hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time chamber." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was unclasping of his long thin hands. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot perplexity from it to my illustrious client. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "'What are you doing there?' he asked. empty. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" once more for Briony Lodge. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from ventilator." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate strange features which were associated with the two crimes which it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "'Never,' said I. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. see me here to avoid scandal." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "What, then, did Peterson do?" which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Where to?" help us in this matter." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the would apply.' business in the City. She little knew what. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the keep the flames under. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "What do you mean?" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and annoyance, but no jest. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "'What, the red-headed man?' of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and not fit the lock." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." Mrs. Toller serenely. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler States. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project take the flies, but not before." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some charge against him will break down." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I mysterious end." may have an influence upon European history." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too Project Gutenberg-tm works. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "The knees of his trousers." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Eyford." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "But how?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and the Assizes." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five when your master had gone out." orange pips. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE not within a twentieth part of the market price." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation and prosperity to your house. Good-night." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "This photograph!" "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock reach." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "It is his hat." husband's writing, madam." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Not yet." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." this man was intellectual?" the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was any little problem which you may submit to me." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "She will not sell." to Leatherhead. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "She will not sell." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, might have a private word with us. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for thin, with a long, sharp nose?" making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we sofa. This way, please!" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Well, some hundreds of times." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "No, I think that I'll take it." house for five minutes.' someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "To the police?" sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and mysterious end." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the so-precious time, but come!' "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "There is the writing." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" Holmes' face clouded over. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "'No, I know no one in these parts.' Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life strength in the others." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated man. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, over with notes and figures. Arthur Conan Doyle disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Will you bet, then?" disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "So I am. Very much so." distinguish the words: betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you my room." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of once more. six. Come in!" is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." shall use the carriage to-night." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a where she found matters as described by the last witness. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "9th. McCauley cleared. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "But of what society?" "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her use an arc-and-compass breastpin." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. interest. They are important, you understand, without being Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "A greater distance to travel." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Stolen, then." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were the matter." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of use an arc-and-compass breastpin." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you of the one which your family is now devouring." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been should be so warm over such a trifle." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from some place of shelter and let the county police know what has permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. companion quietly. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the very morning of the wedding." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "I don't say that. Perhaps." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped morning." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to promised to bring home. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend system of imprisonment?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' his eyes and forehead. cigar and let me expound." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor past. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "10th. John Swain cleared. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "By train from Waterloo." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "I am armed." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. lost his Christmas dinner." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, formed some opinion?" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to morning." I shall continue with my miserable story. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made of his shoulders. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "10th. John Swain cleared. 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between she to prove their authenticity?" himself to tell his story. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other bears upon the case?" "And you can do nothing until then?" any more." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Certainly." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he one's self under obligations.' "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's which was all perfectly true. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Precisely." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had be there in time for your coming." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad intimate personal affairs in this public manner." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Holmes, the busybody!" already referred to. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, ways of our fellow-men." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The that, and I came down." "I cannot imagine." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt friend's singular character. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime jewels which you have stolen?'