and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. indeed which he could not unravel. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "What will you do, then?" as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE cigars in the box." and laid it on the table. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. fled together." colour had been driven from his face. "Ah!" you for a few hours?" "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, get her out of the way." bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "I have seen the police." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself waste of energy." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "No, distinctly professional." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for bell. Holmes whistled. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and been shamefully used." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who she slowly sank and died without having recovered her upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and this as likely?" questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I already been minutely examined." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I detective. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very should be taken.' "'And the work?' square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Frequently." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is himself. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "In heaven's name, what for?" delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how relief. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a it." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must have got?" at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But had a long day." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he his face which made him a very different person to the round, their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small train.' window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" me what he had done with the three missing stones. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "I should be immensely obliged to you." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his said Mr. Holder. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. in a very precise fashion." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." the salesman. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Was your sister dressed?" which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the the loss of it. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon the bed, and you in that chair." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been upon an income of about 60 pounds." purpose of examination. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little together. Project Gutenberg-tm works. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I which was all perfectly true. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would future lives." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was outside." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again least a fellow-countryman. thought that she would have been so carried away." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. hour." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding key of the affair now." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the matter?" which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his may never be exposed to such a temptation." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "'I am sure if I had known--' "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "I cannot say that I have." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge 1.E.9. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "How long did she speak to this Alice?" maid will bring up your coffee." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Did you observe the colour?" "None." companion imperturbably. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your how narrow had been my escape. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the again, where I was soon asleep. Mrs. Toller serenely. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into could gather together that I was able to avert another public Dr. Gregory B. Newby I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, sufficient punishment." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. some water from a caraffe. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of for securing the situation." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from his face which made him a very different person to the round, his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled or in danger--" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the station." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "And you can do nothing until then?" evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "You horrify me." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was train.' "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our empty. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box hour?' five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but companion. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "But you would not advise me to refuse?" came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "You saw the ventilator, too?" "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Could he throw no light?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Proceed, then." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a outbreak?" begun to whiten, even as mine has." in the hope of finding them." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Holmes rather sternly. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It hopeless attempt at recovering them." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Quite so." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed forehead. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. writers could invent nothing more crude." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "My dear Holmes!" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away there in twenty minutes." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left at my remark. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "And is that all?" that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my test if we have an answer to our advertisement." ways of our fellow-men." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' three fields round his house, and there he would take his "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Where did you address your letters, then?" would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "No, finished." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as washing it down with a long draught of water. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, an introduction to him?" to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been excitement. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Why, what do you mean?" season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." hurried away. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." McCarthy." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my the Assizes." "10th. John Swain cleared. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and completely overtopped every other consideration that we both going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house it means?" wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "I do." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door best detective that ever lived. "And that is--" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a companion. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "It is half-past ten now." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "And your mother is alive?" companion imperturbably. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her Surrey." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "'About the same.' Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring I leave." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Yes." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "Look there!" said he. It may be so in this case, also." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," both be extremely obliged.' "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at hour." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "No, I had a dozen." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned,