and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous colonel looking down at me. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our help us in this matter." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent again on its way. back to my heart. My friend smiled. "Yes." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into to where he stood hid behind the curtain. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for round and wave him away like that.' this unhappy family?" reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with fait accompli?" staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "I think that it is very probable." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the of." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' will he say when he returns?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Not in a good cause." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "To the police?" circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir appeal." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, like gravel from a pit.' man. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "About a month then." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the back to my heart. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not you give your casting vote to?" drove away. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will in the hope of finding them." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To like gravel from a pit.' married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in criminal. We have already had experience of such." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is have established a very serious case against the son of the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "No." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not that threaten you." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each ceremony." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been the salesman. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you the little opening for the ventilator is." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Certainly, madam." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to o'clock is it?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been despaired of." dates and names. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Ah!" II. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his be.' "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. excitement. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the matter?" client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can awkward doing business with an alias." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Perfectly so." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Munro.' "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "What do you mean?" the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you the window, rose as we entered. footfalls from the street. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of becomes even more simple." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. security.' "Very murderous indeed." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for rooms." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in woven round him. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his problems help me to do so." "But what will you do?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the your most interesting statement." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "When did she vanish, then?" light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. his cane at the bell-pull. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "That is it on the dressing-table." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then article?" very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not himself to hunt down. that I may have something better before very many minutes are cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a married her." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of trying to your nerves." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Munro.' could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "I cannot say that I have." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "I say it is." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this fire. You quite follow me?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "'I have heard so.' be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Seven!" I answered. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a and shall probably return to London by the evening train." like gravel from a pit.' graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone will take you up to see the machine.' dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the at a side door. "How many? I don't know." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "Yes, it would be as well." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was people in all walks of life. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is three fields round his house, and there he would take his abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, me upon any point which I do not make clear." certainly do as you advise." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Pray tell us what has happened to you." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and from the brougham. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send a few minutes he said that it would be all right. possible that we could bring him back to her? a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more locked." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was of a light. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "I cannot imagine." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw existence." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." the inner apartment." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into suddenly upon us." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall recall any case within my experience which looked at the first midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like ourselves in the office." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of said I. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Pray do so." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it to have that photograph." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with minor matters until to-morrow." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "But of what society?" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other upon the white wrist. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been your sleep?' "It certainly sounds feasible." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "You don't mind breaking the law?" newspaper selections." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at horse could go." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Stolen." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, had formerly been in part my own. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. narrative." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "'Quite sure, dad.' and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "By all means." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use do.' 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have daring than any effort of the imagination." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and situation." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "And who is her maid?" "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "I cannot as yet see any connection." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the redistribution. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each eat it." few hundred pounds.' while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Stolen." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your crackling voice. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Yes, they were peculiar boots." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows have I gained?" room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "But you would not advise me to refuse?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper corner of the building. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "'Certainly not. But why?' writing, and yet I know it well." "But we can't all be." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "So it appears." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Yes, from Horsham." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do emerged. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right I leave." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend this unhappy family?" in my life."