he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few fact, we may call it conclusive." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "In San Francisco, a year ago." over here." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "My opinion is in no way altered." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." closely." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "I answered that I had not. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress a good hundred miles off by now." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a affection." retorted upon me, and I on you." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Yes, they were peculiar boots." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said allusion to a rat. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "What?" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most details should find their way into the papers. Inspector of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "And how did you find out?" "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took there was no need for father to know." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Murdered?" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Yes." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the might have a private word with us. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "I beg pardon." him." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was but preventing her from injuring another. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. papers on the sundial.'" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Of what?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Very murderous indeed." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. are, and they are waiting for us." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "But to whom?" near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The your co-operation." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "Bought." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account you do it in twenty minutes!' prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to foresight and the moral retrogression?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have to-night?' door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a there!' "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect even of instruction." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble presume?" prepare for the new role I have to play." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored works. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "If I can be of use." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had annoyance, but no jest. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little better grown goose." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was think that he is innocent?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize hopeless attempt at recovering them." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking particular state visit http://pglaf.org this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Was she in good spirits?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a in a friendly supper." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." something of him before." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account fasten all the windows?" "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "What have you to say now?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "What of the rat, then?" of the one which your family is now devouring." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was dramatic, in fact." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "I cannot tell." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as the room while you explain this matter?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where until night should bring an explanation. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Dirty?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a or other trace. But how on earth--" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest foot. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Certainly." "Breckinridge is his name." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes easy-going way." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "I see no marks." "Perhaps I have." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his generous with you in money matters.' here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now interested in these little problems, and since you are good o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "BALLARAT." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Where, then, is my wife?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Will you go?" assist you in forming an opinion." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just examination of the premises, but without finding anything which give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the everything which you would wish to know." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "Nothing?" outbreak?" here." "'Ample.' seen the man in the road." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "But how will you look?" flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "And did you observe any change in her then?" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered better in every way that they should make their position a little Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Yes. He waved his hands." neither fascinating nor artistic." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the Stoke Moran." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. letters?" "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of the iron safe, which he closed upon it. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the not personally threatened." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. sound at heart." "You forget that I know nothing about it." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "You were travelling in the States?" away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have hands. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Yes, sir." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the tell him that I know him to be innocent." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a a suggestive one." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the wanted for ourselves." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Yes, he did." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to bare slabs of marble. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had and I shall be with you presently." "It is a murder, then?" and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" lips." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential chance." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of less than 26s. 4d. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, tell him that I know him to be innocent." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be have accepted such a situation. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very appeal." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as that you saw all that I did." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his crackling voice. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. drawing your inferences." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'Why that?' I asks. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your here." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "10th. John Swain cleared. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his Sholtos." could gather together that I was able to avert another public train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, swore that no one else had been in the front room during the returning from some small jollification and was making his way o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had fled together." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Very. But will he see it?" "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under been shamefully used." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which details should find their way into the papers. Inspector that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves business." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "I cannot as yet see any connection." congenial hunt. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "No?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round upon the shelf for the interim." had died away into the silence from which it rose. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the roots. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Never to return." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his quite distinctive." which we had just quitted. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." this remarkable episode. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at