WorkSpec} id to start
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    public void startWork(String workSpecId) {
+        mTaskExecutor.executeOnBackgroundThread(new StartWorkRunnable(this, workSpecId));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param workSpecId The {@link WorkSpec} id to stop
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    public void stopWork(String workSpecId) {
+        mTaskExecutor.executeOnBackgroundThread(new StopWorkRunnable(this, workSpecId));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Reschedules all the eligible work. Useful for cases like, app was force stopped or
+     * BOOT_COMPLETED, TIMEZONE_CHANGED and TIME_SET for AlarmManager.
+     *
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    public void rescheduleEligibleWork() {
+        // Using getters here so we can use from a mocked instance
+        // of WorkManagerImpl.
+        List<WorkSpec> eligibleWorkSpecs = getWorkDatabase()
+                .workSpecDao()
+                .getEligibleWorkSpecs(Long.MAX_VALUE);
+
+        // Delegate to the WorkManager's schedulers.
+        for (Scheduler scheduler : getSchedulers()) {
+            scheduler.schedule(eligibleWorkSpecs.toArray(new WorkSpec[0]));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void assertBackgroundThread(String errorMessage) {
+        if (Looper.getMainLooper().getThread() == Thread.currentThread()) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(errorMessage);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkerWrapper.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkerWrapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8965cee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/WorkerWrapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,420 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import static androidx.work.State.CANCELLED;
+import static androidx.work.State.ENQUEUED;
+import static androidx.work.State.FAILED;
+import static androidx.work.State.RUNNING;
+import static androidx.work.State.SUCCEEDED;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.InputMerger;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.DependencyDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor.WorkManagerTaskExecutor;
+
+/**
+ * A runnable that looks up the {@link WorkSpec} from the database for a given id, instantiates
+ * its Worker, and then calls it.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class WorkerWrapper implements Runnable {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "WorkerWrapper";
+    private Context mAppContext;
+    private String mWorkSpecId;
+    private ExecutionListener mListener;
+    private List<Scheduler> mSchedulers;
+    private WorkSpec mWorkSpec;
+    Worker mWorker;
+
+    private WorkDatabase mWorkDatabase;
+    private WorkSpecDao mWorkSpecDao;
+    private DependencyDao mDependencyDao;
+
+    private WorkerWrapper(Builder builder) {
+        mAppContext = builder.mAppContext;
+        mWorkSpecId = builder.mWorkSpecId;
+        mListener = builder.mListener;
+        mSchedulers = builder.mSchedulers;
+        mWorker = builder.mWorker;
+
+        mWorkDatabase = builder.mWorkDatabase;
+        mWorkSpecDao = mWorkDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        mDependencyDao = mWorkDatabase.dependencyDao();
+    }
+
+    @WorkerThread
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+        mWorkSpec = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpec(mWorkSpecId);
+        if (mWorkSpec == null) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "Didn't find WorkSpec for id %s", mWorkSpecId);
+            notifyListener(false, false);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (mWorkSpec.getState() != ENQUEUED) {
+            notifyIncorrectStatus();
+            return;
+        }
+
+        Arguments arguments;
+        if (mWorkSpec.isPeriodic()) {
+            arguments = mWorkSpec.getArguments();
+        } else {
+            InputMerger inputMerger = InputMerger.fromClassName(
+                    mWorkSpec.getInputMergerClassName());
+            if (inputMerger == null) {
+                Logger.error(TAG, "Could not create Input Merger %s",
+                        mWorkSpec.getInputMergerClassName());
+                setFailedAndNotify();
+                return;
+            }
+            List<Arguments> inputs = new ArrayList<>();
+            inputs.add(mWorkSpec.getArguments());
+            inputs.addAll(mWorkSpecDao.getInputsFromPrerequisites(mWorkSpecId));
+            arguments = inputMerger.merge(inputs);
+        }
+
+        // Not always creating a worker here, as the WorkerWrapper.Builder can set a worker override
+        // in test mode.
+        if (mWorker == null) {
+            mWorker = workerFromWorkSpec(mAppContext, mWorkSpec, arguments);
+        }
+
+        if (mWorker == null) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "Could for create Worker %s", mWorkSpec.getWorkerClassName());
+            setFailedAndNotify();
+            return;
+        }
+
+        setRunning();
+
+        try {
+            checkForInterruption();
+            Worker.WorkerResult result = mWorker.doWork();
+            if (mWorkSpecDao.getState(mWorkSpecId) != CANCELLED) {
+                checkForInterruption();
+                handleResult(result);
+            }
+        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Work interrupted for %s", mWorkSpecId);
+            rescheduleAndNotify(false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void notifyIncorrectStatus() {
+        // incorrect status is treated as a false-y attempt at execution
+        State status = mWorkSpec.getState();
+        if (status == RUNNING) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Status for %s is RUNNING;"
+                    + "not doing any work and rescheduling for later execution", mWorkSpecId);
+            notifyListener(false, true);
+        } else {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "Status for %s is %s; not doing any work", mWorkSpecId, status);
+            notifyListener(false, false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void checkForInterruption() throws InterruptedException {
+        if (Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted()) {
+            throw new InterruptedException();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void notifyListener(final boolean isSuccessful, final boolean needsReschedule) {
+        if (mListener == null) {
+            return;
+        }
+        WorkManagerTaskExecutor.getInstance().postToMainThread(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                mListener.onExecuted(mWorkSpecId, isSuccessful, needsReschedule);
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    private void handleResult(Worker.WorkerResult result) {
+        switch (result) {
+            case SUCCESS: {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Worker result SUCCESS for %s", mWorkSpecId);
+                if (mWorkSpec.isPeriodic()) {
+                    resetPeriodicAndNotify(true);
+                } else {
+                    setSucceededAndNotify();
+                }
+                break;
+            }
+
+            case RETRY: {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Worker result RETRY for %s", mWorkSpecId);
+                rescheduleAndNotify(false /* treating current attempt as a false*/);
+                break;
+            }
+
+            case FAILURE:
+            default: {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Worker result FAILURE for %s", mWorkSpecId);
+                if (mWorkSpec.isPeriodic()) {
+                    resetPeriodicAndNotify(false);
+                } else {
+                    setFailedAndNotify();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void setRunning() {
+        mWorkDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            mWorkSpecDao.setState(RUNNING, mWorkSpecId);
+            mWorkSpecDao.incrementWorkSpecRunAttemptCount(mWorkSpecId);
+            mWorkDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mWorkDatabase.endTransaction();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void setFailedAndNotify() {
+        mWorkDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            recursivelyFailWorkAndDependents(mWorkSpecId);
+
+            // Try to set the output for the failed work but check if the worker exists; this could
+            // be a permanent error where we couldn't find or create the worker class.
+            if (mWorker != null) {
+                // Update Arguments as necessary.
+                Arguments outputArgs = mWorker.getOutput();
+                if (outputArgs != null) {
+                    mWorkSpecDao.setOutput(mWorkSpecId, outputArgs);
+                }
+            }
+
+            mWorkDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mWorkDatabase.endTransaction();
+            notifyListener(false, false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void recursivelyFailWorkAndDependents(String workSpecId) {
+        List<String> dependentIds = mDependencyDao.getDependentWorkIds(workSpecId);
+        for (String id : dependentIds) {
+            recursivelyFailWorkAndDependents(id);
+        }
+
+        // Don't fail already cancelled work.
+        if (mWorkSpecDao.getState(workSpecId) != CANCELLED) {
+            mWorkSpecDao.setState(FAILED, workSpecId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void rescheduleAndNotify(boolean isSuccessful) {
+        mWorkDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            mWorkSpecDao.setState(ENQUEUED, mWorkSpecId);
+            // TODO(xbhatnag): Period Start Time is confusing for non-periodic work. Rename.
+            mWorkSpecDao.setPeriodStartTime(mWorkSpecId, System.currentTimeMillis());
+            mWorkDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mWorkDatabase.endTransaction();
+            notifyListener(isSuccessful, true);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void resetPeriodicAndNotify(boolean isSuccessful) {
+        mWorkDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            long currentPeriodStartTime = mWorkSpec.getPeriodStartTime();
+            long nextPeriodStartTime = currentPeriodStartTime + mWorkSpec.getIntervalDuration();
+            mWorkSpecDao.setPeriodStartTime(mWorkSpecId, nextPeriodStartTime);
+            mWorkSpecDao.setState(ENQUEUED, mWorkSpecId);
+            mWorkSpecDao.resetWorkSpecRunAttemptCount(mWorkSpecId);
+            mWorkDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mWorkDatabase.endTransaction();
+            notifyListener(isSuccessful, false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void setSucceededAndNotify() {
+        List<String> unblockedWorkIds = new ArrayList<>();
+
+        mWorkDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            mWorkSpecDao.setState(SUCCEEDED, mWorkSpecId);
+
+            // Update Arguments as necessary.
+            Arguments outputArgs = mWorker.getOutput();
+            if (outputArgs != null) {
+                mWorkSpecDao.setOutput(mWorkSpecId, outputArgs);
+            }
+
+            // Unblock Dependencies and set Period Start Time
+            long currentTimeMillis = System.currentTimeMillis();
+            List<String> dependentWorkIds = mDependencyDao.getDependentWorkIds(mWorkSpecId);
+            for (String dependentWorkId : dependentWorkIds) {
+                if (mDependencyDao.hasCompletedAllPrerequisites(dependentWorkId)) {
+                    Logger.debug(TAG, "Setting status to enqueued for %s", dependentWorkId);
+                    mWorkSpecDao.setState(ENQUEUED, dependentWorkId);
+                    mWorkSpecDao.setPeriodStartTime(dependentWorkId, currentTimeMillis);
+                    unblockedWorkIds.add(dependentWorkId);
+                }
+            }
+
+            mWorkDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            mWorkDatabase.endTransaction();
+            notifyListener(true, false);
+        }
+
+        if (mSchedulers != null) {
+            int unblockedWorkCount = unblockedWorkIds.size();
+            if (unblockedWorkCount > 0) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG,
+                        "Setting status to enqueued for %s items that were dependent on %s",
+                        unblockedWorkCount, mWorkSpecId);
+            }
+
+            WorkSpec[] unblockedWorkSpecs = mWorkSpecDao.getWorkSpecs(unblockedWorkIds);
+            for (Scheduler scheduler : mSchedulers) {
+                scheduler.schedule(unblockedWorkSpecs);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    static Worker workerFromWorkSpec(@NonNull Context context,
+            @NonNull WorkSpec workSpec,
+            @NonNull Arguments arguments) {
+        String workerClassName = workSpec.getWorkerClassName();
+        String workSpecId = workSpec.getId();
+        return workerFromClassName(context, workerClassName, workSpecId, arguments);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a {@link Worker} reflectively & initializes the worker.
+     *
+     * @param context         The application {@link Context}
+     * @param workerClassName The fully qualified class name for the {@link Worker}
+     * @param workSpecId      The {@link WorkSpec} identifier
+     * @param arguments       The {@link Arguments} for the worker
+     * @return The instance of {@link Worker}
+     *
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    @SuppressWarnings("ClassNewInstance")
+    public static Worker workerFromClassName(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            @NonNull String workerClassName,
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            @NonNull Arguments arguments) {
+        Context appContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+        try {
+            Class<?> clazz = Class.forName(workerClassName);
+            Worker worker = (Worker) clazz.newInstance();
+            Method internalInitMethod = Worker.class.getDeclaredMethod(
+                    "internalInit", Context.class, String.class, Arguments.class);
+            internalInitMethod.setAccessible(true);
+            internalInitMethod.invoke(worker, appContext, workSpecId, arguments);
+            return worker;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            Log.e(TAG, "Trouble instantiating " + workerClassName, e);
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Builder class for {@link WorkerWrapper}
+     * @hide
+     */
+    @RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+    public static class Builder {
+        private Context mAppContext;
+        @Nullable
+        private Worker mWorker;
+        private WorkDatabase mWorkDatabase;
+        private String mWorkSpecId;
+        private ExecutionListener mListener;
+        private List<Scheduler> mSchedulers;
+
+        public Builder(@NonNull Context context,
+                @NonNull WorkDatabase database,
+                @NonNull String workSpecId) {
+            mAppContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+            mWorkDatabase = database;
+            mWorkSpecId = workSpecId;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * @param listener The {@link ExecutionListener} which gets notified on completion of the
+         *                 {@link Worker} with the given {@code workSpecId}.
+         * @return The instance of {@link Builder} for chaining.
+         */
+        public Builder withListener(ExecutionListener listener) {
+            mListener = listener;
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * @param schedulers The list of {@link Scheduler}'s used for scheduling {@link Worker}'s.
+         * @return The instance of {@link Builder} for chaining.
+         */
+        public Builder withSchedulers(List<Scheduler> schedulers) {
+            mSchedulers = schedulers;
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * @param worker The instance of {@link Worker} to be executed by {@link WorkerWrapper}.
+         *               Useful in the context of testing.
+         * @return The instance of {@link Builder} for chaining.
+         */
+        @VisibleForTesting
+        public Builder withWorker(Worker worker) {
+            mWorker = worker;
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * @return The instance of {@link WorkerWrapper}.
+         */
+        public WorkerWrapper build() {
+            return new WorkerWrapper(this);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/greedy/GreedyScheduler.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/greedy/GreedyScheduler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a56714
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/greedy/GreedyScheduler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.greedy;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.impl.ExecutionListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.WorkConstraintsCallback;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.WorkConstraintsTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A greedy {@link Scheduler} that schedules unconstrained, non-timed work.  It intentionally does
+ * not acquire any WakeLocks, instead trying to brute-force them as time allows before the process
+ * gets killed.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class GreedyScheduler implements Scheduler, WorkConstraintsCallback, ExecutionListener {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "GreedyScheduler";
+
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+    private WorkConstraintsTracker mWorkConstraintsTracker;
+    private List<WorkSpec> mConstrainedWorkSpecs = new ArrayList<>();
+
+    public GreedyScheduler(Context context, WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl) {
+        mWorkManagerImpl = workManagerImpl;
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker = new WorkConstraintsTracker(context, this);
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public GreedyScheduler(WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl,
+            WorkConstraintsTracker workConstraintsTracker) {
+        mWorkManagerImpl = workManagerImpl;
+        mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().addExecutionListener(this);
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker = workConstraintsTracker;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized void schedule(WorkSpec... workSpecs) {
+        int originalSize = mConstrainedWorkSpecs.size();
+
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : workSpecs) {
+            if (workSpec.getState() == State.ENQUEUED
+                    && !workSpec.isPeriodic()
+                    && workSpec.getInitialDelay() == 0L) {
+                if (workSpec.hasConstraints()) {
+                    Logger.debug(TAG, "Starting tracking for %s", workSpec.getId());
+                    mConstrainedWorkSpecs.add(workSpec);
+                } else {
+                    mWorkManagerImpl.startWork(workSpec.getId());
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (originalSize != mConstrainedWorkSpecs.size()) {
+            mWorkConstraintsTracker.replace(mConstrainedWorkSpecs);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized void cancel(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Cancelling work ID %s", workSpecId);
+        mWorkManagerImpl.stopWork(workSpecId);
+        removeConstraintTrackingFor(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized void onAllConstraintsMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+        for (String workSpecId : workSpecIds) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Constraints met: Scheduling work ID %s", workSpecId);
+            mWorkManagerImpl.startWork(workSpecId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized void onAllConstraintsNotMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+        for (String workSpecId : workSpecIds) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Constraints not met: Cancelling work ID %s", workSpecId);
+            mWorkManagerImpl.stopWork(workSpecId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized void onExecuted(@NonNull String workSpecId,
+            boolean isSuccessful,
+            boolean needsReschedule) {
+        removeConstraintTrackingFor(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    private synchronized void removeConstraintTrackingFor(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        for (int i = 0, size = mConstrainedWorkSpecs.size(); i < size; ++i) {
+            if (mConstrainedWorkSpecs.get(i).getId().equals(workSpecId)) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Stopping tracking for %s", workSpecId);
+                mConstrainedWorkSpecs.remove(i);
+                mWorkConstraintsTracker.replace(mConstrainedWorkSpecs);
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55774a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.background;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/Alarms.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/Alarms.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8a8322
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/Alarms.java
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import static android.app.AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP;
+
+import android.app.AlarmManager;
+import android.app.PendingIntent;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.AlarmInfo;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.AlarmInfoDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.IdGenerator;
+
+/**
+ * A common class for managing Alarms.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+class Alarms {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "Alarms";
+
+    /**
+     * Sets an exact alarm after cancelling any existing alarms for the given id.
+     *
+     * @param context         The application {@link Context}.
+     * @param workManager     The instance of {@link WorkManagerImpl}.
+     * @param workSpecId      The {@link androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec} identifier.
+     * @param triggerAtMillis Determines when to trigger the Alarm.
+     */
+    public static void setAlarm(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            @NonNull WorkManagerImpl workManager,
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            long triggerAtMillis) {
+
+        WorkDatabase workDatabase = workManager.getWorkDatabase();
+        AlarmInfoDao alarmInfoDao = workDatabase.alarmInfoDao();
+        AlarmInfo alarmInfo = alarmInfoDao.getAlarmInfo(workSpecId);
+        if (alarmInfo != null) {
+            cancelExactAlarm(context, workSpecId, alarmInfo.alarmId);
+            setExactAlarm(context, workSpecId, alarmInfo.alarmId, triggerAtMillis);
+        } else {
+            IdGenerator idGenerator = new IdGenerator(context);
+            int alarmId = idGenerator.nextAlarmManagerId();
+            AlarmInfo newAlarmInfo = new AlarmInfo(workSpecId, alarmId);
+            alarmInfoDao.insertAlarmInfo(newAlarmInfo);
+            setExactAlarm(context, workSpecId, alarmId, triggerAtMillis);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Cancels an existing alarm and removes the {@link AlarmInfo}.
+     *
+     * @param context     The application {@link Context}.
+     * @param workManager The instance of {@link WorkManagerImpl}.
+     * @param workSpecId  The {@link androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec} identifier.
+     */
+    public static void cancelAlarm(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            @NonNull WorkManagerImpl workManager,
+            @NonNull String workSpecId) {
+
+        WorkDatabase workDatabase = workManager.getWorkDatabase();
+        AlarmInfoDao alarmInfoDao = workDatabase.alarmInfoDao();
+        AlarmInfo alarmInfo = alarmInfoDao.getAlarmInfo(workSpecId);
+        if (alarmInfo != null) {
+            cancelExactAlarm(context, workSpecId, alarmInfo.alarmId);
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Removing AlarmInfo for workSpecId (%s)", workSpecId);
+            alarmInfoDao.removeAlarmInfo(workSpecId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void cancelExactAlarm(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            int alarmId) {
+
+        AlarmManager alarmManager = (AlarmManager) context.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
+        Intent delayMet = CommandHandler.createDelayMetIntent(context, workSpecId);
+        PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getService(
+                context, alarmId, delayMet, PendingIntent.FLAG_NO_CREATE);
+        if (pendingIntent != null && alarmManager != null) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Cancelling existing alarm with (workSpecId, alarmId) (%s, %s)",
+                    workSpecId, alarmId);
+            alarmManager.cancel(pendingIntent);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void setExactAlarm(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            int alarmId,
+            long triggerAtMillis) {
+
+        AlarmManager alarmManager = (AlarmManager) context.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
+        Intent delayMet = CommandHandler.createDelayMetIntent(context, workSpecId);
+        PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getService(
+                context, alarmId, delayMet, PendingIntent.FLAG_ONE_SHOT);
+        if (alarmManager != null) {
+            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 19) {
+                alarmManager.setExact(RTC_WAKEUP, triggerAtMillis, pendingIntent);
+            } else {
+                alarmManager.set(RTC_WAKEUP, triggerAtMillis, pendingIntent);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/CommandHandler.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/CommandHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c63168
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/CommandHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,277 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.os.Bundle;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.ExecutionListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * The command handler used by {@link SystemAlarmDispatcher}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class CommandHandler implements ExecutionListener {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "CommandHandler";
+
+    // actions
+    static final String ACTION_SCHEDULE_WORK = "ACTION_SCHEDULE_WORK";
+    static final String ACTION_DELAY_MET = "ACTION_DELAY_MET";
+    static final String ACTION_STOP_WORK = "ACTION_STOP_WORK";
+    static final String ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED = "ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED";
+    static final String ACTION_RESCHEDULE = "ACTION_RESCHEDULE";
+
+    // keys
+    private static final String KEY_WORKSPEC_ID = "KEY_WORKSPEC_ID";
+
+    // constants
+    static final long WORK_PROCESSING_TIME_IN_MS = 10 * 60 * 1000L;
+
+    // utilities
+    static Intent createScheduleWorkIntent(@NonNull Context context, @NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        Intent intent = new Intent(context, SystemAlarmService.class);
+        intent.setAction(ACTION_SCHEDULE_WORK);
+        intent.putExtra(KEY_WORKSPEC_ID, workSpecId);
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    static Intent createDelayMetIntent(@NonNull Context context, @NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        Intent intent = new Intent(context, SystemAlarmService.class);
+        intent.setAction(ACTION_DELAY_MET);
+        intent.putExtra(KEY_WORKSPEC_ID, workSpecId);
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    static Intent createStopWorkIntent(@NonNull Context context, @NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        Intent intent = new Intent(context, SystemAlarmService.class);
+        intent.setAction(ACTION_STOP_WORK);
+        intent.putExtra(KEY_WORKSPEC_ID, workSpecId);
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    static Intent createConstraintsChangedIntent(@NonNull Context context) {
+        Intent intent = new Intent(context, SystemAlarmService.class);
+        intent.setAction(ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED);
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    static Intent createRescheduleIntent(@NonNull Context context) {
+        Intent intent = new Intent(context, SystemAlarmService.class);
+        intent.setAction(ACTION_RESCHEDULE);
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    // members
+    private final Context mContext;
+    private final Map<String, ExecutionListener> mPendingDelayMet;
+    private final Object mLock;
+
+    CommandHandler(@NonNull Context context) {
+        mContext = context;
+        mPendingDelayMet = new HashMap<>();
+        mLock = new Object();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onExecuted(
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            boolean isSuccessful,
+            boolean needsReschedule) {
+
+        synchronized (mLock) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "onExecuted (%s, %s, %s)", workSpecId, isSuccessful, needsReschedule);
+            // This listener is only necessary for knowing when a pending work is complete.
+            // Delegate to the underlying execution listener itself.
+            ExecutionListener listener = mPendingDelayMet.remove(workSpecId);
+            if (listener != null) {
+                listener.onExecuted(workSpecId, isSuccessful, needsReschedule);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return <code>true</code> if there is work pending.
+     */
+    boolean hasPendingCommands() {
+        // Needs to be synchronized as this could be checked from
+        // both the command processing thread, as well as the
+        // onExecuted callback.
+        synchronized (mLock) {
+            // If we have pending work being executed on the background
+            // processor - we are not done yet.
+            return !mPendingDelayMet.isEmpty();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The actual command handler.
+     */
+    @WorkerThread
+    void onHandleIntent(
+            @NonNull Intent intent,
+            int startId,
+            @NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+
+        String action = intent.getAction();
+
+        if (ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED.equals(action)) {
+            handleConstraintsChanged(intent, startId, dispatcher);
+        } else if (ACTION_RESCHEDULE.equals(action)) {
+            handleReschedule(intent, startId, dispatcher);
+        } else {
+            Bundle extras = intent.getExtras();
+            if (!hasKeys(extras, KEY_WORKSPEC_ID)) {
+                Logger.error(TAG, "Invalid request for %s, requires %s.", action, KEY_WORKSPEC_ID);
+            } else {
+                if (ACTION_SCHEDULE_WORK.equals(action)) {
+                    handleScheduleWorkIntent(intent, startId, dispatcher);
+                } else if (ACTION_DELAY_MET.equals(action)) {
+                    handleDelayMet(intent, startId, dispatcher);
+                } else if (ACTION_STOP_WORK.equals(action)) {
+                    handleStopWork(intent, startId, dispatcher);
+                } else {
+                    Logger.warn(TAG, "Ignoring intent %s", intent);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void handleScheduleWorkIntent(
+            @NonNull Intent intent,
+            int startId,
+            @NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+
+        Bundle extras = intent.getExtras();
+        String workSpecId = extras.getString(KEY_WORKSPEC_ID);
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Handling schedule work for %s", workSpecId);
+        WorkSpec workSpec = dispatcher.getWorkManager()
+                .getWorkDatabase()
+                .workSpecDao()
+                .getWorkSpec(workSpecId);
+
+        Intent delayMet = CommandHandler.createDelayMetIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+        long triggerAt = workSpec.calculateNextRunTime();
+
+        if (!workSpec.hasConstraints()) {
+            if (triggerAt <= System.currentTimeMillis()) {
+                // We should be already processing this worker
+                // Request dispatcher to treat this as a delayMet intent
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "triggerAt is in the past. Processing the worker %s", workSpecId);
+                dispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                        new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(dispatcher, delayMet, startId));
+            } else {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Setting up Alarms for %s", workSpecId);
+                Alarms.setAlarm(mContext, dispatcher.getWorkManager(), workSpecId, triggerAt);
+            }
+        } else {
+            // Schedule an alarm irrespective of whether all constraints matched.
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Opportunistically setting an alarm for %s", workSpecId);
+            Alarms.setAlarm(
+                    mContext,
+                    dispatcher.getWorkManager(),
+                    workSpecId,
+                    triggerAt);
+
+            // Schedule an update for constraint proxies
+            // This in turn sets enables us to track changes in constraints
+            Intent constraintsUpdate = CommandHandler.createConstraintsChangedIntent(mContext);
+            dispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                    new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(
+                            dispatcher,
+                            constraintsUpdate,
+                            startId));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void handleDelayMet(
+            @NonNull Intent intent,
+            int startId,
+            @NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+
+        Bundle extras = intent.getExtras();
+        synchronized (mLock) {
+            String workSpecId = extras.getString(KEY_WORKSPEC_ID);
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Handing delay met for %s", workSpecId);
+            DelayMetCommandHandler delayMetCommandHandler =
+                    new DelayMetCommandHandler(mContext, startId, workSpecId, dispatcher);
+            mPendingDelayMet.put(workSpecId, delayMetCommandHandler);
+            delayMetCommandHandler.handleProcessWork();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void handleStopWork(
+            @NonNull Intent intent, int startId,
+            @NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+
+        Bundle extras = intent.getExtras();
+        String workSpecId = extras.getString(KEY_WORKSPEC_ID);
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Handing stopWork work for %s", workSpecId);
+
+        dispatcher.getWorkManager().stopWork(workSpecId);
+        Alarms.cancelAlarm(mContext, dispatcher.getWorkManager(), workSpecId);
+
+        // Notify dispatcher, so it can clean up.
+        dispatcher.onExecuted(workSpecId, false, false /* never reschedule */);
+    }
+
+    private void handleConstraintsChanged(
+            @NonNull Intent intent, int startId,
+            @NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Handling constraints changed %s", intent);
+        // Constraints changed command handler is synchronous. No cleanup
+        // is necessary.
+        ConstraintsCommandHandler changedCommandHandler =
+                new ConstraintsCommandHandler(mContext, startId, dispatcher);
+        changedCommandHandler.handleConstraintsChanged();
+    }
+
+    private void handleReschedule(
+            @NonNull Intent intent,
+            int startId,
+            @NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Handling reschedule %s, %s", intent, startId);
+        dispatcher.getWorkManager().rescheduleEligibleWork();
+    }
+
+    private static boolean hasKeys(@Nullable Bundle bundle, @NonNull String... keys) {
+        if (bundle == null || bundle.isEmpty()) {
+            return false;
+        } else {
+            for (String key : keys) {
+                if (!bundle.containsKey(key) || bundle.get(key) == null) {
+                    return false;
+                }
+            }
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintProxy.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintProxy.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55e1132
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintProxy.java
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.NOT_REQUIRED;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+abstract class ConstraintProxy extends BroadcastReceiver {
+    private static final String TAG = "ConstraintProxy";
+
+    @Override
+    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "onReceive : %s", intent);
+        Intent constraintChangedIntent = CommandHandler.createConstraintsChangedIntent(context);
+        context.startService(constraintChangedIntent);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Proxy for Battery Not Low constraint
+     */
+    public static class BatteryNotLowProxy extends ConstraintProxy {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Proxy for Battery Charging constraint
+     */
+    public static class BatteryChargingProxy extends ConstraintProxy {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Proxy for Storage Not Low constraint
+     */
+    public static class StorageNotLowProxy extends ConstraintProxy {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Proxy for Network State constraints
+     */
+    public static class NetworkStateProxy extends ConstraintProxy {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Enables/Disables proxies based on constraints in {@link WorkSpec}s
+     *
+     * @param context   {@link Context}
+     * @param workSpecs list of {@link WorkSpec}s to update proxies against
+     */
+    static void updateAll(Context context, List<WorkSpec> workSpecs) {
+        boolean batteryNotLowProxyEnabled = false;
+        boolean batteryChargingProxyEnabled = false;
+        boolean storageNotLowProxyEnabled = false;
+        boolean networkStateProxyEnabled = false;
+
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : workSpecs) {
+            Constraints constraints = workSpec.getConstraints();
+            batteryNotLowProxyEnabled |= constraints.requiresBatteryNotLow();
+            batteryChargingProxyEnabled |= constraints.requiresCharging();
+            storageNotLowProxyEnabled |= constraints.requiresStorageNotLow();
+            networkStateProxyEnabled |=
+                    constraints.getRequiredNetworkType() != NOT_REQUIRED;
+
+            if (batteryNotLowProxyEnabled && batteryChargingProxyEnabled
+                    && storageNotLowProxyEnabled && networkStateProxyEnabled) {
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+
+        Intent updateProxyIntent =
+                ConstraintProxyUpdateReceiver.newConstraintProxyUpdateIntent(
+                        batteryNotLowProxyEnabled,
+                        batteryChargingProxyEnabled,
+                        storageNotLowProxyEnabled,
+                        networkStateProxyEnabled);
+
+        // ConstraintProxies are being updated via a separate broadcast receiver.
+        // For more information on why we do this look at b/73549299
+        context.sendBroadcast(updateProxyIntent);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintProxyUpdateReceiver.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintProxyUpdateReceiver.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..451ce2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintProxyUpdateReceiver.java
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxy.BatteryChargingProxy;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxy.BatteryNotLowProxy;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxy.NetworkStateProxy;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.ConstraintProxy.StorageNotLowProxy;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.PackageManagerHelper;
+
+
+/**
+ * The {@link BroadcastReceiver} responsible for updating constraint proxies.
+ */
+public class ConstraintProxyUpdateReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
+    private static final String TAG = "ConstraintProxyUpdateReceiver";
+
+    static final String ACTION = "androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.UpdateProxies";
+
+    static final String KEY_BATTERY_NOT_LOW_PROXY_ENABLED = "KEY_BATTERY_NOT_LOW_PROXY_ENABLED";
+    static final String KEY_BATTERY_CHARGING_PROXY_ENABLED = "KEY_BATTERY_CHARGING_PROXY_ENABLED";
+    static final String KEY_STORAGE_NOT_LOW_PROXY_ENABLED = "KEY_STORAGE_NOT_LOW_PROXY_ENABLED";
+    static final String KEY_NETWORK_STATE_PROXY_ENABLED = "KEY_NETWORK_STATE_PROXY_ENABLED";
+
+    /**
+     * @param batteryNotLowProxyEnabled   {@code true} if {@link BatteryNotLowProxy needs to be
+     *                                    enabled.}
+     * @param batteryChargingProxyEnabled {@code true} if {@link BatteryChargingProxy needs to be
+     *                                    enabled.}
+     * @param storageNotLowProxyEnabled   {@code true} if {@link StorageNotLowProxy needs to be
+     *                                    enabled.}
+     * @param networkStateProxyEnabled    {@code true} if {@link NetworkStateProxy needs to be
+     *                                    enabled.}
+     * @return an {@link Intent} with information about the constraint proxies which need to be
+     * enabled.
+     */
+    public static Intent newConstraintProxyUpdateIntent(
+            boolean batteryNotLowProxyEnabled,
+            boolean batteryChargingProxyEnabled,
+            boolean storageNotLowProxyEnabled,
+            boolean networkStateProxyEnabled) {
+
+        Intent intent = new Intent(ACTION);
+        intent.putExtra(KEY_BATTERY_NOT_LOW_PROXY_ENABLED, batteryNotLowProxyEnabled)
+                .putExtra(KEY_BATTERY_CHARGING_PROXY_ENABLED, batteryChargingProxyEnabled)
+                .putExtra(KEY_STORAGE_NOT_LOW_PROXY_ENABLED, storageNotLowProxyEnabled)
+                .putExtra(KEY_NETWORK_STATE_PROXY_ENABLED, networkStateProxyEnabled);
+
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
+        String action = intent != null ? intent.getAction() : null;
+        if (!ACTION.equals(action)) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Ignoring unknown action %s", action);
+        } else {
+            boolean batteryNotLowProxyEnabled = intent.getBooleanExtra(
+                    KEY_BATTERY_NOT_LOW_PROXY_ENABLED, false);
+            boolean batteryChargingProxyEnabled = intent.getBooleanExtra(
+                    KEY_BATTERY_CHARGING_PROXY_ENABLED, false);
+            boolean storageNotLowProxyEnabled = intent.getBooleanExtra(
+                    KEY_STORAGE_NOT_LOW_PROXY_ENABLED, false);
+            boolean networkStateProxyEnabled = intent.getBooleanExtra(
+                    KEY_NETWORK_STATE_PROXY_ENABLED, false);
+
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Updating proxies: BatteryNotLowProxy enabled (%s), "
+                            + "BatteryChargingProxy enabled (%s), "
+                            + "StorageNotLowProxy (%s), "
+                            + "NetworkStateProxy enabled (%s)", batteryNotLowProxyEnabled,
+                    batteryChargingProxyEnabled, storageNotLowProxyEnabled,
+                    networkStateProxyEnabled);
+
+            PackageManagerHelper.setComponentEnabled(context, BatteryNotLowProxy.class,
+                    batteryNotLowProxyEnabled);
+            PackageManagerHelper.setComponentEnabled(context, BatteryChargingProxy.class,
+                    batteryChargingProxyEnabled);
+            PackageManagerHelper.setComponentEnabled(context, StorageNotLowProxy.class,
+                    storageNotLowProxyEnabled);
+            PackageManagerHelper.setComponentEnabled(context, NetworkStateProxy.class,
+                    networkStateProxyEnabled);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintsCommandHandler.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintsCommandHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..071f81c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/ConstraintsCommandHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.WorkConstraintsTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * This is a command handler which handles the constraints changed event.
+ * Typically this happens for WorkSpec's for which we have pending alarms.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+class ConstraintsCommandHandler {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "ConstraintsCmdHandler";
+
+    private final Context mContext;
+    private final int mStartId;
+    private final SystemAlarmDispatcher mDispatcher;
+    private final List<WorkSpec> mEligibleWorkSpecs;
+    private final WorkConstraintsTracker mWorkConstraintsTracker;
+
+    ConstraintsCommandHandler(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            int startId,
+            @NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+
+        mContext = context;
+        mStartId = startId;
+        mDispatcher = dispatcher;
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker = new WorkConstraintsTracker(mContext, null);
+        mEligibleWorkSpecs = new ArrayList<>();
+    }
+
+    @WorkerThread
+    void handleConstraintsChanged() {
+        long maxStartTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+
+        List<WorkSpec> eligibleWorkSpecs = mDispatcher.getWorkManager().getWorkDatabase()
+                .workSpecDao()
+                .getEligibleWorkSpecs(maxStartTime);
+
+        // Update constraint proxy to potentially disable proxies for previously
+        // completed WorkSpecs.
+        ConstraintProxy.updateAll(mContext, eligibleWorkSpecs);
+        // This needs to be done to populate matching WorkSpec ids in every constraint
+        // controller.
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.replace(eligibleWorkSpecs);
+
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : eligibleWorkSpecs) {
+            String workSpecId = workSpec.getId();
+            if (!workSpec.hasConstraints()
+                    || mWorkConstraintsTracker.areAllConstraintsMet(workSpecId)) {
+                mEligibleWorkSpecs.add(workSpec);
+            }
+        }
+
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : mEligibleWorkSpecs) {
+            String workSpecId = workSpec.getId();
+            Intent intent = CommandHandler.createDelayMetIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Creating a delay_met command for workSpec with id (%s)", workSpecId);
+            mDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                    new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mDispatcher, intent, mStartId));
+        }
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker.reset();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/DelayMetCommandHandler.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/DelayMetCommandHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be5bd96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/DelayMetCommandHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.os.PowerManager;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.ExecutionListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.WorkConstraintsCallback;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.WorkConstraintsTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.WakeLocks;
+
+/**
+ * This is a command handler which attempts to run a work spec given its id.
+ * Also handles constraints gracefully.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class DelayMetCommandHandler implements
+        WorkConstraintsCallback,
+        ExecutionListener,
+        WorkTimer.TimeLimitExceededListener {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "DelayMetCommandHandler";
+
+    private final Context mContext;
+    private final int mStartId;
+    private final String mWorkSpecId;
+    private final SystemAlarmDispatcher mDispatcher;
+    private final WorkConstraintsTracker mWorkConstraintsTracker;
+    private final Object mLock;
+    private boolean mHasPendingStopWorkCommand;
+
+    @Nullable private PowerManager.WakeLock mWakeLock;
+    private boolean mHasConstraints;
+
+    DelayMetCommandHandler(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            int startId,
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            @NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+
+        mContext = context;
+        mStartId = startId;
+        mDispatcher = dispatcher;
+        mWorkSpecId = workSpecId;
+        mWorkConstraintsTracker = new WorkConstraintsTracker(mContext, this);
+        mHasConstraints = false;
+        mHasPendingStopWorkCommand = false;
+        mLock = new Object();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onAllConstraintsMet(@NonNull List<String> ignored) {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "onAllConstraintsMet for %s", mWorkSpecId);
+        // Constraints met, schedule execution
+
+        // Not using WorkManagerImpl#startWork() here because we need to know if the processor
+        // actually enqueued the work here.
+        // TODO(rahulrav@) Once WorkManagerImpl provides a callback for acknowledging if
+        // work was enqueued, call WorkManagerImpl#startWork().
+        boolean isEnqueued = mDispatcher.getProcessor().startWork(mWorkSpecId);
+
+        if (isEnqueued) {
+            // setup timers to enforce quotas on workers that have
+            // been enqueued
+            mDispatcher.getWorkTimer()
+                    .startTimer(mWorkSpecId, CommandHandler.WORK_PROCESSING_TIME_IN_MS, this);
+        } else {
+            // if we did not actually enqueue the work, it was enqueued before
+            // cleanUp and pretend this never happened.
+            cleanUp();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onExecuted(
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            boolean isSuccessful,
+            boolean needsReschedule) {
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "onExecuted %s, %s, %s", workSpecId, isSuccessful, needsReschedule);
+        cleanUp();
+
+        if (mHasConstraints) {
+            // The WorkSpec had constraints. Once the execution of the worker is complete,
+            // we might need to disable constraint proxies which were previously enabled for
+            // this WorkSpec. Hence, trigger a constraints changed command.
+            Intent intent = CommandHandler.createConstraintsChangedIntent(mContext);
+            mDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                    new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mDispatcher, intent, mStartId));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onTimeLimitExceeded(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Exceeded time limits on execution for %s", workSpecId);
+        stopWork();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onAllConstraintsNotMet(@NonNull List<String> ignored) {
+        stopWork();
+    }
+
+    @WorkerThread
+    void handleProcessWork() {
+        mWakeLock = WakeLocks.newWakeLock(
+                mContext,
+                String.format("%s (%s)", mWorkSpecId, mStartId));
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Acquiring wakelock %s for WorkSpec %s", mWakeLock, mWorkSpecId);
+        mWakeLock.acquire();
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec = mDispatcher.getWorkManager()
+                .getWorkDatabase()
+                .workSpecDao()
+                .getWorkSpec(mWorkSpecId);
+
+        // Keep track of whether the WorkSpec had constraints. This is useful for updating the
+        // state of constraint proxies when onExecuted().
+        mHasConstraints = workSpec.hasConstraints();
+
+        if (!mHasConstraints) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "No constraints for %s", mWorkSpecId);
+            onAllConstraintsMet(Collections.singletonList(mWorkSpecId));
+        } else {
+            // Allow tracker to report constraint changes
+            mWorkConstraintsTracker.replace(Collections.singletonList(workSpec));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void stopWork() {
+        // No need to release the wake locks here. The stopWork command will eventually call
+        // onExecuted() if there is a corresponding pending delay met command handler; which in
+        // turn calls cleanUp().
+
+        // Needs to be synchronized, as the stopWork() request can potentially come from the
+        // WorkTimer thread as well as the command executor service in SystemAlarmDispatcher.
+        synchronized (mLock) {
+            if (!mHasPendingStopWorkCommand) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Stopping work for workspec %s", mWorkSpecId);
+                Intent stopWork = CommandHandler.createStopWorkIntent(mContext, mWorkSpecId);
+                mDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                        new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mDispatcher, stopWork, mStartId));
+                // There are cases where the work may not have been enqueued at all, and therefore
+                // the processor is completely unaware of such a workSpecId in which case a
+                // reschedule should not happen. For e.g. DELAY_MET when constraints are not met,
+                // should not result in a reschedule.
+                if (mDispatcher.getProcessor().isEnqueued(mWorkSpecId)) {
+                    Logger.debug(TAG, "WorkSpec %s needs to be rescheduled", mWorkSpecId);
+                    Intent reschedule = CommandHandler.createScheduleWorkIntent(mContext,
+                            mWorkSpecId);
+                    mDispatcher.postOnMainThread(
+                            new SystemAlarmDispatcher.AddRunnable(mDispatcher, reschedule,
+                                    mStartId));
+                } else {
+                    Logger.debug(TAG, "Processor does not have WorkSpec %s. No need to reschedule ",
+                            mWorkSpecId);
+                }
+                mHasPendingStopWorkCommand = true;
+            } else {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Already stopped work for %s", mWorkSpecId);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void cleanUp() {
+        // cleanUp() may occur from one of 2 threads.
+        // * In the call to bgProcessor.startWork() returns false,
+        //   it probably means that the worker is already being processed
+        //   so we just need to call cleanUp to release wakelocks on the command processor thread.
+        // * It could also happen on the onExecutionCompleted() pass of the bgProcessor.
+        // To avoid calling mWakeLock.release() twice, we are synchronizing here.
+        synchronized (mLock) {
+            // stop timers
+            mDispatcher.getWorkTimer().stopTimer(mWorkSpecId);
+
+            // release wake locks
+            if (mWakeLock != null && mWakeLock.isHeld()) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Releasing wakelock %s for WorkSpec %s", mWakeLock, mWorkSpecId);
+                mWakeLock.release();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/RescheduleReceiver.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/RescheduleReceiver.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..27eb6af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/RescheduleReceiver.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+
+/**
+ * Reschedules alarms on BOOT_COMPLETED and other similar scenarios.
+ */
+public class RescheduleReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
+    @Override
+    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
+        Intent reschedule = CommandHandler.createRescheduleIntent(context);
+        context.startService(reschedule);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmDispatcher.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmDispatcher.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce85026
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmDispatcher.java
@@ -0,0 +1,298 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.os.Handler;
+import android.os.Looper;
+import android.os.PowerManager;
+import android.support.annotation.MainThread;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.ExecutionListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.Processor;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.WakeLocks;
+
+/**
+ * The dispatcher used by the background processor which is based on
+ * {@link android.app.AlarmManager}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class SystemAlarmDispatcher implements ExecutionListener {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "SystemAlarmDispatcher";
+    private static final String PROCESS_COMMAND_TAG = "ProcessCommand";
+    private static final String KEY_START_ID = "KEY_START_ID";
+
+    private final Context mContext;
+    private final WorkTimer mWorkTimer;
+    private final Processor mProcessor;
+    private final WorkManagerImpl mWorkManager;
+    private final CommandHandler mCommandHandler;
+    private final Handler mMainHandler;
+    private final List<Intent> mIntents;
+    // The executor service responsible for dispatching all the commands.
+    private final ExecutorService mCommandExecutorService;
+
+    @Nullable private CommandsCompletedListener mCompletedListener;
+
+    SystemAlarmDispatcher(@NonNull Context context) {
+        this(context, null, null);
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    SystemAlarmDispatcher(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            @Nullable Processor processor,
+            @Nullable WorkManagerImpl workManager) {
+
+        mContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+        mCommandHandler = new CommandHandler(mContext);
+        mWorkTimer = new WorkTimer();
+        mWorkManager = workManager != null ? workManager : WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(context);
+        mProcessor = processor != null ? processor : mWorkManager.getProcessor();
+        mProcessor.addExecutionListener(this);
+        // a list of pending intents which need to be processed
+        mIntents = new ArrayList<>();
+        mMainHandler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
+        // Use a single thread executor for handling the actual
+        // execution of the commands themselves
+        mCommandExecutorService = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();
+    }
+
+    void onDestroy() {
+        mProcessor.removeExecutionListener(this);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onExecuted(
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            boolean isSuccessful,
+            boolean needsReschedule) {
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "onExecuted (%s, %s, %s)", workSpecId, isSuccessful, needsReschedule);
+        mCommandHandler.onExecuted(workSpecId, isSuccessful, needsReschedule);
+        // check if we need to stop service
+        postOnMainThread(new CheckForCompletionRunnable(this));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds the {@link Intent} intent and the startId to the command processor queue.
+     *
+     * @param intent The {@link Intent} command that needs to be added to the command queue.
+     * @param startId The command startId
+     * @return <code>true</code> when the command was added to the command processor queue.
+     */
+    @MainThread
+    public boolean add(@NonNull final Intent intent, final int startId) {
+        assertMainThread();
+        String action = intent.getAction();
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(action)) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Unknown command. Ignoring");
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // If we have a constraints changed intent in the queue don't add a second one. We are
+        // treating this intent as special because every time a worker with constraints is complete
+        // it kicks off an update for constraint proxies.
+        if (CommandHandler.ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED.equals(action)
+                && hasIntentWithAction(CommandHandler.ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED)) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Ignoring an add for %s", CommandHandler.ACTION_CONSTRAINTS_CHANGED);
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        intent.putExtra(KEY_START_ID, startId);
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Adding intent to the queue %s, %s", intent, startId);
+        mIntents.add(intent);
+        processCommand();
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    void setCompletedListener(@NonNull CommandsCompletedListener listener) {
+        mCompletedListener = listener;
+    }
+
+    Processor getProcessor() {
+        return mProcessor;
+    }
+
+    WorkTimer getWorkTimer() {
+        return mWorkTimer;
+    }
+
+    WorkManagerImpl getWorkManager() {
+        return mWorkManager;
+    }
+
+    void postOnMainThread(@NonNull Runnable runnable) {
+        mMainHandler.post(runnable);
+    }
+
+    @MainThread
+    private void checkForCommandsCompleted() {
+        assertMainThread();
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Checking if we are done executing all commands");
+        // if there are no more intents to process, and the command handler
+        // has no more pending commands, stop the service.
+        if (!mCommandHandler.hasPendingCommands() && mIntents.isEmpty()) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "No more commands & intents.");
+            if (mCompletedListener != null) {
+                mCompletedListener.onAllCommandsCompleted();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @MainThread
+    @SuppressWarnings("FutureReturnValueIgnored")
+    private void processCommand() {
+        assertMainThread();
+        PowerManager.WakeLock processCommandLock =
+                WakeLocks.newWakeLock(mContext, PROCESS_COMMAND_TAG);
+        try {
+            processCommandLock.acquire();
+            // Process commands on the actual executor service,
+            // so we are no longer blocking the main thread.
+            mCommandExecutorService.submit(new Runnable() {
+                @Override
+                public void run() {
+                    final Intent intent = mIntents.get(0);
+                    if (intent != null) {
+                        final String action = intent.getAction();
+                        final int startId = intent.getIntExtra(KEY_START_ID, 0);
+                        Logger.debug(TAG, "Processing command %s, %s", intent, startId);
+                        final PowerManager.WakeLock wakeLock = WakeLocks.newWakeLock(
+                                mContext,
+                                String.format("%s (%s)", action, startId));
+                        try {
+                            Logger.debug(TAG, "Acquiring operation wake lock (%s) %s", action,
+                                    wakeLock);
+                            wakeLock.acquire();
+                            mCommandHandler.onHandleIntent(intent, startId,
+                                    SystemAlarmDispatcher.this);
+                        } finally {
+                            // Remove the intent from the queue, only after it has been processed.
+
+                            // We are doing this to avoid a race condition between completion of a
+                            // command in the command handler, and the checkForCompletion triggered
+                            // by a worker's onExecutionComplete().
+                            // For e.g.
+                            // t0 -> delay_met_intent
+                            // t1 -> bgProcessor.startWork(workSpec)
+                            // t2 -> constraints_changed_intent
+                            // t3 -> bgProcessor.onExecutionCompleted(...)
+                            // t4 -> CheckForCompletionRunnable (while constraints_changed_intent is
+                            // still being processed).
+
+                            // Note: this works only because mCommandExecutor service is a single
+                            // threaded executor. If that assumption changes in the future, use a
+                            // ReentrantLock, and lock the queue while command processor processes
+                            // an intent. Synchronized to prevent ConcurrentModificationExceptions.
+                            synchronized (mIntents) {
+                                mIntents.remove(0);
+                            }
+
+                            Logger.debug(TAG, "Releasing operation wake lock (%s) %s", action,
+                                    wakeLock);
+                            wakeLock.release();
+                            // Check if we have processed all commands
+                            postOnMainThread(
+                                    new CheckForCompletionRunnable(SystemAlarmDispatcher.this));
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            });
+        } finally {
+            processCommandLock.release();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @MainThread
+    private boolean hasIntentWithAction(@NonNull String action) {
+        assertMainThread();
+        for (Intent intent : mIntents) {
+            if (action.equals(intent.getAction())) {
+                return true;
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    private void assertMainThread() {
+        if (mMainHandler.getLooper().getThread() != Thread.currentThread()) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Needs to be invoked on the main thread.");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Checks if we are done executing all commands.
+     */
+    static class CheckForCompletionRunnable implements Runnable {
+        private final SystemAlarmDispatcher mDispatcher;
+
+        CheckForCompletionRunnable(@NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher) {
+            mDispatcher = dispatcher;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void run() {
+            mDispatcher.checkForCommandsCompleted();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds a new intent to the SystemAlarmDispatcher.
+     */
+    static class AddRunnable implements Runnable {
+        private final SystemAlarmDispatcher mDispatcher;
+        private final Intent mIntent;
+        private final int mStartId;
+
+        AddRunnable(@NonNull SystemAlarmDispatcher dispatcher,
+                @NonNull Intent intent,
+                int startId) {
+            mDispatcher = dispatcher;
+            mIntent = intent;
+            mStartId = startId;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void run() {
+            mDispatcher.add(mIntent, mStartId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Used to notify interested parties when all pending commands and work is complete.
+     */
+    interface CommandsCompletedListener {
+        void onAllCommandsCompleted();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmScheduler.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmScheduler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d8ce6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmScheduler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link Scheduler} that schedules work using {@link android.app.AlarmManager}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class SystemAlarmScheduler implements Scheduler {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "SystemAlarmScheduler";
+
+    private final Context mContext;
+
+    public SystemAlarmScheduler(@NonNull Context context) {
+        mContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void schedule(WorkSpec... workSpecs) {
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : workSpecs) {
+            scheduleWorkSpec(workSpec);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void cancel(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        Intent cancelIntent = CommandHandler.createStopWorkIntent(mContext, workSpecId);
+        mContext.startService(cancelIntent);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Periodic work is rescheduled using one-time alarms after each run. This allows the delivery
+     * times to drift to guarantee that the interval duration always elapses between alarms.
+     */
+    private void scheduleWorkSpec(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Scheduling work with workSpecId %s", workSpec.getId());
+        Intent scheduleIntent = CommandHandler.createScheduleWorkIntent(mContext, workSpec.getId());
+        mContext.startService(scheduleIntent);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmService.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4eb2bf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/SystemAlarmService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.app.Service;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LifecycleService;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.support.annotation.MainThread;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Service invoked by {@link android.app.AlarmManager} to run work tasks.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class SystemAlarmService extends LifecycleService
+        implements SystemAlarmDispatcher.CommandsCompletedListener {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "SystemAlarmService";
+
+    private SystemAlarmDispatcher mDispatcher;
+
+    @Override
+    public void onCreate() {
+        super.onCreate();
+        mDispatcher = new SystemAlarmDispatcher(this);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onDestroy() {
+        super.onDestroy();
+        mDispatcher.onDestroy();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
+        super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);
+        if (intent != null) {
+            mDispatcher.add(intent, startId);
+        }
+        return Service.START_STICKY;
+    }
+
+    @MainThread
+    @Override
+    public void onAllCommandsCompleted() {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "All commands completed in dispatcher");
+        stopSelf();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/WorkTimer.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/WorkTimer.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16e9af0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/WorkTimer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Manages timers to enforce a time limit for processing {@link BaseWork}.
+ * Notifies a {@link TimeLimitExceededListener} when the time limit
+ * is exceeded.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+class WorkTimer {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "WorkTimer";
+
+    private final ScheduledExecutorService mExecutorService;
+    private final Map<String, WorkTimerRunnable> mTimerMap;
+    private final Map<String, TimeLimitExceededListener> mListeners;
+    private final Object mLock;
+
+    WorkTimer() {
+        mTimerMap = new HashMap<>();
+        mListeners = new HashMap<>();
+        mLock = new Object();
+        mExecutorService = Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor();
+    }
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("FutureReturnValueIgnored")
+    void startTimer(@NonNull final String workSpecId,
+            long processingTimeMillis,
+            @NonNull TimeLimitExceededListener listener) {
+
+        synchronized (mLock) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Starting timer for %s", workSpecId);
+            // clear existing timer's first
+            stopTimer(workSpecId);
+            WorkTimerRunnable runnable = new WorkTimerRunnable(this, workSpecId);
+            mTimerMap.put(workSpecId, runnable);
+            mListeners.put(workSpecId, listener);
+            mExecutorService.schedule(runnable, processingTimeMillis, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+        }
+    }
+
+    void stopTimer(@NonNull final String workSpecId) {
+        synchronized (mLock) {
+            if (mTimerMap.containsKey(workSpecId)) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Stopping timer for %s", workSpecId);
+                mTimerMap.remove(workSpecId);
+                mListeners.remove(workSpecId);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    synchronized Map<String, WorkTimerRunnable> getTimerMap() {
+        return mTimerMap;
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    synchronized Map<String, TimeLimitExceededListener> getListeners() {
+        return mListeners;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The actual runnable scheduled on the scheduled executor.
+     */
+    static class WorkTimerRunnable implements Runnable {
+        static final String TAG = "WrkTimerRunnable";
+
+        private final WorkTimer mWorkTimer;
+        private final String mWorkSpecId;
+
+        WorkTimerRunnable(@NonNull WorkTimer workTimer, @NonNull String workSpecId) {
+            mWorkTimer = workTimer;
+            mWorkSpecId = workSpecId;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void run() {
+            synchronized (mWorkTimer.mLock) {
+                if (mWorkTimer.mTimerMap.containsKey(mWorkSpecId)) {
+                    mWorkTimer.mTimerMap.remove(mWorkSpecId);
+                    // notify time limit exceeded.
+                    TimeLimitExceededListener listener = mWorkTimer.mListeners.remove(mWorkSpecId);
+                    if (listener != null) {
+                        listener.onTimeLimitExceeded(mWorkSpecId);
+                    }
+                } else {
+                    Logger.debug(TAG, "Timer with %s is already marked as complete.", mWorkSpecId);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    interface TimeLimitExceededListener {
+        void onTimeLimitExceeded(@NonNull String workSpecId);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..138a6f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemalarm/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobInfoConverter.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobInfoConverter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a61865
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobInfoConverter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob;
+
+import static android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting.PACKAGE_PRIVATE;
+
+import android.app.job.JobInfo;
+import android.content.ComponentName;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.os.PersistableBundle;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RequiresApi;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.ContentUriTriggers;
+import androidx.work.NetworkType;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.utils.IdGenerator;
+
+/**
+ * Converts a {@link WorkSpec} into a JobInfo.
+ */
+@RequiresApi(api = WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+class SystemJobInfoConverter {
+    private static final String TAG = "SystemJobInfoConverter";
+
+    static final String EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID = "EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID";
+    static final String EXTRA_IS_PERIODIC = "EXTRA_IS_PERIODIC";
+
+    private final ComponentName mWorkServiceComponent;
+    private final IdGenerator mIdGenerator;
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs a {@link IdGenerator}.
+     *
+     * @param context A non-null {@link Context}.
+     */
+    SystemJobInfoConverter(@NonNull Context context) {
+        this(context, new IdGenerator(context));
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting(otherwise = PACKAGE_PRIVATE)
+    SystemJobInfoConverter(@NonNull Context context, IdGenerator idGenerator) {
+        Context appContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+        mWorkServiceComponent = new ComponentName(appContext, SystemJobService.class);
+        mIdGenerator = idGenerator;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts a {@link WorkSpec} into a {@link JobInfo}.
+     *
+     * Note: All {@link JobInfo} are set to persist on reboot.
+     *
+     * @param workSpec The {@link WorkSpec} to convert
+     * @return The {@link JobInfo} representing the same information as the {@link WorkSpec}
+     */
+    JobInfo convert(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        Constraints constraints = workSpec.getConstraints();
+        int jobId = mIdGenerator.nextJobSchedulerId();
+        // TODO(janclarin): Support newer required network types if unsupported by API version.
+        int jobInfoNetworkType = convertNetworkType(constraints.getRequiredNetworkType());
+        PersistableBundle extras = new PersistableBundle();
+        extras.putString(EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID, workSpec.getId());
+        extras.putBoolean(EXTRA_IS_PERIODIC, workSpec.isPeriodic());
+        JobInfo.Builder builder = new JobInfo.Builder(jobId, mWorkServiceComponent)
+                .setRequiredNetworkType(jobInfoNetworkType)
+                .setRequiresCharging(constraints.requiresCharging())
+                .setRequiresDeviceIdle(constraints.requiresDeviceIdle())
+                .setExtras(extras);
+
+        if (!constraints.requiresDeviceIdle()) {
+            // Device Idle and Backoff Criteria cannot be set together
+            int backoffPolicy = workSpec.getBackoffPolicy() == BackoffPolicy.LINEAR
+                    ? JobInfo.BACKOFF_POLICY_LINEAR : JobInfo.BACKOFF_POLICY_EXPONENTIAL;
+            builder.setBackoffCriteria(workSpec.getBackoffDelayDuration(), backoffPolicy);
+        }
+
+        if (workSpec.isPeriodic()) {
+            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24) {
+                builder.setPeriodic(workSpec.getIntervalDuration(), workSpec.getFlexDuration());
+            } else {
+                Logger.debug(TAG,
+                        "Flex duration is currently not supported before API 24. Ignoring.");
+                builder.setPeriodic(workSpec.getIntervalDuration());
+            }
+        } else {
+            // Even if a Work has no constraints, setMinimumLatency(0) still needs to be called due
+            // to an issue in JobInfo.Builder#build and JobInfo with no constraints. See b/67716867.
+            builder.setMinimumLatency(workSpec.getInitialDelay());
+        }
+
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24 && constraints.hasContentUriTriggers()) {
+            for (ContentUriTriggers.Trigger trigger : constraints.getContentUriTriggers()) {
+                builder.addTriggerContentUri(convertContentUriTrigger(trigger));
+            }
+        } else {
+            // Jobs with Content Uri Triggers cannot be persisted
+            builder.setPersisted(true);
+        }
+
+        // TODO(janclarin): Support requires[Battery|Storage]NotLow for versions older than 26.
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 26) {
+            builder.setRequiresBatteryNotLow(constraints.requiresBatteryNotLow());
+            builder.setRequiresStorageNotLow(constraints.requiresStorageNotLow());
+        }
+        return builder.build();
+    }
+
+    @RequiresApi(24)
+    private static JobInfo.TriggerContentUri convertContentUriTrigger(
+            ContentUriTriggers.Trigger trigger) {
+        int flag = trigger.shouldTriggerForDescendants()
+                ? JobInfo.TriggerContentUri.FLAG_NOTIFY_FOR_DESCENDANTS : 0;
+        return new JobInfo.TriggerContentUri(trigger.getUri(), flag);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts {@link NetworkType} into {@link JobInfo}'s network values.
+     *
+     * @param networkType The {@link NetworkType} network type
+     * @return The {@link JobInfo} network type
+     */
+    static int convertNetworkType(NetworkType networkType) {
+        switch(networkType) {
+            case NOT_REQUIRED:
+                return JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_NONE;
+            case CONNECTED:
+                return JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_ANY;
+            case UNMETERED:
+                return JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_UNMETERED;
+            case NOT_ROAMING:
+                if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24) {
+                    return JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_NOT_ROAMING;
+                }
+                break;
+            case METERED:
+                if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 26) {
+                    return JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_METERED;
+                }
+                break;
+        }
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "API version too low. Cannot convert network type value %s", networkType);
+        return JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_ANY;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobScheduler.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobScheduler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4921d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobScheduler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob;
+
+import android.annotation.TargetApi;
+import android.app.job.JobInfo;
+import android.app.job.JobScheduler;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A class that schedules work using {@link android.app.job.JobScheduler}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+@TargetApi(WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+public class SystemJobScheduler implements Scheduler {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "SystemJobScheduler";
+
+    private JobScheduler mJobScheduler;
+    private SystemJobInfoConverter mSystemJobInfoConverter;
+
+    public SystemJobScheduler(Context context) {
+        this((JobScheduler) context.getSystemService(Context.JOB_SCHEDULER_SERVICE),
+                new SystemJobInfoConverter(context));
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public SystemJobScheduler(
+            JobScheduler jobScheduler,
+            SystemJobInfoConverter systemJobInfoConverter) {
+        mJobScheduler = jobScheduler;
+        mSystemJobInfoConverter = systemJobInfoConverter;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void schedule(WorkSpec... workSpecs) {
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : workSpecs) {
+            scheduleInternal(workSpec);
+
+            // API 23 JobScheduler only kicked off jobs if there were at least two jobs in the
+            // queue, even if the job constraints were met.  This behavior was considered
+            // undesirable and later changed in Marshmallow MR1.  To match the new behavior, we will
+            // double-schedule jobs on API 23 and dedupe them in SystemJobService as needed.
+            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT == 23) {
+                scheduleInternal(workSpec);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Schedules one job with JobScheduler.
+     *
+     * @param workSpec The {@link WorkSpec} to schedule with JobScheduler.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public void scheduleInternal(WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        JobInfo jobInfo = mSystemJobInfoConverter.convert(workSpec);
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Scheduling work ID %s Job ID %s", workSpec.getId(), jobInfo.getId());
+        mJobScheduler.schedule(jobInfo);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void cancel(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        // Note: despite what the word "pending" and the associated Javadoc might imply, this is
+        // actually a list of all unfinished jobs that JobScheduler knows about for the current
+        // process.
+        List<JobInfo> allJobInfos = mJobScheduler.getAllPendingJobs();
+        for (JobInfo jobInfo : allJobInfos) {
+            if (workSpecId.equals(
+                    jobInfo.getExtras().getString(SystemJobInfoConverter.EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID))) {
+                mJobScheduler.cancel(jobInfo.getId());
+
+                // See comment in #schedule.
+                if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT != 23) {
+                    return;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobService.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6939f16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/SystemJobService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob;
+
+import android.annotation.TargetApi;
+import android.app.job.JobParameters;
+import android.app.job.JobService;
+import android.os.PersistableBundle;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.ExecutionListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Service invoked by {@link android.app.job.JobScheduler} to run work tasks.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+@TargetApi(WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL)
+public class SystemJobService extends JobService implements ExecutionListener {
+    private static final String TAG = "SystemJobService";
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+    private final Map<String, JobParameters> mJobParameters = new HashMap<>();
+
+    @Override
+    public void onCreate() {
+        super.onCreate();
+        mWorkManagerImpl = WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(this);
+        mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().addExecutionListener(this);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onDestroy() {
+        super.onDestroy();
+        mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().removeExecutionListener(this);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean onStartJob(JobParameters params) {
+        PersistableBundle extras = params.getExtras();
+        String workSpecId = extras.getString(SystemJobInfoConverter.EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID);
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(workSpecId)) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "WorkSpec id not found!");
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        synchronized (mJobParameters) {
+            if (mJobParameters.containsKey(workSpecId)) {
+                // This condition may happen due to our workaround for an undesired behavior in API
+                // 23.  See the documentation in {@link SystemJobScheduler#schedule}.
+                Logger.debug(TAG,
+                        "Job is already being executed by SystemJobService: %s", workSpecId);
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            boolean isPeriodic = extras.getBoolean(SystemJobInfoConverter.EXTRA_IS_PERIODIC, false);
+            if (isPeriodic && params.isOverrideDeadlineExpired()) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG,
+                        "Override deadline expired for id %s. Retry requested", workSpecId);
+                jobFinished(params, true);
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "onStartJob for %s", workSpecId);
+            mJobParameters.put(workSpecId, params);
+        }
+
+        mWorkManagerImpl.startWork(workSpecId);
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean onStopJob(JobParameters params) {
+        String workSpecId = params.getExtras().getString(SystemJobInfoConverter.EXTRA_WORK_SPEC_ID);
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(workSpecId)) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "WorkSpec id not found!");
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "onStopJob for %s", workSpecId);
+
+        synchronized (mJobParameters) {
+            mJobParameters.remove(workSpecId);
+        }
+        mWorkManagerImpl.stopWork(workSpecId);
+        return !mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().isCancelled(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onExecuted(
+            @NonNull String workSpecId,
+            boolean isSuccessful,
+            boolean needsReschedule) {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "%s executed on JobScheduler", workSpecId);
+        JobParameters parameters;
+        synchronized (mJobParameters) {
+            parameters = mJobParameters.get(workSpecId);
+        }
+        if (parameters != null) {
+            jobFinished(parameters, needsReschedule);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..23972bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/background/systemjob/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/ConstraintListener.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/ConstraintListener.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fbc40a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/ConstraintListener.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints;
+
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+
+/**
+ * The listener for constraint changes.
+ *
+ * @param <T> the constraint data type for this listener
+ */
+
+public interface ConstraintListener<T> {
+
+    /**
+     * Called when the value of a constraint has changed.
+     * @param newValue the new value of the constraint
+     */
+    void onConstraintChanged(@Nullable T newValue);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/NetworkState.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/NetworkState.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..575b29d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/NetworkState.java
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints;
+
+/**
+ * Stores information about network state.
+ */
+
+public class NetworkState {
+
+    private boolean mIsConnected;
+    private boolean mIsValidated;
+    private boolean mIsMetered;
+    private boolean mIsNotRoaming;
+
+    public NetworkState(boolean isConnected, boolean isValidated, boolean isMetered,
+                        boolean isNotRoaming) {
+        mIsConnected = isConnected;
+        mIsValidated = isValidated;
+        mIsMetered = isMetered;
+        mIsNotRoaming = isNotRoaming;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if the network is connected.
+     *
+     * @return {@code true} if the network is connected.
+     */
+    public boolean isConnected() {
+        return mIsConnected;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if the network is validated - has a working Internet connection.
+     *
+     * @return {@code true} if the network is validated.
+     */
+    public boolean isValidated() {
+        return mIsValidated;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if the network is metered.
+     *
+     * @return {@code true} if the network is metered.
+     */
+    public boolean isMetered() {
+        return mIsMetered;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if the network is not roaming.
+     *
+     * @return {@code true} if the network is not roaming.
+     */
+    public boolean isNotRoaming() {
+        return mIsNotRoaming;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        NetworkState other = (NetworkState) o;
+        return this.mIsConnected == other.mIsConnected
+                && this.mIsValidated == other.mIsValidated
+                && this.mIsMetered == other.mIsMetered
+                && this.mIsNotRoaming == other.mIsNotRoaming;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        int result = 0x0000;
+        if (mIsConnected) result += 0x0001;
+        if (mIsValidated) result += 0x0010;
+        if (mIsMetered) result += 0x0100;
+        if (mIsNotRoaming) result += 0x1000;
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return String.format("[ Connected=%b Validated=%b Metered=%b NotRoaming=%b ]",
+                mIsConnected, mIsValidated, mIsMetered, mIsNotRoaming);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsCallback.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsCallback.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..264199c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsCallback.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A callback for when constraints change.
+ */
+
+public interface WorkConstraintsCallback {
+    /**
+     * Called when all constraints are met.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecIds A list of {@link WorkSpec} IDs that may be eligible to run
+     */
+    void onAllConstraintsMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds);
+
+    /**
+     * Called when all constraints are not met.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecIds A list of {@link WorkSpec} IDs that are not eligible to run
+     */
+    void onAllConstraintsNotMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsTracker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsTracker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6118387
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/WorkConstraintsTracker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.BatteryChargingController;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.BatteryNotLowController;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.ConstraintController;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.NetworkConnectedController;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.NetworkMeteredController;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.NetworkNotRoamingController;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.NetworkUnmeteredController;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers.StorageNotLowController;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * Tracks {@link WorkSpec}s and their {@link Constraints}, and notifies an optional
+ * {@link WorkConstraintsCallback} when all of their constraints are met or not met.
+ */
+
+public class WorkConstraintsTracker implements ConstraintController.OnConstraintUpdatedCallback {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "WorkConstraintsTracker";
+
+    @Nullable private final WorkConstraintsCallback mCallback;
+    private final ConstraintController[] mConstraintControllers;
+
+    /**
+     * @param context  The application {@link Context}
+     * @param callback The callback is only necessary when you need {@link WorkConstraintsTracker}
+     *                 to notify you about changes in constraints for the list of  {@link
+     *                 WorkSpec}'s that it is tracking.
+     */
+    public WorkConstraintsTracker(Context context, @Nullable WorkConstraintsCallback callback) {
+        Context appContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+        mCallback = callback;
+        mConstraintControllers = new ConstraintController[]{
+                new BatteryChargingController(appContext, this),
+                new BatteryNotLowController(appContext, this),
+                new StorageNotLowController(appContext, this),
+                new NetworkConnectedController(appContext, this),
+                new NetworkUnmeteredController(appContext, this),
+                new NetworkNotRoamingController(appContext, this),
+                new NetworkMeteredController(appContext, this)
+        };
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    WorkConstraintsTracker(
+            @Nullable WorkConstraintsCallback callback,
+            ConstraintController[] controllers) {
+
+        mCallback = callback;
+        mConstraintControllers = controllers;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Replaces the list of tracked {@link WorkSpec}s to monitor if their constraints are met.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecs A list of {@link WorkSpec}s to monitor constraints for
+     */
+    public void replace(@NonNull List<WorkSpec> workSpecs) {
+        for (ConstraintController controller : mConstraintControllers) {
+            controller.replace(workSpecs);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Resets and clears all tracked {@link WorkSpec}s.
+     */
+    public void reset() {
+        for (ConstraintController controller : mConstraintControllers) {
+            controller.reset();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns <code>true</code> if all the underlying constraints for a given WorkSpec are met.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecId The {@link WorkSpec} id
+     * @return <code>true</code> if all the underlying constraints for a given {@link WorkSpec} are
+     * met.
+     */
+    public boolean areAllConstraintsMet(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        for (ConstraintController constraintController : mConstraintControllers) {
+            if (constraintController.isWorkSpecConstrained(workSpecId)) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Work %s constrained by %s", workSpecId,
+                        constraintController.getClass().getSimpleName());
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onConstraintMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+        List<String> unconstrainedWorkSpecIds = new ArrayList<>();
+        for (String workSpecId : workSpecIds) {
+            if (areAllConstraintsMet(workSpecId)) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Constraints met for %s", workSpecId);
+                unconstrainedWorkSpecIds.add(workSpecId);
+            }
+        }
+        if (mCallback != null) {
+            mCallback.onAllConstraintsMet(unconstrainedWorkSpecIds);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onConstraintNotMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+        if (mCallback != null) {
+            mCallback.onAllConstraintsNotMet(workSpecIds);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/BatteryChargingController.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/BatteryChargingController.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72be424
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/BatteryChargingController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintController} for battery charging events.
+ */
+
+public class BatteryChargingController extends ConstraintController<Boolean> {
+    public BatteryChargingController(Context context, OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+        super(Trackers.getInstance(context).getBatteryChargingTracker(), callback);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        return workSpec.getConstraints().requiresCharging();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean isConstrained(@NonNull Boolean isBatteryCharging) {
+        return !isBatteryCharging;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/BatteryNotLowController.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/BatteryNotLowController.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4398897
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/BatteryNotLowController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintController} for battery not low events.
+ */
+
+public class BatteryNotLowController extends ConstraintController<Boolean> {
+    public BatteryNotLowController(Context context, OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+        super(Trackers.getInstance(context).getBatteryNotLowTracker(), callback);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        return workSpec.getConstraints().requiresBatteryNotLow();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean isConstrained(@NonNull Boolean isBatteryNotLow) {
+        return !isBatteryNotLow;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/ConstraintController.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/ConstraintController.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f0491a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/ConstraintController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.ConstraintListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.ConstraintTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A controller for a particular constraint.
+ *
+ * @param <T> the constraint data type managed by this controller.
+ */
+
+public abstract class ConstraintController<T> implements ConstraintListener<T> {
+
+    /**
+     * A callback for when a constraint changes.
+     */
+    public interface OnConstraintUpdatedCallback {
+
+        /**
+         * Called when a constraint is met.
+         *
+         * @param workSpecIds A list of {@link WorkSpec} IDs that may have become eligible to run
+         */
+        void onConstraintMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds);
+
+        /**
+         * Called when a constraint is not met.
+         *
+         * @param workSpecIds A list of {@link WorkSpec} IDs that have become ineligible to run
+         */
+        void onConstraintNotMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds);
+    }
+
+    private final List<String> mMatchingWorkSpecIds = new ArrayList<>();
+
+    private T mCurrentValue;
+    private ConstraintTracker<T> mTracker;
+    private OnConstraintUpdatedCallback mCallback;
+
+    ConstraintController(ConstraintTracker<T> tracker, OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+        mTracker = tracker;
+        mCallback = callback;
+    }
+
+    abstract boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec);
+
+    abstract boolean isConstrained(@NonNull T currentValue);
+
+    /**
+     * Replaces the list of {@link WorkSpec}s to monitor constraints for.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecs A list of {@link WorkSpec}s to monitor constraints for
+     */
+    public void replace(@NonNull List<WorkSpec> workSpecs) {
+        mMatchingWorkSpecIds.clear();
+
+        for (WorkSpec workSpec : workSpecs) {
+            if (hasConstraint(workSpec)) {
+                mMatchingWorkSpecIds.add(workSpec.getId());
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (mMatchingWorkSpecIds.isEmpty()) {
+            mTracker.removeListener(this);
+        } else {
+            mTracker.addListener(this);
+        }
+        updateCallback();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Clears all tracked {@link WorkSpec}s.
+     */
+    public void reset() {
+        if (!mMatchingWorkSpecIds.isEmpty()) {
+            mMatchingWorkSpecIds.clear();
+            mTracker.removeListener(this);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if a particular {@link WorkSpec} is constrained. It is constrained if it is
+     * tracked by this controller, and the controller constraint was set, but not satisfied.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecId The ID of the {@link WorkSpec} to check if it is constrained.
+     * @return {@code true} if the {@link WorkSpec} is considered constrained
+     */
+    public boolean isWorkSpecConstrained(@NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        return mCurrentValue != null && isConstrained(mCurrentValue)
+                && mMatchingWorkSpecIds.contains(workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    private void updateCallback() {
+        if (mMatchingWorkSpecIds.isEmpty()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (mCurrentValue == null || isConstrained(mCurrentValue)) {
+            mCallback.onConstraintNotMet(mMatchingWorkSpecIds);
+        } else {
+            mCallback.onConstraintMet(mMatchingWorkSpecIds);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onConstraintChanged(@Nullable T newValue) {
+        mCurrentValue = newValue;
+        updateCallback();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkConnectedController.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkConnectedController.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fa4833
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkConnectedController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.CONNECTED;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.NetworkState;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintController} for monitoring that any usable network connection is available.
+ * <p>
+ * For API 26 and above, usable means that the {@link NetworkState} is validated, i.e.
+ * it has a working internet connection.
+ * <p>
+ * For API 25 and below, usable simply means that {@link NetworkState} is connected.
+ */
+
+public class NetworkConnectedController extends ConstraintController<NetworkState> {
+    public NetworkConnectedController(Context context, OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+        super(Trackers.getInstance(context).getNetworkStateTracker(), callback);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        return workSpec.getConstraints().getRequiredNetworkType() == CONNECTED;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean isConstrained(@NonNull NetworkState state) {
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 26) {
+            return !state.isConnected() || !state.isValidated();
+        } else {
+            return !state.isConnected();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkMeteredController.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkMeteredController.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d1d916
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkMeteredController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.METERED;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.NetworkState;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintController} for monitoring that the network connection is metered.
+ */
+
+public class NetworkMeteredController extends ConstraintController<NetworkState> {
+    private static final String TAG = "NetworkMeteredCtrlr";
+
+    public NetworkMeteredController(Context context, OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+        super(Trackers.getInstance(context).getNetworkStateTracker(), callback);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        return workSpec.getConstraints().getRequiredNetworkType() == METERED;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check for metered constraint on API 26+, when JobInfo#NETWORK_METERED was added, to
+     * be consistent with JobScheduler functionality.
+     */
+    @Override
+    boolean isConstrained(@NonNull NetworkState state) {
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 26) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Metered network constraint is not supported before API 26, "
+                    + "only checking for connected state.");
+            return !state.isConnected();
+        }
+        return !state.isConnected() || !state.isMetered();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkNotRoamingController.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkNotRoamingController.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..989f32a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkNotRoamingController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.NOT_ROAMING;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.NetworkState;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintController} for monitoring that the network connection is not roaming.
+ */
+
+public class NetworkNotRoamingController extends ConstraintController<NetworkState> {
+    private static final String TAG = "NetworkNotRoamingCtrlr";
+
+    public NetworkNotRoamingController(Context context, OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+        super(Trackers.getInstance(context).getNetworkStateTracker(), callback);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        return workSpec.getConstraints().getRequiredNetworkType() == NOT_ROAMING;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check for not-roaming constraint on API 24+, when JobInfo#NETWORK_TYPE_NOT_ROAMING was added,
+     * to be consistent with JobScheduler functionality.
+     */
+    @Override
+    boolean isConstrained(@NonNull NetworkState state) {
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 24) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Not-roaming network constraint is not supported before API 24, "
+                    + "only checking for connected state.");
+            return !state.isConnected();
+        }
+        return !state.isConnected() || !state.isNotRoaming();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkUnmeteredController.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkUnmeteredController.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6cc34d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/NetworkUnmeteredController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import static androidx.work.NetworkType.UNMETERED;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.NetworkState;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintController} for monitoring that the network connection is unmetered.
+ */
+
+public class NetworkUnmeteredController extends ConstraintController<NetworkState> {
+    public NetworkUnmeteredController(Context context, OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+        super(Trackers.getInstance(context).getNetworkStateTracker(), callback);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        return workSpec.getConstraints().getRequiredNetworkType() == UNMETERED;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean isConstrained(@NonNull NetworkState state) {
+        return !state.isConnected() || state.isMetered();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/StorageNotLowController.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/StorageNotLowController.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bb94f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/StorageNotLowController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers.Trackers;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintController} for storage not low events.
+ */
+
+public class StorageNotLowController extends ConstraintController<Boolean> {
+    public StorageNotLowController(Context context, OnConstraintUpdatedCallback callback) {
+        super(Trackers.getInstance(context).getStorageNotLowTracker(), callback);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean hasConstraint(@NonNull WorkSpec workSpec) {
+        return workSpec.getConstraints().requiresStorageNotLow();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    boolean isConstrained(@NonNull Boolean isStorageNotLow) {
+        return !isStorageNotLow;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fe5540
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/controllers/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.controllers;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e989ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryChargingTracker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryChargingTracker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b08aef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryChargingTracker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.os.BatteryManager;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Tracks whether or not the device's battery is charging.
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class BatteryChargingTracker extends BroadcastReceiverConstraintTracker<Boolean> {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "BatteryChrgTracker";
+
+    /**
+     * Create an instance of {@link BatteryChargingTracker}.
+     * @param context The application {@link Context}
+     */
+    public BatteryChargingTracker(Context context) {
+        super(context);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Boolean getInitialState() {
+        // {@link ACTION_CHARGING} and {@link ACTION_DISCHARGING} are not sticky broadcasts, so
+        // we use {@link ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED} on all APIs to get the initial state.
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED);
+        Intent intent = mAppContext.registerReceiver(null, intentFilter);
+        if (intent == null) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "getInitialState - null intent received");
+            return null;
+        }
+        return isBatteryChangedIntentCharging(intent);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public IntentFilter getIntentFilter() {
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23) {
+            intentFilter.addAction(BatteryManager.ACTION_CHARGING);
+            intentFilter.addAction(BatteryManager.ACTION_DISCHARGING);
+        } else {
+            intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_POWER_CONNECTED);
+            intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_POWER_DISCONNECTED);
+        }
+        return intentFilter;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onBroadcastReceive(Context context, @NonNull Intent intent) {
+        String action = intent.getAction();
+        if (action == null) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Received %s", action);
+        switch (action) {
+            case BatteryManager.ACTION_CHARGING:
+                setState(true);
+                break;
+
+            case BatteryManager.ACTION_DISCHARGING:
+                setState(false);
+                break;
+
+            case Intent.ACTION_POWER_CONNECTED:
+                setState(true);
+                break;
+
+            case Intent.ACTION_POWER_DISCONNECTED:
+                setState(false);
+                break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    private boolean isBatteryChangedIntentCharging(Intent intent) {
+        boolean charging;
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 23) {
+            int status = intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_STATUS, -1);
+            charging = (status == BatteryManager.BATTERY_STATUS_CHARGING
+                    || status == BatteryManager.BATTERY_STATUS_FULL);
+        } else {
+            int chargePlug = intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_PLUGGED, 0);
+            charging = (chargePlug != 0);
+        }
+        return charging;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryNotLowTracker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryNotLowTracker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d874e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BatteryNotLowTracker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.os.BatteryManager;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Tracks whether or not the device's battery level is low.
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class BatteryNotLowTracker extends BroadcastReceiverConstraintTracker<Boolean> {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "BatteryNotLowTracker";
+
+    /**
+     * {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/oreo-release/services/core/java/com/android/server/BatteryService.java#111}
+     */
+    static final int BATTERY_PLUGGED_NONE = 0;
+
+    /**
+     * {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/oreo-release/core/res/res/values/config.xml#986}
+     */
+    static final float BATTERY_LOW_PERCENTAGE = 0.15f;
+
+    /**
+     * Create an instance of {@link BatteryNotLowTracker}.
+     * @param context The application {@link Context}
+     */
+    public BatteryNotLowTracker(Context context) {
+        super(context);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Based on BatteryService#shouldSendBatteryLowLocked(), but this ignores the previous plugged
+     * state - cannot guarantee the last plugged state because this isn't always tracking.
+     *
+     * {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/oreo-release/services/core/java/com/android/server/BatteryService.java#268}
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Boolean getInitialState() {
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED);
+        Intent intent = mAppContext.registerReceiver(null, intentFilter);
+        if (intent == null) {
+            Logger.error(TAG, "getInitialState - null intent received");
+            return null;
+        }
+        int plugged = intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_PLUGGED, BATTERY_PLUGGED_NONE);
+        int status = intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_STATUS, -1);
+        int level = intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_LEVEL, -1);
+        int scale = intent.getIntExtra(BatteryManager.EXTRA_SCALE, -1);
+        float batteryPercentage = level / (float) scale;
+
+        return (plugged != BATTERY_PLUGGED_NONE
+                || status == BatteryManager.BATTERY_STATUS_UNKNOWN
+                || batteryPercentage > BATTERY_LOW_PERCENTAGE);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public IntentFilter getIntentFilter() {
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
+        intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_OKAY);
+        intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_LOW);
+        return intentFilter;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onBroadcastReceive(Context context, @NonNull Intent intent) {
+        if (intent.getAction() == null) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Received %s", intent.getAction());
+
+        switch (intent.getAction()) {
+            case Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_OKAY:
+                setState(true);
+                break;
+
+            case Intent.ACTION_BATTERY_LOW:
+                setState(false);
+                break;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BroadcastReceiverConstraintTracker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BroadcastReceiverConstraintTracker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..68c8e75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/BroadcastReceiverConstraintTracker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintTracker} with a {@link BroadcastReceiver} for monitoring constraint changes.
+ *
+ * @param <T> the constraint data type observed by this tracker
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public abstract class BroadcastReceiverConstraintTracker<T> extends ConstraintTracker<T> {
+    private static final String TAG = "BrdcstRcvrCnstrntTrckr";
+
+    private final BroadcastReceiver mBroadcastReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
+        @Override
+        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
+            if (intent != null) {
+                onBroadcastReceive(context, intent);
+            }
+        }
+    };
+
+    public BroadcastReceiverConstraintTracker(Context context) {
+        super(context);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Called when the {@link BroadcastReceiver} is receiving an {@link Intent} broadcast and should
+     * handle the received {@link Intent}.
+     *
+     * @param context The {@link Context} in which the receiver is running.
+     * @param intent  The {@link Intent} being received.
+     */
+    public abstract void onBroadcastReceive(Context context, @NonNull Intent intent);
+
+    /**
+     * @return The {@link IntentFilter} associated with this tracker.
+     */
+    public abstract IntentFilter getIntentFilter();
+
+    @Override
+    public void startTracking() {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "%s: registering receiver", getClass().getSimpleName());
+        mAppContext.registerReceiver(mBroadcastReceiver, getIntentFilter());
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void stopTracking() {
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "%s: unregistering receiver", getClass().getSimpleName());
+        mAppContext.unregisterReceiver(mBroadcastReceiver);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/ConstraintTracker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/ConstraintTracker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f95c1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/ConstraintTracker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.ConstraintListener;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * A base for tracking constraints and notifying listeners of changes.
+ *
+ * @param <T> the constraint data type observed by this tracker
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public abstract class ConstraintTracker<T> {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "ConstraintTracker";
+
+    protected final Context mAppContext;
+    private final Set<ConstraintListener<T>> mListeners = new LinkedHashSet<>();
+    private T mCurrentState;
+
+    ConstraintTracker(Context context) {
+        mAppContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Add the given listener for tracking.
+     * This may cause {@link #getInitialState()} and {@link #startTracking()} to be invoked.
+     * If a state is set, this will immediately notify the given listener.
+     *
+     * @param listener The target listener to start notifying
+     */
+    public void addListener(ConstraintListener<T> listener) {
+        if (mListeners.add(listener)) {
+            if (mListeners.size() == 1) {
+                mCurrentState = getInitialState();
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "%s: initial state = %s", getClass().getSimpleName(),
+                        mCurrentState);
+                startTracking();
+            }
+            listener.onConstraintChanged(mCurrentState);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Remove the given listener from tracking.
+     *
+     * @param listener The listener to stop notifying.
+     */
+    public void removeListener(ConstraintListener<T> listener) {
+        if (mListeners.remove(listener) && mListeners.isEmpty()) {
+            stopTracking();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets the state of the constraint.
+     * If state is has not changed, nothing happens.
+     *
+     * @param newState new state of constraint
+     */
+    public void setState(T newState) {
+        if (mCurrentState == newState
+                || (mCurrentState != null && mCurrentState.equals(newState))) {
+            return;
+        }
+        mCurrentState = newState;
+        for (ConstraintListener<T> listener : mListeners) {
+            listener.onConstraintChanged(mCurrentState);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determines the initial state of the constraint being tracked.
+     */
+    public abstract T getInitialState();
+
+    /**
+     * Start tracking for constraint state changes.
+     */
+    public abstract void startTracking();
+
+    /**
+     * Stop tracking for constraint state changes.
+     */
+    public abstract void stopTracking();
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/NetworkStateTracker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/NetworkStateTracker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bae3c4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/NetworkStateTracker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.net.ConnectivityManager;
+import android.net.ConnectivityManager.NetworkCallback;
+import android.net.Network;
+import android.net.NetworkCapabilities;
+import android.net.NetworkInfo;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.RequiresApi;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.v4.net.ConnectivityManagerCompat;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.NetworkState;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ConstraintTracker} for monitoring network state.
+ * <p>
+ * For API 24 and up: Network state is tracked using a registered {@link NetworkCallback} with
+ * {@link ConnectivityManager#registerDefaultNetworkCallback(NetworkCallback)}, added in API 24.
+ * <p>
+ * For API 23 and below: Network state is tracked using a {@link android.content.BroadcastReceiver}.
+ * Much less efficient than tracking with {@link NetworkCallback}s and {@link ConnectivityManager}.
+ * <p>
+ * Based on {@link android.app.job.JobScheduler}'s ConnectivityController on API 26.
+ * {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/oreo-release/services/core/java/com/android/server/job/controllers/ConnectivityController.java}
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class NetworkStateTracker extends ConstraintTracker<NetworkState> {
+    private static final String TAG = "NetworkStateTracker";
+
+    private final ConnectivityManager mConnectivityManager;
+
+    @RequiresApi(24)
+    private NetworkStateCallback mNetworkCallback;
+    private NetworkStateBroadcastReceiver mBroadcastReceiver;
+
+    /**
+     * Create an instance of {@link NetworkStateTracker}
+     * @param context the application {@link Context}
+     */
+    public NetworkStateTracker(Context context) {
+        super(context);
+        mConnectivityManager =
+                (ConnectivityManager) mAppContext.getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
+        if (isNetworkCallbackSupported()) {
+            mNetworkCallback = new NetworkStateCallback();
+        } else {
+            mBroadcastReceiver = new NetworkStateBroadcastReceiver();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public NetworkState getInitialState() {
+        return getActiveNetworkState();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void startTracking() {
+        if (isNetworkCallbackSupported()) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Registering network callback");
+            mConnectivityManager.registerDefaultNetworkCallback(mNetworkCallback);
+        } else {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Registering broadcast receiver");
+            mAppContext.registerReceiver(mBroadcastReceiver,
+                    new IntentFilter(ConnectivityManager.CONNECTIVITY_ACTION));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void stopTracking() {
+        if (isNetworkCallbackSupported()) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Unregistering network callback");
+            mConnectivityManager.unregisterNetworkCallback(mNetworkCallback);
+        } else {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Unregistering broadcast receiver");
+            mAppContext.unregisterReceiver(mBroadcastReceiver);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static boolean isNetworkCallbackSupported() {
+        // Based on requiring ConnectivityManager#registerDefaultNetworkCallback - added in API 24.
+        return Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 24;
+    }
+
+    private NetworkState getActiveNetworkState() {
+        // Use getActiveNetworkInfo() instead of getNetworkInfo(network) because it can detect VPNs.
+        NetworkInfo info = mConnectivityManager.getActiveNetworkInfo();
+        boolean isConnected = info != null && info.isConnected();
+        boolean isValidated = isActiveNetworkValidated();
+        boolean isMetered = ConnectivityManagerCompat.isActiveNetworkMetered(mConnectivityManager);
+        boolean isNotRoaming = info != null && !info.isRoaming();
+        return new NetworkState(isConnected, isValidated, isMetered, isNotRoaming);
+    }
+
+    private boolean isActiveNetworkValidated() {
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 23) {
+            return false; // NET_CAPABILITY_VALIDATED not available until API 23. Used on API 26+.
+        }
+        Network network = mConnectivityManager.getActiveNetwork();
+        NetworkCapabilities capabilities = mConnectivityManager.getNetworkCapabilities(network);
+        return capabilities != null
+                && capabilities.hasCapability(NetworkCapabilities.NET_CAPABILITY_VALIDATED);
+    }
+
+    @RequiresApi(24)
+    private class NetworkStateCallback extends NetworkCallback {
+        @Override
+        public void onCapabilitiesChanged(Network network, NetworkCapabilities capabilities) {
+            // The Network parameter is unreliable when a VPN app is running - use active network.
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Network capabilities changed: %s", capabilities);
+            setState(getActiveNetworkState());
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void onLost(Network network) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Network connection lost");
+            setState(getActiveNetworkState());
+        }
+    }
+
+    private class NetworkStateBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
+        @Override
+        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
+            if (intent == null || intent.getAction() == null) {
+                return;
+            }
+            if (intent.getAction().equals(ConnectivityManager.CONNECTIVITY_ACTION)) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Network broadcast received");
+                setState(getActiveNetworkState());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/StorageNotLowTracker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/StorageNotLowTracker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a8709d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/StorageNotLowTracker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.content.IntentFilter;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Tracks whether or not the device's storage is low.
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class StorageNotLowTracker extends BroadcastReceiverConstraintTracker<Boolean> {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "StorageNotLowTracker";
+
+    /**
+     * Create an instance of {@link StorageNotLowTracker}.
+     * @param context The application {@link Context}
+     */
+    public StorageNotLowTracker(Context context) {
+        super(context);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Boolean getInitialState() {
+        Intent intent = mAppContext.registerReceiver(null, getIntentFilter());
+        if (intent == null || intent.getAction() == null) {
+            // ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW is a sticky broadcast that is removed when sufficient
+            // storage is available again.  ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_OK is not sticky.  So if we
+            // don't receive anything here, we can assume that the storage state is okay.
+            return true;
+        } else {
+            switch (intent.getAction()) {
+                case Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_OK:
+                    return true;
+
+                case Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW:
+                    return false;
+
+                default:
+                    // This should never happen because the intent filter is configured
+                    // correctly.
+                    return null;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public IntentFilter getIntentFilter() {
+        // In API 26+, DEVICE_STORAGE_OK/LOW are deprecated and are no longer sent to
+        // manifest-defined BroadcastReceivers. Since we are registering our receiver manually, this
+        // is currently okay. This may change in future versions, so this will need to be monitored.
+        IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
+        intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_OK);
+        intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW);
+        return intentFilter;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onBroadcastReceive(Context context, @NonNull Intent intent) {
+        if (intent.getAction() == null) {
+            return; // Should never happen since the IntentFilter was configured.
+        }
+
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Received %s", intent.getAction());
+
+        switch (intent.getAction()) {
+            case Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_OK:
+                setState(true);
+                break;
+
+            case Intent.ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW:
+                setState(false);
+                break;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/Trackers.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/Trackers.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2838f6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/Trackers.java
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+/**
+ * A singleton class to hold an instance of each {@link ConstraintTracker}.
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class Trackers {
+
+    private static Trackers sInstance;
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the singleton instance of {@link Trackers}.
+     *
+     * @param context The initializing context (we only use the application context)
+     * @return The singleton instance of {@link Trackers}.
+     */
+    public static synchronized Trackers getInstance(Context context) {
+        if (sInstance == null) {
+            sInstance = new Trackers(context);
+        }
+        return sInstance;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets an instance of the {@link Trackers} for testing.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public static synchronized void setInstance(@NonNull Trackers trackers) {
+        sInstance = trackers;
+    }
+
+    private BatteryChargingTracker mBatteryChargingTracker;
+    private BatteryNotLowTracker mBatteryNotLowTracker;
+    private NetworkStateTracker mNetworkStateTracker;
+    private StorageNotLowTracker mStorageNotLowTracker;
+
+    private Trackers(Context context) {
+        Context appContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+        mBatteryChargingTracker = new BatteryChargingTracker(appContext);
+        mBatteryNotLowTracker = new BatteryNotLowTracker(appContext);
+        mNetworkStateTracker = new NetworkStateTracker(appContext);
+        mStorageNotLowTracker = new StorageNotLowTracker(appContext);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the tracker used to track the battery charging status.
+     *
+     * @return The tracker used to track battery charging status
+     */
+    public BatteryChargingTracker getBatteryChargingTracker() {
+        return mBatteryChargingTracker;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the tracker used to track if the battery is okay or low.
+     *
+     * @return The tracker used to track if the battery is okay or low
+     */
+    public BatteryNotLowTracker getBatteryNotLowTracker() {
+        return mBatteryNotLowTracker;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the tracker used to track network state changes.
+     *
+     * @return The tracker used to track state of the network
+     */
+    public NetworkStateTracker getNetworkStateTracker() {
+        return mNetworkStateTracker;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the tracker used to track if device storage is okay or low.
+     *
+     * @return The tracker used to track if device storage is okay or low.
+     */
+    public StorageNotLowTracker getStorageNotLowTracker() {
+        return mStorageNotLowTracker;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c4bf95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/constraints/trackers/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.constraints.trackers;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/logger/Logger.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/logger/Logger.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51d8175
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/logger/Logger.java
@@ -0,0 +1,193 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.logger;
+
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.util.Log;
+
+/**
+ * Helps with logging among other things.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class Logger {
+
+    /** The default log level. */
+    private static final int DEFAULT_LOG_LEVEL = Log.WARN;
+
+    /** The log level being currently used by the logger. */
+    public static int LOG_LEVEL = DEFAULT_LOG_LEVEL;
+
+    /**
+     * @return if the logLevel is loggable.
+     */
+    public static boolean isLoggable(int logLevel) {
+        return logLevel >= LOG_LEVEL;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.VERBOSE
+     */
+    public static void verbose(String tag, String message, @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.VERBOSE, tag, message, null, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.VERBOSE
+     */
+    public static void verbose(String tag, String message, Throwable throwable,
+            @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.VERBOSE, tag, message, throwable, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.DEBUG
+     */
+    public static void debug(String tag, String message, @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.DEBUG, tag, message, null, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.DEBUG
+     */
+    public static void debug(String tag, String message, Throwable throwable,
+            @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.DEBUG, tag, message, throwable, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.INFO
+     */
+    public static void info(String tag, String message, @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.INFO, tag, message, null, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.INFO
+     */
+    public static void info(String tag, String message, Throwable throwable,
+            @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.INFO, tag, message, throwable, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.WARN
+     */
+    public static void warn(String tag, String message, @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.WARN, tag, message, null, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.WARN
+     */
+    public static void warn(String tag, String message, Throwable throwable,
+            @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.WARN, tag, message, throwable, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.ERROR
+     */
+    public static void error(String tag, String message, @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.ERROR, tag, message, null, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a message with the log level set to Log.ERROR
+     */
+    public static void error(String tag, String message, Throwable throwable,
+            @Nullable Object... args) {
+        logInternal(Log.ERROR, tag, message, throwable, args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates an instance of the {@link Logger}.
+     */
+    private Logger() {
+
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Internally routes the log requests to the appropriate logger.
+     */
+    private static void logInternal(
+            int logLevel,
+            String tag,
+            String message,
+            @Nullable Throwable throwable,
+            @Nullable Object... args) {
+
+        if (isLoggable(logLevel)) {
+            switch (logLevel) {
+                case Log.VERBOSE: {
+                    if (throwable != null) {
+                        Log.v(tag, format(message, args), throwable);
+                    } else {
+                        Log.v(tag, format(message, args));
+                    }
+                    break;
+                }
+                case Log.DEBUG: {
+                    if (throwable != null) {
+                        Log.d(tag, format(message, args), throwable);
+                    } else {
+                        Log.d(tag, format(message, args));
+                    }
+                    break;
+                }
+                case Log.INFO: {
+                    if (throwable != null) {
+                        Log.i(tag, format(message, args), throwable);
+                    } else {
+                        Log.i(tag, format(message, args));
+                    }
+                    break;
+                }
+                case Log.WARN: {
+                    if (throwable != null) {
+                        Log.w(tag, format(message, args), throwable);
+                    } else {
+                        Log.w(tag, format(message, args));
+                    }
+                    break;
+                }
+                case Log.ERROR: {
+                    if (throwable != null) {
+                        Log.e(tag, format(message, args), throwable);
+                    } else {
+                        Log.e(tag, format(message, args));
+                    }
+                    break;
+                }
+                default:
+                    break;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static String format(String message, @Nullable Object... arguments) {
+        // checking for arguments to avoid creating instance of Formatter which will
+        // be used by String.format(...)
+        if (arguments != null && arguments.length > 0) {
+            return String.format(message, arguments);
+        } else {
+            return message;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/AlarmInfo.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/AlarmInfo.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3529126
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/AlarmInfo.java
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ColumnInfo;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Entity;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ForeignKey;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.PrimaryKey;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+/**
+ * Stores Alarm ids for a {@link WorkSpec}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@Entity(tableName = "alarmInfo",
+        foreignKeys = {
+                @ForeignKey(
+                        entity = WorkSpec.class,
+                        parentColumns = "id",
+                        childColumns = "work_spec_id",
+                        onDelete = ForeignKey.CASCADE,
+                        onUpdate = ForeignKey.CASCADE)})
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class AlarmInfo {
+
+    @NonNull
+    @PrimaryKey
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "work_spec_id")
+    public final String workSpecId;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "alarm_id")
+    public final int alarmId;
+
+    public AlarmInfo(@NonNull String workSpecId, int alarmId) {
+        this.workSpecId = workSpecId;
+        this.alarmId = alarmId;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) return true;
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
+
+        AlarmInfo alarmInfo = (AlarmInfo) o;
+
+        if (alarmId != alarmInfo.alarmId) return false;
+        return workSpecId.equals(alarmInfo.workSpecId);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        int result = workSpecId.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + alarmId;
+        return result;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/AlarmInfoDao.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/AlarmInfoDao.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc4d1ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/AlarmInfoDao.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Dao;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Insert;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.OnConflictStrategy;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Query;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+
+/**
+ * A Data Access Object for {@link AlarmInfo}.
+ */
+@Dao
+public interface AlarmInfoDao {
+
+    /**
+     * Inserts a {@link AlarmInfo} into the database.
+     *
+     * @param alarmInfo The {@link AlarmInfo} to be inserted into the database.
+     */
+    @Insert(onConflict = OnConflictStrategy.FAIL)
+    void insertAlarmInfo(@NonNull AlarmInfo alarmInfo);
+
+    /**
+     * @param workSpecId The {@link WorkSpec} identifier.
+     * @return The instance of {@link AlarmInfo} if exists.
+     */
+    @Nullable
+    @Query("SELECT * FROM alarmInfo WHERE work_spec_id=:workSpecId")
+    AlarmInfo getAlarmInfo(@NonNull String workSpecId);
+
+    /**
+     * Removes alarms corresponding to the {@link WorkSpec} identifier.
+     *
+     * @param workSpecId The {@link WorkSpec} identifier.
+     */
+    @Query("DELETE FROM alarmInfo where work_spec_id=:workSpecId")
+    void removeAlarmInfo(@NonNull String workSpecId);
+
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/Dependency.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/Dependency.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42997a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/Dependency.java
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ColumnInfo;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Entity;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ForeignKey;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Index;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+/**
+ * Database entity that defines a dependency between two {@link WorkSpec}s.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+
+@Entity(foreignKeys = {
+        @ForeignKey(
+                entity = WorkSpec.class,
+                parentColumns = "id",
+                childColumns = "work_spec_id",
+                onDelete = ForeignKey.CASCADE,
+                onUpdate = ForeignKey.CASCADE),
+        @ForeignKey(
+                entity = WorkSpec.class,
+                parentColumns = "id",
+                childColumns = "prerequisite_id",
+                onDelete = ForeignKey.CASCADE,
+                onUpdate = ForeignKey.CASCADE)},
+        primaryKeys = {"work_spec_id", "prerequisite_id"},
+        indices = {
+                @Index(value = {"work_spec_id"}),
+                @Index(value = {"prerequisite_id"})})
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class Dependency {
+    @NonNull
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "work_spec_id")
+    public final String workSpecId;
+
+    @NonNull
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "prerequisite_id")
+    public final String prerequisiteId;
+
+    public Dependency(@NonNull String workSpecId, @NonNull String prerequisiteId) {
+        this.workSpecId = workSpecId;
+        this.prerequisiteId = prerequisiteId;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/DependencyDao.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/DependencyDao.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..721e9ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/DependencyDao.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import static android.arch.persistence.room.OnConflictStrategy.FAIL;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Dao;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Insert;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Query;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * The Data Access Object for {@link Dependency}.
+ */
+@Dao
+public interface DependencyDao {
+    /**
+     * Attempts to insert a {@link Dependency} into the database.
+     *
+     * @param dependency The {@link Dependency}s to insert
+     */
+    @Insert(onConflict = FAIL)
+    void insertDependency(Dependency dependency);
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if a {@link WorkSpec} has completed all prerequisites.
+     *
+     * @param id The identifier for the {@link WorkSpec}
+     * @return {@code true} if the {@link WorkSpec} has no pending prerequisites.
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT COUNT(*)=0 FROM dependency WHERE work_spec_id=:id AND prerequisite_id IN "
+            + "(SELECT id FROM workspec WHERE state!="
+            + EnumTypeConverters.StateIds.SUCCEEDED + ")")
+    boolean hasCompletedAllPrerequisites(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets all the direct prerequisites for a particular {@link WorkSpec}.
+     *
+     * @param id The {@link WorkSpec} identifier
+     * @return A list of all prerequisites for {@code id}
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT prerequisite_id FROM dependency WHERE work_spec_id=:id")
+    List<String> getPrerequisites(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets all {@link WorkSpec} id's dependent on a given id
+     *
+     * @param id A {@link WorkSpec} identifier
+     * @return A list of all identifiers that depend on the input
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT work_spec_id FROM dependency WHERE prerequisite_id=:id")
+    List<String> getDependentWorkIds(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if a {@link WorkSpec} has any dependents.
+     *
+     * @param id A {@link WorkSpec} identifier
+     * @return {@code true} if the {@link WorkSpec} has WorkSpecs that depend on it
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT COUNT(*)>0 FROM dependency WHERE prerequisite_id=:id")
+    boolean hasDependents(String id);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/EnumTypeConverters.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/EnumTypeConverters.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb29bc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/EnumTypeConverters.java
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import static androidx.work.BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL;
+import static androidx.work.BackoffPolicy.LINEAR;
+import static androidx.work.State.BLOCKED;
+import static androidx.work.State.CANCELLED;
+import static androidx.work.State.ENQUEUED;
+import static androidx.work.State.FAILED;
+import static androidx.work.State.RUNNING;
+import static androidx.work.State.SUCCEEDED;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.TypeConverter;
+
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.NetworkType;
+import androidx.work.State;
+
+/**
+ * TypeConverters for enums.
+ */
+
+public class EnumTypeConverters {
+
+    /**
+     * Integer identifiers that map to {@link State}.
+     */
+    public interface StateIds {
+        int ENQUEUED = 0;
+        int RUNNING = 1;
+        int SUCCEEDED = 2;
+        int FAILED = 3;
+        int BLOCKED = 4;
+        int CANCELLED = 5;
+
+        String COMPLETED_STATES = "(" + SUCCEEDED + ", " + FAILED + ", " + CANCELLED + ")";
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Integer identifiers that map to {@link BackoffPolicy}.
+     */
+    public interface BackoffPolicyIds {
+        int EXPONENTIAL = 0;
+        int LINEAR = 1;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Integer identifiers that map to {@link NetworkType}.
+     */
+    public interface NetworkTypeIds {
+        int NOT_REQUIRED = 0;
+        int CONNECTED = 1;
+        int UNMETERED = 2;
+        int NOT_ROAMING = 3;
+        int METERED = 4;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * TypeConverter for a State to an int.
+     *
+     * @param state The input State
+     * @return The associated int constant
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static int stateToInt(State state) {
+        switch (state) {
+            case ENQUEUED:
+                return StateIds.ENQUEUED;
+
+            case RUNNING:
+                return StateIds.RUNNING;
+
+            case SUCCEEDED:
+                return StateIds.SUCCEEDED;
+
+            case FAILED:
+                return StateIds.FAILED;
+
+            case BLOCKED:
+                return StateIds.BLOCKED;
+
+            case CANCELLED:
+                return StateIds.CANCELLED;
+
+            default:
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                        "Could not convert " + state + " to int");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * TypeConverter for an int to a State.
+     *
+     * @param value The input integer
+     * @return The associated State enum value
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static State intToState(int value) {
+        switch (value) {
+            case StateIds.ENQUEUED:
+                return ENQUEUED;
+
+            case StateIds.RUNNING:
+                return RUNNING;
+
+            case StateIds.SUCCEEDED:
+                return SUCCEEDED;
+
+            case StateIds.FAILED:
+                return FAILED;
+
+            case StateIds.BLOCKED:
+                return BLOCKED;
+
+            case StateIds.CANCELLED:
+                return CANCELLED;
+
+            default:
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                        "Could not convert " + value + " to State");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * TypeConverter for a BackoffPolicy to an int.
+     *
+     * @param backoffPolicy The input BackoffPolicy
+     * @return The associated int constant
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static int backoffPolicyToInt(BackoffPolicy backoffPolicy) {
+        switch (backoffPolicy) {
+            case EXPONENTIAL:
+                return BackoffPolicyIds.EXPONENTIAL;
+
+            case LINEAR:
+                return BackoffPolicyIds.LINEAR;
+
+            default:
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                        "Could not convert " + backoffPolicy + " to int");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * TypeConverter for an int to a BackoffPolicy.
+     *
+     * @param value The input integer
+     * @return The associated BackoffPolicy enum value
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static BackoffPolicy intToBackoffPolicy(int value) {
+        switch (value) {
+            case BackoffPolicyIds.EXPONENTIAL:
+                return EXPONENTIAL;
+
+            case BackoffPolicyIds.LINEAR:
+                return LINEAR;
+
+            default:
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                        "Could not convert " + value + " to BackoffPolicy");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * TypeConverter for a NetworkType to an int.
+     *
+     * @param networkType The input NetworkType
+     * @return The associated int constant
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static int networkTypeToInt(NetworkType networkType) {
+        switch (networkType) {
+            case NOT_REQUIRED:
+                return NetworkTypeIds.NOT_REQUIRED;
+
+            case CONNECTED:
+                return NetworkTypeIds.CONNECTED;
+
+            case UNMETERED:
+                return NetworkTypeIds.UNMETERED;
+
+            case NOT_ROAMING:
+                return NetworkTypeIds.NOT_ROAMING;
+
+            case METERED:
+                return NetworkTypeIds.METERED;
+
+            default:
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                        "Could not convert " + networkType + " to int");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * TypeConverter for an int to a NetworkType.
+     *
+     * @param value The input integer
+     * @return The associated NetworkType enum value
+     */
+    @TypeConverter
+    public static NetworkType intToNetworkType(int value) {
+        switch (value) {
+            case NetworkTypeIds.NOT_REQUIRED:
+                return NetworkType.NOT_REQUIRED;
+
+            case NetworkTypeIds.CONNECTED:
+                return NetworkType.CONNECTED;
+
+            case NetworkTypeIds.UNMETERED:
+                return NetworkType.UNMETERED;
+
+            case NetworkTypeIds.NOT_ROAMING:
+                return NetworkType.NOT_ROAMING;
+
+            case NetworkTypeIds.METERED:
+                return NetworkType.METERED;
+
+            default:
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                        "Could not convert " + value + " to NetworkType");
+        }
+    }
+
+    private EnumTypeConverters() {
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkName.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkName.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96510d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkName.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ColumnInfo;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Entity;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ForeignKey;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Index;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+/**
+ * Database entity that defines a mapping from a name to a {@link WorkSpec} id.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+
+@Entity(foreignKeys = {
+        @ForeignKey(
+                entity = WorkSpec.class,
+                parentColumns = "id",
+                childColumns = "work_spec_id",
+                onDelete = ForeignKey.CASCADE,
+                onUpdate = ForeignKey.CASCADE)},
+        primaryKeys = {"name", "work_spec_id"},
+        indices = {@Index(value = {"work_spec_id"})})
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class WorkName {
+
+    @NonNull
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "name")
+    public final String name;
+
+    @NonNull
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "work_spec_id")
+    public final String workSpecId;
+
+    public WorkName(@NonNull String name, @NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        this.name = name;
+        this.workSpecId = workSpecId;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkNameDao.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkNameDao.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..756cdbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkNameDao.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import static android.arch.persistence.room.OnConflictStrategy.FAIL;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Dao;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Insert;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Query;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * The Data Access Object for {@link WorkName}s.
+ */
+@Dao
+public interface WorkNameDao {
+
+    /**
+     * Inserts a {@link WorkName} into the table.
+     *
+     * @param workName The {@link WorkName} to insert
+     */
+    @Insert(onConflict = FAIL)
+    void insert(WorkName workName);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves all {@link WorkSpec} ids in the given named graph.
+     *
+     * @param name The matching name
+     * @return All {@link WorkSpec} ids in the given named graph
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT work_spec_id FROM workname WHERE name=:name")
+    List<String> getWorkSpecIdsWithName(String name);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkSpec.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkSpec.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b7f122
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkSpec.java
@@ -0,0 +1,472 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import static androidx.work.BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS;
+import static androidx.work.BaseWork.MIN_BACKOFF_MILLIS;
+import static androidx.work.PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS;
+import static androidx.work.PeriodicWork.MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS;
+import static androidx.work.State.ENQUEUED;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ColumnInfo;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Embedded;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Entity;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.PrimaryKey;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Relation;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.BackoffPolicy;
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.Constraints;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.WorkStatus;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Stores information about a logical unit of work.
+ */
+@Entity
+public class WorkSpec {
+    private static final String TAG = "WorkSpec";
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "id")
+    @PrimaryKey
+    @NonNull
+    String mId;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "state")
+    @NonNull
+    State mState = ENQUEUED;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "worker_class_name")
+    @NonNull
+    String mWorkerClassName;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "input_merger_class_name")
+    String mInputMergerClassName;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "arguments")
+    @NonNull
+    Arguments mArguments = Arguments.EMPTY;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "output")
+    @NonNull
+    Arguments mOutput = Arguments.EMPTY;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "initial_delay")
+    long mInitialDelay;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "interval_duration")
+    long mIntervalDuration;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "flex_duration")
+    long mFlexDuration;
+
+    @Embedded
+    @NonNull
+    Constraints mConstraints = Constraints.NONE;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "run_attempt_count")
+    int mRunAttemptCount;
+
+    // TODO(sumir): Should Backoff be disabled by default?
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "backoff_policy")
+    @NonNull
+    BackoffPolicy mBackoffPolicy = BackoffPolicy.EXPONENTIAL;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "backoff_delay_duration")
+    long mBackoffDelayDuration = BaseWork.DEFAULT_BACKOFF_DELAY_MILLIS;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "period_start_time")
+    long mPeriodStartTime;
+
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "minimum_retention_duration")
+    long mMinimumRetentionDuration;
+
+    public WorkSpec(@NonNull String id) {
+        mId = id;
+    }
+
+    @NonNull
+    public String getId() {
+        return mId;
+    }
+
+    public void setId(@NonNull String id) {
+        mId = id;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull State getState() {
+        return mState;
+    }
+
+    public void setState(@NonNull State state) {
+        mState = state;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull String getWorkerClassName() {
+        return mWorkerClassName;
+    }
+
+    public void setWorkerClassName(@NonNull String workerClassName) {
+        mWorkerClassName = workerClassName;
+    }
+
+    public String getInputMergerClassName() {
+        return mInputMergerClassName;
+    }
+
+    public void setInputMergerClassName(String inputMergerClassName) {
+        mInputMergerClassName = inputMergerClassName;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull Arguments getArguments() {
+        return mArguments;
+    }
+
+    public void setArguments(@NonNull Arguments arguments) {
+        mArguments = arguments;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull Arguments getOutput() {
+        return mOutput;
+    }
+
+    public void setOutput(@NonNull Arguments output) {
+        mOutput = output;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull Constraints getConstraints() {
+        return mConstraints;
+    }
+
+    public void setConstraints(@NonNull Constraints constraints) {
+        mConstraints = constraints;
+    }
+
+    public @NonNull BackoffPolicy getBackoffPolicy() {
+        return mBackoffPolicy;
+    }
+
+    public void setBackoffPolicy(@NonNull BackoffPolicy backoffPolicy) {
+        mBackoffPolicy = backoffPolicy;
+    }
+
+    public long getBackoffDelayDuration() {
+        return mBackoffDelayDuration;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param backoffDelayDuration The backoff delay duration in milliseconds
+     */
+    public void setBackoffDelayDuration(long backoffDelayDuration) {
+        if (backoffDelayDuration > MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Backoff delay duration exceeds maximum value");
+            backoffDelayDuration = MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS;
+        }
+        if (backoffDelayDuration < MIN_BACKOFF_MILLIS) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Backoff delay duration less than minimum value");
+            backoffDelayDuration = MIN_BACKOFF_MILLIS;
+        }
+        mBackoffDelayDuration = backoffDelayDuration;
+    }
+
+    public long getInitialDelay() {
+        return mInitialDelay;
+    }
+
+    public void setInitialDelay(long initialDelay) {
+        mInitialDelay = initialDelay;
+    }
+
+    public boolean isPeriodic() {
+        return mIntervalDuration != 0L;
+    }
+
+    public boolean isBackedOff() {
+        return mState == ENQUEUED && mRunAttemptCount > 0;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets the periodic interval for this unit of work.
+     *
+     * @param intervalDuration The interval in milliseconds
+     */
+    public void setPeriodic(long intervalDuration) {
+        if (intervalDuration < MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Interval duration lesser than minimum allowed value; Changed to %s",
+                    MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS);
+            intervalDuration = MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS;
+        }
+        setPeriodic(intervalDuration, intervalDuration);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets the periodic interval for this unit of work.
+     *
+     * @param intervalDuration The interval in milliseconds
+     * @param flexDuration The flex duration in milliseconds
+     */
+    public void setPeriodic(long intervalDuration, long flexDuration) {
+        if (intervalDuration < MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Interval duration lesser than minimum allowed value; Changed to %s",
+                    MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS);
+            intervalDuration = MIN_PERIODIC_INTERVAL_MILLIS;
+        }
+        if (flexDuration < MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Flex duration lesser than minimum allowed value; Changed to %s",
+                    MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS);
+            flexDuration = MIN_PERIODIC_FLEX_MILLIS;
+        }
+        if (flexDuration > intervalDuration) {
+            Logger.warn(TAG, "Flex duration greater than interval duration; Changed to %s",
+                    intervalDuration);
+            flexDuration = intervalDuration;
+        }
+        mIntervalDuration = intervalDuration;
+        mFlexDuration = flexDuration;
+    }
+
+    public long getIntervalDuration() {
+        return mIntervalDuration;
+    }
+
+    public void setIntervalDuration(long intervalDuration) {
+        mIntervalDuration = intervalDuration;
+    }
+
+    public long getFlexDuration() {
+        return mFlexDuration;
+    }
+
+    public void setFlexDuration(long flexDuration) {
+        mFlexDuration = flexDuration;
+    }
+
+    public void setRunAttemptCount(int runAttemptCount) {
+        this.mRunAttemptCount = runAttemptCount;
+    }
+
+    public int getRunAttemptCount() {
+        return mRunAttemptCount;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * For one-off work, this is the time that the work was unblocked by prerequisites.
+     * For periodic work, this is the time that the period started.
+     */
+    public long getPeriodStartTime() {
+        return mPeriodStartTime;
+    }
+
+    public void setPeriodStartTime(long periodStartTime) {
+        mPeriodStartTime = periodStartTime;
+    }
+
+    public long getMinimumRetentionDuration() {
+        return mMinimumRetentionDuration;
+    }
+
+    public void setMinimumRetentionDuration(long minimumRetentionDuration) {
+        mMinimumRetentionDuration = minimumRetentionDuration;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Calculates the UTC time at which this {@link WorkSpec} should be allowed to run.
+     * This method accounts for work that is backed off or periodic.
+     *
+     * If Backoff Policy is set to {@link BackoffPolicy#EXPONENTIAL}, then delay
+     * increases at an exponential rate with respect to the run attempt count and is capped at
+     * {@link BaseWork#MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS}.
+     *
+     * If Backoff Policy is set to {@link BackoffPolicy#LINEAR}, then delay
+     * increases at an linear rate with respect to the run attempt count and is capped at
+     * {@link BaseWork#MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS}.
+     *
+     * Based on {@see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/services/core/java/com/android/server/job/JobSchedulerService.java#1125}
+     *
+     * Note that this runtime is for WorkManager internal use and may not match what the OS
+     * considers to be the next runtime.
+     *
+     * For jobs with constraints, this represents the earliest time at which constraints
+     * should be monitored for this work.
+     *
+     * For jobs without constraints, this represents the earliest time at which this work is
+     * allowed to run.
+     *
+     * @return UTC time at which this {@link WorkSpec} should be allowed to run.
+     */
+    public long calculateNextRunTime() {
+        if (isBackedOff()) {
+            boolean isLinearBackoff = (mBackoffPolicy == BackoffPolicy.LINEAR);
+            long delay = isLinearBackoff ? (mBackoffDelayDuration * mRunAttemptCount)
+                    : (long) Math.scalb(mBackoffDelayDuration, mRunAttemptCount - 1);
+            return mPeriodStartTime + Math.min(BaseWork.MAX_BACKOFF_MILLIS, delay);
+        } else if (isPeriodic()) {
+            return mPeriodStartTime + mIntervalDuration - mFlexDuration;
+        } else {
+            return mPeriodStartTime + mInitialDelay;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return <code>true</code> if the {@link WorkSpec} has constraints.
+     */
+    public boolean hasConstraints() {
+        return !Constraints.NONE.equals(getConstraints());
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object o) {
+        if (this == o) return true;
+        if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
+
+        WorkSpec workSpec = (WorkSpec) o;
+
+        if (mInitialDelay != workSpec.mInitialDelay) return false;
+        if (mIntervalDuration != workSpec.mIntervalDuration) return false;
+        if (mFlexDuration != workSpec.mFlexDuration) return false;
+        if (mRunAttemptCount != workSpec.mRunAttemptCount) return false;
+        if (mBackoffDelayDuration != workSpec.mBackoffDelayDuration) return false;
+        if (mPeriodStartTime != workSpec.mPeriodStartTime) return false;
+        if (mMinimumRetentionDuration != workSpec.mMinimumRetentionDuration) return false;
+        if (!mId.equals(workSpec.mId)) return false;
+        if (mState != workSpec.mState) return false;
+        if (!mWorkerClassName.equals(workSpec.mWorkerClassName)) return false;
+        if (mInputMergerClassName != null ? !mInputMergerClassName.equals(
+                workSpec.mInputMergerClassName) : workSpec.mInputMergerClassName != null) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        if (!mArguments.equals(workSpec.mArguments)) return false;
+        if (!mOutput.equals(workSpec.mOutput)) return false;
+        if (!mConstraints.equals(workSpec.mConstraints)) return false;
+        return mBackoffPolicy == workSpec.mBackoffPolicy;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        int result = mId.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + mState.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + mWorkerClassName.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + (mInputMergerClassName != null ? mInputMergerClassName.hashCode()
+                : 0);
+        result = 31 * result + mArguments.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + mOutput.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + (int) (mInitialDelay ^ (mInitialDelay >>> 32));
+        result = 31 * result + (int) (mIntervalDuration ^ (mIntervalDuration >>> 32));
+        result = 31 * result + (int) (mFlexDuration ^ (mFlexDuration >>> 32));
+        result = 31 * result + mConstraints.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + mRunAttemptCount;
+        result = 31 * result + mBackoffPolicy.hashCode();
+        result = 31 * result + (int) (mBackoffDelayDuration ^ (mBackoffDelayDuration >>> 32));
+        result = 31 * result + (int) (mPeriodStartTime ^ (mPeriodStartTime >>> 32));
+        result = 31 * result + (int) (mMinimumRetentionDuration ^ (mMinimumRetentionDuration
+                >>> 32));
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "{WorkSpec: " + mId + "}";
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A POJO containing the ID and state of a WorkSpec.
+     */
+    public static class IdAndState {
+
+        @ColumnInfo(name = "id")
+        public String id;
+
+        @ColumnInfo(name = "state")
+        public State state;
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean equals(Object o) {
+            if (this == o) return true;
+            if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
+
+            IdAndState that = (IdAndState) o;
+
+            if (state != that.state) return false;
+            return id.equals(that.id);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public int hashCode() {
+            int result = id.hashCode();
+            result = 31 * result + state.hashCode();
+            return result;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A POJO containing the ID, state, output, and tags of a WorkSpec.
+     */
+    public static class WorkStatusPojo {
+
+        @ColumnInfo(name = "id")
+        public String id;
+
+        @ColumnInfo(name = "state")
+        public State state;
+
+        @ColumnInfo(name = "output")
+        public Arguments output;
+
+        @Relation(
+                parentColumn = "id",
+                entityColumn = "work_spec_id",
+                entity = WorkTag.class,
+                projection = {"tag"})
+        public List<String> tags;
+
+        /**
+         * Converts this POJO to a {@link WorkStatus}.
+         *
+         * @return The {@link WorkStatus} represented by this POJO
+         */
+        public WorkStatus toWorkStatus() {
+            return new WorkStatus(id, state, output, tags);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean equals(Object o) {
+            if (this == o) return true;
+            if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
+
+            WorkStatusPojo that = (WorkStatusPojo) o;
+
+            if (id != null ? !id.equals(that.id) : that.id != null) return false;
+            if (state != that.state) return false;
+            if (output != null ? !output.equals(that.output) : that.output != null) return false;
+            return tags != null ? tags.equals(that.tags) : that.tags == null;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public int hashCode() {
+            int result = id != null ? id.hashCode() : 0;
+            result = 31 * result + (state != null ? state.hashCode() : 0);
+            result = 31 * result + (output != null ? output.hashCode() : 0);
+            result = 31 * result + (tags != null ? tags.hashCode() : 0);
+            return result;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkSpecDao.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkSpecDao.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6055290
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkSpecDao.java
@@ -0,0 +1,251 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import static android.arch.persistence.room.OnConflictStrategy.FAIL;
+
+import static androidx.work.impl.model.EnumTypeConverters.StateIds.COMPLETED_STATES;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Dao;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Insert;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Query;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Transaction;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+
+import androidx.work.Arguments;
+import androidx.work.State;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * The Data Access Object for {@link WorkSpec}s.
+ */
+@Dao
+public interface WorkSpecDao {
+
+    /**
+     * Attempts to insert a {@link WorkSpec} into the database.
+     *
+     * @param workSpec The WorkSpec to insert.
+     */
+    @Insert(onConflict = FAIL)
+    void insertWorkSpec(WorkSpec workSpec);
+
+    /**
+     * Deletes {@link WorkSpec}s from the database.
+     *
+     * @param id The WorkSpec id to delete.
+     */
+    @Query("DELETE FROM workspec WHERE id=:id")
+    void delete(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * @param id The identifier
+     * @return The WorkSpec associated with that id
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT * FROM workspec WHERE id=:id")
+    WorkSpec getWorkSpec(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves {@link WorkSpec}s with the identifiers.
+     *
+     * @param ids The identifiers of desired {@link WorkSpec}s
+     * @return The {@link WorkSpec}s with the requested IDs
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT * FROM workspec WHERE id IN (:ids)")
+    WorkSpec[] getWorkSpecs(List<String> ids);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves {@link WorkSpec}s labelled with a given name.
+     *
+     * @param name The work graph name
+     * @return The {@link WorkSpec}s labelled with the given name
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT id, state FROM workspec WHERE id IN "
+            + "(SELECT work_spec_id FROM workname WHERE name=:name)")
+    List<WorkSpec.IdAndState> getWorkSpecIdAndStatesForName(String name);
+
+    /**
+     * @return All WorkSpec ids in the database.
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT id FROM workspec")
+    List<String> getAllWorkSpecIds();
+
+    /**
+     * Updates the state of at least one {@link WorkSpec} by ID.
+     *
+     * @param state The new state
+     * @param ids The IDs for the {@link WorkSpec}s to update
+     * @return The number of rows that were updated
+     */
+    @Query("UPDATE workspec SET state=:state WHERE id IN (:ids)")
+    int setState(State state, String... ids);
+
+    /**
+     * Updates the output of a {@link WorkSpec}.
+     *
+     * @param id The {@link WorkSpec} identifier to update
+     * @param output The {@link Arguments} to set as the output
+     */
+    @Query("UPDATE workspec SET output=:output WHERE id=:id")
+    void setOutput(String id, Arguments output);
+
+    /**
+     * Updates the period start time of a {@link WorkSpec}.
+     *
+     * @param id The {@link WorkSpec} identifier to update
+     * @param periodStartTime The time when the period started.
+     */
+    @Query("UPDATE workspec SET period_start_time=:periodStartTime WHERE id=:id")
+    void setPeriodStartTime(String id, long periodStartTime);
+
+    /**
+     * Increment run attempt count of a {@link WorkSpec}.
+     *
+     * @param id The identifier for the {@link WorkSpec}
+     * @return The number of rows that were updated (should be 0 or 1)
+     */
+    @Query("UPDATE workspec SET run_attempt_count=run_attempt_count+1 WHERE id=:id")
+    int incrementWorkSpecRunAttemptCount(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Reset run attempt count of a {@link WorkSpec}.
+     *
+     * @param id The identifier for the {@link WorkSpec}
+     * @return The number of rows that were updated (should be 0 or 1)
+     */
+    @Query("UPDATE workspec SET run_attempt_count=0 WHERE id=:id")
+    int resetWorkSpecRunAttemptCount(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves the state of a {@link WorkSpec}.
+     *
+     * @param id The identifier for the {@link WorkSpec}
+     * @return The state of the {@link WorkSpec}
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT state FROM workspec WHERE id=:id")
+    State getState(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * For a {@link WorkSpec} identifier, retrieves its {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo}.
+     *
+     * @param id The identifier of the {@link WorkSpec}
+     * @return A list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo}
+     */
+    @Transaction
+    @Query("SELECT id, state, output FROM workspec WHERE id=:id")
+    WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo getWorkStatusPojoForId(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * For a list of {@link WorkSpec} identifiers, retrieves a {@link LiveData} list of their
+     * {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo}.
+     *
+     * @param ids The identifier of the {@link WorkSpec}s
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo}
+     */
+    @Transaction
+    @Query("SELECT id, state, output FROM workspec WHERE id IN (:ids)")
+    LiveData<List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo>> getWorkStatusPojoLiveDataForIds(List<String> ids);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves a list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo} for all work with a given tag.
+     *
+     * @param tag The tag for the {@link WorkSpec}s
+     * @return A list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo}
+     */
+    @Transaction
+    @Query("SELECT id, state, output FROM workspec WHERE id IN "
+            + "(SELECT work_spec_id FROM worktag WHERE tag=:tag)")
+    List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo> getWorkStatusPojoForTag(String tag);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves a {@link LiveData} list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo} for all work with a
+     * given tag.
+     *
+     * @param tag The tag for the {@link WorkSpec}s
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo}
+     */
+    @Transaction
+    @Query("SELECT id, state, output FROM workspec WHERE id IN "
+            + "(SELECT work_spec_id FROM worktag WHERE tag=:tag)")
+    LiveData<List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo>> getWorkStatusPojoLiveDataForTag(String tag);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves a list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo} for all work with a given name.
+     *
+     * @param name The name of the {@link WorkSpec}s
+     * @return A list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo}
+     */
+    @Transaction
+    @Query("SELECT id, state, output FROM workspec WHERE id IN "
+            + "(SELECT work_spec_id FROM workname WHERE name=:name)")
+    List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo> getWorkStatusPojoForName(String name);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves a {@link LiveData} list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo} for all work with a
+     * given name.
+     *
+     * @param name The name for the {@link WorkSpec}s
+     * @return A {@link LiveData} list of {@link WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo}
+     */
+    @Transaction
+    @Query("SELECT id, state, output FROM workspec WHERE id IN "
+            + "(SELECT work_spec_id FROM workname WHERE name=:name)")
+    LiveData<List<WorkSpec.WorkStatusPojo>> getWorkStatusPojoLiveDataForName(String name);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves {@link WorkSpec}s that have state {@code ENQUEUED} or {@code RUNNING}
+     *
+     * @return A list of {@link WorkSpec}s.
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT * FROM workspec WHERE (state=" + EnumTypeConverters.StateIds.ENQUEUED
+            + " OR state=" + EnumTypeConverters.StateIds.RUNNING
+            + ") AND period_start_time<=:startTime")
+    List<WorkSpec> getEligibleWorkSpecs(long startTime);
+
+    /**
+     * Gets all inputs coming from prerequisites for a particular {@link WorkSpec}.  These are
+     * {@link Arguments} set via {@code Worker#setOutput()}.
+     *
+     * @param id The {@link WorkSpec} identifier
+     * @return A list of all inputs coming from prerequisites for {@code id}
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT output FROM workspec WHERE id IN "
+            + "(SELECT prerequisite_id FROM dependency WHERE work_spec_id=:id)")
+    List<Arguments> getInputsFromPrerequisites(String id);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves work ids for unfinished work with a given tag.
+     *
+     * @param tag The tag used to identify the work
+     * @return A list of work ids
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT id FROM workspec WHERE state NOT IN " + COMPLETED_STATES
+            + " AND id IN (SELECT work_spec_id FROM worktag WHERE tag=:tag)")
+    List<String> getUnfinishedWorkWithTag(@NonNull String tag);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves work ids for unfinished work with a given name.
+     *
+     * @param name THe tag used to identify the work
+     * @return A list of work ids
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT id FROM workspec WHERE state NOT IN " + COMPLETED_STATES
+            + " AND id IN (SELECT work_spec_id FROM workname WHERE name=:name)")
+    List<String> getUnfinishedWorkWithName(@NonNull String name);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkTag.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkTag.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e539f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkTag.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ColumnInfo;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Entity;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.ForeignKey;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Index;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+/**
+ * Database entity that defines a mapping from a tag to a {@link WorkSpec} id.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+
+@Entity(foreignKeys = {
+        @ForeignKey(
+                entity = WorkSpec.class,
+                parentColumns = "id",
+                childColumns = "work_spec_id",
+                onDelete = ForeignKey.CASCADE,
+                onUpdate = ForeignKey.CASCADE)},
+        primaryKeys = {"tag", "work_spec_id"},
+        indices = {@Index(value = {"work_spec_id"})})
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class WorkTag {
+
+    @NonNull
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "tag")
+    public final String tag;
+
+    @NonNull
+    @ColumnInfo(name = "work_spec_id")
+    public final String workSpecId;
+
+    public WorkTag(@NonNull String tag, @NonNull String workSpecId) {
+        this.tag = tag;
+        this.workSpecId = workSpecId;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkTagDao.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkTagDao.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afe30c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/WorkTagDao.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import static android.arch.persistence.room.OnConflictStrategy.FAIL;
+
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Dao;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Insert;
+import android.arch.persistence.room.Query;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * The Data Access Object for {@link WorkTag}s.
+ */
+@Dao
+public interface WorkTagDao {
+
+    /**
+     * Inserts a {@link WorkTag} into the table.
+     *
+     * @param workTag The {@link WorkTag} to insert
+     */
+    @Insert(onConflict = FAIL)
+    void insert(WorkTag workTag);
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieves all {@link WorkSpec} ids with the given tag.
+     *
+     * @param tag The matching tag
+     * @return All {@link WorkSpec} ids with the given tag
+     */
+    @Query("SELECT work_spec_id FROM worktag WHERE tag=:tag")
+    List<String> getWorkSpecIdsWithTag(String tag);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..753a09b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/model/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.model;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e68ec18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/CancelWorkRunnable.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/CancelWorkRunnable.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..857ac71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/CancelWorkRunnable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import static androidx.work.State.CANCELLED;
+import static androidx.work.State.FAILED;
+import static androidx.work.State.SUCCEEDED;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.WorkerThread;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.impl.Processor;
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.DependencyDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link Runnable} to cancel work.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public abstract class CancelWorkRunnable implements Runnable {
+
+    void cancel(WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl, String workSpecId) {
+        recursivelyCancelWorkAndDependents(workManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase(), workSpecId);
+
+        Processor processor = workManagerImpl.getProcessor();
+        processor.stopWork(workSpecId, true);
+        processor.setCancelled(workSpecId);
+
+        for (Scheduler scheduler : workManagerImpl.getSchedulers()) {
+            scheduler.cancel(workSpecId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void recursivelyCancelWorkAndDependents(WorkDatabase workDatabase, String workSpecId) {
+
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = workDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        DependencyDao dependencyDao = workDatabase.dependencyDao();
+
+        List<String> dependentIds = dependencyDao.getDependentWorkIds(workSpecId);
+        for (String id : dependentIds) {
+            recursivelyCancelWorkAndDependents(workDatabase, id);
+        }
+
+        State state = workSpecDao.getState(workSpecId);
+        if (state != SUCCEEDED && state != FAILED) {
+            workSpecDao.setState(CANCELLED, workSpecId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a {@link CancelWorkRunnable} that cancels work for a specific id.
+     *
+     * @param id The id to cancel
+     * @param workManagerImpl The {@link WorkManagerImpl} to use
+     * @return A {@link Runnable} that cancels work for a specific id
+     */
+    public static Runnable forId(
+            @NonNull final String id,
+            @NonNull final WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl) {
+        return new CancelWorkRunnable() {
+            @WorkerThread
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                cancel(workManagerImpl, id);
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a {@link CancelWorkRunnable} that cancels work for a specific tag.
+     *
+     * @param tag The tag to cancel
+     * @param workManagerImpl The {@link WorkManagerImpl} to use
+     * @return A {@link Runnable} that cancels work for a specific tag
+     */
+    public static Runnable forTag(
+            @NonNull final String tag,
+            @NonNull final WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl) {
+        return new CancelWorkRunnable() {
+            @WorkerThread
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                WorkDatabase workDatabase = workManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase();
+                workDatabase.beginTransaction();
+                try {
+                    WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = workDatabase.workSpecDao();
+                    List<String> workSpecIds = workSpecDao.getUnfinishedWorkWithTag(tag);
+                    for (String workSpecId : workSpecIds) {
+                        cancel(workManagerImpl, workSpecId);
+                    }
+                    workDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+                } finally {
+                    workDatabase.endTransaction();
+                }
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a {@link CancelWorkRunnable} that cancels work labelled with a specific name.
+     *
+     * @param name The name to cancel
+     * @param workManagerImpl The {@link WorkManagerImpl} to use
+     * @return A {@link Runnable} that cancels work labelled with a specific name
+     */
+    public static Runnable forName(
+            @NonNull final String name,
+            @NonNull final WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl) {
+        return new CancelWorkRunnable() {
+            @WorkerThread
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                WorkDatabase workDatabase = workManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase();
+                workDatabase.beginTransaction();
+                try {
+                    WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = workDatabase.workSpecDao();
+                    List<String> workSpecIds = workSpecDao.getUnfinishedWorkWithName(name);
+                    for (String workSpecId : workSpecIds) {
+                        cancel(workManagerImpl, workSpecId);
+                    }
+                    workDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+                } finally {
+                    workDatabase.endTransaction();
+                }
+            }
+        };
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/EnqueueRunnable.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/EnqueueRunnable.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9641282
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/EnqueueRunnable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,288 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import static androidx.work.ExistingWorkPolicy.APPEND;
+import static androidx.work.ExistingWorkPolicy.KEEP;
+import static androidx.work.State.BLOCKED;
+import static androidx.work.State.CANCELLED;
+import static androidx.work.State.ENQUEUED;
+import static androidx.work.State.FAILED;
+import static androidx.work.State.RUNNING;
+import static androidx.work.State.SUCCEEDED;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import androidx.work.BaseWork;
+import androidx.work.ExistingWorkPolicy;
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.impl.InternalWorkImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.Scheduler;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkContinuationImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.Dependency;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.DependencyDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkName;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkTag;
+
+/**
+ * Manages the enqueuing of a {@link WorkContinuationImpl}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class EnqueueRunnable implements Runnable {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "EnqueueRunnable";
+
+    private final WorkContinuationImpl mWorkContinuation;
+    private final List<InternalWorkImpl> mWorkToBeScheduled;
+
+    public EnqueueRunnable(@NonNull WorkContinuationImpl workContinuation) {
+        mWorkContinuation = workContinuation;
+        mWorkToBeScheduled = new ArrayList<>();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+        addToDatabase();
+        scheduleWorkInBackground();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds the {@link WorkSpec}'s to the datastore, parent first.
+     * Schedules work on the background scheduler, if transaction is successful.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public void addToDatabase() {
+        WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl = mWorkContinuation.getWorkManagerImpl();
+        WorkDatabase workDatabase = workManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase();
+        workDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            processContinuation(mWorkContinuation, mWorkToBeScheduled);
+            workDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            workDatabase.endTransaction();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Schedules work on the background scheduler.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public void scheduleWorkInBackground() {
+        // Schedule in the background. This list contains work that does not have prerequisites.
+        for (Scheduler scheduler : mWorkContinuation.getWorkManagerImpl().getSchedulers()) {
+            for (InternalWorkImpl work : mWorkToBeScheduled) {
+                scheduler.schedule(work.getWorkSpec());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void processContinuation(
+            @NonNull WorkContinuationImpl workContinuation,
+            @NonNull List<InternalWorkImpl> workToBeScheduled) {
+
+        List<WorkContinuationImpl> parents = workContinuation.getParents();
+        if (parents != null) {
+            for (WorkContinuationImpl parent : parents) {
+                // When chaining off a completed continuation we need to pay
+                // attention to parents that may have been marked as enqueued before.
+                if (!parent.isEnqueued()) {
+                    processContinuation(parent, workToBeScheduled);
+                } else {
+                    Logger.warn(TAG, "Already enqueued work ids (%s).",
+                            TextUtils.join(", ", parent.getIds()));
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        enqueueContinuation(workContinuation, workToBeScheduled);
+    }
+
+    private static void enqueueContinuation(
+            @NonNull WorkContinuationImpl workContinuation,
+            @NonNull List<InternalWorkImpl> workToBeScheduled) {
+
+        List<WorkContinuationImpl> parents = workContinuation.getParents();
+        Set<String> prerequisiteIds = new HashSet<>();
+        if (parents != null) {
+            for (WorkContinuationImpl parent : parents) {
+                prerequisiteIds.addAll(parent.getIds());
+            }
+        }
+
+        enqueueWorkWithPrerequisites(
+                workContinuation.getWorkManagerImpl(),
+                workContinuation.getWork(),
+                prerequisiteIds.toArray(new String[0]),
+                workContinuation.getName(),
+                workContinuation.getExistingWorkPolicy(),
+                workToBeScheduled);
+
+        workContinuation.markEnqueued();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Enqueues the {@link WorkSpec}'s while keeping track of the prerequisites.
+     */
+    private static void enqueueWorkWithPrerequisites(
+            WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl,
+            @NonNull List<? extends BaseWork> workList,
+            String[] prerequisiteIds,
+            String name,
+            ExistingWorkPolicy existingWorkPolicy,
+            @NonNull List<InternalWorkImpl> workToBeScheduled) {
+
+        long currentTimeMillis = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        WorkDatabase workDatabase = workManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase();
+
+        List<InternalWorkImpl> workImplList = new ArrayList<>(workList.size());
+        for (int i = 0; i < workList.size(); ++i) {
+            workImplList.add((InternalWorkImpl) workList.get(i));
+        }
+
+        boolean hasPrerequisite = (prerequisiteIds != null && prerequisiteIds.length > 0);
+        boolean hasCompletedAllPrerequisites = true;
+        boolean hasFailedPrerequisites = false;
+        boolean hasCancelledPrerequisites = false;
+
+        if (hasPrerequisite) {
+            // If there are prerequisites, make sure they actually exist before enqueuing
+            // anything.  Prerequisites may not exist if we are using unique tags, because the
+            // chain of work could have been wiped out already.
+            for (String id : prerequisiteIds) {
+                WorkSpec prerequisiteWorkSpec = workDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(id);
+                if (prerequisiteWorkSpec == null) {
+                    Logger.error(TAG, "Prerequisite %s doesn't exist; not enqueuing", id);
+                    return;
+                }
+
+                State prerequisiteState = prerequisiteWorkSpec.getState();
+                hasCompletedAllPrerequisites &= (prerequisiteState == SUCCEEDED);
+                if (prerequisiteState == FAILED) {
+                    hasFailedPrerequisites = true;
+                } else if (prerequisiteState == CANCELLED) {
+                    hasCancelledPrerequisites = true;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        boolean isNamed = !TextUtils.isEmpty(name);
+
+        // We only apply existing work policies for unique tag sequences that are the beginning of
+        // chains.
+        boolean shouldApplyExistingWorkPolicy = isNamed && !hasPrerequisite;
+        if (shouldApplyExistingWorkPolicy) {
+            // Get everything with the unique tag.
+            List<WorkSpec.IdAndState> existingWorkSpecIdAndStates =
+                    workDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpecIdAndStatesForName(name);
+
+            if (!existingWorkSpecIdAndStates.isEmpty()) {
+                // If appending, these are the new prerequisites.
+                if (existingWorkPolicy == APPEND) {
+                    DependencyDao dependencyDao = workDatabase.dependencyDao();
+                    List<String> newPrerequisiteIds = new ArrayList<>();
+                    for (WorkSpec.IdAndState idAndState : existingWorkSpecIdAndStates) {
+                        if (!dependencyDao.hasDependents(idAndState.id)) {
+                            hasCompletedAllPrerequisites &= (idAndState.state == SUCCEEDED);
+                            if (idAndState.state == FAILED) {
+                                hasFailedPrerequisites = true;
+                            } else if (idAndState.state == CANCELLED) {
+                                hasCancelledPrerequisites = true;
+                            }
+                            newPrerequisiteIds.add(idAndState.id);
+                        }
+                    }
+                    prerequisiteIds = newPrerequisiteIds.toArray(prerequisiteIds);
+                    hasPrerequisite = (prerequisiteIds.length > 0);
+                } else {
+                    // If we're keeping existing work, make sure to do so only if something is
+                    // enqueued or running.
+                    if (existingWorkPolicy == KEEP) {
+                        for (WorkSpec.IdAndState idAndState : existingWorkSpecIdAndStates) {
+                            if (idAndState.state == ENQUEUED || idAndState.state == RUNNING) {
+                                return;
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    // Cancel all of these workers.
+                    CancelWorkRunnable.forName(name, workManagerImpl).run();
+                    // And delete all the database records.
+                    WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = workDatabase.workSpecDao();
+                    for (WorkSpec.IdAndState idAndState : existingWorkSpecIdAndStates) {
+                        workSpecDao.delete(idAndState.id);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        for (InternalWorkImpl work : workImplList) {
+            WorkSpec workSpec = work.getWorkSpec();
+
+            if (hasPrerequisite && !hasCompletedAllPrerequisites) {
+                if (hasFailedPrerequisites) {
+                    workSpec.setState(FAILED);
+                } else if (hasCancelledPrerequisites) {
+                    workSpec.setState(CANCELLED);
+                } else {
+                    workSpec.setState(BLOCKED);
+                }
+            } else {
+                // Set scheduled times only for work without prerequisites. Dependent work
+                // will set their scheduled times when they are unblocked.
+                workSpec.setPeriodStartTime(currentTimeMillis);
+            }
+
+            workDatabase.workSpecDao().insertWorkSpec(workSpec);
+
+            if (hasPrerequisite) {
+                for (String prerequisiteId : prerequisiteIds) {
+                    Dependency dep = new Dependency(work.getId(), prerequisiteId);
+                    workDatabase.dependencyDao().insertDependency(dep);
+                }
+            }
+
+            for (String tag : work.getTags()) {
+                workDatabase.workTagDao().insert(new WorkTag(tag, work.getId()));
+            }
+
+            if (isNamed) {
+                workDatabase.workNameDao().insert(new WorkName(name, work.getId()));
+            }
+        }
+
+        // If there are no prerequisites (or they have all been completed), then add then to the
+        // list of work items that can be scheduled in the background. The actual scheduling is
+        // typically done after the transaction has settled.
+        if (!hasPrerequisite || hasCompletedAllPrerequisites) {
+            workToBeScheduled.addAll(workImplList);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/ForceStopRunnable.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/ForceStopRunnable.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6725cf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/ForceStopRunnable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import static android.app.AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP;
+
+import android.app.AlarmManager;
+import android.app.PendingIntent;
+import android.content.ComponentName;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.Intent;
+import android.os.Build;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.SystemAlarmService;
+import androidx.work.impl.background.systemjob.SystemJobService;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * WorkManager is restarted after an app was force stopped.
+ * Alarms and Jobs get cancelled when an application is force-stopped. To reschedule, we
+ * create a pending alarm that will not survive force stops.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class ForceStopRunnable implements Runnable {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "ForceStopRunnable";
+
+    // All our alarms are use request codes which are > 0.
+    private static final int ALARM_ID = -1;
+    private static final long TEN_YEARS = TimeUnit.DAYS.toMillis(10 * 365);
+
+    private final Context mContext;
+    private final WorkManagerImpl mWorkManager;
+
+    public ForceStopRunnable(@NonNull Context context, @NonNull WorkManagerImpl workManager) {
+        mContext = context.getApplicationContext();
+        mWorkManager = workManager;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+        if (isForceStopped()) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Application was force-stopped, rescheduling.");
+            mWorkManager.rescheduleEligibleWork();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return {@code true} If the application was force stopped.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public boolean isForceStopped() {
+        // Alarms get cancelled when an app is force-stopped starting at Eclair MR1.
+        // Cancelling of Jobs on force-stop was introduced in N-MR1 (SDK 25).
+        // Even though API 23, 24 are probably safe, OEMs may choose to do
+        // something different.
+        PendingIntent pendingIntent = getPendingIntent(
+                ALARM_ID,
+                PendingIntent.FLAG_NO_CREATE);
+
+        if (pendingIntent == null) {
+            setAlarm(ALARM_ID);
+            return true;
+        } else {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param alarmId The stable alarm id to be used.
+     * @param flags   The {@link PendingIntent} flags.
+     * @return an instance of the {@link PendingIntent}.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public PendingIntent getPendingIntent(int alarmId, int flags) {
+        Intent intent = getIntent();
+        return PendingIntent.getService(mContext, alarmId, intent, flags);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return The instance of {@link Intent}.
+     *
+     * Uses {@link SystemJobService} on API_LEVEL >=
+     *          {@link WorkManagerImpl#MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL}.
+     *
+     * Uses {@link SystemAlarmService} otherwise.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public Intent getIntent() {
+        Intent intent = new Intent();
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= WorkManagerImpl.MIN_JOB_SCHEDULER_API_LEVEL) {
+            intent.setComponent(new ComponentName(mContext, SystemJobService.class));
+        } else {
+            intent.setComponent(new ComponentName(mContext, SystemAlarmService.class));
+        }
+        intent.setAction(TAG);
+        return intent;
+    }
+
+    private void setAlarm(int alarmId) {
+        AlarmManager alarmManager = (AlarmManager) mContext.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
+        PendingIntent pendingIntent = getPendingIntent(alarmId, PendingIntent.FLAG_ONE_SHOT);
+        long triggerAt = System.currentTimeMillis() + TEN_YEARS;
+        if (alarmManager != null) {
+            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 19) {
+                alarmManager.setExact(RTC_WAKEUP, triggerAt, pendingIntent);
+            } else {
+                alarmManager.set(RTC_WAKEUP, triggerAt, pendingIntent);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/IdGenerator.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/IdGenerator.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba5dcce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/IdGenerator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.SharedPreferences;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+/**
+ * Generates unique IDs that are persisted in {@link SharedPreferences}.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class IdGenerator {
+    static final String PREFERENCE_FILE_KEY = "androidx.work.util.id";
+    static final String NEXT_JOB_SCHEDULER_ID_KEY = "next_job_scheduler_id";
+    static final String NEXT_FIREBASE_ALARM_ID_KEY = "next_firebase_alarm_id";
+    static final String NEXT_ALARM_MANAGER_ID_KEY = "next_alarm_manager_id";
+    static final int INITIAL_ID = 0;
+
+    private SharedPreferences mSharedPrefs;
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs a {@link IdGenerator}.
+     *
+     * @param context {@link Context} to get the {@link SharedPreferences} from.
+     */
+    public IdGenerator(Context context) {
+        mSharedPrefs = context.getSharedPreferences(PREFERENCE_FILE_KEY, Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Generates IDs for {@link android.app.job.JobScheduler} jobs.
+     */
+    public int nextJobSchedulerId() {
+        synchronized (IdGenerator.class) {
+            return nextId(NEXT_JOB_SCHEDULER_ID_KEY);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Generates IDs for Firebase Delayed Alarm Receiver jobs.
+     */
+    public int nextFirebaseAlarmId() {
+        synchronized (IdGenerator.class) {
+            return nextId(NEXT_FIREBASE_ALARM_ID_KEY);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Generates IDs for {@link android.app.AlarmManager} work.
+     */
+    public int nextAlarmManagerId() {
+        synchronized (IdGenerator.class) {
+            return nextId(NEXT_ALARM_MANAGER_ID_KEY);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the next available ID based on a persisted counter.
+     * Resets ID counter to 0 when the ID exceeded {@link Integer#MAX_VALUE}.
+     * @param key String matching the particular counter to retrieve
+     * @return next available id
+     */
+    private int nextId(String key) {
+        int id = mSharedPrefs.getInt(key, INITIAL_ID);
+        int nextId = (id == Integer.MAX_VALUE) ? INITIAL_ID : id + 1;
+        mSharedPrefs.edit().putInt(key, nextId).apply();
+        return id;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/LiveDataUtils.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/LiveDataUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3936396
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/LiveDataUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import android.arch.lifecycle.LiveData;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.MediatorLiveData;
+import android.arch.lifecycle.Observer;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+
+/**
+ * Utility methods for {@link LiveData}.
+ */
+
+public class LiveDataUtils {
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new {@link LiveData} object that mirrors the input, but only triggers its observers
+     * when the values actually change.
+     *
+     * @param inputLiveData An input {@link LiveData}
+     * @param <T> The type of payload associated with the {@link LiveData}
+     * @return A new {@link LiveData} that triggers its observers only when the input LiveData's
+     *         value changes (as determined by an {@code equals} call)
+     */
+    public static <T> LiveData<T> dedupedLiveDataFor(LiveData<T> inputLiveData) {
+        final MediatorLiveData<T> dedupedLiveData = new MediatorLiveData<>();
+        dedupedLiveData.addSource(inputLiveData, new Observer<T>() {
+            @Override
+            public void onChanged(@Nullable T updatedValue) {
+                T dedupedValue = dedupedLiveData.getValue();
+                boolean valueNotSet = (dedupedValue == null && updatedValue != null);
+                boolean valueChanged = (dedupedValue != null && !dedupedValue.equals(updatedValue));
+                if (valueNotSet || valueChanged) {
+                    dedupedLiveData.setValue(updatedValue);
+                }
+            }
+        });
+        return dedupedLiveData;
+    }
+
+    private LiveDataUtils() {
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/PackageManagerHelper.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/PackageManagerHelper.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aed0b98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/PackageManagerHelper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import android.content.ComponentName;
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Helper class for common {@link PackageManager} functions
+ */
+
+public class PackageManagerHelper {
+    private static final String TAG = "PackageManagerHelper";
+
+    private PackageManagerHelper() {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Convenience method for {@link #setComponentEnabled(Context, String, boolean)}
+     */
+    public static void setComponentEnabled(Context context, Class klazz, boolean enabled) {
+        setComponentEnabled(context, klazz.getName(), enabled);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Uses {@link PackageManager} to enable/disable a manifest-defined component
+     *
+     * @param context {@link Context}
+     * @param className {@link Class#getName()} name of component
+     * @param enabled {@code true} if component should be enabled
+     */
+    public static void setComponentEnabled(Context context, String className, boolean enabled) {
+        try {
+            PackageManager packageManager = context.getPackageManager();
+            ComponentName componentName = new ComponentName(context, className);
+            packageManager.setComponentEnabledSetting(componentName,
+                    enabled
+                            ? PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_ENABLED
+                            : PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DISABLED,
+                    PackageManager.DONT_KILL_APP);
+
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "%s %s", className, (enabled ? "enabled" : "disabled"));
+        } catch (Exception exception) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "% could not be %s", exception, className,
+                    (enabled ? "enabled" : "disabled"));
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Convenience method for {@link #isComponentExplicitlyEnabled(Context, String)}
+     */
+    public static boolean isComponentExplicitlyEnabled(Context context, Class klazz) {
+        return isComponentExplicitlyEnabled(context, klazz.getName());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Checks if a manifest-defined component is explicitly enabled
+     *
+     * @param context {@link Context}
+     * @param className {@link Class#getName()} name of component
+     * @return {@code true} if component is explicitly enabled
+     */
+    public static boolean isComponentExplicitlyEnabled(Context context, String className) {
+        PackageManager packageManager = context.getPackageManager();
+        ComponentName componentName = new ComponentName(context, className);
+        int state = packageManager.getComponentEnabledSetting(componentName);
+        return state == PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_ENABLED;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/StartWorkRunnable.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/StartWorkRunnable.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e18d37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/StartWorkRunnable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link Runnable} that can start work on the
+ * {@link androidx.work.impl.Processor}.
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class StartWorkRunnable implements Runnable {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "StartWorkRunnable";
+
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+    private String mWorkSpecId;
+
+    public StartWorkRunnable(WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl, String workSpecId) {
+        mWorkManagerImpl = workManagerImpl;
+        mWorkSpecId = workSpecId;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+        mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().startWork(mWorkSpecId);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/StopWorkRunnable.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/StopWorkRunnable.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ba5449
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/StopWorkRunnable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.State;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpecDao;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link Runnable} that can stop work and set the {@link State} to {@link State#ENQUEUED} if it's
+ * in {@link State#RUNNING}.
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class StopWorkRunnable implements Runnable {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "StopWorkRunnable";
+
+    private WorkManagerImpl mWorkManagerImpl;
+    private String mWorkSpecId;
+
+    public StopWorkRunnable(WorkManagerImpl workManagerImpl, String workSpecId) {
+        mWorkManagerImpl = workManagerImpl;
+        mWorkSpecId = workSpecId;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+        WorkDatabase workDatabase = mWorkManagerImpl.getWorkDatabase();
+        WorkSpecDao workSpecDao = workDatabase.workSpecDao();
+        workDatabase.beginTransaction();
+        try {
+            if (workSpecDao.getState(mWorkSpecId) == State.RUNNING) {
+                workSpecDao.setState(State.ENQUEUED, mWorkSpecId);
+            }
+            boolean isStopped = mWorkManagerImpl.getProcessor().stopWork(mWorkSpecId, true);
+            Logger.debug(TAG,
+                    "StopWorkRunnable for %s; Processor.stopWork = %s", mWorkSpecId, isStopped);
+            workDatabase.setTransactionSuccessful();
+        } finally {
+            workDatabase.endTransaction();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/WakeLocks.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/WakeLocks.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fe9e24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/WakeLocks.java
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import static android.os.PowerManager.PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK;
+
+import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.PowerManager;
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+/**
+ * A common class for creating WakeLocks.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class WakeLocks {
+
+    /**
+     * Creates and returns a new WakeLock.
+     *
+     * @param context The context from which to get the PowerManager
+     * @param tag A descriptive tag for the WakeLock; this method will prefix "WorkManager: " to it
+     * @return A new WakeLock
+     */
+    public static PowerManager.WakeLock newWakeLock(
+            @NonNull Context context,
+            @NonNull String tag) {
+        PowerManager powerManager = (PowerManager) context.getApplicationContext()
+                .getSystemService(Context.POWER_SERVICE);
+        return powerManager.newWakeLock(PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK, "WorkManager: " + tag);
+    }
+
+    private WakeLocks() {
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00318b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.utils;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/DefaultTaskExecutor.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/DefaultTaskExecutor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88139b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/DefaultTaskExecutor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor;
+
+import android.os.Handler;
+import android.os.Looper;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+
+/**
+ * Default Task Executor for executing common tasks in WorkManager
+ * @hide
+ */
+
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class DefaultTaskExecutor implements TaskExecutor {
+    private final ExecutorService mBackgroundExecutor = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();
+    private final Handler mMainThreadHandler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
+
+    @Override
+    public void postToMainThread(Runnable r) {
+        mMainThreadHandler.post(r);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void executeOnBackgroundThread(Runnable r) {
+        mBackgroundExecutor.execute(r);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/TaskExecutor.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/TaskExecutor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7b9095
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/TaskExecutor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+/**
+ * Interface for executing common tasks in WorkManager.
+ * @hide
+ */
+
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public interface TaskExecutor {
+
+    /**
+     * @param runnable {@link Runnable} to post to the main thread.
+     */
+    void postToMainThread(Runnable runnable);
+
+    /**
+     * @param runnable {@link Runnable} to execute on a background thread pool.
+     */
+    void executeOnBackgroundThread(Runnable runnable);
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/WorkManagerTaskExecutor.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/WorkManagerTaskExecutor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b585dfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/WorkManagerTaskExecutor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor;
+
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+/**
+ * A static class that serves as a central point to execute common tasks in WorkManager.
+ * This is used for business logic internal to WorkManager and NOT for worker processing.
+ * Adapted from {@link android.arch.core.executor.ArchTaskExecutor}
+ * @hide
+ */
+
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class WorkManagerTaskExecutor implements TaskExecutor {
+    private static WorkManagerTaskExecutor sInstance;
+    private final TaskExecutor mDefaultTaskExecutor = new DefaultTaskExecutor();
+    private TaskExecutor mTaskExecutor = mDefaultTaskExecutor;
+
+    /**
+     * Returns an instance of the task executor.
+     * @return The singleton WorkManagerTaskExecutor.
+     */
+    public static synchronized WorkManagerTaskExecutor getInstance() {
+        if (sInstance == null) {
+            sInstance = new WorkManagerTaskExecutor();
+        }
+        return sInstance;
+    }
+
+    private WorkManagerTaskExecutor() {
+    }
+
+    void setTaskExecutor(@Nullable TaskExecutor taskExecutor) {
+        mTaskExecutor = taskExecutor == null ? mDefaultTaskExecutor : taskExecutor;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void postToMainThread(Runnable r) {
+        mTaskExecutor.postToMainThread(r);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void executeOnBackgroundThread(Runnable r) {
+        mTaskExecutor.executeOnBackgroundThread(r);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/package-info.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d9d1cdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/utils/taskexecutor/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+package androidx.work.impl.utils.taskexecutor;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/ConstraintTrackingWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/ConstraintTrackingWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cd7686
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/ConstraintTrackingWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.workers;
+
+import android.support.annotation.NonNull;
+import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+import android.support.annotation.VisibleForTesting;
+import android.text.TextUtils;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkDatabase;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkManagerImpl;
+import androidx.work.impl.WorkerWrapper;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.WorkConstraintsCallback;
+import androidx.work.impl.constraints.WorkConstraintsTracker;
+import androidx.work.impl.logger.Logger;
+import androidx.work.impl.model.WorkSpec;
+
+/**
+ * Is an implementation of a {@link Worker} that can delegate to a different {@link Worker}
+ * when the constraints are met.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class ConstraintTrackingWorker extends Worker implements WorkConstraintsCallback {
+
+    private static final String TAG = "ConstraintTrackingWorker";
+
+    /**
+     * The {@code className} of the {@link Worker} to delegate to.
+     */
+    public static final String ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME =
+            "androidx.work.impl.workers.ConstraintTrackingWorker.ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME";
+
+    @Nullable
+    private Worker mDelegate;
+
+    private final Object mLock;
+    private boolean mAreConstraintsUnmet;
+
+    public ConstraintTrackingWorker() {
+        mLock = new Object();
+        mAreConstraintsUnmet = false;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        String className = getArguments().getString(ARGUMENT_CLASS_NAME, null);
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(className)) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "No worker to delegate to.");
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        }
+        // Instantiate the delegated worker. Use the same workSpecId, and the same Arguments
+        // as this Worker's Arguments are a superset of the delegate's Worker's Arguments.
+        mDelegate = WorkerWrapper.workerFromClassName(getAppContext(), className, getId(),
+                getArguments());
+
+        if (mDelegate == null) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "No worker to delegate to.");
+            return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+        }
+
+        WorkDatabase workDatabase = getWorkDatabase();
+
+        // We need to know what the real constraints are for the delegate.
+        WorkSpec workSpec = workDatabase.workSpecDao().getWorkSpec(getId());
+        WorkConstraintsTracker workConstraintsTracker =
+                new WorkConstraintsTracker(getAppContext(), this);
+
+        // Start tracking
+        workConstraintsTracker.replace(Collections.singletonList(workSpec));
+
+        if (workConstraintsTracker.areAllConstraintsMet(getId())) {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Constraints met for delegate %s", className);
+
+            // Wrapping the call to mDelegate#doWork() in a try catch, because
+            // changes in constraints can cause the worker to throw RuntimeExceptions, and
+            // that should cause a retry.
+            try {
+                WorkerResult result = mDelegate.doWork();
+                synchronized (mLock) {
+                    if (mAreConstraintsUnmet) {
+                        return WorkerResult.RETRY;
+                    } else {
+                        setOutput(mDelegate.getOutput());
+                        return result;
+                    }
+                }
+            } catch (Throwable exception) {
+                Logger.debug(TAG, "Delegated worker %s threw a runtime exception.", exception,
+                        className);
+                synchronized (mLock) {
+                    if (mAreConstraintsUnmet) {
+                        Logger.debug(TAG, "Constraints were unmet, Retrying.");
+                        return WorkerResult.RETRY;
+                    } else {
+                        return WorkerResult.FAILURE;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } else {
+            Logger.debug(TAG, "Constraints not met for delegate %s. Requesting retry.", className);
+            return WorkerResult.RETRY;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return The instance of {@link WorkDatabase}.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public WorkDatabase getWorkDatabase() {
+        return WorkManagerImpl.getInstance(getAppContext()).getWorkDatabase();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onAllConstraintsMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+        // WorkConstraintTracker notifies on the main thread. So we don't want to trampoline
+        // between the background thread and the main thread in this case.
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void onAllConstraintsNotMet(@NonNull List<String> workSpecIds) {
+        // If at any point, constraints are not met mark it so we can retry the work.
+        Logger.debug(TAG, "Constraints changed for %s", workSpecIds);
+        synchronized (mLock) {
+            mAreConstraintsUnmet = true;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/JoinWorker.java b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/JoinWorker.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb876b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/java/androidx/work/impl/workers/JoinWorker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work.impl.workers;
+
+import android.support.annotation.RestrictTo;
+
+import androidx.work.Worker;
+
+/**
+ * Is a implementation of the {@link Worker} that helps join
+ * work continuations.
+ *
+ * @hide
+ */
+@RestrictTo(RestrictTo.Scope.LIBRARY_GROUP)
+public class JoinWorker extends Worker {
+    @Override
+    public WorkerResult doWork() {
+        return WorkerResult.SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml b/work/workmanager/src/main/res/values-v23/values.xml
similarity index 74%
copy from car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml
copy to work/workmanager/src/main/res/values-v23/values.xml
index 13d0a49..d8de720 100644
--- a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/res/values-v23/values.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <!--
-  ~ Copyright (C) 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~ Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
   ~
   ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
   ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   ~ limitations under the License.
   -->
-<ripple
-    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
-    android:color="@color/car_card_ripple_background" />
+
+<resources>
+    <bool name="enable_system_alarm_service_default">false</bool>
+    <bool name="enable_system_job_service_default">true</bool>
+</resources>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml b/work/workmanager/src/main/res/values/values.xml
similarity index 69%
copy from car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml
copy to work/workmanager/src/main/res/values/values.xml
index 13d0a49..b570a9c 100644
--- a/car/res/drawable/car_button_ripple_background.xml
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/main/res/values/values.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <!--
-  ~ Copyright (C) 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+  ~ Copyright 2017 The Android Open Source Project
   ~
   ~ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   ~ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
   ~ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   ~ limitations under the License.
   -->
-<ripple
-    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
-    android:color="@color/car_card_ripple_background" />
+
+<resources>
+    <bool name="enable_system_alarm_service_default">true</bool>
+    <bool name="enable_system_job_service_default">false</bool>
+    <bool name="workmanager_test_configuration">false</bool>
+</resources>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/ArgumentsTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/ArgumentsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd88a44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/ArgumentsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.notNullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+
+import android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.SmallTest;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+@SmallTest
+public class ArgumentsTest {
+    private static final String KEY1 = "key1";
+    private static final String KEY2 = "key2";
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSize_noArguments() {
+        Arguments args = new Arguments.Builder().build();
+        assertThat(args.size(), is(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSize_hasArguments() {
+        Arguments args = new Arguments.Builder().putBoolean(KEY1, true).build();
+        assertThat(args.size(), is(1));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSerializeEmpty() throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
+        Arguments args = Arguments.EMPTY;
+
+        byte[] byteArray = Arguments.toByteArray(args);
+        Arguments restoredArgs = Arguments.fromByteArray(byteArray);
+
+        assertThat(restoredArgs, is(args));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSerializeString() throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
+        String expectedValue1 = "value1";
+        String expectedValue2 = "value2";
+        Arguments args = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putString(KEY1, expectedValue1)
+                .putString(KEY2, expectedValue2)
+                .build();
+
+        byte[] byteArray = Arguments.toByteArray(args);
+        Arguments restoredArgs = Arguments.fromByteArray(byteArray);
+
+        assertThat(restoredArgs, is(args));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSerializeIntArray() throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
+        Integer[] expectedValue1 = new Integer[]{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10};
+        Integer[] expectedValue2 = new Integer[]{10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1};
+        Arguments args = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putIntArray(KEY1, expectedValue1)
+                .putIntArray(KEY2, expectedValue2)
+                .build();
+
+        byte[] byteArray = Arguments.toByteArray(args);
+        Arguments restoredArgs = Arguments.fromByteArray(byteArray);
+
+        assertThat(restoredArgs, is(notNullValue()));
+        assertThat(restoredArgs.size(), is(2));
+        assertThat(restoredArgs.getIntArray(KEY1), is(equalTo(expectedValue1)));
+        assertThat(restoredArgs.getIntArray(KEY2), is(equalTo(expectedValue2)));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/ArrayCreatingInputMergerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/ArrayCreatingInputMergerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be4a0f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/ArrayCreatingInputMergerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.instanceOf;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+
+import android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.SmallTest;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
+@SmallTest
+public class ArrayCreatingInputMergerTest {
+
+    private static final String KEY = "key";
+
+    private static final Integer[] VALUE_INT_ARRAY = { 0, 1, 2 };
+    private static final Integer VALUE_INT = 3;
+    private static final Long VALUE_LONG = Long.MAX_VALUE;
+
+    ArrayCreatingInputMerger mArrayCreatingInputMerger;
+    Arguments mArgumentsWithIntArray;
+    Arguments mArgumentsWithInt;
+    Arguments mArgumentsWithLong;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mArrayCreatingInputMerger = new ArrayCreatingInputMerger();
+        mArgumentsWithIntArray = new Arguments.Builder().putIntArray(KEY, VALUE_INT_ARRAY).build();
+        mArgumentsWithInt = new Arguments.Builder().putInt(KEY, VALUE_INT).build();
+        mArgumentsWithLong = new Arguments.Builder().putLong(KEY, VALUE_LONG).build();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMerge_singleArgument() {
+        Arguments output = getOutputFor(mArgumentsWithInt);
+        assertThat(output.size(), is(1));
+        Integer[] outputArray = output.getIntArray(KEY);
+        assertThat(outputArray.length, is(1));
+        assertThat(outputArray[0], is(VALUE_INT));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMerge_concatenatesNonArrays() {
+        Arguments output = getOutputFor(mArgumentsWithInt, mArgumentsWithInt);
+        assertThat(output.size(), is(1));
+        Integer[] outputArray = output.getIntArray(KEY);
+        assertThat(outputArray.length, is(2));
+        assertThat(outputArray[0], is(VALUE_INT));
+        assertThat(outputArray[1], is(VALUE_INT));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMerge_concatenatesArrays() {
+        Arguments output = getOutputFor(mArgumentsWithIntArray, mArgumentsWithIntArray);
+        assertThat(output.size(), is(1));
+        Integer[] outputArray = output.getIntArray(KEY);
+        assertThat(outputArray.length, is(VALUE_INT_ARRAY.length * 2));
+        for (int i = 0; i < 2; ++i) {
+            for (int j = 0; j < VALUE_INT_ARRAY.length; ++j) {
+                assertThat(outputArray[i * VALUE_INT_ARRAY.length + j], is(VALUE_INT_ARRAY[j]));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMerge_concatenatesArrayAndPrimitive() {
+        Arguments output = getOutputFor(mArgumentsWithIntArray, mArgumentsWithInt);
+        assertThat(output.size(), is(1));
+        Integer[] outputArray = output.getIntArray(KEY);
+        assertThat(outputArray.length, is(VALUE_INT_ARRAY.length + 1));
+        for (int i = 0; i < VALUE_INT_ARRAY.length; ++i) {
+            assertThat(outputArray[i], is(VALUE_INT_ARRAY[i]));
+        }
+        assertThat(outputArray[VALUE_INT_ARRAY.length], is(VALUE_INT));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMerge_throwsIllegalStateExceptionOnDifferentTypes() {
+        Throwable throwable = null;
+        try {
+            Arguments output = getOutputFor(mArgumentsWithInt, mArgumentsWithLong);
+        } catch (Throwable t) {
+            throwable = t;
+        }
+        assertThat(throwable, instanceOf(IllegalStateException.class));
+    }
+
+    private Arguments getOutputFor(Arguments... arguments) {
+        return mArrayCreatingInputMerger.merge(Arrays.asList(arguments));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/OverwritingInputMergerTest.java b/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/OverwritingInputMergerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..397c849
--- /dev/null
+++ b/work/workmanager/src/test/java/androidx/work/OverwritingInputMergerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package androidx.work;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+
+import android.test.suitebuilder.annotation.SmallTest;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
+@SmallTest
+public class OverwritingInputMergerTest {
+
+    private OverwritingInputMerger mOverwritingInputMerger;
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        mOverwritingInputMerger = new OverwritingInputMerger();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMerge_singleArgument() {
+        String key = "key";
+        String value = "value";
+
+        Arguments arguments = new Arguments.Builder().putString(key, value).build();
+        Arguments output = getOutputFor(arguments);
+
+        assertThat(output.size(), is(1));
+        assertThat(output.getString(key, null), is(value));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMerge_multipleArguments() {
+        String key1 = "key1";
+        String value1 = "value1";
+        String value1a = "value1a";
+        String key2 = "key2";
+        String value2 = "value2";
+        String key3 = "key3";
+        String value3 = "value3";
+
+        Arguments arguments1 = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putString(key1, value1)
+                .putString(key2, value2)
+                .build();
+        Arguments arguments2 = new Arguments.Builder()
+                .putString(key1, value1a)
+                .putString(key3, value3)
+                .build();
+
+        Arguments output = getOutputFor(arguments1, arguments2);
+
+        assertThat(output.size(), is(3));
+        assertThat(output.getString(key1, null), is(value1a));
+        assertThat(output.getString(key2, null), is(value2));
+        assertThat(output.getString(key3, null), is(value3));
+    }
+
+    private Arguments getOutputFor(Arguments... arguments) {
+        return mOverwritingInputMerger.merge(Arrays.asList(arguments));
+    }
+}