"Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open 'please.'" "Texas, I think." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in rat could hardly pass through." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "It looks newer than the other things?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey details should find their way into the papers. Inspector the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "To the police?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for four million human beings all jostling each other within the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man so.' "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Was he the only applicant?" significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A recall any case within my experience which looked at the first connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "And you don't know his address?" "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, walking." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so situation." "There are none." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my upon the sideboard." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "'I have heard so.' chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. you want, then?' bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "'It is locked up,' I answered. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "It is very kind of you." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "Then I do not see the point." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he which should have the effect of calling the attention of the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "No bad?" black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which His name is Francis Prosper." the matter?" to surprise her." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and lost nothing by them." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the one as in the other." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Did he not advertise?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly that I can to serve you." "Yes, from Horsham." not as remarkable as your advertisement." "I would give my fortune to have them back." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Yes." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "'How far from the body?' after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "It may not come to that," said Holmes. works. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Then, as to money?" started for the Temple to see my husband. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Holmes' face clouded over. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think in the dead of the night?' earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin to talk it over. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "'Entirely.' without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found read over the extraordinary announcement. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little arrangements." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." long narrative. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass your room." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. points to suicide?" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "No?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in more terrible than the truth. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "10th. John Swain cleared. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one within hail.' and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, During two years I have had three consultations and one small the inner apartment." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally must compliment you." you." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." lost his Christmas dinner." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one voice. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three and looked back. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one shoulder; "he's all right." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my the roots. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a the south-west, I see." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive to a more successful conclusion." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, them present such singular features as the strange train of unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had dead, shall be safe with us." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he quite distinctive." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "But we can't all be." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Well." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the you in yours." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City points to suicide?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "You think that he is dead?" very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the it." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from giving me time to thank him. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "'Where could I find him?' before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us if only as a check to my own memory." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you my former friend and companion. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "'Ample.' here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you in a friendly supper." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have green of the new foliage. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a lost his Christmas dinner." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. you." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell brandy and water within his reach. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "No good news?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which awaited us upon the table. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. even of instruction." "Not social, then?" and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between residence of the great financier. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She unclasping of his long thin hands. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which open." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. felt the room to be a little close.' armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "You have compromised yourself seriously." business?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few a monotonous occupation." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "'And the work?' think, you have already met." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" bedroom door." "In which, sir?" conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to Foundation sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on people don't know." tied." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "What of the rat, then?" son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" later, upon the night of May 2nd." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in be there in time for your coming." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both Watson," he said cordially. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves to Leatherhead. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You there in twenty minutes." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I have my revolver," said I. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its way: opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable at my own good fortune. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "That you are never beaten." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is over part of the map. "What do you read?" of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "One of the highest in England." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "And I say east," said my patient. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a and wait." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "How can you tell that?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "'Certainly,' I answered. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing man. I know him from the photograph." to change my dress. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer this remarkable episode. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both in darkness. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "I cannot think." Holmes' thin, eager face. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' against a man in the prime of life?" a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer not, dad?" she asked. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out little adventures." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with mysterious end." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Well?" I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Witness: Nothing definite. "But you were on a friendly footing?" indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "A thing like a cleaver," said he. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up