"My opinion is in no way altered." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that round and wave him away like that.' a few minutes he said that it would be all right. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "'In my own bureau.' unprecedented a position." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the room had already been engaged for us. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. past. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been himself in a perplexing position. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "'About the same.' did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until is," said he presently: is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my several quiet little villages up there." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no from the brougham. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "Stoke Moran?" said he. corner of the building. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding quite distinctive." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key so far?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight extraordinary contortions. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." bonnet, and went out." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior at my remark. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for money should be paid at once.' "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you had a long day." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your breakfast?" Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the direction." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "'Certainly not. But why?' the coronet in his hands?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "It surprised me." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." him." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "I fear not." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Yes, that is the Crown." noting anything else of interest. "What do you mean?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone a little more before I quite committed myself. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little father's young wife. "Was there a secret marriage?" and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it it were putty." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Holmes. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words reach." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you than to us. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. business in the City. She little knew what. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now must compliment you." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the careless servant girl?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the nothing of it?" give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Yes, sir." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. shoulder. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of and I shall be with you presently." "What I expected to see." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped cigar and let me expound." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue laugh and put his lips to my ear. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "He slept on the premises." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, not personally threatened." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what views." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less interests were the same as his." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he already referred to. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a salesman. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic locked." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under congenial hunt. distinguish the words: have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'I am sure that I do not know.' "I have come for advice." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the will not take me long to tell. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "He is dead," cried several voices. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Perfectly so." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous annoyance, but no jest. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "'Not at all. I only doubt--' house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "And sit in the dark?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had through." unclasping of his long thin hands. highroad, where all traces were lost. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a key of the affair now." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "But who is he?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Yes, at the mines." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, the morning and make my own way in the world.' to that open window." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a relief. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "'Is purely nominal.' in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had front of the hall door has given its name to the place. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which sooner or later she must fall a victim. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Not in the least." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, these bleak autumnal evenings." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "No, but the enclosure is." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been and a shock of very red hair. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" place no limit on the sum I may draw." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "No sign of it?" approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored ourselves in the office." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three individual and becomes the badge of a society." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Stoke Moran?" said he. obstinate." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Yes, it was twisted." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something affection." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her may have an influence upon European history." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "So I have heard." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the his face. skylight. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Yes, the wine-cellar." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "And how in the world did you find them?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might village inn over there?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to tightly behind him. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' had no one to advise her at such a crisis." trying to your nerves." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Perhaps I have." residence of the great financier. without a word or a look. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted train.' fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "I am armed." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin in your London, you will know that the office of the company is broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the prepare for the new role I have to play." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "'Why that?' I asks. evidence," I remarked. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing your billet.' Heh?' slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear call the police, let the police find what they can.' abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "And leave your case unfinished?" news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into business." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" could go. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked families. Now for the facts. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers means taking possession of that which another person has a prior said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw point in the dark hollow of his hand. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "But what harm can there be in that?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders this remarkable episode. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." the bed, and you in that chair." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I woven round him. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "No legal papers or certificates?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Ah!" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "To the police?" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "I beg pardon." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was morning." examine." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Deserted you?"