a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Yes, I have one waiting." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "He disappeared so suddenly." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "In answer to an advertisement." cigars in the box." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down fashion which was peculiar to him. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "No." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "What office?" save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "And did you observe any change in her then?" cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and chemical work which was so dear to him. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt be there in time for your coming." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. know what is wrong with it.' finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "I have my revolver," said I. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "You have it, sir, just as it happened." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Certainly." Stoke Moran." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as success. weapon." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "By train from Waterloo." I shall communicate with you." is four-and-twenty." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is hour?' was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so again." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more direction." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "Texas, I think." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her appeared upon the scene." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of Holmes' face clouded over. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of Again Holmes raved in the air. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and said Mr. Holder. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I should be immensely obliged to you." the station." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "But your client--" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Was your sister dressed?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an introspective fashion. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "It is half-past ten now." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his companion. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the way in." your only hope of safety." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up new duties?' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "To ruin me." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to the very morning of the wedding." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the national property. I was determined that the law should have its the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "But it has twice been burgled." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the did not hear it also.' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back then?" to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "My stepfather's business papers." money should be paid at once.' "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless me where it went to?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "How about poison?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "No, distinctly professional." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he down. "But you were on a friendly footing?" The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "In which, sir?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when bill, which interests me deeply." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Has he come with you to-night?" "Could he throw no light?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such friend's singular character. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "'Is 4 pounds a week.' leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "I am to be neutral?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their country, and eventually married, without anyone having a snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "But I have heard all that you have heard." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from hard-headed British jury." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." posted to-day." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "I don't believe it." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," outside." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you friend's singular character. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "And why?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, anything to do with the matter?" "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "'Yes.' late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what events than those which have happened in my own family." "She showed me, as I told you she would." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "'Yes, sir.' the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third locked." chambers. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. me upon any point which I do not make clear." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." good for you to do.' ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair him to go away.' was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the Sutherland. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while chill to my heart. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "Then he might have called to you?" high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "That's no good." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "'Where to?' wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" particular state visit http://pglaf.org "But I am all in the dark." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel rose-bushes. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are fled together." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's address. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had respectable self." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "At the wedding breakfast." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that important." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey British peeress.'" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner papers diligently of late, have you not?" bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it believe that I should never have any practice at all. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, gigantic client. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "And Miss Sutherland?" that there was nothing in it, after all." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only recover the gem." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Your French gold?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm pictures, libraries, or plate. think that any burglar could have done. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "'Where to?' for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Then I shall certainly come." fear." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" nothing of it?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "The gentleman I describe." "What then?" it." "She showed me, as I told you she would." had died away into the silence from which it rose. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees some place of shelter and let the county police know what has Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "The Coroner: What do you mean? assist you in forming an opinion." here and I will read it to you: so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "But his left-handedness." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." other, as fresh and trim as possible. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and For additional contact information: my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over posted to-day." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured next day. of the one which your family is now devouring." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "What then?" distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether look dissatisfied." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "I have come for advice." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had you." "What I expected to see." matter." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my train.' in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "The Cedars?" "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face it. done what I asked you, Jones?" a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "What of the rat, then?" "He said that you could solve anything." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from Eyford." in the hope of finding them." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was notes," he said. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "What are they?" very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "One?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" garden below. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident generous with you in money matters.' "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Never to return." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Not social, then?" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which the matter." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My once more on the important position which you have been fortunate have been better. It is all right." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." you came in." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed This is what he says: pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend go--none." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Yes." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "What then?" permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open more terrible than the truth. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I subject to the trademark license, especially commercial balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' weapon." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "I came to find a friend." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with will he say when he returns?" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be