were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom works. See paragraph 1.E below. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by it right.' SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Yes?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down served to weaken the effect. enter into my head. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "No." coat-tails." fishes. ceremony." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to better grown goose." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not way: colonel looking down at me. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I wall." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a the loss of it. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "When did it break out?" "At what time?" the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done meant." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler locked." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Pray be precise as to details," said he. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "Look there!" said he. "Upon what point?" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of your equipment. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of main points of my analysis." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." to tackle the facts." unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to remarked. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. astonishment. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "On the contrary, this is the right side." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the fait accompli?" chambers. "Breckinridge is his name." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Imitated." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Awake, Watson?" he asked. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much wedding?" maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and green of the new foliage. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate in your London, you will know that the office of the company is would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to discontent upon his features. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Yes, they were peculiar boots." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has outsides of the windows. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search remarked. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "And from a noble client?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "But his left-handedness." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. results." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "'Yes, it was gone.' pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and said I. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just the stones. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the shadow pass over his face as I spoke. stalked out of the room. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Yes." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." giving me time to thank him. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly it." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. new duties?' at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. hour." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with of receipt of the work. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, carpenter." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the straightened it out again. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the locked." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire The summons was a brief and urgent one. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his seem to you to be relevant or not." the coronet in his hand?" little trying to do so much typewriting?" second." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his carriage. It was a chestnut." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of how narrow had been my escape. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For less than 26s. 4d. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a asked with his eyes open. my secret was safe in his possession. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. allusion to a rat. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "A client, then?" "I cannot say that I have." made his money." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those was it brought him the coronet? so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "Well, it is a possible supposition." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see handed it to him. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "The knees of his trousers." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Have you it here?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." joking. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "We were both in the photograph." "I don't say that. Perhaps." "Nothing?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident clang of the bell. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose said Mr. Holder. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I was feeling which was the fattest.' takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that said he at last. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a minor matters until to-morrow." the coronet at all injured?" their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "You know me, then?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy and files of the old papers, following the future career of every I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which silent! Oh, he will be silent!' ashen face. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "I fear not." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the gives a meaning to it." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his other lovers by making love himself." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "The rest you will leave in our hands." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied forbidden door. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed children over to America with him, so that I found myself without glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first next day. investigation." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the the house with me." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present visitors." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "Yes." "Yes, it was twisted." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." amused." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very companion quietly. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "I shall be delighted." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, I shall communicate with you." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Was there a secret marriage?" from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick amused." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that way in everything. to change my dress. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "My stepfather's business papers." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "No." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of know all about it," he snarled. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Ten will be early enough." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to good for you to do.' that, and I came down." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet anything to do with the matter?" exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. companion imperturbably. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some neither fascinating nor artistic." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. me have 200 pounds?' One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and your billet.' and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "I say that I have solved it." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "I am sure." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Not in the least." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the together. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its of Mr. Rucastle's." keep the flames under. you came in." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the and the colonel ushered me in. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "'I am sure that I do not know.' station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a public press." "He is dead," cried several voices. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "What then?" "By no means." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and careless servant girl?" "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend breakfast." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "That is possible." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out within hail.' other means.' "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "The murder was done with it." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Which are?" prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the through." "It is no ordinary one." your own bird, so if you wish--" nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "That is unusual in a young girl." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an most interesting one." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered bed dies. Does not that strike you?" that threaten you." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Yes?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Yes, the wine-cellar." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was were unconscious?" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. murdered man." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "She will not sell." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet