there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Were they all fastened this morning?" breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside indiscretion." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We generous with you in money matters.' Surrey." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. he died? Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. careless servant girl?" as he folded up the epistle. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him ceremony." lips." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "'Yes, it was gone.' ventilator." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, him and tried to hold him back. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which noting anything else of interest. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the and effective." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." me where it went to?" sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" the station." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Yes?" very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. highly," said Holmes. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the For additional contact information: means taking possession of that which another person has a prior sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and drove away. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Leadenhall Street--and--" decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an ready to-morrow?' recover the gem." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must friend's singular character. the inquest, and which are worth considering." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Did you observe the colour?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "I cannot say that I have." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the delighted to hear it," he said. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled unprecedented a position." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental do.' anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my himself in a perplexing position. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, I nodded to show that I had heard. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "What have you done?" asked Holmes. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there him." "Has he come with you to-night?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the it with his own hands." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "'And the work?' morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is points to suicide?" zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" whatever might befall. will take you up to see the machine.' the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these place no limit on the sum I may draw." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There was a loud and authoritative tap. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, you, my dear young lady?' my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and him to go away.' "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith several quiet little villages up there." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Not social, then?" "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through bearing upon the case." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his correct than the official force." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "And that is--" and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "I beg pardon." "Nearly eleven." "Which are?" Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "That is possible." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "And the cigar-holder?" England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. dates and names. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I you." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked everything which you would wish to know." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." him, that man would not have given me such complete information respectable self." breakfast." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. learned something! Where are the gems?" fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One to tell." followed. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the Red-headed League." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" it." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at stammered. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of vanished into the darkness. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "But he might be a bachelor." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Ten will be early enough." leaning back in his chair. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your events, Mr. Windibank!" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. disappearance of these gems?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly said he. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to 1.E.9. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "What!" he roared. "Why did you beat the pavement?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute very peculiar words of the dying woman?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to brandy and water within his reach. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole into the room. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" heavy and sharp instrument." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice was already answered. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." voice. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk go--none." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to during which he might have communicated with his friend the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. room?" over here." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been in this note: read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Entirely." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and your only hope of safety." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Was he the only applicant?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the green of the new foliage. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there a very grave face. "What can it mean?" I gasped. thought that she would have been so carried away." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, orange pips. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he Sutherland. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "You have carte blanche." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very which I could not give. He asked for Alice. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "My last client of the sort was a king." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not hardly wander." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and narrative." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I to affect your life." "'And what salary do you ask?' Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had your own bird, so if you wish--" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a me upon any point which I do not make clear." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." certainly do as you advise." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "Then what has happened to him?" advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "What will you say?" "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow for the market.' individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the eat it." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week your billet.' About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as unprofitable." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of thin legs towards the fire. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his he died? there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "The landlord of the Alpha." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Do you go out much in society?" "I don't believe it." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Oh, yes, easily." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the returned to France?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "And who is her maid?" knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their from you?" her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and what is your own theory as to what took place?" undoubtedly my uncle's." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Will you bet, then?" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, figure." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do some mystery and the punishment of some crime." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." to Leatherhead. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "But not more so than I to find you." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And astonishment. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "What, then, did Peterson do?" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging child?' lamp. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than detained." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" father's place of business?" He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, place no limit on the sum I may draw." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Then, as to money?" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the prepare for the new role I have to play." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "What then?" astonishment. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Has he come with you to-night?" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "You think that he is dead?" "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety know that the truth is known." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Precisely so. But how--" beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, your troubles." closing the door. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. him. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never interested in these little problems, and since you are good little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Yes." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little overpowering excitement and concern. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "Have you her photograph?" father's young wife. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and matter." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a train.' were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Not him." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, six. Come in!" drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a