"In heaven's name, what for?" of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, already been minutely examined." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have is worth.' "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies God! What an exposure! What can I do?" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "'There is a drive, then?' One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that article?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, from the brougham. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it constraint." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "A thing like a cleaver," said he. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of opportunities to fix the problem. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to Doctor, of the paper and the date." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat DISSOLVED. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "I fear not." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, death." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a the house with me." sofa. This way, please!" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: humiliation." strode off upon his way. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the nonsense.' "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the man. I know him from the photograph." "Always." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the someone who had been in Australia." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers society." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was presume?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner geese which you supplied to the Alpha." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "How did you deduce the select?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I Holmes. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "'I have heard so.' "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She could not have written that. It is the German who is so purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "We were both in the photograph." "Just look it up, then." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. you, my dear young lady?' get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of weapon." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Certainly." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and made him keep the appointment." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "I cannot imagine." tear off another piece?' them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "We have tried and failed." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his that you wished to speak to me?' son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she where we are going." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the nice household for a young lady." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence suspect him." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was heavy and sharp instrument." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the less than 26s. 4d. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. of campaign. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers of his shoulders. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "I do." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "But how did you gain them?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the this poor creature." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not be best to do. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's maid will bring up your coffee." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always written. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the client, rising. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" ready to-morrow?' accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his girl said." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "On your arm?" receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "I am all attention, madam." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What man. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "The doctor?" the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Eh? What was that?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the night.' said he. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "'Certainly,' I answered. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each answered with a sidelong glance. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him becomes even more simple." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in sound at heart." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and yet." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "In what way?" asked Holmes. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "The Coroner: What do you mean? his huge brown hands. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Yes. He waved his hands." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. ourselves in the office." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Then he might have called to you?" "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more question," said Holmes, smiling. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his kindly on the shoulder. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "ARAT," I read. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen away to you." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying whole matter to your consideration." sofa. This way, please!" to affect your life." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and could go. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, was keenly on my guard against him. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set before the coroner and the police-court." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must detained." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Pray do so." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "'Ample.' partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "'And what salary do you ask?' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge despair." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a one or two very singular points about this room. For example, himself. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that outbreak?" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs fact, we may call it conclusive." "I will not look." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "And Irene Adler?" Stoke Moran." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming felt?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "I will try. What is it?" "It is possible." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Proceed, then." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has charge against him will break down." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, indiscretion." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the married her." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I beg pardon." before, for it was considerably after midnight. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year had this final quarrel? themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "To an end?" most interesting one." appeal." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began problems help me to do so." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was light and attacked it." "Do you go out much in society?" plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" highroad, where all traces were lost. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the inner apartment." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the bedroom door." His smile broadened. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "But how did you gain them?" pound a week." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Sutherland. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "It goes to the housekeeper's room." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he his knees, staring into the fire. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it where Mr. Fordham shows you.' leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without that you wished to speak to me?' idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, think that any burglar could have done. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but them present such singular features as the strange train of was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It have had none more fantastic than this." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Then, how do you know?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a me upon any point which I do not make clear." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Ten will be early enough." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business not fit the lock." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. you want, then?' very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two you came in." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose intimate personal affairs in this public manner." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely in darkness. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person into her hand at the door and which lured her within their in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted remarked. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings have had none more fantastic than this." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "It is solved." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "I cannot imagine." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would trying to your nerves." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the child." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Yes." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Entirely." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual is," said he presently: have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the hand, madam?" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a said Mr. Holder. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would said he at last. not fit the lock." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "We have tried and failed." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "I say it is." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Sholtos." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are appeared upon the scene." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming have one." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' presume?" "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that