give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue events than those which have happened in my own family." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only 1.E.9. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "What! Had he lost his wife?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If weighed down with some great anxiety. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Perfectly so." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully Holmes' face clouded over. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the were wasted." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over to surprise her." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that train from Paddington which would bring you there at about discontent upon his features. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "How about poison?" the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his had picked up in the wood. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "This photograph!" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he death." approach us with offers to donate. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. business came to an end." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with union?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a posted to-day." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Whose house is it?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. is," said he presently: breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring washing it down with a long draught of water. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his shoulder; "he's all right." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small already referred to. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was following enigmatical notices: worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "It is very clear." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "How did you trace it, then?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "I promise," said Holmes. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Not I." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for felt?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "'Is purely nominal.' outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "And is that all?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "My last client of the sort was a king." should be taken.' work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' sake, don't!" seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" had died away into the silence from which it rose. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my mystery may be cleared along those lines." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with not fit the lock." help us in this matter." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, his forehead." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face photograph?" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "One of the highest in England." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other closing the door. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "And how in the world did you find them?" entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "A client, then?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. go back?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "And I say east," said my patient. "Texas, I think." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest hour?' my friend's incisive reasoning. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "And the murderer?" thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical stood on the top of it. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "That you are never beaten." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the might help us?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "It surprised me." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "'Certainly,' I answered. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will flock.' Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the the stable lane now." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than there when the Rucastles went away." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Yes?" "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you mystery." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Why did you pick him?" "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" prisoner's face. "Ample." be sorry for having acted so harshly." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the take the flies, but not before." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able ready to-morrow?' sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found papers." "The gentleman I describe." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It is a common subject for conversation. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "But his lameness?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the window, rose as we entered. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project matter." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little new acquaintance to Baker Street. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "What then?" full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is held up the lantern and gazed about him. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as written, and locked the door of the office after me. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a grasp, he hurried from the room. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though the window, rose as we entered. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "I have a cab outside." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are to surprise her." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "And now?" I asked. "'I am sure if I had known--' thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "I cannot imagine." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wall." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "It is possible." grasp, he hurried from the room. "I do." "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his best detective that ever lived. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "No sign of it?" out." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "So I heard. You have him here?" upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "'Why that?' I asks. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his room had already been engaged for us. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "That is also quite modern," said the lady. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never for its centre. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. green of the new foliage. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, prison!" offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal shoulder; "he's all right." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "I think that it is very probable." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Pray do so." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By remarked. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of I. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very Henry Baker is a member." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" the inner apartment." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," least a most suspicious remark." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the fire. You quite follow me?" "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged residence of the great financier. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy you." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. a good hundred miles off by now." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from page at http://pglaf.org in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "What then?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had open." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other McCarthy's innocence. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were cigars in their mouths. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." other, as fresh and trim as possible. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, it." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "Very murderous indeed." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Can I be of assistance?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said