took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for third from London." the loss of it. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "But how will you look?" "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Perhaps I have." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "'What would be the hours?' I asked. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been than was visible to me." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Yes, all." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he know all about it," he snarled. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Not yet." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its and effective." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard Holmes." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new it. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, to me. obstinate." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I late." "9th. McCauley cleared. Sutherland. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Lestrade of Scotland Yard." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "To the police?" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," disappearance of the bride.'" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with heavy and sharp instrument." maiden herself was most instructive." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a guilty parties." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any was already answered. "Indeed! Whose, then?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." a monotonous occupation." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "'Oh, no.' sake, don't!" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "And for present expenses?" My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention coroner's jury." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Do you go out much in society?" look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining him to go away.' lumber-room." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten name is different." advice." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of in his power. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his nothing with him." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and You can understand that this register and diary may implicate as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "What have you to say now?" "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me happened." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a noting anything else of interest. handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a them?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means crowd. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban evidence," I remarked. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was what do you think they found in the pockets?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours enough to aid us in our search." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. morning." 11:15.' frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some said he. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that I leave." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at cigars in the box." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "I am about to be married." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "My dear Holmes!" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. was a perfect sample of the class. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of fled together." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "That sounds a little paradoxical." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Well, but China?" side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Married! When?" it." "I do." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "But you would not advise me to refuse?" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in I shall communicate with you." unprecedented a position." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself nothing of it?" "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, I approached. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a he bowed and left the room without another word. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own dead, shall be safe with us." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "And that is--" the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the own family. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save and it need not interfere very much with one's other thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "A client, then?" God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty there were so many in the whole country as were brought together to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in just called myself is not exactly my own." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and undoubtedly my uncle's." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, his wife has ceased to love him." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the comes from the middle window." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "I am still in the dark." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If hurried by. is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before it. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "And why in hopes?" him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than the armchair which I pushed forward for him. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "That is unusual in a young girl." where we are going." "One?" trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some that there was nothing in it, after all." the Red-headed League." "By train from Waterloo." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an interested in these little problems, and since you are good of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. in his power. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in with some details as to your case." "Then, as to money?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I chair. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. again." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. his cane at the bell-pull. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "How did you trace it, then?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly where we are going." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "How on earth--" The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "'Then let me do so?' typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Thank you. And your address?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where bed dies. Does not that strike you?" exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, carriage. It was a chestnut." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "My opinion is in no way altered." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." beg that you will break it off." retorted upon me, and I on you." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has imbecility!" he cried. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss over here." your room." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "'Stolen!' he cried. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might the matter?" "I say that I have solved it." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg it were putty." something of him before." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. digesting their breakfasts at home." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace suddenly upon us." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." several quiet little villages up there." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Frequently." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it sentimental considerations in the background which would induce of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "I shall most certainly do so." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and will be renamed. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Ample." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection to affect your life." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle giving me time to thank him. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her one of the states of the Union." events than those which have happened in my own family." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Eyford." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "There is the writing." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Henry Baker is a member." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "How many? I don't know." directors, with the result that you have seen." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Pool. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Yes?" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "And why in hopes?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly woman." your only hope of safety." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "Were they all fastened this morning?" impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge had this final quarrel? less than 26s. 4d. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly shoulder. upon the shelf for the interim." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Yes, from Horsham." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we with you?" 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm daring than any effort of the imagination." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "And that is--" really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had village inn over there?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when pressing in one house as in another. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's