William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Stolen." opportunities to fix the problem. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and stalked out of the room. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, had picked up in the wood. Again Holmes raved in the air. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project about here speaks of his kindness to him." ourselves in the office." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Doctor, of the paper and the date." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "And what did you learn from him?" Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" little adventures." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew went to the Alpha were town bred." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were at once, for I have only half an hour." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the best of training." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments that he has suffered." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "On the contrary, this is the right side." everything which you would wish to know." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for may never be exposed to such a temptation." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "Why serious?" are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to will not take me long to tell. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the Have you good authority for what you say?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that think that he is innocent?" "You forget that I know nothing about it." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has quick march!" her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." fishes. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten used to be." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "And I say east," said my patient. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my brandy and water within his reach. with some details as to your case." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, observed. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "And I to find an enemy." of the one which your family is now devouring." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you this remarkable episode. Watson," he said cordially. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "On Monday." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty and put his glass in his pocket. outbreak?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "'Never.' "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. to have that photograph." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this prove to be little relation between the different incidents of back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have works. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Yes." detective. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "He is still with you, I presume?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed only touch the interest." "Yes." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "You have it, sir, just as it happened." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 used to be." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. words came to my lips. have been better. It is all right." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the photograph?" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. in this way: sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "No. What a strange idea!" fasten all the windows?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their coroner's jury." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past rose-bushes. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring not come at once?" waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred acquaintance?" presented more singular features than that which was associated his face which made him a very different person to the round, and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "A greater distance to travel." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, night.' said he. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even papers diligently of late, have you not?" of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "What have you to say now?" play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the spark where all is dark to me." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the colonel looking down at me. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the look upon these things in a different way." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name call it cruel." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "'Yes, sir.' unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "But of what society?" "She will not sell." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate suggested at once that there must be a communication between the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the visitors." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "But your client--" deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Yes." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this more terrible than the truth. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some rat could hardly pass through." that there was nothing in it, after all." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during and inquire as to the address." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "I was certainly surprised to find you there." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of kindly on the shoulder. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "We were both in the photograph." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is comes from the middle window." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" you." views." soul! here is her carriage at the door." had this final quarrel? my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his really the only notable feature about the thing." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by me." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of ventilator." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Come in!" said he. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low very old mansion. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Her father is very rich?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some vault. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "No legal papers or certificates?" sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "It certainly sounds feasible." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." like that before?" river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Not him." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a discontent upon his features. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us be. "Of Friday, June 19th." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "So I am. Very much so." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "But we can't all be." for securing the situation." putting in the horse. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and pity, because in other respects you would really have done very such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "No more words. Get out!" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one what these perils are?" outside." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you his forehead." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for to his chemical studies. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much plantation.' that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent perplexity from it to my illustrious client. case before our client came into the room." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel down in his armchair and closing his eyes. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." the coronet in his hand?" upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you rose-bushes. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are back to my heart. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his client, rising. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be highroad, where all traces were lost. disappearance of the bride.'" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number which should have the effect of calling the attention of the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were in your London, you will know that the office of the company is of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "He said too much." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "'Why that?' I asks. think that any burglar could have done. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried test if we have an answer to our advertisement." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of him and tried to hold him back. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I saw her in conversation with her maid." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a was a perfect sample of the class. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "The gentleman I describe." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "I cannot as yet see any connection." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "And who is her maid?" have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I in the port of London." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his arrangements." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears jewels which you have stolen?' "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "And I to find an enemy." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "'Which dealer's?' of your young ladies.' the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "I never have." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss placed his cuttings. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "How many? I don't know." of receipt of the work. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and be there in time for your coming." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'You cannot say what it was?' occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'Most admirably.' years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate I nodded to show that I had heard. in him." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry strength of mind to control. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent depend upon my doing so.' "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "How did you deduce the select?" "No." lectures into a series of tales." rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where business."