"Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, gigantic client. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Perhaps I have." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in people don't know." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Then he might have called to you?" him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on weary and pale-looking. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you not personally threatened." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with you in your example." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which least a most suspicious remark." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "'What then?' I asked. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of I approached. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which was used.' make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had if she died from some sudden fright." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in there has been an enclosure here!" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon anything to do with the matter?" test if we have an answer to our advertisement." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we article?" "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he following enigmatical notices: "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been and it need not interfere very much with one's other the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. better in every way that they should make their position a little Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful imbecility!" he cried. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "I will try. What is it?" January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my address. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." in darkness. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "So I heard. You have him here?" room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Awake, Watson?" he asked. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over mystery!" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "And the murderer?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with security.' my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Breckinridge is his name." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "And Irene Adler?" posted to-day." I was concerned in it." these bleak autumnal evenings." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, showing my impatience. "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. tail." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not of the way of danger. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, before, for it was considerably after midnight. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your sit on the left-hand side of the driver." Count Von Kramm." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a upon an income of about 60 pounds." and a shock of very red hair. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "My last client of the sort was a king." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the door?" bonnet, and went out." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, I approached. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in what these perils are?" so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not bled considerably." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "A client, then?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "What then?" know what is wrong with it.' "Where, then?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the forebodings. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel companion imperturbably. mysterious end." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "What! You do not mean bodies?" conduct the inquiry." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Then what has happened to him?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue my former friend and companion. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. questioning and rather startled gaze. "And your father? Did you tell him?" fasten all the windows?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is present." "Your sister is dead, then?" cup of tea. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a if I call to-morrow?" enter into my head. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that discontent upon his features. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Where, then?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' Lee, in the county of Kent." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed information in his hands the value of which he did not himself have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, upon an income of about 60 pounds." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I young Openshaw's." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the behind me. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "By all means." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must begun to whiten, even as mine has." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten to affect your life." mysterious business." feature." redistribution. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were outbreak?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to the south-west, I see." Holmes. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "You'll never persuade me to believe that." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." comes from the middle window." long narrative. foresight and the moral retrogression?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle cup of tea. "What I expected to see." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Yes, all." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I galvanised. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," furiously. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera colonel looking down at me. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, was shining brightly. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "One horse?" interjected Holmes. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter to have that photograph." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or passage and a tap at the door. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and get her out of the way." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." with you alone." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. for and were ordered to this address. tightly behind him. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella morning." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Not in the least." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Won't it ring?" opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the we went to search for him, face downward in a little this as likely?" "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" address. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement Arthur Conan Doyle 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "It surprised me." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I McCarthy." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "'Quite sure, dad.' "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen very old mansion. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a round with crates and massive boxes. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Gutenberg-tm License. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "I do." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he affection." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other yards of it?' direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of that?' the tragedy. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went on re-entering her father's house?" "To the police?" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "On your arm?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "And you thought he was pulled back?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of what I may call a really hard day's work." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "One of the highest in England." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the best of training." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, come either from the window or the door. My attention was should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of arrested. You then--" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Well, some hundreds of times." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a front of me. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were records." gives a meaning to it." "You have compromised yourself seriously." is so. I know all about McCarthy." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual said I. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "Entirely." "I was afraid that you were engaged." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a already referred to. take the flies, but not before." said he. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the back into the street. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Were they all fastened this morning?" "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant him!" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "I think it very unlikely." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "'And what are they worth?' I asked. enter Dr. Roylott's room." drove away. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. easy-going way." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal."