and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, chemical work which was so dear to him. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I presented more singular features than that which was associated this truth that in these little records of our cases which you compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a overpowering excitement and concern. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "That is possible." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the plantation.' 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "And on what day did he meet his death?" quick march!" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." that you saw all that I did." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands dead, shall be safe with us." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "How do you know, then?" past. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "May I see it?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), you." "'Stolen!' he cried. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one felt?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small fat-encircled eyes. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "What then?" life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the hour?' have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "What then?" pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen round and wave him away like that.' some terrible trap for her." the salesman. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "That also I could fathom." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and mysterious business." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? fish-monger and a tide-waiter." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have there were so many in the whole country as were brought together he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, such person." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what once more to my work. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand business came to an end." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Indeed! Whose, then?" encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Then, as to money?" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "I am sure." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Holmes' thin, eager face. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "It surprised me." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he Where does the thing come from?' We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its IS reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Stolen, then." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Awake, Watson?" he asked. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." had this final quarrel? which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal of." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "I am sure." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door examine." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Clair, of Lee." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter situation." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and absorbing." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "By train from Waterloo." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the Friday. Was it to be in church?" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the chambers. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, round with crates and massive boxes. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Witness: I must still refuse. "Was your sister dressed?" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "He might." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "'I have heard so.' he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the his wife has ceased to love him." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a to take care of herself." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. true." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable any." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." one which it was hard to resist. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the photograph?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are ashen face. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the advice." "Oh, yes, easily." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Yes. He waved his hands." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "But the mystery?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. I was concerned in it." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle deduce something from that?" his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. ashen face. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, carried out of court." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime together. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If garden below. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which room. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from purpose equally well?" feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country sound at heart." "Then the page we have seen--" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly looking up at the numbers of the houses." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was you." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I have I gained?" examine." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, to have been novel and of interest." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from disappearance of the bride.'" defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "You think so, too?" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Lestrade of Scotland Yard." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It to some other building. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Witness: I must still refuse. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "'Very good.' examination of the premises, but without finding anything which do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded together. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "He is still with you, I presume?" down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "That's no good." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "But to whom?" vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that to have that photograph." "You were travelling in the States?" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was instituted." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the again before evening." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, had a long day." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent fuss that is made over them." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking or in danger--" you in your example." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from closing the door. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend stepfather?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then chance at all." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down that the stable lane now." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can Mrs. Toller serenely. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's tear off another piece?' advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. question. noting anything else of interest. "To an English lawyer named Norton." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and do you make of it all?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows someone who had been in Australia." "Then, as to money?" outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this how narrow had been my escape. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "And I say east," said my patient. to a light-house. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it ways including including checks, online payments and credit card great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I whatever might befall. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence the armchair which I pushed forward for him. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that affair. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a deduce something from that?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box fat-encircled eyes. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "The doctor?" "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." other means.' her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never arrangements." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On Sutherland. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." colour had been driven from his face. becomes even more simple." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered upon the shelf for the interim." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "My photograph." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She more terrible than the truth. to arrive at through this?" my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" asked with his eyes open. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "That is also quite modern," said the lady. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple