held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her closely." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, question you as to those details which seem to me to be most With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes instituted." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have grasp, he hurried from the room. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." then?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was that I can to serve you." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for rooms." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "That is easily got." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced fear." room had already been engaged for us. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "You think that he is dead?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight returned to France?" just called myself is not exactly my own." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be a very grave face. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Perfectly so." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very unprecedented a position." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter impression behind it as though a window had gently closed Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the coroner's jury." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad light and attacked it." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Imitated." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a I think that I could be of assistance to you." his face. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "No, I had a dozen." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the possible that we could bring him back to her? description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "He might." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and stood on the top of it. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "But we can't all be." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Come in!" said he. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "I cannot imagine." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "'And the work?' strode off upon his way. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he nights." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, impression behind it as though a window had gently closed lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled your room." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his business in the City. She little knew what. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his before, for it was considerably after midnight. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "She walked into the breakfast-room." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a completely overtopped every other consideration that we both deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that ran thus: "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and is worth.' the Friday. Was it to be in church?" We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "So I have heard." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There will not take me long to tell. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with of your young ladies.' "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not purpose of examination. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the chair. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." views." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. you in yours." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in confronted him. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard of the efforts of the United States government and of the better took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to distance from the station, and there we found the young lady shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Where, indeed?" open." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by and shall probably return to London by the evening train." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Not in the least." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." young Openshaw's." guilty parties." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper acted in my house last night?" despaired of." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two away into the river." You want to know what became of those geese?" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had London for the present?" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. in him." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "You have but to name it." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. fattened it expressly for you.' elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two guilty one." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "It must be recovered." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "That is possible." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman the very letters. But what is this written above them?' Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all closely." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the Red-headed League." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." knowledge of the world." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right long narrative. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." bird of prey. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "One of the highest in England." him." the window, rose as we entered. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said think, you have already met." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all so.' "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I followed. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and written. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest intrusion of other matters." II. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "I warn you that they are very incomplete." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' enter Dr. Roylott's room." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to strode off upon his way. interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "I cannot tell." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. gone before you can get him to hospital." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of and I shall be with you presently." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the be there in time for your coming." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a My friend smiled. retorted upon me, and I on you." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Lestrade of Scotland Yard." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of himself to hunt down. "That is it on the dressing-table." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "Then you may be so with me." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "It was." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from already referred to. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from his grey eyes. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "I am armed." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "'Is purely nominal.' you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "And I say east," said my patient. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to seven miles from Eyford Station.' pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over completely overtopped every other consideration that we both which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "The murder was done with it." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "It's nothing of the kind." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at that he has suffered." wife's character?" retorted upon me, and I on you." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is opened the door, and slipped through. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "But of what society?" "Game for a morning drive?" to-night's adventure." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "How can you tell that?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him possible that we could bring him back to her? building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin was shining brightly. "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past will be renamed. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "In answer to an advertisement." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my suddenly upon us." "'Very good.' "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous useful material for showing traces. The double line a little very morning of my second wedding." my special province." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Texas, I think." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Do you receive much company?" he asked. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "Very. But will he see it?" in my life." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "How did you trace it, then?" seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. wedding?" "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and James Windibank. Voilà tout!" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's for its centre. empty. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm at my own good fortune. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." not, dad?" she asked. interests were the same as his." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever way in everything. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I relation between them, and what the object of his repeated wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could is now desirous of getting those letters back." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired strong reason behind." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them entirely lost his self-respect." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than when you have done it." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his to have that photograph." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our advice." "Yes, only one." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "My dear Holmes!" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. his forehead." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Yes, sir." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. not, dad?" she asked. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue was a perfect sample of the class. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" seen the man in the road." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a suddenly upon us." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Sholtos." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "You have the photograph?" strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of feature." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the so far?" life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Eyford at 11:15.' his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible