"But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening too. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the it. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Mary, has deserted me." "No." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to them?" garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was London for the present?" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten Sutherland?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while allusion to a rat. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" of them has the shutters up.' ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. the morning and make my own way in the world.' As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "In the cells." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in weary and pale-looking. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side IS Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather bore every mark of being an average commonplace British exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He round with crates and massive boxes. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "By train from Waterloo." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. together. certainly do as you advise." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the of your young ladies.' ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "You have the photograph?" should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some too. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in suddenly upon us." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "That's no good." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. on re-entering her father's house?" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or enter into my head. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Won't it ring?" beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out allusion to a rat. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her fled together." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am views." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not through." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "The vanishing of the lady." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the http://www.gutenberg.net could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a my special province." matter over." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, floor. II. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the could gather together that I was able to avert another public man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my way: When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Why serious?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful presented more singular features than that which was associated "Here?" "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too you in your example." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Ample." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Of what day?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight this remarkable episode. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear once more. this as likely?" wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a possible that we could bring him back to her? "But how did you gain them?" "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged http://gutenberg.net/license). the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the will be renamed. "Ample." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more not as remarkable as your advertisement." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Not I." "And you can do nothing until then?" ordinary clothes on?" back alive. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "Always." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a all?" doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "That sounds a little paradoxical." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "To ruin me." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "My dear Holmes!" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton had formerly been in part my own. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "'Yes, sir.' "You have carte blanche." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no seen the man in the road." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "And you thought he was pulled back?" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his shadow pass over his face as I spoke. affection." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. 1.E.9. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Who by?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "Proceed, then." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the fled together." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would writers could invent nothing more crude." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to is so. I know all about McCarthy." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "It is half-past ten now." becomes even more simple." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "How on earth--" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that jewels which you have stolen?' I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying papers." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "In heaven's name, what for?" agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is if I call to-morrow?" door?" seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "'Ample.' word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "You forget that I know nothing about it." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. clanging. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Not social, then?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before and prosperity to your house. Good-night." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle you want, then?' "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Where does the thing come from?' which our visitor detailed to us. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a compunction about shooting them down." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of should be so warm over such a trifle." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled of Fenchurch Street." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil so.' am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he he. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "The decline of his fortunes, then?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day geese which you supplied to the Alpha." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. place of silver." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "There are none." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a and prosperity to your house. Good-night." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and was used.' the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little lamp. "Yes, from Horsham." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the records." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when I nodded again. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence chamber." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out Foundation "At what time?" down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest me. You must get home instantly and act." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself geese which you supplied to the Alpha." placed his cuttings. "But of what society?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted swore that no one else had been in the front room during the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian be. some water from a caraffe. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "I will, Miss Turner." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "So I have heard." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more my little problems." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few may never be exposed to such a temptation." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, McCarthy's innocence. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. and a shock of very red hair. floor. hard-headed British jury." was a loud and authoritative tap. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case said Mr. Holder. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had foot. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Certainly." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of envelope. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, enough to aid us in our search." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of kind enough to tell me what I should do." prisoner's face. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "I know where it is." future lives." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you way in everything. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we carpenter." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a stalked out of the room. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Nothing." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in young Openshaw's." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might trying to your nerves." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone pity, because in other respects you would really have done very round and wave him away like that.' "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Very. But will he see it?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Then, how do you know?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with placed his cuttings. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" here and I will read it to you: corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his fish-monger and a tide-waiter." he bowed and left the room without another word. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the