Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" your bag." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed you for a few hours?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him nothing of it?" and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Where did you address your letters, then?" have an American origin." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell train.' is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." the house with me." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See system of imprisonment?" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in It may be so in this case, also." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you habit of advancing money.' time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there was a lad." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, bachelor.' his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you cause to be." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Look there!" said he. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Oh, fresh and glossy." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my has little to do with my story." into the room. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "The doctor?" "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The might have a private word with us. "Breckinridge is his name." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You know that the truth is known." death." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Then I am your man." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he hour?' "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon closing the door. the Assizes." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between works. See paragraph 1.E below. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag overpowering excitement and concern. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. when your master had gone out." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "We were both in the photograph." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of in my life." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came The King stared at him in amazement. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "That is unusual in a young girl." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but was a lad." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco families. Now for the facts. "She walked into the breakfast-room." DAMAGE. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "But not more so than I to find you." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases nothing of it?" that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few eavesdroppers?' transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project of your young ladies.' sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was matter over." humiliation." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "You think so, too?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you right! Sit down and let us talk it over." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, pictures, libraries, or plate. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into of Fenchurch Street." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "Yes." him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was for securing the situation." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is even of instruction." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down invisible to me," I remarked. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled spare." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do cheerful." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen made his money." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." this Miss Turner." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Not I." towards the blaze. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "On Monday." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with the address that was given us in the advertisement. you." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "One of his hands." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Surrey." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "You are all wrong." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "It is very kind of you." the matter." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door have an American origin." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. always that they were such commands as a lady might with presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced could go. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. have I gained?" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped been able to understand it, in a very few words. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "One of his hands." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be had formerly been in part my own. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." hand, madam?" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the salesman. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a of." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. in a very precise fashion." with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Where, indeed?" the Assizes." The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream prove to be little relation between the different incidents of in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a way: "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in forbidden door. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Always." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Yes." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your noble correspondent could be. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your the one as in the other." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the you do it in twenty minutes!' "My dear Holmes!" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the think you a quite exceptional woman." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project trifles." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter morning." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Well." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. article?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just husband's writing, madam." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Your French gold?" contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That this truth that in these little records of our cases which you take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. strength." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. posted to-day." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Yes." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "He disappeared so suddenly." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. his knees, staring into the fire. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a round and wave him away like that.' himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He enter into my head. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips as noiselessly as she had come. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was crime. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Did you become engaged then?" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "In which, sir?" followed. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "That is it on the dressing-table." as the one I chose?' a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the business at Coburg Square is serious." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my he. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "On your arm?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found eat it." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent was used.' invisible to me," I remarked. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that indeed which he could not unravel. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who ago." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The was feeling which was the fattest.' "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "My own seal." money should be paid at once.' Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the will be renamed. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "What of the rat, then?" up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he to-night?' "I should be immensely obliged to you." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William straighten it?" Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Oh, yes, easily." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right remarked. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "None." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." whereabouts. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "On the contrary, this is the right side." matter over." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "It may not come to that," said Holmes. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Dark enough and sinister enough." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady had picked up in the wood. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Yes, they were peculiar boots." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag rat could hardly pass through." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his husband's writing, madam." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in