said he. Count Von Kramm." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Where, then, is my wife?" some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. of." said he. have an American origin." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or to you." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Come in!" said he. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. conceal it?" For additional contact information: maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting pound a week." "Why did you pick him?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of had picked up in the wood. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the my room." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, dear old homesteads?" "Witness: I must still refuse. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Well, but China?" have got?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At not come at once?" of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other there in twenty minutes." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version putting in the horse. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Game for a morning drive?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so not come at once?" "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a one of the states of the Union." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' business in the City. She little knew what. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "No, finished." "'Oh, no.' maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "'I am sure if I had known--' fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the photograph a cabinet?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So papers diligently of late, have you not?" "I have seen the police." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "How many? I don't know." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from to have that photograph." occurred." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from take the flies, but not before." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "The knees of his trousers." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Deserted you?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in when your master had gone out." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged we went to search for him, face downward in a little another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is these bleak autumnal evenings." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate purpose equally well?" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall hard-headed British jury." to some other building. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently who was a member of your goose club." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." tied." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate morning." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have your own bird, so if you wish--" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "My private note-paper." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I do." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." once more for Briony Lodge. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. Gutenberg-tm License. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Certainly." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." cigars in the box." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Dr. Becher's." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish confronted him. were wasted." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will tell him that I know him to be innocent." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker here." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of bore every mark of being an average commonplace British home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Do you go out much in society?" character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "If I can be of use." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and morning." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the and capable of preserving a secret.' "I do." them?" "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of deduce something from that?" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It him nearly every evening." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this not as remarkable as your advertisement." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the room while you explain this matter?" any." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few note?" "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "You are all wrong." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous wanted for ourselves." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own head. So long, then!" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "None." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his into the room. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "I came to find a friend." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' London for the present?" her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Where, indeed?" all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. disturbance in my wife." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs thin legs towards the fire. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never fuss that is made over them." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp which was all perfectly true. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project it with his own hands." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking respectable self." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, so.' photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of opened a pocket-book and took out a note. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an south, for the country is more deserted there." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their crime." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold the coronet at all injured?" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Of Friday, June 19th." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "You heard nothing yourself last night?" enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Oh, fresh and glossy." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up to you." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." lumber-room." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Yes, only one." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. the bottom.' other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, way: hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "He disappeared so suddenly." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, remarked. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country closing the door. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," then?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very said I. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that anything to a woman, for she would have her way." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the running down." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "What do you mean?" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Yes." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I ventilator." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, back to my heart. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "How about poison?" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "What shall I do?" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you cost them two and thirty pounds." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, meant." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Well." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the you." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a you." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what was keenly on my guard against him. were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and of his shoulders. question. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "What have you to say now?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "And your father? Did you tell him?" pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Awake, Watson?" he asked. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady roused himself from his reverie. seen the man in the road." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging me, and I could not think that his explanation of the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. with frightened eyes at his accuser. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now himself. This is what he says: afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Not particularly." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "To an English lawyer named Norton." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "In what way?" asked Holmes. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure test if we have an answer to our advertisement." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, the coroner come to?" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had gentleman's clothes. heavy and sharp instrument." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." it." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter and inquire as to the address." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no forbidden door. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Who was the criminal, then?" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There troubles have been weighing upon his mind. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Whose house is it?" not come at once?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Yes." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in