of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his to-night's adventure." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for it." "No. What a strange idea!" He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "And on what day did he meet his death?" Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did what do you think they found in the pockets?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Pray tell us what has happened to you." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp sparkled upon his finger. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow he. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you gentleman's clothes. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "I am armed." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "And that is--" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could once more to my work. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a once more. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "What are they?" "'Yes, sir.' was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Where did he live, then?" fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." signal between you and your father? calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" carpenter." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the McCarthy." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "I see many objections to any such theory." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Was she in good spirits?" remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "The knees of his trousers." my little problems." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could and shall probably return to London by the evening train." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. invisible to me," I remarked. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a might have a private word with us. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a you found me to-night--and running through the front room she call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he daring than any effort of the imagination." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us annoyance, but no jest. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "I cannot say that I have." "No." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to that you saw all that I did." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. hurried away. see a sister of mine apply for." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of his wife has ceased to love him." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you conversation I have gathered that they have been married about a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "It was." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes God! What an exposure! What can I do?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot generous with you in money matters.' said Mr. Holder. "How did you trace it, then?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "A greater distance to travel." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "One horse?" interjected Holmes. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp answered with a sidelong glance. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "He is still with you, I presume?" upon a handsome competence. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to in the hope of finding them." strong and stiff." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you answered with a sidelong glance. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. the driver. "Look there!" said he. "Not in the least." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 weary and pale-looking. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Murdered?" sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Only as much as we can deduce." not come at once?" "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the whatever might befall. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. a good hundred miles off by now." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed lamp. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE most important business. It is probable that he will be away all about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these know what is wrong with it.' difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their husband's writing, madam." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and in this way: suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "And from a noble client?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "And Miss Sutherland?" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money said he at last. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "And how in the world did you find them?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was will not take me long to tell. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as hopeless attempt at recovering them." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of his eyes and forehead. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm and effective." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she a monotonous occupation." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have because she had spent so short a time in this country that she Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They felt the room to be a little close.' concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Breckinridge is his name." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. constraint." and I shall be with you presently." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "'Quite sure, dad.' walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "I don't say that. Perhaps." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever matter over." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." you give your casting vote to?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "What do you mean?" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. asked. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "One horse?" interjected Holmes. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I seen the man in the road." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "And the murderer?" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' people in all walks of life. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "The vanishing of the lady." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which three fields round his house, and there he would take his idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "'And what salary do you ask?' would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, which our visitor detailed to us. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Pray tell us what has happened to you." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a she used." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Thank you. Pray proceed." acted in my house last night?" penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "I know where it is." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for on in his house." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "I say it is." kind enough to tell me what I should do." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "'What do you call purely nominal?' reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "It is possible." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Where did you address your letters, then?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "You were travelling in the States?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet imbecility!" he cried. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "She will not sell." seem to you to be relevant or not." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil good-night and bustled off upon her way. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had everything which you would wish to know." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "He is still with you, I presume?" young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He opportunities to fix the problem. "And now?" He raised his hand. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I completely overtopped every other consideration that we both into her hand at the door and which lured her within their liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a of." unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a must compliment you." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the interests were the same as his." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent intimate personal affairs in this public manner." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and was used.' after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of depend upon your compliance." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I to-night." tail." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. I think that I could be of assistance to you." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of been deceived." the one as in the other." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "You horrify me!" me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" the matter." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a must compliment you." touch that coronet?' on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and 'I should be able to look after that for you.' incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "What office?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just over with notes and figures. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "But what is it you wish?" tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "Thank you. And your address?" "It missed him, then?" charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "VIOLET HUNTER." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he furiously. chemical work which was so dear to him. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way and I shall be with you presently." what is your own theory as to what took place?" down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. and put his glass in his pocket. cigar and let me expound." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you