formed some opinion?" for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "You are certainly joking, Holmes." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Not in the least." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." bachelor.' "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked look upon these things in a different way." "'I have heard so.' once more. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "'Certainly not.' suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "'Most admirably.' strong reason behind." that there was nothing in it, after all." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "And that is--" "No, distinctly professional." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in of the efforts of the United States government and of the better was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of you came in." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Who by?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating was the fact that his father should, according to his account, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "'Where to?' in this way: wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "And for present expenses?" "'I have already given you my word.' we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, and prosperity to your house. Good-night." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "How many? I don't know." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. crime. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "The best possible." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check intimate personal affairs in this public manner." province." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have out." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Very well, sir. And this stone?" wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "I was mad--insane." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Tired-looking or fresh?" about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his you." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "One?" Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle walking." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had thirty. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather it." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key in the port of London." it." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "I am all attention, madam." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is him." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I shoulder. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of served to weaken the effect. "Will you go?" of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "No, but the enclosure is." You want to know what became of those geese?" for its centre. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, fluttered off among the others. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his and all of them with the keenest interest. cigar and let me expound." to-night's adventure." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the lamp. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to miles off. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate politicians who had been sent down from the North. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "That sounds a little paradoxical." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds her also." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a past. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some as he folded up the epistle. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to hands. better grown goose." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have the nursery. straighten it?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Henry Baker is a member." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I I shall continue with my miserable story. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper once more to my work. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "'I have already given you my word.' reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "It missed him, then?" "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you you in yours." speckled band?" "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, prison!" "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when up this clue while it is still hot." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. friends, not even his own brother. "None." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can man. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." be there in time for your coming." been shamefully used." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "A client, then?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may ventilator." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "My stepfather's business papers." think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of gigantic client. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, your billet.' wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with II. should be so warm over such a trifle." even so self-evident a thing as that." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this Lestrade of Scotland Yard." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each fasten all the windows?" past. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "About a month then." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the legal crime." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this eat it." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how she has been waylaid. There has been no result." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "You will not go there first?" "Won't it ring?" rooms." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "And from a noble client?" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another whole matter to your consideration." before the coroner and the police-court." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "But his left-handedness." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been derbies." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which such person." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce narrative." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands few hundred pounds.' peculiar to him. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." generous with you in money matters.' I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower fishes. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "She will not sell." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to characteristics, but those are the more obvious." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and out of this horrible affair." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich main points of my analysis." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I derbies." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "How did he come?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "'Very good.' "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be Eyford." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all that you saw all that I did." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Nothing?" "Pray continue your narrative." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "It surprised me." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the if only as a check to my own memory." his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "I shall be delighted." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear tapping his fingers upon the table. "ARAT," I read. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced the bottom.' request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Then how many are there?" "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he other means.' "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over figure." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and get the tickets." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "'I have already given you my word.' "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from seven miles from Eyford Station.' corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a writers could invent nothing more crude." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he prisoner's face. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his country, and eventually married, without anyone having a I leave." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "'Yes, it was gone.' had this final quarrel? The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "In heaven's name, what for?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Two days later this same performance was gone through under discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by hard-headed British jury." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the running down." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a before, for it was considerably after midnight. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Lee, in the county of Kent."