"That sounds a little paradoxical." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. it." go back?" I held the little printed slip to the light. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "But how could you guess what the motive was?" one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "No, finished." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause John Swain, of St. Augustine. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it his wife has ceased to love him." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "What can you not understand?" of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present tail." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. one which it was hard to resist. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She people don't know." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from returned to France?" "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project and shall probably return to London by the evening train." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer he died? my former friend and companion. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "A call for help, you thought?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I get the tickets." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, where we are going." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" be there in time for your coming." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal to a more successful conclusion." out." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Awake, Watson?" he asked. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon to arrive at through this?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. the coronet in his hands?" run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which mystery may be cleared along those lines." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are where we are going." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "'And the work?' an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "She walked into the breakfast-room." had a long day." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but are, I think, all that we need." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Oh, yes, easily." at home. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' used to be." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can the tragedy. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be into her hand at the door and which lured her within their be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "What I expected to see." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to other lovers by making love himself." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay papers diligently of late, have you not?" boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me present strange and interesting features that it is no easy The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "I do." Chief Executive and Director me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "But he might be a bachelor." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "The gentleman I describe." to affect your life." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' the south-west, I see." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their in one or two places in England?' at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and father's young wife. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I wedding?" London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Yes, all." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which see me here to avoid scandal." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Not him." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything me where it went to?" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he that I may have something better before very many minutes are to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid wanted for ourselves." constraint." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "And I say east," said my patient. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was 11:15.' were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, the station." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the discontent upon his features. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Then you may be so with me." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "He is still with you, I presume?" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Entirely." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been in your London, you will know that the office of the company is concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared swore that no one else had been in the front room during the I was concerned in it." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To Serpentine Avenue. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which come either from the window or the door. My attention was The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he gbnewby@pglaf.org very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it posted to-day." must compliment you." he. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer detained." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "But he might be a bachelor." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in said he. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." the devil!" stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "But his lameness?" we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step pound a week." "Ample." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "Holmes, the busybody!" from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "'About the same.' surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to stepfather?" corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, directly by questioning you." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. 'please.'" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." are, I think, all that we need." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see outside. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "No, distinctly professional." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Where is it, then?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." and the colonel ushered me in. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional was shining brightly. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Certainly." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so them?" "I have solved it." that you saw all that I did." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, generous with you in money matters.' "Yes, at the mines." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I it." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her them present such singular features as the strange train of frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in outsides of the windows. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife an introduction to him?" "So I heard. You have him here?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "And Irene Adler?" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. gone. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is tell him that I know him to be innocent." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with was used.' prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no murdered man." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that What do you deduce from it?" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my golden eyeglasses. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his Have you good authority for what you say?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "What are they?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see there were so many in the whole country as were brought together glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which http://www.gutenberg.net flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall to a light-house. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran people don't know." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some together. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Where, indeed?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Not in the least." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "You have the photograph?" didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the think you a quite exceptional woman." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the character. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Foundation more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in sneer upon his pale face. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Yes." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a cigar and let me expound." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under to talk it over. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we question," said Holmes, smiling. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the heavy and sharp instrument." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. fire. You quite follow me?" some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the nice household for a young lady." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely were unconscious?" your billet.' excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a drawing your inferences." horse could go." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" quickly through a disagreeable task. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to gone. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "I am in hopes that she does." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled that he has suffered." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "And the murderer?" "Deserted you?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and begun to whiten, even as mine has." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Bought." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy entirely devoid of interest." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "May I see it?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "From his hat?" friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not to tell." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just opened a pocket-book and took out a note. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the good for you to do.' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "'Then let me do so?' "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "Well, but China?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Ample." Henry Baker is a member." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid was a perfect sample of the class. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. six. Come in!" "'Yes, sir.' straighten it?" much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say,