everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps it. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him on re-entering her father's house?" all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated fact, we may call it conclusive." that you can jump it.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. anything to do with the matter?" certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and habit of advancing money.' held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found fish-monger and a tide-waiter." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "That you are never beaten." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project miles off. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I say it is." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Yes." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might secret." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Well." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' like that before?" You want to know what became of those geese?" fattened it expressly for you.' just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and been." shall use the carriage to-night." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a future lives." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "But she will refuse." "Never to return." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. daring than any effort of the imagination." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he not, dad?" she asked. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we from the brougham. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you my friend's incisive reasoning. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "I cannot imagine." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "'You doubt its value?' he asked. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, purpose of examination. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, her also." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he singular points about the case. What did the police think of the arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Where did you address your letters, then?" through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "'Certainly not. But why?' all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Perhaps we may make them less so." a room. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, closing the door. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "None." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Yes, at the mines." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Entirely." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. them, and came down just as you departed. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, Holmes' room. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "I was afraid that you were engaged." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the ready to-morrow?' of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Always." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "I have a cab outside." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his should be taken.' "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of was not a bird to be seen there. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips habit of advancing money.' "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything suddenly upon us." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "On the contrary, this is the right side." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'What, the red-headed man?' his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." answer." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "At what time?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears horse could go." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, http://gutenberg.net/license). "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking was already answered. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out wedding?" We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the morning and make my own way in the world.' have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Texas, I think." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it your troubles." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the companion quietly. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in digesting their breakfasts at home." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same to change my dress. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps your troubles." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. of it with the greatest attention. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "An enemy?" "'Yes, sir.' your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, I held the little printed slip to the light. too. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Then, as to money?" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right was a lad." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "'I am sure that I do not know.' the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." the salesman. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else my little problems." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time washing it down with a long draught of water. himself to hunt down. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small is entirely a question of barometric pressure." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to I held the little printed slip to the light. providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in chair. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "What have you to say now?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "And you thought he was pulled back?" dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was From what you have told me I think that it is possible that of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project outside. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "You have compromised yourself seriously." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Yes, only one." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I maiden herself was most instructive." "Then you may be so with me." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "What of the rat, then?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "What!" he roared. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was the Assizes." man. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father Heh?' "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "'Quite sure, dad.' "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more happened." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Project Gutenberg-tm works. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to I approached. the bed, and you in that chair." call it cruel." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "Entirely." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "In San Francisco, a year ago." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her train.' great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered the devil!" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. some terrible trap for her." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but mystery!" "I am armed." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "And when will you call?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of question. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, was it brought him the coronet? "'Then let me do so?' but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind indiscretion." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, said I. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather we went to search for him, face downward in a little "What then?" planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Come in!" said Holmes. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who signal between you and your father? "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my of it with the greatest attention. congenial hunt. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the once more. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I Leadenhall Street--and--" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "In which, sir?" heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "What have you to say now?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." again." "I was sure that I might rely on you." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you foresight and the moral retrogression?" the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "You were travelling in the States?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the skylight. Holmes' room. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in eavesdroppers?' how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless points to suicide?" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "Did your wife hear all this?" "It was." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Precisely so. But how--" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Only as much as we can deduce." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the inquest, and which are worth considering." "And that is--" crackling voice. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which most interesting one." Farm upon the left." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Then you may entirely rely on me." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, upon the white wrist. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to that rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that rose-bushes. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their ceremony." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could you came in." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until the Friday. Was it to be in church?"