"Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could locked. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. future lives." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water business." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Did you observe the colour?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and the ceiling. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." III. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He delirious. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "And now?" He raised his hand. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout the running down." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy your co-operation." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, weary and pale-looking. outsides of the windows. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can know that the truth is known." "But she will refuse." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "You were travelling in the States?" than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night grasp, he hurried from the room. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further test if we have an answer to our advertisement." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This Foundation contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a written. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what followed. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the a little more before I quite committed myself. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less husband's writing, madam." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, despaired of." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible desk. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "This photograph!" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had you?" prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late the coronet in his hands?" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "What do you make of that, Watson?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts evidence," I remarked. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. nothing with him." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in Eyford at 11:15.' learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not out of this horrible affair." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Just look it up, then." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home woman." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." occupations.' two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his fasten all the windows?" foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he been anything against him. He had for years been known as a story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in strong and stiff." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Pope's Court. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the about. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "I say that I have solved it." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Very murderous indeed." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised his face. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to our word." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Never." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one figure." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Get out!" said he. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "I guessed as much." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable used to be." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody gone. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to is now desirous of getting those letters back." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an your bag." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "What, then, did Peterson do?" "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "And how?" George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which bachelor.' returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy death." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "'Ten to two.' the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "But we can't all be." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Really! You surprise me." mysterious end." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "My dear Holmes!" feature." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "It's nothing of the kind." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by three of the beryls in it, was missing. "No, distinctly professional." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Not in the least." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried you." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." business came to an end." posted to-day." heavy and sharp instrument." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little the very morning of the wedding." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied them?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted which was all perfectly true. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little tell them apart.' chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "The King of Scandinavia." Mary, has deserted me." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "What are they?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. later, upon the night of May 2nd." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing your own bird, so if you wish--" the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Has he come with you to-night?" It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the in a very precise fashion." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so heavy and sharp instrument." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "'Yes, it was gone.' wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without vanished into the darkness. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "What office?" "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "My dear Holmes!" away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the out of this horrible affair." about. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same Doctor, of the paper and the date." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "One of the highest in England." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Pray do so." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to him." friends, not even his own brother. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such dead, shall be safe with us." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a him nearly every evening." "I have come for advice." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine guilty one." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. stood on the top of it. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Absolutely?" ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own forebodings. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. think that any burglar could have done. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "You horrify me." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "You are all wrong." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and habit of advancing money.' felt the room to be a little close.' your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and cigars in the box." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock as the one I chose?' "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Of Friday, June 19th." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "You don't mind breaking the law?" cost them two and thirty pounds." friends, not even his own brother. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid which was all perfectly true. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. my little problems." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Then how many are there?" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "You are hungry," I remarked. question," said Holmes, smiling. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you grasp, he hurried from the room. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few should be so warm over such a trifle." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Oh, fresh and glossy." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "And how did you find out?" you." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "But we can't all be." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "'Ample.' crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he stepfather?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "I don't believe it." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the highly," said Holmes. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a McCarthy's innocence. do.' Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" himself to hunt down. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, second window is the one that I jumped from." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So drove away. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you which it had come upon my father." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet there was no need for father to know." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Proceed, then." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon on re-entering her father's house?" signal between you and your father? just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of fine shops and stately business premises that they really fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. tapping his fingers upon the table. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." it." tied." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to enter into my head. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any Henry Baker is a member." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "How often?" consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "And I." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet works. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must little trying to do so much typewriting?" hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we from the brougham. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "What do you mean?" "But how did you gain them?" train.' "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "'Which dealer's?'