nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "You did not overhear what they said?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going not, dad?" she asked. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, any." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Has he come with you to-night?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss meant." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." appeared upon the scene." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "And your mother is alive?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew Clair, of Lee." fact, we may call it conclusive." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I cannot tell." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been and the church but not where the lady lived." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge vague figure huddled up in the darkness. clang of the bell. that about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in for its centre. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." questionable one." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found works. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "'How far from the body?' Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange clang of the bell. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the front of me. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he prison!" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Holmes. it." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Eh? What was that?" window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "You don't mind breaking the law?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen http://gutenberg.net/license). "It is half-past ten now." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most It may be so in this case, also." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "And now?" He raised his hand. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "And why?" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was have had none more fantastic than this." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where ventilator." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should pictures, libraries, or plate. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that the bed, and you in that chair." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. to-night?' when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Her father is very rich?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to Does that suggest anything?" to-night." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "You have compromised yourself seriously." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not to his chemical studies. bill, which interests me deeply." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was gbnewby@pglaf.org makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on that threaten you." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." congratulate you again." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. walking." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of lamp in his hand. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." affection." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally posted to-day." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do served to weaken the effect. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. it." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "In San Francisco, a year ago." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Then I shall certainly come." "Tired-looking or fresh?" going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock a suggestive one." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like to a more successful conclusion." quickly through a disagreeable task. sake, don't!" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to to change my dress. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of is," said he presently: cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for promised to bring home. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, were unconscious?" "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "What, then?" while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Yes." cigars in their mouths. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "You are hungry," I remarked. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "What then?" is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "And what then?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The bedroom door." room had already been engaged for us. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a when your master had gone out." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed my secret was safe in his possession. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of relation between them, and what the object of his repeated jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy fish-monger and a tide-waiter." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both awkward doing business with an alias." "Well?" yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black following enigmatical notices: down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are woman." "Yes?" she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "When did she vanish, then?" of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and kindly on the shoulder. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Did your wife hear all this?" emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "And leave your case unfinished?" very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the inquest, and which are worth considering." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "A client, then?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. him." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "My own seal." in a friendly supper." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the States. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This yet." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his the devil!" "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "And for present expenses?" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a have established a very serious case against the son of the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "And why in hopes?" hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in the south-west, I see." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little crime." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow room?" ceremony." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that row." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when assist you in forming an opinion." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Married! When?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my was already answered. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. with you?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Breckinridge is his name." IS amused." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past room?" Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for him nearly every evening." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." humiliation." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a address. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we that there was nothing in it, after all." "And I say east," said my patient. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "You know me, then?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he business at Coburg Square is serious." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. despaired of." "'Entirely.' understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in to that open window." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for Miss Holder?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" important." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "The Cedars?" "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an is acting for the best. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Was he the only applicant?" nice household for a young lady." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "By no means." young Openshaw's." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A asked. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "'It is locked up,' I answered. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we 11:15.' myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but 1.F. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "So it appears." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." so far?" and inquire as to the address." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended south, for the country is more deserted there." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't touch that coronet?' if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think with you?" "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." death." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity it right.' "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to at my remark. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "'You doubt its value?' he asked. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "So I heard. You have him here?" wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Dr. Becher's." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if What do you deduce from it?" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Not I." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the criminal. We have already had experience of such." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well criminal. We have already had experience of such." "How did he come?" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. will be renamed. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "'There is a drive, then?' this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "But how will you look?" "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open daring than any effort of the imagination." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Yes?" where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" brain must have something in it." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had side. "Yes." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" better in every way that they should make their position a little crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "That also I could fathom." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a ordinary clothes on?" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed,