dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining very old mansion. the night.' went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw should be taken.' "One of his hands." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just colonel looking down at me. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and fashion which was peculiar to him. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Were they all fastened this morning?" a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had foot. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my highly," said Holmes. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in laugh and put his lips to my ear. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little to tackle the facts." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. be sorry for having acted so harshly." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Doctor, of the paper and the date." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" was shining brightly. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" upon the sideboard." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all for its centre. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "That is not always so easy." he bowed and left the room without another word. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Thank you. And your address?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" as he folded up the epistle. "In answer to an advertisement." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it really the only notable feature about the thing." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all drove away. learned something! Where are the gems?" any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural who was a member of your goose club." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without in a very precise fashion." "I cannot say that I have." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "No legal papers or certificates?" room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "I see many objections to any such theory." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming closing the door. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "No." my friend's incisive reasoning. soul! here is her carriage at the door." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I seem to you to be relevant or not." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Ample." cup of tea. papers." legal crime." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. DAMAGE. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, very old mansion. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "But you were on a friendly footing?" "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been me." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Then I do not see the point." secret." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; cheerful." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Oh, fresh and glossy." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." disappearance of the bride.'" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "By train from Waterloo." heavy and sharp instrument." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I highroad, where all traces were lost. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning begun to whiten, even as mine has." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "I think it very unlikely." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in questioning and rather startled gaze. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "My own seal." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and your co-operation." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, points to suicide?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and bonnet, and went out." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been green of the new foliage. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood power." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Have you it here?" "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and help us in this matter." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a tension within him. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all useful material for showing traces. The double line a little round with crates and massive boxes. "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" plantation.' deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography what is your own theory as to what took place?" have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present to-morrow." "I have solved it." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less matter." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case since then to throw any light upon what became of him." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the my little problems." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper plantation.' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man might have a private word with us. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the invisible to me," I remarked. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I were new raised from a basin. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at tension within him. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream been." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same the bottom.' disappearance of the bride.'" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found bell. Holmes whistled. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Of what day?" value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical suspect him." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "No, my brougham is waiting." "When did it break out?" like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm chance." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, a monotonous occupation." "What of the rat, then?" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. For additional contact information: "To an English lawyer named Norton." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but such attractions and accomplishments?' you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." easy-going way." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Was your sister dressed?" devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned go from here to the Strand." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded your bag." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly way in." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I don't believe it." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "'Never,' said I. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a copied or distributed: "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of yourselves in at night?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never narrative." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of him and tried to hold him back. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when hour?' tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it lost his Christmas dinner." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel open." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Yes." went to the Alpha were town bred." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you foresight and the moral retrogression?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but at once, for I have only half an hour." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Well?" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I happened." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which I. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying that he will be back before evening." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside cigars in their mouths. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I for and were ordered to this address. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady had this final quarrel? I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "You think that he is dead?" "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." have not had my rubber." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "But he might be a bachelor." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "It is half-past ten now." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "It is true that I have been generally successful." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "One of his hands." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that jewels which you have stolen?' "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Yes." from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted I am not easy in my mind about them." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend seven miles from Eyford Station.' she to prove their authenticity?" the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It gentleman's clothes. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and examination of the premises, but without finding anything which pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Foundation husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, the window, rose as we entered. house for five minutes.' hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little The King stared at him in amazement. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "And how did you verify them?" to talk it over. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Precisely." stalked out of the room. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to key turn in the lock." the date of his supposed suicide." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Seven!" I answered. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what troubles have been weighing upon his mind. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and