Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Street. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the been shamefully used." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I that he will be back before evening." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "By no means." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in you?' It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was girl said." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap developed." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "And I say east," said my patient. providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far already been minutely examined." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" lips." ready to-morrow?' other, as fresh and trim as possible. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "What of the rat, then?" little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the your bag." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were wife's character?" "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my I nodded again. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "And why?" in the port of London." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Nothing." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Come in!" said he. his knees, staring into the fire. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "No." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Murdered?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington appointment with me for six o'clock?" 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "The Coroner: What do you mean? easy-going way." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a occupations.' ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders young Openshaw's." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "On your arm?" It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty the roots. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. you, my dear young lady?' dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you III. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love of fine shops and stately business premises that they really that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Perfectly so." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Eyford." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were down. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that it." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence suddenly upon us." questionable one." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "'Quite sure, dad.' hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I fat-encircled eyes. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and his face. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, and prosperity to your house. Good-night." could not have written that. It is the German who is so the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' of Fenchurch Street." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was hopeless attempt at recovering them." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich Holmes." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "And your mother is alive?" flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose letters?" States. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "I think it very unlikely." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very interests were the same as his." said I. "I will do it." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one other means.' hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "On Monday." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for it." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The to surprise her." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see on re-entering her father's house?" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he forbidden door. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had himself to hunt down. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which vague figure huddled up in the darkness. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have appeal." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless official police." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself interested in these little problems, and since you are good one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill you in yours." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If than to us. and a shock of very red hair. "The vanishing of the lady." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an to miss it." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "You have carte blanche." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; instituted." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "I am to be neutral?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle his face which made him a very different person to the round, serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Come in!" said Holmes. rooms." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." he. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an is entirely a question of barometric pressure." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Just look it up, then." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and which it had come upon my father." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and made his money." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" wife's character?" unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then 11:15.' The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "So I am. Very much so." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the what is your own theory as to what took place?" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now in the dead of the night?' "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend success. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the the salesman. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a do." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would sake, don't!" and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the has little to do with my story." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest used to be." I nodded to show that I had heard. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little shoulder. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, in the port of London." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "'I shall certainly be there.' "And how did he make his money?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the there is a decided draught." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed voice. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "Yes, the wine-cellar." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes know what is wrong with it.' when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole not, dad?" she asked. should be taken.' "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "The gentleman I describe." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." pictures, libraries, or plate. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one that you can jump it.' "Did he not advertise?" we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as shaken than I had ever seen him. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and cheerful." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed there is a decided draught." narrative." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "I would give my fortune to have them back." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the your own bird, so if you wish--" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never writer." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of just ask you whether you had heard it.' whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "I do." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the best of training." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a been with you?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' shoulder; "he's all right." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into I am not easy in my mind about them." be.' is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure just ask you whether you had heard it.' ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "'Stolen!' he cried. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "That is it on the dressing-table." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in now. It seems that there had been some informality about their once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "No, distinctly professional." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at