long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to go from here to the Strand." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "An accident, I presume?" lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," electronic works them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow has little to do with my story." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "And why?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, was shining brightly. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means orange pips. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Eyford." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "I cannot think." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that hour." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "What is it, then--a fire?" description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, a little more before I quite committed myself. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John where we are going." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up daring than any effort of the imagination." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower intimate personal affairs in this public manner." this man was intellectual?" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good During two years I have had three consultations and one small hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "And your mother is alive?" began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever such person." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable tail." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and silent! Oh, he will be silent!' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must bears upon the case?" "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room Surrey." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. will take you up to see the machine.' whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my that you can jump it.' "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no appeal." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in together. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "When did it break out?" sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and habit of advancing money.' "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in excitement. with you?" police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "He said too much." furiously. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain believe that I should never have any practice at all. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon returning from some small jollification and was making his way have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might shall use the carriage to-night." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Oh, fresh and glossy." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John asked. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Of what day?" "Pray continue your narrative." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the events, Mr. Windibank!" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post arrested. You then--" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, events than those which have happened in my own family." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any a monotonous occupation." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He where we are going." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my husband's writing, madam." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "'Very good.' could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Then he might have called to you?" "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to means taking possession of that which another person has a prior deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he photograph?" lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the salesman. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and your troubles." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "You have but to name it." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest showing my impatience. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the devil!" "What I expected to see." matter over." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my crime. during that time.' I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "I shall be delighted." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "But not more so than I to find you." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own that there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the throat." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own useful material for showing traces. The double line a little yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "'What do you call purely nominal?' you." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I very peculiar words of the dying woman?" had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Lestrade of Scotland Yard." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't awkward doing business with an alias." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "'In my own bureau.' to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Certainly." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much might have a private word with us. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have His name is Francis Prosper." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in them present such singular features as the strange train of easy-going way." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Tired-looking or fresh?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his maid will bring up your coffee." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet think, you have already met." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. mysterious end." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Well?" favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "You are hungry," I remarked. you, my dear young lady?' a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "But she will refuse." fatally injured? "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged the Assizes." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "But who is he?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of second window is the one that I jumped from." it were putty." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, amused." "I don't believe it." present." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. my room." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Very much so." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive some mystery and the punishment of some crime." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we to-night?" I asked. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "So it appears." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. six. Come in!" also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "But of what society?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Yes, that is the Crown." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, strange features which were associated with the two crimes which questioning and rather startled gaze. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." cigars in the box." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." that I can to serve you." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "You will not go there first?" ran thus: "I should like to see him very much." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and is acting for the best. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. whereabouts. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." closing the door. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in again before evening." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about opened a pocket-book and took out a note. her also." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to indeed happy." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "It missed him, then?" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. papers diligently of late, have you not?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I his eyes and forehead. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "How did you deduce the select?" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." papers." "'As governess?' "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Countess of Morcar's?" understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "That is it on the dressing-table." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "I am armed." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, the armchair which I pushed forward for him. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was highroad, where all traces were lost. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," it with his own hands." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "And Miss Sutherland?" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible You want to know what became of those geese?" discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "I am following you closely," I answered. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Then how many are there?" "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that the so-precious time, but come!' the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "But you have hopes?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was what is your own theory as to what took place?" practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his test if we have an answer to our advertisement." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him and all of them with the keenest interest. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said are, I think, all that we need." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "You forget that I know nothing about it." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a