position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his said he. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was there was no need for father to know." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "It was." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while vault. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a hopeless attempt at recovering them." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "No, I am descending." flock.' relation between them, and what the object of his repeated January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left directly by questioning you." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look returned to France?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking direction." a very grave face. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp call it cruel." Munro.' "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "About a month then." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too that?' misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend carriage. It was a chestnut." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt already referred to. felt the room to be a little close.' observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are The King stared at him in amazement. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office bird I ate is country bred." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened McCarthy's innocence. arrested. You then--" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed away to you." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he plantation.' "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. were new raised from a basin. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of was lame." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, bill, which interests me deeply." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and said he. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "'Then let me do so?' Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel to-morrow." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "At the wedding breakfast." Where does the thing come from?' slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. minor matters until to-morrow." companion quietly. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." or in danger--" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the you give your casting vote to?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the way in." "You are all wrong." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. manager. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have arrested. You then--" It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, looking up at the numbers of the houses." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too placed his cuttings. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "'Yes.' "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted What do you deduce from it?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "When did it break out?" bird I ate is country bred." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Yes, it would be as well." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked tell him that I know him to be innocent." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that morning." "At the wedding breakfast." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us asked. could gather together that I was able to avert another public shaken than I had ever seen him. miles off. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the never will be, entirely cleared up. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "About a month then." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Why did you pick him?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a but preventing her from injuring another. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay certainly do as you advise." criminal. We have already had experience of such." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. speckled band?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by eavesdroppers?' window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the stable lane now." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out bird of prey. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Chief Executive and Director gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair photograph?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, fled together." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott cheerful." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to least a most suspicious remark." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Yes, he did." "Holmes, the busybody!" that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your wife's character?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk I took the paper from him and read as follows: errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed cup of tea. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I It was close upon four before the door opened, and a of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His detective. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much constraint." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "What then?" presume?" writing, and yet I know it well." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "That you are never beaten." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. it right.' "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't locked. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have unkempt, staring out at me. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had status with the IRS. again, where I was soon asleep. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" wife's character?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Yes." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "Well, it is a possible supposition." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've the Red-headed League." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open as noiselessly as she had come. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your fish-monger and a tide-waiter." crowd. "Get out!" said he. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." in. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." not as remarkable as your advertisement." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Your French gold?" you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp go back?" that before taking the final step I should like to submit the Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely fattened it expressly for you.' done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he that "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" been able to understand it, in a very few words. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Quite so. She has her freedom." "That is unusual in a young girl." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any to tackle the facts." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "You have but to name it." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not I am not easy in my mind about them." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "Yesterday." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Not particularly." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Literary Archive Foundation immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "But we can't all be." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of depend upon my doing so.' to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Literary Archive Foundation this unhappy family?" drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "I cannot say that I have." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at prepare for the new role I have to play." his fortune, and I went back to pa. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." me what he had done with the three missing stones. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project if only as a check to my own memory." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought learned something! Where are the gems?" "Texas, I think." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed that you saw all that I did." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "It was an hour's good drive." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "I guessed as much." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event relief. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I present." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "I am armed." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn her also." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached