across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. confronted him. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, made him keep the appointment." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "I say it is." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I begun to whiten, even as mine has." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. little trying to do so much typewriting?" and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his your room." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give threw himself down with his face to the pillow. least a fellow-countryman. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "In San Francisco, a year ago." I shall communicate with you." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Yes." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." she might be summoned. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to was shining brightly. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by is so. I know all about McCarthy." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He head. So long, then!" the general public were present, then?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the bottom.' deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the be best to do. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well Arthur Conan Doyle all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' with frightened eyes at his accuser. call you and give you the chance." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a have had none more fantastic than this." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to acted in my house last night?" Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Surrey." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "I shall be delighted." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set brandy and water within his reach. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what fashion which was peculiar to him. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been the child." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face remarked. I nodded to show that I had heard. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and envelope. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My The summons was a brief and urgent one. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Yesterday." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to go--none." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room once more on the important position which you have been fortunate house for five minutes.' himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil quick march!" "And on what day did he meet his death?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I crackling voice. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have that you saw all that I did." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of to tell." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Of what day?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her said he. not come at once?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest information in his hands the value of which he did not himself window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the waste of energy." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Then I am your man." indeed which he could not unravel. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke will he say when he returns?" brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" deduce something from that?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" fait accompli?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "I never have." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this enter Dr. Roylott's room." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. both be extremely obliged.' nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be are windows in it, of course?" which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "I have a cab outside." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Yes." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I the ceiling. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, page at http://pglaf.org closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "And you thought he was pulled back?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to have an American origin." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, disappearance of the bride.'" when your master had gone out." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he you do it in twenty minutes!' hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you business?" Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the laugh and put his lips to my ear. McCarthy's innocence. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "Never." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, look upon these things in a different way." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Precisely." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "No more words. Get out!" that there was nothing in it, after all." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more the dangers which encompass me." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly are windows in it, of course?" "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, his eyes and forehead. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "But she will refuse." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project kind enough to tell me what I should do." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Yes." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "I will do it." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Yes." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the main points of my analysis." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had now. It seems that there had been some informality about their which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it to me. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond ceremony." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. stood on the top of it. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "It is a murder, then?" "None." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Bought." "And leave your case unfinished?" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on the roots. whether it answered to the description of any of their relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "That is easily got." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting awaited us upon the table. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. throat." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "I cannot tell." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the and all of them with the keenest interest. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Then, how do you know?" taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing directors, with the result that you have seen." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" would apply.' stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "What can you not understand?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "What of the rat, then?" "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting together. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of peculiar to him. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "'Entirely.' and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp said he. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen within hail.' case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have the very letters. But what is this written above them?' asked. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "You know me, then?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far one or two very singular points about this room. For example, be. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "You think that he is dead?" daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "I am armed." tied." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "'Yes, I promise.' family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" have established a very serious case against the son of the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Then what has happened to him?" band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could absolutely follow my advice in every respect." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "I promise," said Holmes. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed have not had my rubber." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "And how have you succeeded?" his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to observed. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Not yet." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." congratulate you again." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest it right.' manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue before the coroner and the police-court." "Where, then, is my wife?" entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always four million human beings all jostling each other within the becomes even more simple." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "So I heard. You have him here?" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. gone before you can get him to hospital." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Munro.' even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "Who was the criminal, then?" understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR