puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my affair. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. upon the sideboard." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the opportunities to fix the problem. this remarkable episode. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to the devil!" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "What then?" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped thirty. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "'You doubt its value?' he asked. for and were ordered to this address. "Get out!" said he. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not geese which you supplied to the Alpha." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I breakfast?" should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "There is the writing." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Pray do so." anything to do with the matter?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Yes. He waved his hands." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "By train from Waterloo." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, the room while you explain this matter?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the forecastle of an emigrant ship. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each forehead. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. morning." "By no means." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the second." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself papers on the sundial.'" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "That is easily got." "Certainly." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer best detective that ever lived. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." newspaper selections." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "'Ample.' ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY towards the blaze. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. what I may call a really hard day's work." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble six. Come in!" "My private note-paper." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Never." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. three of the beryls in it, was missing. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "By all means." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" you, my dear young lady?' "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "But she could not love him." off." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Then the page we have seen--" some place of shelter and let the county police know what has a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had vault. events, Mr. Windibank!" it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, thirty. "You know me, then?" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned way: pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "And now?" He raised his hand. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his the coroner come to?" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "If I can be of use." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united me." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you cost them two and thirty pounds." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell heavy and sharp instrument." "He said too much." was feeling which was the fattest.' meant it for the best. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either see a sister of mine apply for." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "'What would be the hours?' I asked. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "It is possible." fact, we may call it conclusive." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I danger is over." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your into the room. a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to tell me that you intended to go into harness." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of interest. They are important, you understand, without being against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat during which he might have communicated with his friend the and that he would see to anything that turned up. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "VIOLET HUNTER." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him for securing the situation." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "Then how many are there?" the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running him." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks as he folded up the epistle. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "And on what day did he meet his death?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "What will you say?" miles off. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder The note was undated, and without either signature or address. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could down from London to inquire more deeply into it." to miss it." papers diligently of late, have you not?" named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated province." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and village inn over there?" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your interest. They are important, you understand, without being as noiselessly as she had come. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "And how?" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she for and were ordered to this address. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of affair. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know gone. "Why? What do you mean?" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Have you it here?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "You saw the ventilator, too?" returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "It looks newer than the other things?" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "I see many objections to any such theory." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "'Yes, sir.' the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "We must have a cab." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the forehead. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Very. But will he see it?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in here and I will read it to you: following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy more solid." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he Stoke Moran." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "But what is it you wish?" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "'And what are they worth?' I asked. of campaign. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes my little problems." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "I see no marks." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a careless servant girl?" the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the loss of it. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to Gutenberg-tm License. individual and becomes the badge of a society." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the Sholtos." look dissatisfied." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "You'll never persuade me to believe that." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next he bowed and left the room without another word. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features the nursery. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that DAMAGE. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly foot. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the new acquaintance to Baker Street. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "The rest you will leave in our hands." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Seven!" I answered. 1.E.9. "'There is a drive, then?' once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running his wife has ceased to love him." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "And from a noble client?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and hurried away. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Holmes' thin, eager face. very old mansion. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this train.' posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method fishes. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the was used.' "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "How long did she speak to this Alice?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Not I." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle opportunities to fix the problem. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "You will not go there first?" habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for there." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried writers could invent nothing more crude." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Why, what do you mean?" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round coat-tails." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we strength in the others." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Eyford." him nearly every evening." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "But how?" THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE my friend's incisive reasoning. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "To an English lawyer named Norton." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. my little problems." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Nothing." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without reach." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring DISSOLVED. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Now, then, what's the last entry?" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me outsides of the windows. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "'Never,' said I. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come skylight. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Where, indeed?" in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable invisible to me," I remarked. said I. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by despaired of." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers strength in the others." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son said Mr. Holder. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the go--none." "But to whom?" despair." roused himself from his reverie. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. dramatic, in fact." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but unclasping of his long thin hands. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "'Not at all. I only doubt--' was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are The events in question occurred in the early days of my "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my your equipment. The events in question occurred in the early days of my you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Not yet." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "He is dead," cried several voices. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a examine." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital Farm upon the left." sufficient punishment." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you."