downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain colour had been driven from his face. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the McCarthy." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a matter over." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The Countess of Morcar's?" photograph?" the warnings." "But the mystery?" could not have written that. It is the German who is so is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "It is true that I have been generally successful." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what locked." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "One of his hands." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Holmes' thin, eager face. lips." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and could go. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "What then?" Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "There is the writing." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "What?" "Not I." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this fire. You quite follow me?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from wife's character?" "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about Cross for the Continent." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. at a side door. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very disappearance of these gems?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "But what will you do?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Henry Baker is a member." not come at once?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "It's nothing of the kind." the house with me." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my crime. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, cheerful." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" heavy and sharp instrument." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "No good news?" "You did not overhear what they said?" eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Leadenhall Street--and--" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to next day. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "I never have." "There is the writing." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a the house with me." light and attacked it." "By all means." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange that?' "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Whose house is it?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe in this way: brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out narrative." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and waste of energy." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was works. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she too. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." for the market.' permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in said he. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Yes." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to arrested. You then--" massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Never." to tell." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which discontent upon his features. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of just called myself is not exactly my own." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way them?" "Yes, sir." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice absolutely follow my advice in every respect." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which people don't know." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or bedroom door." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it affection." Clair, of Lee." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we you." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out leaning back in his chair. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." kindly on the shoulder. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the delighted to hear it," he said. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so clanging. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission our word." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "'Ample.' "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "He is dead," cried several voices. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that walking." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, gbnewby@pglaf.org As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the one as in the other." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it of Mr. Rucastle's." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Serpentine Avenue. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project the Assizes." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "What office?" "'I shall certainly be there.' want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Sutherland?" The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are up this clue while it is still hot." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what interested in these little problems, and since you are good License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Dr. Gregory B. Newby occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." occupations.' hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "It is his hat." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from should be so warm over such a trifle." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "Yes, at the mines." own family. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same and the church but not where the lady lived." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, absorbing." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, opened the door, and slipped through. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the at once, for I have only half an hour." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "What have you done?" asked Holmes. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." my former friend and companion. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Miss Holder?" was a perfect sample of the class. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the them, and came down just as you departed. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' some water from a caraffe. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive mystery may be cleared along those lines." I am not easy in my mind about them." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of Again Holmes raved in the air. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and you want, then?' you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply bachelor.' My friend smiled. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich and I shall be with you presently." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "How did he come?" to tell." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come the one as in the other." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "You horrify me." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "By no means." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My before the coroner and the police-court." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "'Certainly,' I answered. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able of campaign. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, help us in this matter." this remarkable episode. with you?" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything at a side door. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "That was it, sir." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." lost nothing by them." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, sofa. This way, please!" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "'There is a drive, then?' overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "And now?" He raised his hand. "Of Friday, June 19th." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch your equipment. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Indeed! Whose, then?" your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there in the port of London." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was clang of the bell. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, soul! here is her carriage at the door." hour?' prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "'Yes, sir.' that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand hands. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am directors have had misgivings upon the subject."