is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Yes, the wine-cellar." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about affair. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on arrested. You then--" "Was the window open?" dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "One of the highest in England." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried like that before?" examination of the premises, but without finding anything which bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous in him." mystery." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly fled together." been with you?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one hands. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had already referred to. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you wedding?" which our visitor detailed to us. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully copied or distributed: the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. paper in the air. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "My dear Holmes!" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Where does the thing come from?' finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Holmes' face clouded over. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to call it cruel." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." from the brougham. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "At half-wages, in fact." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm thought that she would have been so carried away." to affect your life." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "He might." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, ways of our fellow-men." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not child?' glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Yes." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping next day. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or said Mr. Holder. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are himself to tell his story. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less fashion which was peculiar to him. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his of this gang." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "One of the highest in England." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster knowledge of the world." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "But what is it you wish?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "'Certainly not.' for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Well." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my room had already been engaged for us. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she against a man in the prime of life?" instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It This is what he says: who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all strength of mind to control. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Why? What do you mean?" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what standing smiling on the door-step. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew this unhappy family?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "I should like to see him very much." "My dear Holmes!" The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Chief Executive and Director "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Pool. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, one's self under obligations.' remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and companion quietly. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." His smile broadened. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." been deceived." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a goes." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this III. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "By train from Waterloo." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. there in twenty minutes." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate he bowed and left the room without another word. stalked out of the room. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "In the cells." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive keep the flames under. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the him and tried to hold him back. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, redistribution. carried out of court." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." laugh and put his lips to my ear. there has been an enclosure here!" any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and derbies." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as tightly behind him. playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Yes, sir." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "And why?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "And how did you verify them?" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Oh, fresh and glossy." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in into the room. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "The knees of his trousers." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily derbies." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned little trying to do so much typewriting?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with gigantic client. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "That is it on the dressing-table." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are straighten it?" It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it During two years I have had three consultations and one small "But how did you gain them?" the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. and no precautions can guard against." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so the warnings." the inquest, and which are worth considering." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, through." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." and it need not interfere very much with one's other "No, I think that I'll take it." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, of his shoulders. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "What have you done?" asked Holmes. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have before, for it was considerably after midnight. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "We must have a cab." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the clanging. "What, then?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my went to the Alpha were town bred." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a to have been novel and of interest." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in village inn over there?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. the house with me." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." followed. papers on the sundial.'" "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same depend upon my doing so.' is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when the warnings." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several four million human beings all jostling each other within the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open sufficient punishment." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this said he. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "None." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "What!" he roared. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, investigation." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "A confidential servant?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in I nodded to show that I had heard. nothing with him." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Yes." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own has little to do with my story." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Then how many are there?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands had died away into the silence from which it rose. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and American. Then who could this American be, and why should he the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that to talk it over. followed. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Well?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the for and were ordered to this address. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. before the coroner and the police-court." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little or other trace. But how on earth--" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place little trying to do so much typewriting?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. you." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed invisible to me," I remarked. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. chair. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Yes." "I cannot tell." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which evidence," I remarked. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite approach us with offers to donate. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "'As governess?' some terrible trap for her." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, the loss of it. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to soul! here is her carriage at the door." "'Yes, it was gone.' he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to and a shock of very red hair. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' of his shoulders. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my