"Not in a good cause." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Yes, it would be as well." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "'What then?' I asked. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how over his head with a sweet womanly caress. interests were the same as his." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'Is 4 pounds a week.' intimate personal affairs in this public manner." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem Clair, of Lee." congenial hunt. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of in this way: suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Yes, I have one waiting." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "You have but to name it." stepfather?" "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Then I am your man." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed that, and I came down." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with nonsense.' cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then Lestrade of Scotland Yard." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," following enigmatical notices: his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It her also." you in yours." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "You don't mind breaking the law?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of the inner apartment." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection to have been novel and of interest." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of searched, without anything being found which could incriminate akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being companion imperturbably. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but hardly wander." off." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, neither fascinating nor artistic." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both that there was nothing in it, after all." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to following enigmatical notices: sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Not him." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an bill, which interests me deeply." affair. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "I cannot think." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank What do you deduce from it?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Where did he live, then?" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that to have that photograph." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, that threaten you." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the the so-precious time, but come!' VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of with some details as to your case." place no limit on the sum I may draw." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that late!' had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point friend's singular character. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the said I. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to yet." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said prisoner's face. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy bearing upon the case." these bleak autumnal evenings." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers to some other building. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "My last client of the sort was a king." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some reach." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources key of the affair now." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." a room. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Which are?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him through." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Then I shall certainly come." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Yes, from Horsham." colour had been driven from his face. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter should be taken.' nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my photograph?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Then I shall certainly come." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. cigars in their mouths. "Who by?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a present strange and interesting features that it is no easy answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, The King stared at him in amazement. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into back alive. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a fuss that is made over them." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus your sleep?' be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest highly," said Holmes. copied or distributed: "Game for a morning drive?" "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small to affect your life." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Of what day?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "How did he come?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the fact, we may call it conclusive." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their and prosperity to your house. Good-night." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very wedding?" papers on the sundial.'" I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to footfalls from the street. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "I say it is." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I an introduction to him?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were there." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR again before evening." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "Perhaps I have." manager. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where present strange and interesting features that it is no easy Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in posted to-day." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." went to the Alpha were town bred." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Have you good authority for what you say?" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed more terrible than the truth. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Sholtos." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but disappearance of the bride.'" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Miss Holder?" copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "I do." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "Not yet." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. this as likely?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "I know where it is." matter over." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "And I say east," said my patient. closely." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden over here." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester undoubtedly my uncle's." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work entirely devoid of interest." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with Mary, has deserted me." "Pray do so." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Ample." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "There are none." seen the man in the road." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some must be when I saw the door open.' value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the infinite languor in his face. "Always." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Yes, it would be as well." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope shaken than I had ever seen him. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Her father is very rich?" makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her photograph?" giving me time to thank him. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "The Cedars?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "VIOLET HUNTER." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police correct than the official force." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old dramatic, in fact." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Come in!" said Holmes. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his lost his Christmas dinner." the general public were present, then?" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest third from London." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in shall use the carriage to-night." look upon these things in a different way." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its disappearance of these gems?" started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the just ask you whether you had heard it.' all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more tear off another piece?' "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an that I am arrested." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. fattened it expressly for you.' tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, this remarkable episode. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, started for the Temple to see my husband. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and ventilator." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and