"Your French gold?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I you?' see a sister of mine apply for." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. of his shoulders. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The time." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through direction." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear within hail.' A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "It is possible." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away that you wished to speak to me?' I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very my room." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most said I. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." new duties?' dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought how narrow had been my escape. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the photograph?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more was keenly on my guard against him. will not take me long to tell. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Yes, that is the Crown." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one see me here to avoid scandal." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. His smile broadened. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' thirty. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Not I." results." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "So I heard. You have him here?" his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. drawing your inferences." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. not fit the lock." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. upon the shelf for the interim." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, strange features which were associated with the two crimes which a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "My photograph." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. a little more before I quite committed myself. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging points to suicide?" searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses fact, we may call it conclusive." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Your sister is dead, then?" seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny such attractions and accomplishments?' fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a could go. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, someone who had been in Australia." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "But she will refuse." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we breakfast?" strength in the others." cheerful." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should coroner's jury." had this final quarrel? "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "No." "Have you it here?" "A call for help, you thought?" "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt as he folded up the epistle. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Cross for the Continent." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of have got?" should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "I am all attention, madam." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Yes." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small been with you?" Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, brandy and water within his reach. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Very much so." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "It is half-past ten now." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "My stepfather's business papers." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, our word." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Yes, sir." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "An enemy?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the washing it down with a long draught of water. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, the window, rose as we entered. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "It is solved." "I fear not." to a more successful conclusion." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "The rest you will leave in our hands." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he that you wished to speak to me?' this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the own family. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that it means?" "But you have hopes?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Perhaps I have." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Yes, they were peculiar boots." Eyford at 11:15.' coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a you." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "You were travelling in the States?" to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "The gentleman I describe." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some bonnet, and went out." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To direction." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start to miss it." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him careless servant girl?" "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "'Most admirably.' "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Why, what do you mean?" wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began little trying to do so much typewriting?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have 1.E.9. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "This concluded the examination of the witness." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for strength." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat a little more before I quite committed myself. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There ordinary clothes on?" It may be so in this case, also." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was This is what he says: I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "And leave your case unfinished?" instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter Holmes' face clouded over. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got his fortune, and I went back to pa. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. your co-operation." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "What!" he roared. opened the door, and slipped through. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the compunction about shooting them down." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of distance from the station, and there we found the young lady their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "I cannot say that I have." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally to surprise her." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, prison!" your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice dead, shall be safe with us." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, of the one which your family is now devouring." in my life." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "I think that it is very probable." said I. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "So it appears." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. again before evening." have accepted such a situation. have not had my rubber." not as remarkable as your advertisement." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a Countess of Morcar's?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found other means.' or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Have you her photograph?" of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, new duties?' chemical work which was so dear to him. 'please.'" from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a strength in the others." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Tired-looking or fresh?" and have this put in the evening papers." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these will take you up to see the machine.' myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which get her out of the way." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "And why?" at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "But I have heard all that you have heard." his face which made him a very different person to the round, pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a and put his glass in his pocket. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet a room. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "My stepfather's business papers." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler dates and names. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his the running down." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, roused himself from his reverie. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by here and I will read it to you: London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "By train from Waterloo." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed the little opening for the ventilator is." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him too. "What?" electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the get her out of the way." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "I will get her to show me." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. the bottom.' the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than which I could not give. He asked for Alice. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at friend's singular character. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Not I." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would