case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "And what did you learn from him?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one enter Dr. Roylott's room." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him away into the river." here." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the the stable lane now." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to the armchair which I pushed forward for him. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Yes." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the come either from the window or the door. My attention was We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of swore that no one else had been in the front room during the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Pray be precise as to details," said he. followed. "One of the highest in England." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "I will, Miss Turner." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call was lame." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away fishes. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a the station." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "I am about to be married." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she forbidden door. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy crime." green of the new foliage. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about to me. of a light. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent when you have done it." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "And why in hopes?" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my when you have done it." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our your Highness to the police-station?" grasp, he hurried from the room. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "What is it?" test if we have an answer to our advertisement." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "And how in the world did you find them?" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall you?" name is different." Pool. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which cost them two and thirty pounds." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there gives a meaning to it." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow nonsense.' were unconscious?" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "Come in!" said he. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "My dear Holmes!" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "You have compromised yourself seriously." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall locked." "And what then?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Well, some hundreds of times." mysterious end." "Entirely." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any empty. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the which it had come upon my father." into the bag, and made for the door. official police." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "And what did you learn from him?" "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "Yesterday." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Pope's Court, Fleet Street." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Never to return." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Yes." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you drove away. ready to-morrow?' tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my people in all walks of life. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "You are certainly joking, Holmes." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "How many? I don't know." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "'Most admirably.' took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of the very letters. But what is this written above them?' answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, ways of our fellow-men." "Come in!" said Holmes. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Tired-looking or fresh?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, evidence," I remarked. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, do." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. straightened it out again. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, Street. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for him to be an active member of the medical profession." quickly through a disagreeable task. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "'You cannot say what it was?' of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "It must be recovered." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I as yours." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my Stoke Moran." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Texas, I think." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "No, I am descending." points to suicide?" "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and she used." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated have one." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it made him keep the appointment." some water from a caraffe. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from have established a very serious case against the son of the from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" good-night and bustled off upon her way. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Yes." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what IS written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on to-night?" I asked. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck and shall probably return to London by the evening train." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Did your wife hear all this?" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping bachelor.' "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "'What then?' I asked. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really do." been deceived." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Eh? What was that?" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "That also I could fathom." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was fire. You quite follow me?" secret." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable to some other building. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with strong reason behind." them?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "I cannot say that I have." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "The gentleman I describe." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On of the vacancies.' instincts rose up against that laugh. "Pray do so." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is trying to your nerves." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would wife's character?" platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him a suggestive one." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. to surprise her." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of dramatic, in fact." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "So I am. Very much so." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." ready to-morrow?' about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "How did you deduce the select?" stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We His name is Francis Prosper." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he place of silver." that you saw all that I did." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." companion imperturbably. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his your troubles." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an the King without delay." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a breakfast?" lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you morning." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door