o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." with her." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." man. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with business in the City. She little knew what. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man some terrible trap for her." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to ill-usage at the hands of fortune. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Yes?" his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." think, you have already met." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." to arrive at through this?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding test if we have an answer to our advertisement." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes footfalls from the street. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not comes from the middle window." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "'I have already given you my word.' at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to unprecedented a position." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "But how could you guess what the motive was?" to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well criminal. We have already had experience of such." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With future lives." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore and that he would see to anything that turned up. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "I say that I have solved it." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped there were so many in the whole country as were brought together permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Cross for the Continent." annoyance, but no jest. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a that?' "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "And sit in the dark?" abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "You are hungry," I remarked. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son not use it unless it is absolutely needed." of the vacancies.' it." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet me where it went to?" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little stepfather?" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "None." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Ten will be early enough." could gather together that I was able to avert another public to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "No. What a strange idea!" had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, room. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment business." up this clue while it is still hot." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in acted in my house last night?" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "'About the same.' form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar with some details as to your case." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently depend upon my doing so.' quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a derbies." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "I saw her in conversation with her maid." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "By train from Waterloo." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "The decline of his fortunes, then?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "And how?" do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that morning." excitement. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an to have been novel and of interest." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you tassel actually lying upon the pillow. generous with you in money matters.' connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "And what did you see?" and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Can I be of assistance?" news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and the driver. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and Countess of Morcar's?" frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "You horrify me." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "And from a noble client?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, man. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Here?" shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It occupations.' "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw the best of training." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another London for the present?" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of I. Count Von Kramm." redistribution. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an were wasted." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, rat could hardly pass through." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "It was a confession," I ejaculated. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the read it out to me." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "I know where it is." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It Foundation "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too hopeless attempt at recovering them." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez with the outside air!" held up the lantern and gazed about him. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" you?' "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your outbreak?" Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever new acquaintance to Baker Street. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that even so self-evident a thing as that." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the bears upon the case?" Lestrade of Scotland Yard." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and Sutherland?" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Yes, I have one waiting." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has there!' "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "'I have already given you my word.' correct than the official force." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "But how will you look?" Stoke Moran." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be events, Mr. Windibank!" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Of Friday, June 19th." never will be, entirely cleared up. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "What! You do not mean bodies?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Not in the least." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Certainly." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday skylight. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "I should be immensely obliged to you." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught unclasping of his long thin hands. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train before, for it was considerably after midnight. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a is now desirous of getting those letters back." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Not I." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when of the way of danger. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, me. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have ordinary clothes on?" be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Not him." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was pressing in one house as in another. "Eh? What was that?" know what is wrong with it.' searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the night.' "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment 1.E.9. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that over with notes and figures. "What then?" question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony companion. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his and shall probably return to London by the evening train." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "What then?" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." peculiar to him. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "Who was the criminal, then?" should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "You heard nothing yourself last night?" full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." for and were ordered to this address. tell me that you intended to go into harness." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, cost them two and thirty pounds." "'As governess?' "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's to take care of herself." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another tear off another piece?' "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Absolutely none." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting