"But what will you do?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, them?" "He said too much." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. Henry Baker is a member." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." has little to do with my story." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings already referred to. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any way: eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the pictures, libraries, or plate. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project garden below. "But I am all in the dark." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. distinguish the words: "That is also quite modern," said the lady. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then late!' IS brought there to personate someone, and the real person is when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the Surrey." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it away into the river." events than those which have happened in my own family." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must with you?" previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "I don't say that. Perhaps." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." main points of my analysis." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper strode off upon his way. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Was your sister dressed?" wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, business at Coburg Square is serious." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" three fields round his house, and there he would take his presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would there was no need for father to know." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was front of me. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "There are none." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is lectures into a series of tales." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Yes." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled of a light. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United go back?" "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down events, Mr. Windibank!" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even photograph?" Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." you in yours." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for at a side door. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I know where it is." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Dark enough and sinister enough." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine my room." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest here and I will read it to you: certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." like that before?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway four million human beings all jostling each other within the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have beg that you will break it off." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." in a very precise fashion." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "And why?" his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Why? What do you mean?" spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to note?" Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "No. His orders were to stay in the house." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat fishes. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up observed. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, quite distinctive." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit ceremony." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of young Openshaw's." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "And what did you learn from him?" its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. crime." "I cannot tell." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my plantation.' quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for guilty one." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of business at Coburg Square is serious." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That ourselves in the office." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and dramatic, in fact." "Yes, certainly." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of it." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I figure." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could matter." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than highroad, where all traces were lost. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery acquaintance?" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "And the cigar-holder?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have Again Holmes raved in the air. was feeling which was the fattest.' heavily into it. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional chill to my heart. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of with you alone." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was me upon any point which I do not make clear." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some strong reason behind." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Which are?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "My Mary? Impossible!" "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Sutherland. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "And how?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents in this note: once more on the important position which you have been fortunate never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." there is a decided draught." more solid." that I may have something better before very many minutes are an introduction to him?" quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Where, then?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence was lame." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to writer." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is she to prove their authenticity?" and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." written, and locked the door of the office after me. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "What! You do not mean bodies?" offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Precisely." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found morning." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I singular points about the case. What did the police think of the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. money should be paid at once.' us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "What will you do, then?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, know that the truth is known." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was crime." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "That was it, sir." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "You forget that I know nothing about it." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of tell him that I know him to be innocent." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his Lestrade of Scotland Yard." I. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we and glanced through. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you I leave." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the very morning of the wedding." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him window when the police appeared." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the depend upon my doing so.' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that would then never go into court at all." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Witness: It was. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "You have carte blanche." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" to some other building. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Why, what do you mean?" house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Will you go?" return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been ashen face. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime papers on the sundial.'" he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Young McCarthy must be got off, however." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever go from here to the Strand." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "That is possible." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their handed it to him. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest giving me time to thank him. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in front of me. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations to affect your life." "She will not sell." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." way in." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name garden below. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Yes, he did." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." go--none." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "I guessed as much." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me chill to my heart. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. my little problems." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, them present such singular features as the strange train of For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "I have a cab outside." beg that you will break it off." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "Witness: I must still refuse. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be