"10th. John Swain cleared. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and and capable of preserving a secret.' "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which so.' use an arc-and-compass breastpin." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough sound at heart." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was to-night?" I asked. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "We must have a cab." "I will try. What is it?" framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "Certainly." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is himself. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Yes, he did." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is carried out of court." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "No. What a strange idea!" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "By all means." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am used to be." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could know what is wrong with it.' or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Yes." "No, I think that I'll take it." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "But your client--" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his one of them." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from is entirely a question of barometric pressure." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "My dear Holmes!" where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a awkward doing business with an alias." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He the coroner come to?" possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross of the efforts of the United States government and of the better you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Yes, it would be as well." "I see no marks." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "'Where to?' settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "What then?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face nothing with him." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of father's place of business?" "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact that threaten you." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "I am all attention, madam." he died? is acting for the best. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss habit of advancing money.' my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "I am to be neutral?" case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of soul! here is her carriage at the door." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the I took the paper from him and read as follows: after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Then the page we have seen--" is a common subject for conversation. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole eavesdroppers?' "He might." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at knowledge of the world." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and conclusions. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed three of the beryls in it, was missing. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, here." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "'About the same.' Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "About a month then." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my morning." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been them?" house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. and the whole place is in a blaze." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Nothing." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any as he folded up the epistle. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Then, as to money?" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE absolutely follow my advice in every respect." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange your own bird, so if you wish--" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill may have an influence upon European history." and I shall be with you presently." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in row." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should hour?' the devil!" "Where is it, then?" an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "The King of Scandinavia." she might be summoned. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "That is unusual in a young girl." plantation.' never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the best detective that ever lived. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. as this. Pray let me have the details." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: points in connection with it which never have been, and probably darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in over his head with a sweet womanly caress. who was a member of your goose club." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your depend upon my doing so.' "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are The note was undated, and without either signature or address. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "And now?" He raised his hand. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed is acting for the best. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the observed. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "'Never,' said I. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Because he was handy and would come cheap." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was round and wave him away like that.' "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I the room while you explain this matter?" have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his get the tickets." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault highroad, where all traces were lost. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Yes, there are nearly always some there." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has sparkled upon his finger. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. this as likely?" hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven know all about it," he snarled. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Just look it up, then." unprofitable." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "I beg pardon." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly Have you good authority for what you say?" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have ready to-morrow?' Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Dr. Becher's." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Dr. Becher's." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than galvanised. details." Farm upon the left." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very prisoner's face. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his other means.' suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "What can it mean?" I gasped. "9th. McCauley cleared. clang of the bell. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of business." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "And now?" He raised his hand. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the help us in this matter." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate chambers. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Indeed! Whose, then?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Have you good authority for what you say?" which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Do you go out much in society?" entirely devoid of interest." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "'What would be the hours?' I asked. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the rose-bushes. "To ruin me." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the so far?" and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" are windows in it, of course?" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement records." again on its way. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this other, as fresh and trim as possible. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "And is that all?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no and have this put in the evening papers." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of the salesman. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Certainly." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when Where does the thing come from?' "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my know all about it," he snarled. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my good for you to do.' here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat mystery!" "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all yourselves in at night?" law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, charged with?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "Why, what do you mean?" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime against a man in the prime of life?" theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Not particularly." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with south, for the country is more deserted there." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that anything to do with the matter?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "No." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. lamp.