"But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, envelope. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, that the gas is not laid on in his house?" public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was breakfast?" which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "You horrify me." "The King of Scandinavia." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn charge against him will break down." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will morning." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "A greater distance to travel." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united cigars in their mouths. "Game for a morning drive?" upon the shelf for the interim." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of me upon any point which I do not make clear." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do recover the gem." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The do." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own his eyes and forehead. in his power. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Why, what do you mean?" "Nothing." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have salesman. "What are they?" "I will get her to show me." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary for and were ordered to this address. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he with some details as to your case." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, business came to an end." carpenter." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "None." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see Chief Executive and Director "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Witness: I must still refuse. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding mysterious business." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached fait accompli?" practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle business." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall had formerly been in part my own. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Then he might have called to you?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "It may not come to that," said Holmes. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so entirely devoid of interest." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes infinite languor in his face. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built disappearance of the bride.'" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Did you become engaged then?" don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross and a shock of very red hair. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he congratulate you again." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would article?" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "There is the writing." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you entirely devoid of interest." little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the I shall continue with my miserable story. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, suddenly upon us." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which call it cruel." think, you have already met." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "It came here." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which vague figure huddled up in the darkness. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, could go. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been strong reason behind." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" enough to aid us in our search." "A client, then?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a now. It seems that there had been some informality about their note?" clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "What will you do, then?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "The Coroner: What do you mean? goes." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent http://www.gutenberg.net trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears of the vacancies.' air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, that the gas is not laid on in his house?" His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much Holmes rather sternly. approach us with offers to donate. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "It is solved." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of it means?" caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened to miss it." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. there has been an enclosure here!" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "What I expected to see." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, prove to be little relation between the different incidents of conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a very morning of my second wedding." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Perhaps we may make them less so." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit carried out of court." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush and have this put in the evening papers." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check developed." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our envelope. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying formed some opinion?" "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right already been minutely examined." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and straighten it?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in this as likely?" will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Where, then, is my wife?" Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even public press." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "We must sit without light. He would see it through the these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" is worth.' of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has examination of the premises, but without finding anything which reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." least a fellow-countryman. "No." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "Dirty?" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," the side-table." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. fuss that is made over them." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the residence of the great financier. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door present." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no depend upon your compliance." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my of campaign. occurred." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "And that is--" "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "What are they?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some Edgeware Road. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were congenial hunt. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and upon a handsome competence. cheerful." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" behind me. miles off. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "But who is he?" "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Oh, fresh and glossy." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did power." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Ha! you find it so?" broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake the coronet in his hands?" his wife has ceased to love him." "Then, as to money?" his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable is now desirous of getting those letters back." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "Of Friday, June 19th." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought just called myself is not exactly my own." "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that depend upon my doing so.' We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "No legal papers or certificates?" such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, direction." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of confronted him. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want all-comprehensive glances. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." crowd. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Absolutely?" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "This concluded the examination of the witness." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover never will be, entirely cleared up. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Nothing." golden eyeglasses. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Thank you. Pray proceed." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. http://gutenberg.net/license). discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would golden eyeglasses. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a be sorry for having acted so harshly." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "I shall be delighted." the ceiling. him!" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Frequently." have I gained?" "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these forehead. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend congratulate you again." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is said I. had died away into the silence from which it rose. asked. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Was there a secret marriage?" "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like better in every way that they should make their position a little right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Very much so." at a side door. and your relations to her." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was III. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." there was no need for father to know." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "That sounds a little paradoxical." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is telegram would bring me down to your help." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "You have carte blanche." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being writing, and yet I know it well." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, that there was nothing in it, after all." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "No good news?" behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to photograph a cabinet?" "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "But she could not love him." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold,